Biography

Bethany McLean is a columnist for Slate and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. She joined Slate in October 2010 and Vanity Fair in July 2008 after spending thirteen years at Fortune, where she was an editor-at-large. In early 2001, McLean was one of the first reporters to raise questions about Enron, with her story Is Enron Overpriced? She and fellow Fortune senior writer Peter Elkind exposed the Enron scandal and wrote the national bestseller The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, which went on to become an Oscar-nominated documentary.

McLean has also written in-depth pieces about the credit rating agencies, Goldman Sachs, President Clinton’s global philanthropy, Australia’s Macquarie Bank, and more. Before joining Fortune, she spent three years as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. She graduated from Williams College in 1992 with a double major in mathematics and English.

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Fracking and Environmental Justice

Author of Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World, Bethany McLean shares her expertise on fracking with audiences. McLean shares her insights on the issues surrounding fracking as well as its causes and effects on other areas of our society – how low-interest rates are driving fracking, the shifting world of energy, and changing relationships between Russia and Europe. She discusses the issue of the development of fossil fuels not aligning with the math of the Paris climate accord, posing the question of what might be next for fossil fuels and how we can protect the environment in finding the answer.

Business Ethics

From her experience as an analyst at Goldman Sachs through her work at Fortune exposing the Enron scandal, Bethany McLean gives audiences a look into what it means for a business to be ethical. In her talks, she delves into the discrepancies between morality and illegality and offers insight into the corruption that occurs when the people at the top take on all of the reward and none of the risk. In these talks, McLean draws on her published works and her personal findings as a member of the business world.

The Financial Crisis (All the Devils Are Here)

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Government Regulation of Business

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Wall Street

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Print Journalism

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Enron (The Smartest Guys in the Room)

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Booksby Bethany McLean

All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World

Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants

Blog Posts

The Authenticity Equation: How To Lead with Honesty and Vulnerability

Discover the factors of The Authenticity Equation can transform your leadership—and your team’s performance—with keynote speakers Mike Robbins.

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Leading with Humanity in a Tech-Driven Future with Lisa O’Neill

Explore how to prepare for the future while balancing innovation and transformation with with Kate O’Neill, chief tech humanist and author of What Matters Next.

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How Great Mothers Raise Even Better Leaders

Celebrate Mother’s Day by exploring how maternal leadership lessons—in listening, resilience, clarity, purpose, and storytelling.

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A Complete Guide to Kill Complexity & Spark Innovation

What if innovation and breakthrough ideas came from working simpler ideas? Learn insights on simplify your workflow with keynote speaker Lisa Bodell.

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Why Creativity Is Your Organization’s Most Critical Skill

Keynote speaker Natalie Nixon explains why creativity is essential for innovation and growth, and how leaders can embed creative thinking into their businesses.

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Life Mission Statements and Mental Health with Johnny Crowder

Dive into real-life strategies for mental health, resilience, and culture change with keynote speaker Johnny Crowder.

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Blog Posts

 

The Authenticity Equation: How To Lead with Honesty and Vulnerability

Think authenticity means only “telling it like it is”? Think again. Leadership keynote speaker Mike...

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Leading with Humanity in a Tech-Driven Future with Lisa O’Neill

🔮 How will the future unfold in the tech-driven world we live in? AI is...

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How Great Mothers Raise Even Better Leaders

This Sunday, on Mother’s Day, we honor the women whose love taught us courage, whose...

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A Complete Guide to Kill Complexity & Spark Innovation

What if innovation and breakthrough ideas don’t come from working harder but from working simpler?...

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Why Creativity Is Your Organization’s Most Critical Skill

Tired of thinking creativity is just a “nice to have”? Discover how building creative skills...

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Life Mission Statements and Mental Health with Johnny Crowder

🎙️ On this episode of The Keynote Curators Podcast, meet the rockstar-turned-mental health revolutionary who...

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