Democracy Good News: The Role of Business in Democracy

Entrepreneur Patrick McGinnis takes on democracy reform using the power of business

The third episode of our Democracy’s Good News series takes us to New York City where we talk with American venture capitalist and author Patrick McGinnis. Host Jenna Spinelle talks with McGinnis about the relationship between democracy and business, how his upbringing in Maine charted a course for his line of work, and how we can harness the power of business to strengthen democracy.

Patrick McGinnis is an entrepreneur and democracy advocate who is best known for coining the term “fear of missing out.” He has advised startups around the world, sometimes in places where democracy isn’t as stable as it is in the U.S.

“I've worked in a number of countries where those things are either diminished or don't exist,” he said. “Having spent much of my career working in emerging markets as an investor in places like Argentina and Turkey where democracy has been so challenged, I started to see some of the things that I was worried about in those countries popping up in America and I thought it's time to do something before it's too late.”

And so through his podcast FOMO Sapiens and his efforts with the youth-led organization focusing on fighting political division BridgeUSA, McGinnis dedicated his platform to democracy reform across the United States.

“When I see an entrenched system that doesn't work, my first thought is, how do we disrupt this?” asked McGinnis. “And I also think, because I grew up in the state of Maine, where we enacted ranked choice voting so early… and where there is a different conversation where there is much more diversity of voices and the conversation is pretty cordial... I just thought to myself, well, we did it in Maine, why can't we do it in other places?"

McGinnis saw a parallel between pushing for change in the business world and creating a difference in the political world, and he plans on utilizing the power of business to stand up for the defense of democracy.

“It is that idea that we can harness the power of business people (who) are good at solving problems — that’s what they do,” he said. “Take that mindset and bring it into the political sphere and match it with all these other people who really understand politics and bring that together… you can do big things.” 

Click here to listen to the episode. You can watch the interview here. To learn more about Patrick McGinnis, check out his podcast FOMO Sapiens.

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