The greatness of working for Jim Ledbetter

Graham Winfrey, the features editor for Inc. magazine, writes about its former editor in chief James Ledbetter, who died this week at the age of 60.

Winfrey writes, “He arrived at Inc. in 2014 and quickly earned a reputation as an approachable leader who inspired others to do their best work. He trusted young reporters with cover stories because he trusted the editorial process. ‘It takes a village,’ he would say. He was rarely sentimental, but on at least one occasion he got teary-eyed while toasting a departing editor. He knew editorial talent when he saw it, and hated to lose a valued colleague.

“‘Jim brought me to Inc., and I’m supremely grateful for that opportunity, in part because I knew that working for him would be a top-shelf experience,’ says Inc. editor-at-large Bill Saporito, a former colleague of Jim’s at Time. ‘The kind of editor every writer wants to work for.’

“‘He fought much harder for people behind the scenes than anyone realized, especially for the women on staff,’ says Jon Fine, editor-in-chief of The New Wine Review and former Inc. acting editor-in-chief. ‘Because he was so adept at this job, he understood exactly how much information you needed to do yours, while shielding you from a lot of the bullshit.’

“It also let him set a high bar.”

Read more 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.