How Fast Company and Inc.’s leader Mehta emphasizes content

Stephanie Mehta

Russell Sherman of Press Profiles interviewed Stephanie Mehta, the CEO and chief content officer of the parent company of Fast Company and Inc. magazines.

Mehta also worked at The Wall Street Journal and Fortune as a reporter.

In her current job, she wants to achieve the importance of quality content. “I had achieved a great deal of professional success in the newsroom,” said Mehta. “I had the privilege of working along some of the best in the business…They made me the journalist that I am.”

“We care deeply about content,” she said. “Our owner cares about content.”

“There’s no question that being a business journalist is a really great training ground for any kind of leadership role,” she added. “…It’s like an MBA every time I get to talk to an executive whose leadership style I really admire, or whose results are unimpeachable. I feel like I’m learning with every conversation I have.”

She said that being an editor in chief in media today is like being in business development, a chief people officer and being a CEO.

“I didn’t feel intimidated by taking on the challenge,” she said.

To listen, go here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.