David Gelles is the Corner Office columnist and a business reporter for the New York Times. Since joining the Times in 2013, he has written about CEOs, finance, technology, media, and more. He was part of the team that covered the fallout from the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets, work that won the 2020 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News Reporting. A student of Buddhism and a meditator for more than twenty years, David is an authority on the intersection of mindfulness and the business world. His 2015 book, Mindful Work: How Meditation is Changing Business from the Inside Out, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Before joining the Times, he was a reporter for the Financial Times.
A vigorous argument for a more humane capitalism. -Kirkus Reviews An indispensable history of how we wound up with a business culture that believed employees were owed nothing more than yesterday's paycheck. But David Gelles does not just sound the alarm. He contrasts this warped world view with a new emerging reality - accelerated by the pandemic - that puts the employee experience and well-being at the center of business priorities. A must read for anyone who wants to say goodbye forever to a toxic chapter of American capitalism. -Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive In vivid prose and reporting that lights up each page, Gelles probes how Jack Welch influenced a generation of business leaders to ignore the feelings of employees and the malign impact of corporate mergers, and how decisions made today might strangle a company's long-term health. This powerful book shows why GE and so many companies run by Welch's disciples have badly stumbled, along with Welch's reputation. -Ken Auletta, author of Hollywood Ending A compelling indictment of short-termism that offers an urgent call for business leaders at all levels to be responsible and care. Gelles clearly makes the case that business is more than for profit and that it is by doing good that you can do well, and provides us a roadmap for the way forward. An indispensable read for our time. -Hubert Joly, former Chairman and CEO Best Buy, author The Heart of Business Jack Welch is one of the more important political and business leaders in modern American history. His strategies destroyed a once-great company, and more broadly, he helped pave the way for the destruction of the American middle class and the erosion of American democracy. For years, the business press has lauded Welch's visionary spirit, but few reporters have ever asked what that vision was. With The Man Who Broke Capitalism, David Gelles has delivered a book that explains what we can learn from a man like Welch, as we try to restore the shattered society he left behind. -Matt Stoller, author of Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy A robust and necessary portrait of a complex figure. A lesson in shareholder value vs. stakeholder value that will only become more relevant in the coming years. -Scott Galloway, New York Times bestselling author and serial entrepreneur A provocative page-turner that exposes the dark truths about Jack Welch, America's first celebrity CEO. After building a sprawling global empire through unmanageable mergers, shady accounting, and heartless downsizing, with undue veneration, and countless imitators, it's good to see Welch finally cut down to size. -Jennifer Taub, author of Big Dirty Money