Friends of Business History,
I have been doing a lot of podcasts and interviews recently. I always make plenty of historical references. But when they are primarily about the present and future, I put them up on my other website, https://hooversworld.com/ and promote them in my free Hooversworld newsletter which you can subscribe to there. (Those newsletters are infrequent, since I devote 90% of my time and energy to business history.)
However, this week, I did an interview with Ben Wilterdink of the think tank The Archbridge Institute. Archbridge publishes the American Originals series of business biographies, which we then re-post on the American Business History website. I am also an advisor to Archbridge.
This interview was specifically about business history and the lessons we can learn from it. The video is now up on YouTube, and you can view it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96QdjWF2WDs
If you prefer podcasts, there is an audio-only version here.
They clipped off a bit at the front end where I talk about growing up in a General Motors factory town, and the inability of my teachers to tell me anything about General Motors and the people who built and ran it. That is what led me to become a “business historian,” as mentioned in the interview.
In the video, I relate history to some current and controversial issues like Corporate Social Responsibility and Antitrust.
There were also a few blips in the zoom conversation. I guess those little megabytes were running as fast as they could between Ben in Juneau, Alaska, and me in Flatonia, Texas, but stumbled once in a while on that long trip.
I hope you enjoy it and share it with anyone you think might be interested!
Thanks,
Gary Hoover
Executive Director
American Business History Center
PS
Now that I am on the History Channel and am an F-list star, I do a lot of work to look like a wizened old sage. At heart, however, I am still the same twelve-year-old who first fell in love with the stories of businesses and business leaders.
Business History Podcast and Video
