Outthinkers - SoundSage

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New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Philipp Muelbert about the three loops every company falls into when their talent needs shift — and why the cheapest-looking option on paper is usually the most expensive one in practice. During the conversation they unpack why AI has become a convenient excuse for restructuring decisions that were coming anyway, and why almost no organisation has a head of redeployment or a budget for one.

Philipp Muelbert reflects on the hidden cultural costs of the "churn loop" — the survivor syndrome that hits the employees left behind, the institutional knowledge that walks out the door, and why new-hire retention is often harder than companies expect. He makes the financial case for redeployment over rehiring, and explains why building an alumni network of well-treated former employees can become a genuine strategic asset.

The conversation covers:

The three loops companies fall into when talent needs change: churn, exit well, or redeploy
75% look for a like-for-like role after layoff, but 60% end up in a full career pivot
Redeployment saves $140,000 per person, yet no single function owns the process

Additional Resources:
LHH: lhh.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippmuelbert

Thank you again to our sponsor, LHH.

Thank you to our executive producer Zach Ness, our producer Nazanin Homayoun Jam and our editor James Pearce. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

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David Fubini spent 34 years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a Senior Partner, Managing Director of the Boston office, and co-founder of the firm's Worldwide Merger Integration Practice — leading dozens of the world's largest M&A transactions. He's now a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, where he co-leads the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leading Professional Services Firm programmes. He's the author of Post-Merger Integration: Building the Mindset, Skills, and Discipline Needed for Deal Success (Wiley, 2026), co-written with Patrick Sanguineti, and the earlier Hidden Truths: What Leaders Need to Hear but Are Rarely Told.

Most leaders obsess over closing the deal — the strategy, the financing, the negotiation. But according to David, that's not where deals break down. They fail in the messy weeks and months after the ink is dry, when two organisations, two cultures and two workforces actually have to become one. Hundreds of billions in promised synergies are lost every year to integration that was treated as an afterthought rather than the engine of the whole transaction.

In this episode, we dig into why so many companies under-resource the integration effort, why your most capable people — not your spare capacity — should be running it, and why David deliberately refuses to hand leaders a step-by-step playbook.

In this episode we cover:

Why the Integration Management Office is the real engine of a deal — and why companies staff it wrong
The one question — "Why are you actually doing this deal?" — that should govern every integration decision
How American Airlines and US Airways turned a hostile takeover into a functioning merger
Why decision velocity matters more than perfect information when two companies combine
Where AI genuinely helps integration — and the one thing it will never do: read the room

Additional resources:

Post-Merger Integration: hhttps://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=69100
David Fubini on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-fubini-b0009bb/
David Fubini, HBS faculty: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=102821

Thank you to our guest, David Fubini.

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New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Carrol Chang about why the unit of work is shifting from the full-time employee to the task itself — and what that means for every leader rethinking their workforce in the age of AI.
During the conversation they unpack what happens when AI handles all the junior work today, and who develops the senior judgment your organisation will depend on tomorrow.

Carrol Chang reflects on watching two of the biggest shifts in the history of work collide in real time at Andela, why the productivity dividend forces every leader to a strategic fork in the road, and why AI collapsing the cost of talent doesn't eliminate competitive advantage, it just moves it.

The conversation covers:

Why the unit of work is shifting from the full-time employee to the task — and what that means for how you hire, build teams, and plan headcount
The "birthrate problem": if AI absorbs all the junior work today, who develops the judgment and governance your organisation will need in five years?
What remains as your true competitive advantage when AI commoditises both capacity and expertise — and why human judgment, EQ, and relationship-building are the last real moat

Additional Resources:
Andela: andela.com
CodeWars: codewars.com
LHH: lhh.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrolchang

Thank you again to our sponsor, LHH.

Thank you to our guest, Carrol Chang.

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New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Eric Ries — author of the landmark The Lean Startup — about his new book Incorruptible, and why the way we've run companies for the last fifty years may be fundamentally corrupt. Not in the dramatic, headline-grabbing sense, but in the older, quieter sense of the word: a slow corrosion of the bonds that make an organisation strong, trusted, and worth building in the first place.

In this conversation they unpack how shareholder primacy — the idea that a company exists only to enrich its investors — took hold without a single vote ever being cast, and what it actually takes to build something that endures. Eric reflects on why this idea is far more recent and far more fragile than we assume, what the most enduring companies in the world have quietly been doing differently, and the practical mechanisms any founder or leader can use to protect a mission from the forces that will inevitably try to erode it.

The conversation covers:

Why shareholder primacy is a recent invention — and why the "citizens vs tourists" problem in corporate governance changes how you should think about who really owns a company
What "human flourishing" really means, why mission-driven companies aren't sacrificing financial performance, and how the best operators treat trustworthiness as an asset to bank rather than spend
The practical defences — mission guardians, multi-entity "constellations," and the paths of ethos and integrity — that leaders can use today to build a governance fortress, no revolution required

Additional Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/

Book: Incorruptible — https://www.incorruptible.co/

LHH: lhh.com

Thank you again to our sponsor, LHH.

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New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Scott Snyder about why most companies are failing to get real value from AI — and why the problem has nothing to do with the technology.

During the conversation they unpack why incumbents keep repeating the same mistakes across every major technology wave, and what it actually takes to move an organisation from experimentation to genuine transformation.

Scott Snyder reflects on the pattern he’s watched play out across mobile, e-commerce, and now AI, why large companies consistently underestimate their own advantages, and how leaders can shift their people from fear and resistance to genuine excitement about working alongside AI.

The conversation covers:

• Why your business strategy has to come before your AI strategy — and how AI should amplify what you already do well, not replace the thinking behind it

• How incumbents can use their hidden advantages — proprietary data, scale, and ecosystem access — to out-innovate startups rather than be disrupted by them

• What it takes to move people through the mindset curve from openness to accountability, and why incentive design is the missing piece most organisations overlook

Additional Resources:

Book: Your AI Life — https://yourai.life/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsnyder5g/
LHH: lhh.com

Thank you again to our sponsor, LHH.

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Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva is a globally recognised reinvention strategist, four-time author, and founder of the Reinvention Academy. A former chaired professor at a business school in the Slovenian Alps, she coined the role of Chief Reinvention Officer — unifying strategy, innovation, and change management into a single connected discipline. She has worked with organisations across mining, telecom, financial services, and the public sector, including steering a London-listed mining and metals company through the largest industry crisis in modern history. Her weekly newsletter, Reinvention Weekly, reaches business leaders across the globe.
Most companies know change is accelerating — but they're still operating as if it's temporary. The assumption that things will eventually "go back to normal" is quietly killing organisations that could otherwise survive. A handful of companies have built genuine reinvention capability and are riding waves of disruption ahead of their competitors. Most are still firefighting, waiting for certainty that will never come.
In this episode, we explore why the business model playbook built in the 20th century is dangerously mismatched for today's environment — and what leaders need to think, build, and kill in order to stay viable.
In this episode we cover:

The concept of "metaruption" — why black swan events are now arriving in flocks, and what it means for long-term strategy
Why Reinvention 1.0 (the once-every-40-years big pivot) is no longer sufficient — and what Reinvention 2.0 looks like in practice
The three interlocking disciplines — anticipate, design, and implement — and why most organisations are weakest at the first
Why the shelf life of your decisions is shrinking, and how to build a system that accounts for it
Where to actually start a reinvention journey — including the "kill session" practice that reduces overload before adding anything new

Additional Resources:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nadyazhexembayeva
Reinvention Academy: reinventionacademy.com
Newsletter: Reinvention Weekly — subscribe at reinventionacademy.com

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Peter Weinberg is the founder of Evidenza, an AI-powered synthetic research platform, and a former LinkedIn executive where he co-founded the B2B Institute. Over a decade at LinkedIn, Peter helped reframe how B2B brands think about growth — shifting the industry's focus from bottom-of-funnel conversion toward brand building, mental availability, and reaching buyers before they enter the market. His work draws heavily on the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute's frameworks, and he's collaborated with some of the world's largest B2B organisations on marketing strategy and segmentation.

Most market research never gets done. It's too slow, too expensive, and the people you most need to reach — CFOs, in-house counsel, niche enterprise buyers — simply don't take surveys. So companies either skip research entirely or make decisions based on what the sales team heard from the three customers who called last week.
Synthetic research changes that equation. By using AI to simulate statistically representative populations of real customer types, organisations can now get directionally accurate, quantitative customer intelligence in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional research. Peter's company, Evidenza, has validated this approach across dozens of markets and categories — consistently finding 80–95% alignment between synthetic and human survey responses.

In this episode, we explore what that means for how companies understand customers, structure their innovation funnels, and rethink the long-standing political battle between marketing and sales over who really owns the voice of the customer.
In this episode we cover:

What synthetic research actually is — and why "lab-grown customers" may be more reliable than survey respondents clicking through for an Applebee's gift card
The accuracy question: how closely AI-simulated responses match real human data, and what it means when they diverge
How synthetic research could reshape the innovation funnel — moving from testing 3 ideas a year to testing thousands
Why the real opportunity isn't hyper-personalisation, but finding the mass-market commonalities that drive scale
The adoption barrier that has nothing to do with AI scepticism: organisations that wouldn't act on good market research even if you handed it to them

Episode Timeline:

00:00 — Highlight from today's episode
00:34 — Introducing Peter + the topic of today's episode
02:55 — If you really know me, you know that...
03:45 — What's your definition of strategy?
06:04 — Peter's decade at LinkedIn and the case for B2B brand building
07:41 — The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute: mental and physical availability
10:24 — What is synthetic research?
13:16 — Accuracy, speed, and cost: the three metrics that matter
14:54 — When human surveys lie (and synthetic respondents don't)
17:49 — Can you use synthetic research for internal adoption challenges?
19:59 — How synthetic research widens the innovation funnel
23:27 — Who owns the voice of the customer: marketing vs. sales
26:50 — Micro-segmentation vs. mass marketing — which does AI actually favour?
30:59 — Barriers to adoption: AI sceptics, soft rejectors, and market orientation
33:48 — When AI outperforms humans with AI (the doctor study)
35:57 — How to follow Peter and find Evidenza

Additional Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weinbergpeter/
Website: evidenza.ai

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New on Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Lew Frankfort about how Coach scaled while building trust, durability, and emotional connection with customers.

During the conversation they unpack what scaling really requires when growth threatens to dilute what made you successful in the first place.

Lew Frankfort reflects on spotting Coach’s early cult following, why direct-to-customer channels became a strategic turning point, and how brands build trust, durability, and emotional connection at the same time while leaders balance creativity with operational discipline.

The conversation covers:

Why strategy is the bridge between vision and execution, and what it looks like in practice while scaling
How to build brand equity through trust, durability, and emotional connection without losing what makes the brand distinctive
How leaders balance creativity and discipline, and what it takes to be an intrapreneur inside a larger organization

Episode Timeline:
00:00 Welcome and Sponsor

00:44 Meet Lou Frankfort

03:31 Family and Values

06:05 Defining Strategy

06:56 From Public Service

09:19 Coach Cult Following

12:34 Brand Equity Triangle

16:20 Going Direct to Consumer

19:10 Magic and Logic Leadership

21:48 Becoming CEO at Coach

26:17 Intrapreneur Mindset

28:36 Designing for Growth

32:25 Advice and Closing

Additional Resources:
Book: Bag Man (Lew Frankfort)
LHH: https://www.lhh.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lew-frankfort/

Thank you again to our sponsor, LHH. Thank you to our guest, Lew Frankfort.

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Joe Pine is the co-author of The Experience Economy—and one of the thinkers who gave leaders a language for why “services” weren’t the end of the story. In this episode, Joe returns with his next major thesis: we’ve entered the Transformation Economy, where the customer is no longer buying inputs (features, service hours, or even memorable moments), but paying for outcomes—lasting change.

We unpack what makes a transformation fundamentally different from an experience, why experiences are increasingly commoditized, and why the biggest opportunities now sit in helping people (and organizations) become who they want to become. Joe also shares the practical implications: how leaders can ladder up from “jobs to be done” into deeper aspirations, why identity change sits at the center of transformation, and how pricing shifts when your business is accountable for outcomes.

In this episode we cover:
•Why transformations are “sustained through time,” not just memorable moments
•The idea that all transformation is identity change (and what that means for strategy)
•“You are what you charge for”: shifting from time-based pricing to outcome-based pricing
•Why the Transformation Economy is already here (and why it’s accelerating now)
•The four spheres of transformation—and why they all point toward human flourishing

00:00 — Welcome + Episode Setup

01:36 — “If you really know me…” (Anti-social introvert)

03:10 — Strategy = the decisions you actually make

04:18 — Defining “Transformation” (guiding outcomes that last)

06:06 — Experience vs Transformation (customer becomes the product)

08:28 — Why the Transformation Economy is already here

10:00 — Why now: experiences are commoditizing (Starbucks + COVID shift)

13:16 — Identity change at the center of transformation

17:46 — From “cobbling” to integrated transformation programs (GLP-1 / Calibrate)

21:54 — Pricing in the Transformation Economy (outcomes + human flourishing)

34:22 — Where to start + resources (encapsulation, purpose, Substack/toolkit)

Additional Resources:

Joe Pine’s Transformation Economy Substack: https://transformationsbook.substack.com/
Strategic Horizons: https://strategichorizons.com/
Strategic Horizons “Integration” page + Transformation Toolkit: https://strategichorizons.com/integration
Joe Pine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepine/

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In a recent Outthinkers episode sponsored by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff is joined by Linda Hill (Havard Business School) and Jason Wild (WISE) to discuss what it takes to move innovation beyond isolated efforts and into something that can work across an entire organization

They explore how strategy is shifting, from control to adaptability, what's actually driving advantage in 2026, and why progress depends on more than just advancing technology.

The conversation covers:
•⁠ ⁠Why ecosystems, not individual teams, are becoming the unit of innovation
•⁠ ⁠The role leaders play as architects, bridgers, and catalysts—and what breaks when those roles are missing
•⁠ ⁠Why culture is often the difference between ideas that scale and those that don't

Episode timeline:

00:00 — Cold open: why no company can go it alone

00:30 — Sponsor: LHH

02:00 — “If you really know me…” (Linda + Jason)

03:35 — Definitions of strategy (optionality, choices, and adaptability)

08:40 — Why they wrote Genius at Scale

12:30 — Why ecosystems are rising (speed, capability gaps, AI)

17:00 — Can incumbents adopt an ecosystem approach?

22:30 — ABC framework: Architect, Bridger, Catalyst

28:40 — The most underappreciated role: the Bridger

33:30 — Why bridging is a career risk (and how to fix incentives)

41:45 — A practical tool: a “constraints dashboard” + radical transparency

45:30 — Where leaders should start

54:50 — How to keep learning from Linda + Jason

59:20 — Closing + thanks

Additional Resources:

Linda Hill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-hill-hbs/

Jason Wild: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonwild/

Book: Genius at Scale — https://geniusatscale.com/

Sponsor: LHH Executive Solutions — https://www.lhh.com

Thank you to our sponsor, LHH

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Neil Hoyne is Chief Strategist at Google and one of the sharpest voices on how companies actually make decisions when data, intuition, and organizational politics collide. He works at the intersection of strategy, analytics, and customer value, helping leaders think more clearly about what metrics mean, how to use them, and where they can quietly mislead. He is also the author of Converted and is currently working on a new book exploring how strategy frameworks can be applied to careers and life decisions.

Most leaders say they want to be data-driven. But in practice, many organizations still use data to confirm what they already believe, delay hard choices, or create the appearance of rigor without real clarity. At the same time, teams are drowning in more information than ever, while AI is making data gathering and analysis faster, cheaper, and easier to commoditize. The harder challenge now is not collecting data — it’s creating the conditions for better decisions.

In this episode, we explore how strategy should be defined in an uncertain world, why customer-centric thinking changes the role of marketing, and how leaders can avoid mistaking metrics for truth. Neil also unpacks customer lifetime value (CLV), the hidden ways metrics get manipulated, and why many companies ask the wrong question when they say they want more data. We also discuss what strategists should focus on as AI changes the work, and why the future advantage may come from decision frameworks, not dashboards.

In this episode we cover:
•Neil’s practical definition of strategy: using resources to stay alive today while improving your position for tomorrow
•Two definitions of marketing — product-centric vs customer-centric — and how the marketer’s role changes in each
•What CLV actually is, why it matters, and how short time horizons distort strategic choices
•Why common metrics (like conversions and engagement) often aren’t comparable across platforms
•The two questions leaders should ask about every KPI: how it’s calculated and how it could be manipulated
•Why smart leaders still ignore data, and how human psychology shapes decision-making
•How to define “how much data is enough” before a decision
•What chief strategy officers can do beyond the annual planning ritual
•Why AI strategy should start with your company’s core strategy — not the other way around

Chapters:

00:01 — Intro + Neil Hoyne

03:10 — The “Last Supper” question

08:10 — Misreading people’s career stories

10:10 — Strategy definition

16:40 — What marketing is

21:05 — Customer-centric thinking

24:10 — CLV basics

30:10 — Why metrics mislead

35:10 — How teams game KPIs

39:20 — Why leaders ignore data

52:00 — How much data is enough?

1:01:20 — Risk, speed, and decisions

1:07:20 — What strategy leaders should do

1:18:10 — New book on careers

1:25:10 — AI noise vs core strategy

1:30:20 — Closing

Additional Resources:

•Neil Hoyne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilhoyne/
•Neil Hoyne website: https://neilhoyne.com/
•Converted (Neil Hoyne’s book): https://www.converted.us/
•Intro (booking 1:1 time; proceeds to charity): https://intro.co/ (search Neil Hoyne on Intro)

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John Fallon is the former CEO of Pearson, where he led one of the most challenging digital transformations of any publicly traded company—shifting a legacy publishing giant from selling ~20 million US college textbooks per year to a subscription-driven, digital platform business. This episode was recorded live at LHH’s Executive Exchange Conference in London, and John joins us to share hard-won leadership lessons from the front lines of disruption.

For years we’ve been told only nimble startups survive disruption. But that story misses a quieter truth: most of the Fortune 500 was founded long before the internet—and many incumbents have adapted through multiple platform shifts. In his new book, Resurgent, John (with Julian Birkinshaw of London Business School) makes a contrarian case: established organizations can fight back—and even thrive—if they get clear on their enduring value, redesign for transformation, and lead change like the human “contact sport” it is.

In this conversation, John breaks down why disruption often unfolds over decades (not months), how to separate a temporary headwind from a structural shift, and why identifying your company’s true “job to be done” matters more than clinging to any one product. He also shares practical leadership tools for navigating politics, building alignment, empowering middle managers, and sustaining people through prolonged upheaval.

What you’ll learn in this episode
•Why incumbents are often more resilient than we assume—and what the data says
•How to spot the difference between “secular vs structural” change (and why timing is so hard)
•The “job to be done” lens: how Pearson moved from textbooks to learning outcomes
•Why digital transformation is less about tech and more about people, culture, and organizational design
•How to reduce “the meeting after the meeting” and create real disagree-and-commit execution

Episode Timeline

00:00 Welcome to Outthinkers + Live Special Episode Setup

01:22 Why Incumbents Can Win: Pearson’s Transformation & the Book ‘Resurgent’

05:30 Elephants Can Dance: Fortune 500 Resilience and the Myth of Instant Disruption

09:10 Pearson’s Textbook Collapse: Secular vs Structural (and Recency Bias)

11:33 From Textbooks to ‘Job to Be Done’: Purpose, Pricing, and the Access Model

13:45 Crisis Clarifies Identity: Cancer, Core Value, and Avoiding ‘Netflix of X’ Thinking

16:56 Making Purpose Real in Transformation: Profit, Restructuring, and Middle Managers as Shock Absorbers

21:23 Why Digital Transformation Gets Political: Twin-Speed Orgs, Uncertain Disruption, and Staying ‘Busy Being Born’

24:42 Why AI Transformation Is a Human Problem (Linear vs Exponential Change)

26:05 CEO Time: Thinking Space, Contrarian Views & “Disagree and Commit”

28:14 Avoiding the “Meeting After the Meeting”: How to Build Real Alignment

30:17 Audience Q: Leading with Humility—Saying “I Don’t Know” & Showing Humanity

34:08 Should You Take the CEO Job? Confidence, Humility, and Resilience Reserves

36:49 Beyond the Burning Platform: Replatforming, Timing, and Centralize vs Decentralize

41:18 CEO Sounding Boards: CFO/CHRO Partnerships, Board Support, and Staying Grounded

43:35 Culture vs Strategy: The “False Dichotomy” and Building a Learning Organization

45:47 Wrap-Up, Thanks, and Subscribe

Additional Resources
•Resurgent (book): https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/resurgent-9781399422000/
John Fallon on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/johnfallonpearson

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Dr. Brent Ridge is the co-founder of Beekman 1802, a skin health brand that began with goat milk soap made at a dining room table and scaled into a nationally recognized business with a devoted community. Brent trained in medicine (geriatrics), built his career in New York City, and even helped launch Martha Stewart’s Healthy Living division—before a recession, a rundown farm, and a herd of goats rewrote his path. He’s also the co-author of G.O.A.T. Wisdom, a new book that distills Beekman’s hard-won lessons into practical principles for entrepreneurs who want to build something that lasts.

In this conversation, you’ll learn how to spot real trends before they’re named, build a brand identity customers can feel in seconds, and turn a purpose like kindness into a measurable operating system—not just marketing.

In this episode we cover:

Why “the true measure of authenticity is longevity” (and how brands lose trust chasing viral moments)
The Beekman origin story: layoffs, a farm, goats—and turning constraints into a strategy advantage
A simple but powerful strategic question: “Where does this not exist?” (and how it opened the luxury door)
Trend sensing without getting trapped by algorithms: building your own daily “signal system”
How defining your company as “skin health” (not “beauty”) changes everything—from product to positioning
Turning kindness into culture, community, and commercial momentum (inside the company and out)

00:00 Introduction to Out Thinkers Podcast

00:30 Defining Authenticity in Business

01:23 Meet Dr. Brent Ridge: From Medicine to Entrepreneurship

02:01 The Birth of Beekman 1802

02:36 Building a Brand with Kindness

04:56 Early Life and Career of Dr. Brent Ridge

07:02 Strategic Moves: From Medicine to Martha Stewart

08:26 Launching the Martha Stewart Center for Living

18:08 The Power of Personal Branding and Sales

21:22 Navigating Trends and Building Legacy

25:01 Seeing Trends in Unlikely Places

26:30 The Birth of Beekman 1802

28:26 The Science Behind Goat Milk

30:32 Rebranding as a Skin Health Company

31:35 The Power of Brand Identity

37:57 Building a Culture of Kindness

40:43 The Kindness Ecosystem

48:22 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Additional Resources

Book: G.O.A.T. Wisdom (Brent Ridge)
Beekman 1802: https://beekman1802.com/
Brent Ridge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-ridge-md-0641791/
Kindness Research Foundation: https://www.kindness.org

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Jana Werner is a global executive advisor and Executive in Residence at Amazon Web Services, where she works with Fortune 500 leadership teams on organizational transformation and enterprise strategy. She holds a PhD in uncertainty dynamics in projects and has contributed to academic research and teaching at institutions including Oxford and the London School of Economics.

Phil Le-Brun spent 31 years at McDonald’s, serving as International CIO and leading technology delivery across more than 120 countries. He is now an Executive in Residence at AWS, serving as an enterprise strategist and evangelist, with advanced degrees in systems thinking.

Together, they are the authors of The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation.

Most large companies still operate like machines. Rigid hierarchies, tight controls, and permission-based decision making may deliver predictability, but they quietly kill ownership, learning, and innovation.

By contrast, the most adaptive organizations operate more like living systems, distributing intelligence, empowering teams, and enabling continuous transformation. Companies like Amazon demonstrate how decentralization, clarity, and ownership can create alignment rather than chaos.

This episode explores how leaders can replace command-and-control structures with environments where innovation becomes everyone’s job.

In this episode we cover

Why the “organization as a machine” model is breaking down
The Octopus Organization metaphor and distributed intelligence in action
How clarity and context enable decentralized decision-making
Ownership vs permission and the pigs-and-chickens lesson
Why real innovation must be embedded across every layer of the organization
How curiosity and intelligent failure drive continuous transformation

Episode Timeline

00:00 Highlight and introduction to the Octopus Organization

02:00 Guest introductions and background

04:30 If you really know me… personal stories from Jana and Phil

07:40 Defining strategy as choice and what not to do

10:00 Tin Man vs Octopus organizations

13:30 How decentralization increases alignment

16:00 Ownership, permission, and single-threaded leadership

20:00 Amazon leadership principles and disagree-and-commit

22:30 Creating organizational clarity at scale

26:00 Focus, subtraction, and the mountaineering story

28:30 Durable needs and strategy at Amazon

30:30 Complicated vs complex systems in transformation

33:00 Curiosity, experimentation, and intelligent failure

36:00 The monkey-on-a-pedestal lesson

38:00 Centralized vs decentralized innovation

41:00 Lighting a thousand fires and continuous transformation

44:00 Why this model outperforms traditional change programs

45:30 Where to learn more and connect with the authors

Additional Resources

Book: The Octopus Organization

Website: https://www.theoctopusorganization.com

Jana Werner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janawerner1/

Phil LeBrun LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillebrun/

Watch now on Youtube: https://youtu.be/qcD2GmX5uUI

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Mark Thompson is a CEO coach and author of CEO Ready. Born and raised in Silicon Valley and now working across emerging tech hubs, Mark prepares leaders for the leap from elite operator to enterprise chief. He’s worked with CEOs ranging from Richard Branson and Evan Sharp (co-founder of Pinterest) to Dr. Jim Yong Kim (former president of the World Bank) and Dave Chang (founder of Momofuku).

Most executives assume the CEO seat is the natural “next step” for the highest performer. But Mark argues you earn readiness twice: first by delivering results, and then by winning belief outside your swim lane. In other words, performance gets you shortlisted—but it doesn’t get you selected.

In this episode, Mark lays out the seven stakeholders who decide your fate as a CEO candidate (the board, investors/owners, peers, employees, customers, the current CEO, and you). We talk about what each group actually wants, how to build trust across the enterprise, and why the best CEO candidates develop “conversational fluency” across functions so they can lead beyond their lane.

In this episode we cover:
•Why “elite performance” only gets you halfway to CEO—and what earns belief the second time
•The seven stakeholders who decide CEO readiness (and how to build a plan for each one)
•How to show up to the board as more than a functional expert
•Turning peers into partners (before the role forces the shift)
•Building fluency across functions so you can lead the whole enterprise—not just your function

Episode Timeline:
00:00 Introduction to Outthinkers Podcast

01:23 Meet Mark Thompson: CEO Coach and Author

02:06 The Seven Stakeholders of CEO Success

02:42 Mark's Unique Coaching Methods

04:10 Personal Insights and Strategy Definition

06:30 The Reality of Becoming a CEO

08:58 Navigating Board Dynamics

20:57 Interacting with the Board: Key Strategies for Aspiring CEOs

21:28 Listening and Broadening Your Perspective

22:44 Understanding the Role of Strategy Officers

26:36 Navigating Peer Dynamics and Leadership Transition

33:03 Building Relationships with the CEO

35:44 Engaging with Investors and Owners

39:56 The Importance of Customer Influence

44:17 Final Thoughts and Resources for Aspiring CEOs

Additional Resources:
•Mark Thompson: Chief Executive Alliance — https://chieexecutivealliance.com

Watch now on Youtube: https://youtu.be/wuh4Rn7erxU

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Bill George is one of the most influential leadership thinkers of our time. A former CEO of Medtronic and long-time Harvard Business School professor, he’s served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, and the Mayo Clinic. His books including True North and True North: Emerging Leader Edition—have shaped how thousands of leaders approach purpose, values, and character.

When performance pressure rises, it’s easy for leaders to drift from their values chasing quarterly metrics, external validation, and “style” over substance. Bill argues the opposite: sustainable performance springs from purpose, self-awareness, and a culture people believe in. We explore how to stay grounded as expectations, visibility, and success scale.

You’ll learn how authentic leaders make the hard calls without becoming “nice at the expense of necessary,” choose metrics that drive meaning (not gaming), and build teams that keep you honest, learning, and aligned.

In this episode we cover:
•Authentic leadership: what it is and isn’t
•Purpose-first strategy
•The Medtronic metric: measuring outcomes people feel, not just inputs
•Making tough people & portfolio decisions without losing your values
•Building your leadership circle for honest feedback & growth
•Short-term vs. long-term: preventing KPI gaming and hollow wins

Episode Timeline

00:00 Introduction to Outthinkers Podcast
00:35 Bill George on Medtronic's Impact
01:40 Bill George's Leadership Journey
05:00 Defining Strategy and Purpose
10:32 Authentic Leadership Explained
12:45 Challenges and Examples of Leadership
16:04 Personal Growth and Leadership
20:53 Developing Self-Awareness as a Leader
22:15 Facing Crucibles: Overcoming Tough Times
23:47 Exercises for Self-Discovery
25:33 The Power of Small Groups
27:32 Long-Standing Support Systems
29:28 Assessing Leadership Values
33:01 Effective Metrics for Leadership
39:56 Engaging with Bill George

Additional Resources
•Bill George — Website: https://www.billgeorge.org
•LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamwgeorge/
•Book: True North: Emerging Leader Edition
•Book: True North
•Kaihan Krippendorff: https://www.outthinker.com

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Meet Jon Levy — behavioral scientist and author of Team Intelligence: How Brilliant Leaders Unlock Collective Genius and the NYT/WSJ bestseller You’re Invited. Jon has spent years studying human behavior and leadership mechanics, advising companies on how to build teams that actually perform—beyond leadership myths and buzzwords.

We often hire “A-players,” roll out values, and assume great leadership traits will carry us. Then reality hits: strategy doesn’t execute itself—teams do. Jon explains why the smallest unit of performance is the team, why stacking stars backfires, and how culture and language shape what people actually do. If you’re trying to align leaders who don’t buy the data, this one’s for you.

You’ll learn how to engineer collective intelligence—the practical habits, roles, and rituals that raise a team’s game, how to recruit and empower “glue players,” and how to make strategy felt when spreadsheets won’t persuade.

In this episode we cover: Culture as operating system: the sayings, status cues, and rituals that drive behavior (Apple’s “surprise and delight,” LEGO’s “fireside”). * Bursty communication: why teams should “work together, then work apart” to boost problem-solving. * Glue players: high-EQ, team-first multipliers (and why too many stars tank performance). * Make the implicit explicit: roles, skills, and “player cards” that speed decisions. * Trust, not traits: honesty, competence, benevolence—and dealing with the dark tetrad at work. * When data won’t convince:* crafting a narrative that makes people feel the better future.

Episode Timeline00:00 Introduction

00:36 Coming Up...

01:47 Unpacking Team Intelligence with John Levy

02:47 Insights on Leadership and Team Dynamics

05:13 The Role of Culture in Organizations

13:49 The Impact of Language on Behavior

16:54 The Concept of Glue Players

18:14 The Key to Predicting Success in Basketball

19:02 Characteristics of Glue Players

21:25 The Importance of Team Dynamics

23:49 The Antwerp Diamond Heist: A Lesson in Teamwork

27:52 Making Implicit Knowledge Explicit

29:36 The Dark Side of Team Dynamics

31:29 Understanding Trust in Teams

34:06 The Role of Emotion in Strategy

35:02 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Additional Resources* Jon Levy — Website: https://www.jonlevy.com * Book: https://www.jonlevy.com/team-intelligence * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlevytlb

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Christina Farr is an investor, startup advisor, and former health-tech journalist. She’s the author of The Storyteller’s Advantage: How Powerful Narratives Make Businesses Thrive and the creator of the Second Opinion newsletter, where she decodes healthcare and technology for leaders.

Most leaders try to move markets with features, roadmaps, and metrics. But the winners often move them with narrative—stories that rally investors, customers, and teams to build the future with them. Christina unpacks how great storytellers create belief that becomes momentum.

You’ll learn a simple framework to make your strategy legible and compelling, how to pick the right plot for your message, and practical ways to craft origin stories, pitch decks, and CEO communications that persuade.

In this episode we cover:

The SOAP framework: Surprise, Openness, Authenticity, Pathos
Seven classic plots for business (from David vs. Goliath to Rebirth) and when to use each
Case studies: PillPack vs. incumbents; Apple’s comeback; Microsoft’s reinvention; WeWork’s cautionary tale
Fundraising and sales: decks that move capital and customers
Leading in tense moments: speaking to charged issues without fracturing culture

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Highlight from today’s episode

01:05 – Introducing Christina + the power of narrative in business

03:05 – “If you really know me…”

04:20 – What is strategy? Story as prognostication

07:10 – Why story beats data alone in pitches, sales, and retention

10:55 – The SOAP framework (Surprise, Openness, Authenticity, Pathos)

18:40 – Engineering surprise; calibrating vulnerability

22:00 – Seven plots leaders can borrow (with modern brand examples)

28:45 – Case study: PillPack’s David vs. Goliath playbook

32:40 – Rebirths and tragedies: Apple, Microsoft, WeWork

36:10 – Origin stories that travel (and ones that don’t)

38:10 – CEO comms on divisive topics, without breaking culture

39:20 – Where to learn more from Christina

Additional Resources:

Book: The Storyteller’s Advantage — Christina Farr (Basic Venture) -https://basic-venture.com/titles/christina-farr/the-storytellers-advantage/9781541704299/
Newsletter: Second Opinion - https://secondopinion.media/
Christina Farr on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/

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In this special in-person conversation recorded at Adobe’s global headquarters, host Kaihan Krippendorff sits down with Malte Bernholz, Vice President of Strategy and Incubation at Adobe.

Malte brings a unique lens, combining years of experience in consulting and technology leadership, to unpack what might be the most significant technological shift of our lifetime. Together, Kaihan and Malte explore:

The macro forces and creative trends redefining industries in the age of AI
Why this moment rivals—and perhaps surpasses—the dot-com boom in its impact
How AI is both lowering the floor of creativity, making it easier for anyone to create, and raising the ceiling, expanding what’s possible for professionals
How personalization at scale is transforming customer experiences
And what this means for the future of brands, creativity, and human originality

It’s a conversation about courage, imagination, and leadership at the edge of technological change.

And for the first time, you can watch this conversation as well as listen—check out the video version on Outthinker.com or YouTube.

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Mark Crowley is a longtime financial services leader who led consistently top-performing teams over a 25-year career. He’s the author of Lead From the Heart and the newly released The Power of Employee Well-being, a frequent contributor to Fast Company, and host of the Lead From the Heart podcast. In 2013, Mark was the first to publicize Gallup’s finding that only 30% of U.S. employees were engaged—helping ignite a decade-long debate about what truly drives performance.

In this conversation, we explore why feelings and emotions—not dashboards—drive behavior, how the heart–brain connection shapes decisions at work, and why belonging outperforms “boss quality” as a predictor of retention. Mark connects lived leadership to research—from Oxford’s wellbeing–productivity link to HeartMath’s work on coherence—and shows how caring (not coddling) creates the conditions for sustained results.

Whether you lead a business unit, a project team, or a transformation office, this episode will reframe how you raise performance by raising wellbeing—with specific, near-term moves any leader can make this week.

In this episode we cover:

Why traditional engagement efforts flatline—and why wellbeing is the more powerful lever for performance
The Oxford evidence: how self-reported wellbeing maps directly to productivity in real work
Belonging > boss quality as a driver of retention—and how leaders actually build it
Caring vs. being nice: creating psychological and emotional safety without lowering the bar
A practical definition of strategy: know where you’re going, plan with rigor, pivot fast when reality disagrees

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Introduction

01:10 – Guest introduction and the case for feelings over dashboards

03:05 – “If you really know me…” and how Mark learned to lead from the heart

06:45 – Managing differently: proof from 25 years of top-performing teams

09:30 – Mark’s definition of strategy: plan hard, pivot faster

12:20 – Why wellbeing (not satisfaction) sets the stage for peak performance

15:10 – What wellbeing actually is—and why managers determine most of it

18:05 – Up to 95% of behavior is emotion-driven: implications for leaders

20:30 – Engagement stalled; the Oxford call-center study on wellbeing → productivity

25:40 – Caring vs. nice; HeartMath and the science of coherence

31:00 – Selecting and developing leaders who elevate others (not just individual stars)

36:10 – Belonging as the #1 driver of retention—and how to create it

39:20 – Where to start: know yourself, clarify values, design team-first systems

42:15 – Reward the team first (then individuals) to eliminate zero-sum competition

44:10 – How to keep learning from Mark + close

Additional Resources:

Website: https://markccrowley.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markccrowley
Books: Lead From the Heart; The Power of Employee Wellbeing
Podcast: Lead From the Heart

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Eddie Fishman is a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, adjunct professor of International & Public Affairs, and author of Choke Points: How the Global Economy Became a Weapon of War. A former U.S. State Department strategist, he served on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and led Russia/Europe sanctions policy—bringing a rare, in-the-room perspective to how economic power really works.

In this conversation, we trace how “choke points”—where one nation dominates and substitutes are scarce—have turned minerals, microchips, and money flows into the quiet weapons of great-power rivalry. Eddie unpacks the geo-economic “impossible trinity”—why you can’t maximize interdependence, economic security, and geopolitical calm all at once—and what that trade-off means for leaders making bets on AI, batteries, and supply chains.

Whether you’re steering strategy, procurement, or policy, this episode will change how you spot fragile dependencies, anticipate where pressure will build next, and engage policymakers before the rules harden around you.

In this episode we cover:

Why a true “choke point” = dominance plus low substitutability
The geo-economic impossible trinity and its implications for business strategy
Where the next choke points may emerge: AI compute, batteries/EVs, and the energy transition
The firm’s role: don’t just adapt to policy—shape it (how to engage upstream, practically)
Industrial policy realities: U.S. moves on rare earths and semis—benefits, risks, and tolerance for failure

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Cold open: rare earths and leverage

02:00 – Guest introduction and Eddie’s background

05:45 - Strategy as “winning tomorrow,” not just today

07:02 - Defining choke points (dominance + substitution)

11:20 - The “impossible trinity” explained with historical arcs

27:05 - Should firms adapt or shape policy?

30:05 - Emerging choke points: AI chips, batteries, EVs

38:05 - U.S. industrial policy (MP Materials, Intel) and what comes next

Additional Resources:

Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726149/chokepoints-by-edward-fishman/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/edwardfishman?lang=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-fishman

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Today we’re welcoming back our first-ever guest on the Outthinker Podcast, Scott Anthony—Senior Lecturer at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and one of the world’s leading voices on innovation and transformation. Formerly a senior partner at Innosight, the consultancy founded by Clayton Christensen, Scott has spent decades helping global organizations navigate disruption, build strategic resilience, and create new engines of growth. He’s also the author of eight acclaimed books, including The First Mile, Dual Transformation, and his newest work, Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World.

In this discussion, we uncover how disruption has driven human progress for centuries—long before the dawn of Silicon Valley. From the cannon fire that toppled ancient empires to the printing press that democratized knowledge, Scott shows that the forces behind disruption are anything but new. Through stories spanning from gunpowder to generative AI, he reveals how these enduring patterns continue to reshape industries, technologies, and societies today.

Listeners will walk away with a richer understanding of how to spot and harness disruption rather than fear it. Scott explains how leaders can use history as a practical playbook—learning to make bold, informed decisions in fast‑changing environments. Whether you’re scaling a business or steering an enterprise through transformation, this is a conversation about seeing beyond the moment to shape what comes next.

In this episode we cover:

What Clayton Christensen really meant by “disruptive innovation”
Why the term is so often misused—and how to tell sustaining vs disruptive innovation apart
The “ghosts” that haunt incumbents: past trauma, rigid habits, and identity fears that block change
What leaders can learn from the printing press, steel mini mills, and the iPhone
How to use history as a lens for seeing disruption before it strikes

Episode Timeline:

00:00 — Highlight from today’s episode
01:10 — Introducing Scott Anthony and today’s topic
04:00 — From consulting to academia: finding no “safe spaces” in the era of AI
09:00 — Defining strategy: “a set of choices to achieve a designed aim”
10:00 — Setting the record straight on Clayton Christensen’s theory
16:30 — Bethlehem Steel, emotional ghosts, and leadership through disruption
21:00 — From gunpowder to AI: how patterns keep repeating
25:00 — The printing press and the unintended consequences of innovation
30:00 — The hero’s journey of innovation—from Julia Child to Steve Jobs
37:00 — Spotting modern disruptors: AI, robotics, and additive manufacturing
41:00 — Where to learn more from Scott Anthony

Additional Resources:

Book Website: https://www.epicdisruptions.com
Scott Anthony’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdanthony/

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Adam Brotman is the former Chief Digital Officer of Starbucks and Co-CEO of J.Crew, and co‑author of the e‑book AI‑First: The Playbook for a Future‑Proof Business and Brand. At Starbucks, he helped create one of the most admired digital customer experiences in the world and was named Chief Digital Officer of the Year. Today, as co‑founder of Forum3, Adam helps executives navigate the next era of business transformation—one where AI is no longer optional, but foundational.

Over the past two years, Adam has interviewed some of the most influential voices shaping artificial intelligence—Bill Gates, Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, and Ethan Mollick, among others. Through those conversations, he’s uncovered what separates companies that simply experiment with AI from those that truly transform.

In this episode, we unpack what it really means to become an AI‑first leader—someone who doesn’t need to code or build models, but who develops the instinct and conviction to guide their teams into this new frontier.

In this episode we cover:

What it means to be an AI‑first CEO and why it starts with an authentic “aha moment.”
Bill Gates’ perspective on AI as a tool for qualitative uplift, not just productivity.
The idea of the “middle era” of AI—why it feels messy, and how visionary leaders navigate it.
Lessons from Starbucks’ shift from digital‑first to AI‑first thinking.
Why the real ROI of AI lies in better decisions, faster, across every function.

Episode Timeline:
00:00 — Highlight from today’s episode
01:15 — Introducing Adam + today’s topic
02:30 — The AI‑first mindset: where transformation really begins
06:00 — Bill Gates on why AI is bigger than any past tech shift
10:00 — Quantitative vs. qualitative productivity
12:00 — Inside “the middle era” of AI
16:00 — Defining the AI‑first company and leader
25:00 — Beyond ROI: reframing AI’s value
28:00 — Research insights: why AI improves decision quality
31:00 — From skepticism to the CEO’s “aha” moment
33:00 — What’s next after the middle era
38:00 — Closing reflections + how to keep learning from Adam

Additional Resources:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambrotman
Book & Company: https://www.forum3.com/ai-first-book

Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening.

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Our guest today is Julia Austin—former senior leader at Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean, with decades of experience helping organizations make the leap from startup to scale. She’s also studied and guided countless founders as a professor at Harvard Business School. Julia now distills those lessons in her new book, After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup.

In this conversation you’ll discover what separates ventures that thrive from those that stall. Every company begins with a spark, but too often innovators fall in love with ideas, overbuild too soon, or underestimate the hard realities of scaling and culture. Julia draws from experience spanning tech giants and countless startups to reveal how leaders can move from inspiration to momentum—and sustain innovation even as complexity grows.

You’ll learn practical frameworks and stories for transforming early insights into long-term impact. Whether you’re a founder, strategist, or innovator inside an established business, this conversation offers tools for approaching discovery, scaling, and culture design.

In this episode we cover:

Four types of scrappy experiments every innovator should run: ethnographic, “be the bot,” Wizard of Oz, and low fidelity prototypes
How to know if there’s really a there there in your market
Balancing beachheads and total addressable markets while keeping unit economics in check
Building competitive advantages through team, domain expertise, and partnerships
How to design org structures and cultures that reward experimentation and embrace productive failure

Episode Timeline:

00:00 — Highlight from today’s episode
01:18 — Introducing Julia Austin and today’s topic
04:45 — “If you really know me…” Julia’s art background
06:30 — Julia’s definition of strategy as a “living, breathing map”
09:15 — Lessons from Akamai and VMware on scaling from startup to global enterprise
14:50 — The importance of discovery: why slowing down helps you go faster
21:05 — Four types of experiments: ethnographic, be the bot, Wizard of Oz, low fidelity
33:40 — Testing markets: TAM, beachheads, and unit economics
42:20 — Building competitive advantage beyond the idea
49:15 — Designing cultures that keep innovation alive at scale
55:45 — Why celebrating failure fuels long-term breakthroughs
01:02:10 — Julia’s book After the Idea and how to connect with her

Additional Resources:

Book Website: https://www.aftertheideabook.com/
Julia Austin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaaustin

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Martin Reeves is Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute and author of The Imagination Machine and his newest book, Like: The Button That Changed the World. A prolific strategist and researcher, Martin is known for uncovering practical lessons from unexpected places and helping leaders rethink innovation for the real world.

In this conversation, we trace the surprising story of the “like” button—how a few lines of JavaScript, cultural quirks, and serendipitous accidents reshaped business models, advertising, and even human behavior. Martin reveals why most groundbreaking ideas don’t emerge from lone geniuses, but from messy communities, chance encounters, and recombinations of old ideas into something new.

Whether you’re leading innovation at scale or just curious about the unintended consequences of technology, this episode will change how you think about creativity, feedback, and the ripple effects of small decisions.

In this episode we cover:

Why the “like” button is the ultimate case study in serendipitous innovation
How social signals scale beyond social media into CX, commerce, and B2B services
The role of culture, language, and naming in shaping adoption and meaning
Why second-order effects of innovation often matter more than first-order ones
A practical lens for spotting and leveraging serendipity inside organizations

Episode Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
02:00 – Guest Introduction
03:45 – Toaster Projects and Innovation
06:13 - Origins of the Like Button
08:25 - Cultural History of the Thumbs Up Gesture
14:31 - Multiple Inventors and Facebook's Role
34:27 - Inside the Code: How Likes Work
36:11 - Future Implications of Like Technology

Additional Resources:

Book Website: LikeBook.org
Martin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-reeves
Book: Like: The Button That Changed the World

Thank you to our guest, Martin Reeves, our producers, and the Outthinkers team. If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorf — see you next time on The Outthinkers Podcast.

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Kurt Miscinski is the co-founder, CEO, and President of Cerity Partners, one of the fastest-growing firms in the wealth management space. Today, Cerity manages over $130 billion in client assets—but it started with a different vision: to create the first truly global, enduring professional services firm in wealth, drawing inspiration from firms like McKinsey and Deloitte, but applying it in a field that historically hasn’t operated that way.

In this conversation, Kurt shares how that vision came to life—not through consolidation, but through a partnership ethos and a language shift that reframed everything from equity to culture. This is a story of architecture: how to build a firm that scales without losing its soul, and how to align incentives, ownership, and strategy to fuel long-term value.

In this episode, we discuss:

How Kurt went from being a CPA and Deutsche Bank executive to founder of a firm redefining wealth advisory
Why Cerity’s operating model borrows more from McKinsey than Morgan Stanley—and how that unlocks scale
The strategic philosophy behind reinvesting 100% of profits and how it shaped the firm’s culture of ownership
How they use mergers to create a better firm, not just a bigger one—and why that distinction matters
The role of language in shaping culture, from avoiding the word “employee” to framing every merger as a partnership

Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
00:55—Introducing Kurt + the topic of today’s episode
02:42—If you really know me, you know that...
05:30—What's your definition of strategy?
06:19—Creating Cerity—the founding story
08:57—Deutsche Bank and McKinsey as inspirations for a services-based business model
16:33—How has Cerity created a culture of partnership within the firm?
26:34—What is Cerity's model for capital allocation?
30:21—Where does the strategy office sit within the organization?
33:33—What are some of the principles that form your competitive differentiators?
37:03—How do you balance and maintain the coordination of the various services offered, as your clients evolve and grow?
41:03—What is your process for reevaluating and expanding your client services?
45:08—Closing

______________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtmiscinski
Cerity website: https://ceritypartners.com/

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This special episode of Outthinkers was recorded in front of a live audience in NYC and made possible by our friends at LHH, a global leader in HR advisory and talent solutions, trusted by executives around the world to navigate change and lead with confidence. With deep expertise in executive search, leadership development, workforce transformation, and career transition, LHH empowers organizations and their leaders to thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape.

Our guest is none other than Oscar Munoz—former CEO and Chairman of United Airlines, who guided the airline through one of the most significant turnarounds in corporate history. He’s also the author of the acclaimed memoir Turnaround Time, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the human side of executive leadership.

In this candid conversation, Oscar shares deeply personal lessons on leading through crisis, building trust from the ground up, and the enduring power of authenticity. Whether you're leading your organization through change or navigating a career transition, this conversation offers wisdom and inspiration for every step of the journey.

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Ryan Hamilton is an associate professor of marketing at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and co-author of The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things. He is also co-host of the podcast The Intuitive Customer, and author of a book by the same name.He has consulted on branding with companies like Walmart, FedEx, Home Depot, Caterpillar, ConAgra, Cigna, Visa, and Ipsos, among others.

To start a successful brand, you usually need to focus in on a specific, often niche, customer. But to grow the brand, you need to expand your customer base. A few brands have done this well (e.g., Starbucks or Apple) which have this loyal passionate base of fans that stick with them as the brands become ubiquitous. But, more often, brands fail to scale because the new customer they need in order to scale are too different from those core customers. They have different values or needs or beliefs.

In this episode, we dive into this dilemma, discussing how to predict, preempt, and manage the conflicts that will arise between a brand’s initial customers and the more varied customer segments it must attract in order to scale.

In this episode we cover:

This concept of “CSRM”—customer segment relationship management”
Examples of companies who have managed the growth dilemma well and those that have not—and what insights we can draw
A practical framework outlining the four types of customer relationship scenarios you may be facing, and what strategies to deploy for each one
How brands must be intentional about the type of value they offer

Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:14—Introducing Ryan + the topic of today’s episode
03:44—If you really know me, you know that...
05:12—What's your definition of strategy?
05:52—The basis for Ryan's second book, The Growth Dilemma
08:34—Breaking down an "identity of culture," within a brand
11:07—Have brands moved from functional to identity-based culture?
15:30—The concept of CSRM: Customer Segment Relationships Management (and the 2 x 2 matrix)
25:25—Breaking down the different types of customer segment conflicts
38:07—How do you know when you need to "fire" a customer segment?
41:19—How do the principles talked about in this episode apply to the employee segments?
43:30—How does the age of hyper-customization affect customer relationship management?
46:02—How can people continue learning from you?______________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-hamilton-49b3321/
Book website: https://www.growthdilemmabook.com/

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Gina O’Connor is a professor at Babson College, where she teaches on the topics of Corporate Entrepreneurship and Breakthrough Innovation in large mature companies. Previously, she had a long career at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Gina has co-authored three award-winning books on Breakthrough Innovation and published numerous papers in leading journals including Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, RTM and Journal of Product Innovation Management, among others.

Her mission is to help large established companies learn how to renew themselves through organic growth via game-changing, strategic innovation. She is a firm believer that to be successful, organizations must develop an innovation function, complete with its own people, processes, metrics and culture that operates within the company to translate emerging science, technology and business models into new platforms of growth that will fuel the company’s future health in spite of itself.

In this discussion, we fashion our conversation by following her fascinating journey through three distinct phases of studies over years of research—the foundation of her books—that evolved as her research revealed new findings. Our conversation covers more than we can summarize in this short introduction, but among these insights we discuss:

What her team’s research discovered are the constraints to innovation—and they’re more often beyond just technical, contrary to what many think
The three distinct competencies of innovation—discovery, incubation, and scaling—that businesses must develop, each with different people, processes, and metrics
The concept of “domains of innovation intent,”—untapped new markets in which a company can explore and potentially unlock a wide portfolio of opportunities
The key learnings leaders should take away from her team’s extensive studies to tackle an often-overlooked component of innovation: talent management

Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:14—Introducing Gina + the topic of today’s episode
03:36—A quick summation of Gina's three books—and the research phases within each one
10:59—The second phase of research and book: capabilities
18:10—A case study that led to discovering "domains of innovation intent"
20:26—The third phase of research and book: talent management
24:07—Flipping failures into a portfolio of opportunities
27:10—Ecosystems as a byproduct of innovation
32:27—How are the concepts of an agile workforce and upskilling interrelated?
36:25—What does a leader need to think about to successfully lead these changes?
40:15—How can people continue learning from you?

______________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-o-connor-047b862/
Link to books

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Robert E. Siegel is a lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he has taught various courses ranging from Systems Leadership to Financial Management for Entrepreneurs to The Industrialist’s Dilemma to Corporations, Finance and Governance in the Global Economy. He is also a Venture Partner at Piva Capital and a General Partner at XSeed Capital, and sits on multiple Boards of Directors and has led investments in Zooz, Cirrosecure, and Lex Machina, among others.

His multi-lens background and approach have afforded Robert a deep, intricate understanding into leadership in our constantly in flux world today, and how it requires an ever-more nuanced approach.

In this discussion, we dive into key insights from his most recent 2025 book, The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross Pressures that Make or Break Today’s Companies, a perfect complement to his first book, The Brains and Brawn Company. We discuss the constant web of dualities that the modern systems leader confronts on an ongoing basis, as well as:

How while our business frameworks have long been trending towards change-driven frameworks with terms like “ambidextrous organization” and “exploitation vs. exploration,” world parameters have grown increasingly complex, requiring a different set of leadership skills
The key characteristics of a systems leader, including the 5 cross-pressures that these leaders must learn to balance to be effective.
The four abilities that leaders must develop, including developing a product manager mindset—the ability to live at the intersection of customer needs, market demands, and the inner workings of your company

Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:30—Introducing Robert + the topic of today’s episode
05:32—If you really know me, you know that...
07:48—What is your definition of strategy?
08:44—An overview of Robert's first book, The Brains and Brawn Company
15:30—What are some key questions in your toolkit to become better at self-diagnostics
17:50—Can you explain your quote: "leadership is ability to restrain in response to a certain stimulus"?
21:30—Can you define a systems leader for us?
23:42—What can we learn from the product manager's mindset?
25:35—Can you give us an overview of the 5 cross-pressures leaders face?
29:28—How is the landscape of investors changing under these pressures?
32:25—The effect of AI on the workforce, and the role of leaders
37:45—What is your advice to someone looking to shape strategy in light of these cross-pressures?
40:39—How can people continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertesiegel/
Link to website: https://www.robertesiegel.com/the-systems-leader

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In this episode, we are joined by Brendan Rosseau and Matthew Weinzierl co-authors of Space to Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier. This episode is a journey, metaphorically speaking, into the beyond: outer space itself.

Matthew is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and the Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA program, where his award-winning research and teaching focus on economic policy and the business of space. He is the founder of the Economics of Space project at HBS and serves as an adviser on space to government agencies, companies, and investors.

Brendan is a recognized leader in the space industry. He works in strategy at Blue Origin (the space company wholly owned by Jeff Bezos). He previously served as a teaching fellow and research associate at Harvard Business School and as a consultant to the U.S. Space Force. He is dedicated to using space technologies to bring about a more prosperous, peaceful, equitable and exciting future.

In this episode, we explore the boundaries, and intersection, of fundamental laws of economics within the context of the rapidly developing space industry or market. We also glean insights on how other markets have and will evolve: the automobile industry, ecommerce, precision farming and potentially the economies around AI or blockchain.

If we understand these underlying economic forces, we can more accurately anticipate when and how such new markets will emerge and, in the case of space, it may be coming much sooner than most of us outside of the space industry think.

In this episode, we discuss:

How the space industry and space technology have the potential to—and will—disrupt many business industries as we know them today
The fascinating evolution of NASA as a government-funded R&D entity to a private sector ‘market creator’ acting as a “customer among many customers” so they can pave the way for space innovation
The fundamental economic laws that govern how the space industry will evolve—and how markets here on earth will evolve as well
The near-term financial opportunities you may not be thinking of that are providing a kind of economic bridge from private sector actors (who need near-term profit) and long-term players (like the government or large corporations who have the funding to pursue the opportunities offered by the moon and Mars)
How the rapid formation of a space industry will directly impact companies in nearly every sector, even those with no obvious connection to space

Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:28—Introducing Matthew and Brendan + the topic of today’s episode
05:37—If you really know me, you know that...
07:03—What is your definition of strategy?
09:14—What are near-term opportunities the space industry will open?
12:15—Some use cases of revenue opportunities from space
17:39—Introducing the Evergreen '7 Ps'
19:40—How has the role of NASA changed over time?
29:26—What are things that need to be in place to realize the market of space?
32:14—The governing laws of space
37:32—How will competition of the space markets unfold?
40:17—What movies or books "get it

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Dave Whorton is a tech investor and founder who spent 20 years of his career at the highest levels of Silicon Valley venture capital and tech startups. At the preeminent tech venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, he worked directly with John Doerr for several years. He cofounded four companies, including drugstore.com and Good Technology.

This episode is longer than our usual shorter format—and with good reason. It's about companies that last longer. We dive deep into the world of evergreen businesses—those built to adapt and grow profitably for 100 years and more. Think of these as the direct juxtaposition to venture capital-funded enterprises—where those are built with the sole intention of selling, going public or shutting down if not performing, evergreen businesses are built to endure.

In 2013, Dave founded Tugboat Institute to connect, support, and inspire purpose-driven leaders of these businesses, and this upcoming May 2025, Dave, with Bo Burlingham, releases Another Way: Building Companies that Last...and Last...and Last. In this episode, we uncover some of the most profound insights from his book, so many of which fly in the face of current, common, dogmas around innovation and entrepreneurship, including:

Why the companies VCs most often tout today as exemplars of greatness (Google, Microsoft) took very little VC funding—and why you should probably avoid VC investors as well
The fact that the size of venture capital market has exploded multifold since 1999 and what that means for nature of how businesses are built and operate today
The “Evergreen 7Ps” that characterize these companies, and specific case studies and examples of companies that live these values. Two of my favorites:
- They pace their growth—and avoid hyperscaling
- They pursue pragmatic innovation, rather than radical breakthrough innovation

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:02—Introducing Dave + the topic of today’s episode
03:19—If you really know me, you know that...
06:23—What is your definition of strategy?
09:00—Explaining the evolution of venture capital in the past 50 years
12:02—The pitfalls of taking venture capital
17:39—Introducing the Evergreen '7 Ps'
24:12—How to know if a business' pace of growth is healthy
26:50—People as a critical part of your strategy
33:58—Pragmatic innovation in evergreen businesses
38:53—What public companies could adopt from the 7 Ps to behave more like evergreen businesses
45:00—How can people can keep learning from you?
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Additional Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davewhorton/
Link to book: https://www.tugboatinstitute.com/anotherway/
The Tugboat Institute: https://www.tugboatinstitute.com/

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Cindy Anderson is the Chief Marketing Officer/Global Lead for Engagement & Eminence at the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV). Cindy has co-authored research reports, published numerous articles, and delivered presentations on thought leadership, diversity, strategy implementation, project management, and technology to global audiences.

She is a founding board member of the Global Thought Leadership Institute at APQC, a new association that advances the practice of thought leadership, and as you heard in the highlight clip, she is passionate about helping organizations quantify the tangible benefits and critical role of thought leadership. In this episode we dive into her just-published book The ROI of Thought Leadership: Calculating the Value that Sets Organizations Apart, which she co-authored with Anthony Marshall. As you know, almost every guest we have on this podcast is a thought-leader in some form and in this episode we get to actually explore the topic of thought-leadership itself.

In this episode we discuss the role of thought leadership, and its interrelation to an organization's various branches through highlights from her book The ROI of Thought Leadership.

In this episode, Cindy shares:

How thought leadership is in fact, quantifiable, and what her organization’s research reveals are the top metrics that indicate the value delivered
How organizations can leverage thought leadership to grow their brand’s authority and credibility—and what to avoid in damaging it
The types of content you can deliver in thought leadership, with pointed markers of what makes good content (as well as what formats are in or out among content consumers)
The role of GenAI within thought leadership—and why it cannot (and to a degree must not) be taken as thought leadership itself

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:14—Introducing Cindy + the topic of today’s episode
03:55—If you really know me, you know that...
06:05—What is your definition of strategy?
07:20—Quantifying thought leadership
11:30—Three core metrics for evaluating thought leadership
13:40—Thought leadership’s role in reaching ecosystems and partners
15:40—Placement of thought leadership in organizations
19:01—Key aspects of good content
21:18—Independence and trust as critical success levers
24:05—The enduring value of PowerPoint, books, and print for executives
26:55—The role of AI in thought leadership
33:05—Content portfolio for thought leadership
36:45—Individual vs. organizational thought leadership
39:35—Key takeaway on thought leadership’s value
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Additional Resources:LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/clwanderson48
Link to book: Thought Leadership

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Faisal Hoque is recognized as one of the world’s leading management thinkers and technologists. He is an award-winning entrepreneur and innovator, and a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author with close to thirty years of cross-industry success.

Faisal is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, along with a host of other companies, and serves as a transformation and innovation partner for CACI, an $8 billion company focused on U.S. national security.

Along with his extensive successful career in technology and innovation, and with ten previous bestselling books under his belt, his newest book, Transcend: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI, dives into the philosophical and far-reaching implications of the evolution of AI alongside humanity.

In this episode, we discuss:

The metaphorical evolution of AI from being another technological tool to becoming a strategic partner—working alongside humankind as an extension to it
Faisal’s complementary OPEN and CARE frameworks, which work in tandem to provide clear guidelines for how to both adopt and harness AI
The pitfalls to watch out for, and risks we may encounter as AI becomes even more integrated into society than it is today—as well as how to mitigate these and approach the future with proper guardrails in place

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:21—Introducing Faisal + the topic of today’s episode
04:03—If you really know me, you know that...
05:36—What is your definition of strategy?
06:37—Purpose as an authentic calling creating value
08:15—Creating vs. discovering purpose
09:37—The myth of top-down strategy
11:32—On the book 'Transcend'
15:26—Evolving metaphors for AI
16:50—Humanity's reaction to AI
20:04—The OPEN/CARE framework
26:08—Creating a human future
28:35—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?__________________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:Personal website: faisalhoque.com LinkedIn: faisalhoque
X: faisal_hoque
Link to book: Transcend: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI

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JoAnn Garbin isa sustainability and technology innovator with a 25-year track record of leading teams “from nothing to something to scale,” creating numerous innovative products and profitable businesses. Her career predates the concept of climate change, and her long career in sustainability combined with her tenure at Microsoft as Director of Innovation in Microsoft’s cloud business, have given her ample insight, into how innovation can and should be a repeatable scalable process.

In this episode, we discuss highlights from The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft, a book co-written between Joann and Dean Carignan, who among his long and rich career has spent 20 years at Microsoft, guiding new businesses—including the early internet division, Xbox, and multiple AI efforts—through the critical growth phases to their first billion dollars in revenue. More than just insights and case studies into how Microsoft has woven innovation into the fabric of their ecosystem, Joann shares with us a proven framework to innovation.

In this podcast, we discuss:

How innovation cycles mirror nature’s adaptative processes—constantly regenerating from the ashes, much like companies must continually innovate to curtail disruption
A breakdown of the four innovation patterns that each provide specific tools and strategies for effective innovation
How innovation is—contrary to common belief—beyond technology, able to happen through business models, customer experience, and non-tech-oriented areas
Some fascinating insider examples of how Microsoft learned critical lessons through successes and failures in various products lines—like the Xbox, Bing, and more

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:28—Introducing JoAnn+ the topic of today’s episode
03:35—If you really know me, you know that...
05:12—What is your definition of strategy?
07:01—Why the book isn’t just about Microsoft
09:10—The four patterns of innovation
10:31—JoAnn's background in sustainability
13:01—The meaning of regenerative sustainability?
13:50—Is having a bold goal necessary for innovation
16:13—Pattern I: Innovating every day means
17:52—How to innovate every day in practice
20:35—Pattern II: Innovating over the years
23:55—Pattern III: Innovating with everyone
26:54—An example of innovating with everyone
29:05—Enabling boundary crossers to connect
32:04—Pattern IV: Innovating beyond technology
33:38—Going against conventional wisdom
36:22—Defining BXT (business experience technology)
37:50—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?__________________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:Personal website: www.joanngarbin.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joanngarbin
Link to book: The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft

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Peter Compo is the author of The Emergent Approach to Strategy: Adaptive Design & Execution. Unlike many strategists from universities and consulting firms, Compo builds his groundbreaking work first as a musician and a scientist (he holds a doctorate in Chemical Engineering), and then gained experience in the “corporate trenches” at DuPont.

Hired as a research scientist, he held leadership positions in product, marketing, supply chain, and business management where he served as the Director of DuPont Ventures, focusing on new business ventures, and later as the Director of Corporate Integrated Business Planning, where he was responsible for overseeing the company's strategic planning processes. His varied background and passions inspired his unique perspective that business—particularly business strategy—often mirrors science and music, inspiring him to write The Emergent Approach.

Peter’s mission is to create a new level of clarity on strategy by debunking the idea that strategy is cascading and top-down. Instead, his concept of “emergent” strategy proposes that strategic planning is agile, constantly transforming as new information and situations present themselves.

In this podcast, we discuss:

How strategy, similarly to evolution and scientific breakthroughs, isn’t just selecting what works, but rather a series of discarding what doesn’t work
How execution isn't just about following a list and getting good results — but rather adhering to a strategy until new information proves the hypothesis or framework is wrong
How leaders can help facilitate and guide strategic direction across teams and functions without putting too many constraints that hinder performance
A preview of techniques and tools from his book that leaders can apply to jumpstart the emergent approach in defining your strategy

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:23—Introducing Peter + the topic of today’s episode
04:30—If you really know me, you know that...
06:20—What is your definition of strategy?
07:44—Can two organizations with the same goals have different strategies?
08:51—The meaning of "Emergent"
09:40—How did your background in music and science lead you to strategy?
13:22—Peter's musical background
14:25—Strategy mirroring music: structure precedes improvisation
17:24—Strategy is more than just goals and execution
18:26—Trade-offs between departments require strategic guidance
23:05—Strategy helps resolve conflicts between business functions
27:22—Lessons from sports: the role of strategy in team coordination
31:32—Strategic adaptation and innovation
33:37—Entrepreneurs and scientists share an obsession with solving bottlenecks
35:34—Strategy should focus on internalization
38:24—Five disqualifiers to test if you really have a strategy
42:35—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?__________________________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:Personal website: https://emergentapproach.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/petercompo/
Link to book:

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Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is author of Powered by Projects, Leading Organizations in the Transformation Age, the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook, the featured HBR article The Project Economy Has Arrived, as well as five other books. Antonio coined the concept "the Project Economy," on which his book is based. His research and global impact have been recognized and included in the top 50 most influential management thought leaders by Thinkers50. He is the fellow and Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, currently VP of the APM Association, he is the creator of the Brightline Initiative, founder of Projects&Co, and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute.

Antonio is a prominent advocate of the idea that our business model paradigms are quickly changing—the future of work is the Project Economy, the idea that instead of companies based on hierarchy and operations, they will be dominated by project-driven teams and environments.

This premise has a profound impact on every area of a business—and strategy, management and every department of each enterprise will need to adapt accordingly.

In this episode we discuss:

How digitalization and the acceleration of AI has compounded this quick change from a focus on operations and repetitive work to quick execution, project-driven teams
How by 2030, 70% of work will be project-based work, fundamentally changing how businesses are structured and managed.
How the era of hierarchal org structure hinders growth in this new era, as successful project execution depends on co-creation and stakeholder buy-in
How the role of the PMO will change from being operations-driven to more strategic, and how you can best support these roles in the transition

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:31—Introducing Antonio + the topic of today’s episode
04:14—If you really know me, you know that...
05:03—What is your definition of strategy?
06:12—The difference between strategy and execution
07:40—Understanding the project economy
10:43—The shift from operations to projects in organizations
12:18—The cross-functional nature of projects
14:44—The future of the PMO office
17:20—Creating intensity in organizations
20:36—Common mistakes leaders make in executing strategy
24:06—Motivation for writing "Powered by projects"
26:36—Key insights from Antonio’s leadership sessions
28:30—How can people follow you and continue learning from you? ______________________________________________________________________________________
Additional Resources:

Personal website: antonionietorodriguez.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/antonionietorodriguez
Link to book: Powered by Projects

Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook: How to Launch, Lead, and Sponsor Successful Projects (HBR Handbooks)

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Devin DeCiantis is theco-author, with Ivan Lansberg, of the 2024 book THE ENDURING ENTERPRISE: How Family Businesses Thrive in Turbulent Condition.He is a Managing Partner at Lansberg Gersick Advisors (LGA), an advisory and educational partner trusted by many of the world’s largest family enterprises.

Devin’s work and focus is on the financial, organizational, and strategic aspects of this business structure—the family enterprise. Devin brings his background in corporate strategy, economic analysis and investment banking to his work with these family businesses, family offices and family foundations.

Several unique attributes family businesses set them apart from the various corporate forms, public or private, corporations or LLCs or partnership. Many of these differences build a natural immunity and competitive advantage of sorts that traditional corporations struggle to build.

In this episode, we discuss some the key findings in his book, including:

What enduring lessons family businesses can teach regular corporations about planning for not just quarters, but quarter-centuries
The unique advantages—and weaknesses—of family businesses, whose longevity often span decades, or even centuries
The unique role family businesses play in economies, especially in markets like South Asia, East Asia, and Latin America
The 7 stabilizing strategies that these businesses employ effectively, as they often are built amidst emerging and frontier economies where basic infrastructure and resources are often lacking

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:31—Introducing Devin + the topic of today’s episode
03:29—If you really know me, you know that...
04:20—What is your definition of strategy?
06:30—Historical context of family owned businesses
08:55—Examples of major family owned businesses
10:58—What motivated Devin to study family businesses
13:08—Family owned businesses in more volatile environments
16:06—7 stabilizing strategies family owned businesses consistently deploy
17:51—Differentiation strategy
20:31—Resilience in family-owned enterprises
23:08—Modularity as core driver of growth and stability
26:33—How family owned businesses benefit from modularity
29:26—How non-family-owned organizations can leverage modularity
31:24—Strategic redundancy in family owned businesses
33:44—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devindeciantis
Link to book: THE ENDURING ENTERPRISE

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Sandra Matz is the David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, in New York, where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Advanced Technology and Human Performance.

As a computational social scientist with a background in psychology and computer science, Sandra studies human behavior and preferences using a combination of big data analytics and traditional experimental methods. Her research, and the topic of this podcast, uncovers the hidden relationships between our digital lives and our psychology with the goal of helping businesses and individuals make better and more ethical decisions.

We dive into some fascinating insights from her January 2025 book, MINDMASTERS: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior, exploring the concept she coined of “psychological targeting,” a discipline that reveals how our digital footprints expose intimate aspects of our psychology and can be used to shape decisions—from what we buy to how we vote.

In this podcast, we delve into this topic, discussing:

How digital technologies and AI are giving us unprecedented abilities to understand and target specific people in specific states
The profound implications, for better or worse, of this capability
Some exciting—and concerning—examples of what this might look like, from diagnosing mental health to crafting highly-personalized automated marketing campaigns
How this hyper-personalization and new AI has the potential to influence, change and even control our behaviors
What companies can learn from Apple’s “Evil Steve” test in designing products and experiences to safeguard future ethical misuse of data
A glimpse into what could be a solution to the ethical dilemma of the capabilities Sandra studies: federated learning—a new form of data modeling that protects the individual’s data while delivering high-quality insights

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:26—Introducing Sandra+ the topic of today’s episode
03:48—If you really know me, you know that...
04:26—What is your definition of strategy?
05:10—The two steps of psychological targeting
06:05—What has changed in how psychological targeting is implemented?
08:41—How can we differentiate extroverts from introverts?
10:09—The manners in which psychological targeting can be intrusive
10:55—Replicating old-school communication online
12:30—Dynamic personality states
15:52—What are 'good' applications of psychological targeting?
18:19—How organizations can ensure they use psychological targeting ethically
20:40—Safe ways to collect data without compromising individual privacy
23:05—Can psychological targeting influence internal company behavior?
25:42—How companies can align themselves with diverse individual identities
26:48—What skills and capabilities should organizations develop to adapt to AI-driven personalization?
26:26—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:Personal website: sandramatz.com
Link to book: MINDMASTERS

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Ethan Mollick, is the Ralph J. Roberts Distinguished Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies the effects of artificial intelligence on work, entrepreneurship, and education. His academic research has been published in leading journals, and his work on AI is widely applied, leading him to be named one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence. Ethan also writes to a wider audience about AI, including in his book, Co-Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller.

In addition to his research and teaching, Ethan is the Co-Director of the Generative AI Labs at Wharton, which build prototypes and conduct research to discover how AI can help humans thrive while mitigating risks. Prior to his time in academia, Ethan co-founded a startup company, and he advises numerous organizations. He received his PhD and MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

In this episode, we discuss:

What people get wrong when people think about how AI will shape the workforce.
What he calls the 'Centaur versus Cyborg' approach—the misconception that work must be divided between humans and AI, rather than completed in unison.
What preliminary studies, in the past few years between organizations like BCG, Harvard, and MIT, have to tell us about how AI powers human productivity and work itself.
What history teaches us about adopting new technologies like AI to maintain a competitive edge.

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:07—Introducing Ethan+ the topic of today’s episode
03:04—If you really know me, you know that...
03:24—Ethan's background and journey into AI
04:53—What is your definition of strategy?
06:20—Common misconceptions about AI's impact on the workforce
07:46—AI's capabilities compared to humans, particularly in creativity
10:03—The best way to use AI for idea generation
10:37—AI's role in the different stages of strategy development
13:12—The BCG study on AI's impact on consulting work Bring Us Together
13:58—The concept of Agentive AI
14:48—Lessons from past general purpose technology adoptions
16:33— The need for organizational redesign in the age of AI
19:18—The impact of AI on profit distribution across industries
20:40—AI's role in identifying market needs and finding solutions
22:38—The importance of experimentation with AI
24:50—Addressing the issue of AI's unexplainable solutions

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Additional Resources:
Link to book: Co-Intelligence Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/emollick
Substack: @oneusefulthing
X: emollick

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Andrew Hill, is senior business writer at the Financial Times and consulting editor, Financial Times Live. He is author of Ruskinland (2019), about the enduring influence of Victorian thinker John Ruskin and Leadership in the Headlines, a collection of Andrew’s his columns.

We were quite lucky to be able to corral Andrew to have a conversation with us, and I'd be remiss not to preface this podcast by pointing out that rather than our typical format of diving into one author's ideas, framework and thinking around business trends, in this episode, we get a chance to glean insights multiple books and from his experiencing curating the best business books of the year for the Financial Times.

In this episode, we journey through this year's FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2024, getting an "insider look" into the year’s roundup. We also get to explore how the best business book lists has evolved over the years and what this means for the present and future of business.

Andrew’s long tenure made for an interesting conversation into more niche topics, leading even to what John Ruskin—a Victorian Polymath from the 1800s—would have thought of particular trends highlighted in this collection of books in the modern era.

In this podcast, we discuss:

Has the purpose of the coporation changed? Should we move beyond being purely profit-motivated?
Whether the relentless pursuit of economic growth is sustainable or even desirable, given environmental and social constraints
Could tribalism, which is often seen as divisive, be a force for collaboration and innovation and unity?
How the increase in human longevity may require us to rethink life stages and adopt a 'multi-stage life' model, blending careers, education, and leisure throughout a lifetime
Andrew's own journey at the Financial Times, and how the Best Business Books list was established and has evolved over time.

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:26—Introducing Andrew + the topic of today’s episode
03:45—If you really know me, you know that...
05:31—What is your definition of strategy?
06:52—History and purpose of the FT Business Book of the Year Awards
08:16— Criteria and process for selecting the books
11:36— Comparing 2024 submissions with previous years and emerging trends
16:20— Discussion of The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century
17:58— Navigating the ESG debate and long-term thinking
21:41—Discussion of Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together
24:32— Andrew Hill highlights Andrew Scott's insights into living and thriving in a longer lifespan
27:48— Discussion of Growth: A Reckoning
31:02— Connecting the themes and a reflection on John Ruskin's perspective
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Additional Resources:
Link to book: Ruskinland Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewtghill
X: https://x.com/andrewtghill

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Dr. Marcus Collins is an award-winning marketer and cultural translator, the former chief strategy officer at Wieden+Kennedy, New York, and a marketing professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Marcus knows how to build an enthusiastic culture around brands and products and services. He ran digital strategy for the pop star Beyoncé, worked on iTunes + Nike sports music initiatives at Apple, including Beats by Dr. Dre. He is an inductee into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement and a recipient of the Thinkers50 Radar Distinguished Achievement Award for the idea most likely to shape the future of business management. His strategies and creative contributions have led to the launch and success of McDonald’s cultural resurgence, Google’s “Real Tone” technology, and the “Made In America” music festival.

Marcus’ work centers squarely that linkage between brand and culture. In this podcast, we dive deep into highlights from his best-selling book, For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be.

We discuss:

The impact of culture on consumption, and how businesses can leverage this to influence behaviors
How people align behaviors with self-identity—making ideological alignment a key factor in brand adoption (think Apple, Nike)
Some key tactics—such as targeting fringe groups to create network effects that impact behaviors organically—to reach more audiences
The role that beliefs, artifacts, language, and behaviors play in shaping culture

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
00:49—Introducing Marcus + the topic of today’s episode
03:45—What's the definition of culture?
05:00—How and why do brands like Nike use culture as a tool for their customer base
08:23—The three systems that define culture
12:58—How organizations can successfully build internal cultural identity
16:31—Creating an inclusive identity
20:11—Leveraging network effects and cultural production
23:32—Finding early adopters for cultural diffusion
25:05—Brand loyalty vs. transactional relationships
27:35—Building a cultural movement and avoiding the targeting trap
30:31—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal website: www.marctothec.com
Link to book: For The Culture Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marctothec
X: marctothec

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JP Pawliw-Fry, is world-renowned keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling author, also coaches Navy Seals, professional athletes and their coaches on high performance.

As the founder of IHHP and an expert in culture, leadership, and emotional intelligence, JP has helped some of the most successful Fortune 100 companies unlock their potential by fostering courageous, high-performing cultures.

JPs research has led him to help organizations cultivate high-performing cultures by enabling employees to overcome fear and feel valued, have a voice, and feel safe to take risks and be courageous.

Based on his insights from his book, Performing Under Pressure, we discuss the intersection of culture with individual psychology to create high-performing cultures.

In this episode, JP shares:

How pressure—and specifically cortisol—affects our perception, and why the idea that we work better under pressure...is a fallacy
His theory of the 8% gap—how humans are programmed to perform well in 92% of cases, and then switch into “avoid or make a mess” mode when we get to the last 8%
How you as a leader and organization can enable people operate in that 8%
Why the right unit of measure of culture is not your organization or even your business unit, but your team (and the implications of this are for culture change)
A interesting model for assessing culture

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
00:58—Introducing JP+ the topic of today’s episode
02:53—If you really know me, you know that...
03:35—Defining strategy and the role of culture
05:52—Teaching as a catalyst for deeper learning and personal growth
08:12—How team culture is forged: the role of pressure and cortisol
10:33—Understanding the last 8 percent
14:34—Bridging the gap between intent and action
17:46—The 8 percent culture map
19:58—Risk-taking and its connection to innovation and performance
22:30—Debunking myths about pressure and performance
26:15—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal website: www.jppawliw-fry.com
Link to book: Performing Under Pressure Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jppawliwfry

Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

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Oscar Munoz, is the former CEO and Chairman of United Airlines. Oscar has led an accomplished career, spanning senior financial positions at Coca-Cola, Pepsico, AT&T, and US West. He also served as President and COO of North American rail-based transportation giant CSX Corp. He is also an independent trustee for Fidelity and a CNBC Contributor.

A first-generation college graduate with degrees from the University of Southern California and Pepperdine, he was twice honored by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of its ‘100 Most Influential Hispanics’, honoring his journey as an immigrant who is the first person of Hispanic heritage to run a U.S. airline.

In this conversation, we get to glean Oscar’s incredible insights from his Wall Street Journal best-selling memoir, Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and its Employees in the Friendly Skies. Having joined United, he had quite a task ahead of him, uniting the very fragmented workforce the airline faced at the time. At the core of this immense turnaround was Oscar’s steadfast belief, that employees are as important as customers and shareholders in ensuring a business succeeds.

In this podcast we discuss:

His journey throughout his career that brought him to United, and the insightful takeaways on leadership he gleaned along the way
His human-first approach in taking over the reins, which put each and every employee at the core of United transformation
The Core4 policy that emphasizes each employee operate by the four pillars of safe, caring, dependable and efficient, emphasizing the human part of customer service over business objectives

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
01:14—Introducing Oscar+ the topic of today’s episode
04:45—If you really know me, you know that...
05:52—How Oscar's core values were shaped
07:32—What is your definition of strategy
13:11—Oscar gives insights into how he became CEO of United
19:22— Oscar steps into the CEO role
24:12— Economic factors shaping airline strategy
26:58—The Core4 policy as a strategy for growth
35:12— Bottom-up leadership: building a company from the employee level
38:10—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:Personal website: oscar-munoz.com
Link to book: Turnaround Time Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/oscarmunozua
Instagram: www.instagram.com/oscarmunoz

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David Edelman is a Harvard Business School Fellow and Executive Advisor at BCG. David spent over 30 years as a chief marketing officer at Aetna/CVS, as well as building consultancy businesses in digital and marketing transformation while with McKinsey, Digitas, and BCG. He now teaches marketing at Harvard Business School and serves as an advisor to top executives in startups, private equity, and larger enterprises.

In this discussion, we dive into David’s book, Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI, coauthored with Mark Abraham, which helps executives learn how to put personalization at the center of their strategy, accelerate growth, and capture their share of the value personalization creates.

In this episode, he shares:

How personalization has radically shifted in the past decades to create unique value for customers, going beyond just marketing.
How data and AI play a pivotal role in this shift, governed by ecosystems where companies collaborate to deliver solutions rather than just products
The five promises businesses should focus on to seize the personalization advantage: empower me, know me, reach me, show me, and delight me
How to measure your solutions’ effectiveness with a custom Personalization index tool

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:00—Introducing David+ the topic of today’s episode
3:20—If you really know me, you know that...
4:25—What is your definition of strategy
05:05—The true meaning of personalization
06:55—A surprising experience in personalization
10:04—Technological advances enabling personalization
13:10—Ecosystem-based personalized solutions
17:40—The five promises of personalization
21:25—Starting with empowerment before data collection
23:34—The sequential implementation of personalization
26:41—Measuring personalization effectiveness with a personalization index
30:06—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal website: www.edelmanadvisoryservices.com
Link to book: Personalized: Customer Strategy in the Age of AI Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/daveedelman

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Rebecca Homkes, is a high-growth strategy expert and CEO and executive advisor. She is a Lecturer at London Business School, Faculty at Duke Corporate Executive Education, Advisor and Faculty at the Boston Consulting Group focused on AI and Digital Transformation and a former fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance.

A global keynote speaker and recognized thought leader, she is also the global Faculty Director of the Active Learning Program with the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), leads several fintech accelerators, and serves on the boards of many high-growth companies.

Rebecca's multifaceted roles give us a uniquely wide and deep perspective on how companies grow. Her work challenges us to realize that the mechanical, linear paradigm of strategy making that has dominated the field for the last 60-odd years cannot deliver sustained growth in volatility of today’s rapidly-changing world. She shares an alternative approach in her 2024 book Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times.

In this conversation, we dive into some of her powerful techniques around arming your company with the right mindset for the right time, and building a company that can learn and adapt through change.

In this podcast, Rebecca shares:

An insightful and concise overview of her "survive, reset, thrive" framework
Why we should think of growth is loop not a line
How to embed continuous learning loops in which you test, gaining insights, implement and share, and the iterating for improvement
What uncertainty represents a great time to grow—and how to seize this opportunity

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:06—Introducing Rebecca + the topic of today’s episode
3:23—If you really know me, you know that...
4:32—What is your definition of strategy
05:10—The "survive, reset, thrive" framework
8:30—The learning loop vs. linear thinking
10:20—Parrel paths: strategy and executing
12:59— Beliefs and critical assumptions in strategy
17:28—Addressing AI uncertainty in strategy
19:23—Balancing waiting and acting in strategy
20:48—Identify your learning loops
22:51—Learning velocity as a growth differentiator
24:41—The dynamics of survive, reset, and thrive modes
28:05—The three elements of thriving organizations
29:15—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal website: www.rebeccahomkes.com
Link to book: Survive, Reset, Thrive Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-homkes/

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William Duggan is lecturer of strategy and innovation at Columbia Business School, and the author of four books on innovation: Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement (2007); Creative Strategy: A Guide for Innovation (2012); and The Seventh Sense: How Flashes of Insight Change Your Life (2015), and his most recent work: Corporate Innovator: A Guide Through the Labyrinth, published in 2024.

In his book, Bill covers employee-driven innovation. Bill dives deep into a dilemma he found resurfacing time and again in his research from interviews he conducted: the seemingly never-ending maze that corporate employees face in trying to bring their ideas to reality.

Here we cover insights from his into how employees can navigate “the corporate labyrinth,” and how employers can lower the obstacles they (usually unwittingly) put in the path of would-be internal innovators.

In this podcast, he shares:

An explanation in neurological—yet easy to understand terms—of the way in which our minds come up with new ideas
The way in which organizations often create endless obstacles to people innovating within their roles—hence his apt metaphor of the labyrinth
Practical techniques for how individuals can navigate and overcome these obstacles to successfully navigate this corporate labyrinth

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:20—Introducing Bill + the topic of today’s episode
3:37—If you really know me, you know that...
4:26—Defining strategy
04:54—Motivation that lead to writing Corporate Innovator
07:17—Research approach for Corporate Innovator
9:36—The corporate labyrinth
11:55—Where innovative ideas come from
13:38—Techniques for generating more ideas
15:24—The idea hierarchy obstacle
18:08—Tunnel vision and the core business
20:15—The Ally Maze: managing up, across, and down
22:41—Tyranny of the team
24:29—Mind games
24:41—Effective language for discussing new ideas with your team
24:38—Handling "bad" ideas constructively
27:10—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Faculty page: https://business.columbia.edu/faculty/people/william-duggan
Link to book: Corporate Innovator: A Guide Through the Labyrinth

Thank you to our guest. Thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. I'm your host, Kaihan Krippendorff. Thank you for listening.

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Frederik Pferdt is Google's first Chief Innovation Evangelist and author of "WHAT'S NEXT IS NOW: How To Live Future Ready.”

During his time at Google, Frederik played a pivotal role in shaping one of the world's most renowned creative cultures. He founded Google's Innovation Lab, where he trained tens of thousands of Googlers to develop and experiment with cutting-edge ideas. For over a decade, he also taught groundbreaking classes on innovation and creativity at Stanford University.

Something that shines through Frederik’s work is his eternal optimism and emphasis on an active creation of the future, rather than passive prediction. This perspective challenges us to think differently about innovation and our role in shaping the future.

In this episode, Frederik shares:

How the future isn't something that merely happens to us, but something we have the power to actively create – a viewpoint that empowers organizations to see themselves as agents of change
The six dimensions of a future-ready mindstate, which together form a way of looking at the world that reveals potential all around you
Powerful—yet often underrated—psychological techniques that leverage positivity, gratitude, and optimism to enhance team dynamics, boost morale, and create a more innovative, engaged environment

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:16—Introducing Frederik + the topic of today’s episode
3:38—If you really know me, you know that...
6:32— Defining strategy: Envisioning the future and designing experiments
07:52—Desired versus predictive future
09:51—The core idea of Frederik's book
11:41— The five dimensions of a future-ready mindset
15:14— Embracing optimism in innovation
17:26— Reimagining work: Using metaphors to envision the future
21:16— The mistake of relying on predictions and trends
23:20— The evolution of life's priorities: From objects to relationships
26:10— The power of reframing: Transforming challenges into opportunities
28:12— The science behind optimism and the benefits of gratitude
31:08—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal website: www.frederikgpferdt.com
Link to book: What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/fgpferdt/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/frederikgpferdt/

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Brian Evergreen, author of Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence, named a Next Big Idea “Must-Read” and for which Brian was shortlisted for the 2023 Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award.

Building on his experiences working at Accenture, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft, Brian advises and speaks to organizations around the world, guest lectures at Purdue University and the Kellogg School of Management, sharing the unconventional and innovative methods and frameworks he developed leading and advising Digital Transformation initiatives at many of the world's most valuable companies. There are very few people in the world who has had as much experience of Brian facilitating strategic conversations that lead to big, breakthrough ideas.

At the core of Brian’s ideas is that in this age of accelerated AI, there is not only room for—but a dire need for human reasoning to remain a core component of business strategy in what he calls “autonomous transformation,” which contrast with and complements what we all call digital transformation.

In this podcast, he shares:

The differences between transformation, reformation and creation — and when each is best employed given the presence of key criteria
His "reason-driven Framework," which in contrast to data-driven frameworks, allow the space and opportunity for human experimentation, learning, and innovation
The critical difference between digital transformation (moving from analog to digital) and autonomous transformation, which encompasses systems that autonomously handle processes and make decisions, emphasizing that transformation should create value, not just imply digital changes

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:09—Introducing Brian + the topic of today’s episode
2:56—If you really know me, you know that...
3:29— How chess shaped Brian's approach to strategy
04:49— Defining strategy: a decision tree framework
05:56— Challenges of strategy implementation in organizations
06:58— Reformation vs. transformation, the key differences
09:17— Knowing when to build from scratch
11:24— Reason driven framework for strategic decision making
14:16— Data vs. reason: Why reason driven decision making is crucial
24:22— Steps of the reason-driven framework
28:48— Digital vs. autonomous transformation
33:43—Solving for the future
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Additional Resources:Link to personal website: www.brianevergreen.com
Link to book: Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/brianevergreen/

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Cristina Alaimo, is the Assistant Professor of Digital Economy and Society at Guido Carli University in Rome, Italy and soon to be Associate Professor at ESSEC Business School in France.

Her research focuses on innovation catalyzed by data-based services and the consequences it has on organizations and society. Cristina also studies the broader ecosystem of data exchanges in which digital platforms are embedded and how these new platform ecosystems emerge and evolve.

In her recently released book, DATA RULES: Reinventing the Market Economy, Cristina and her co-author Jannis Kallinikos, dive deep into the unprecedented social and economic restructuring brought about by data.

In this episode, we discuss:

The fascinating history and role of data in our society—well before even the tech boom, with its origins in writing itself
How many of the social constructions that we know of, even our own digital identities, are shaped and created by data
The four functions of data—and how business ecosystems are evolving the traditional functions to create new business models and value chains
What business leaders need to know to seize the new opportunities the evolution of data is creating, even breaking out of the traditional concepts of industries of business as we know it today

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:01—Introducing Cristina + the topic of today’s episode
2:55—If you really know me, you know that...
3:48—What's your definition of strategy?
04:52—The historical function of data
08:40—The link between data and institutions
11:55—The interrelation between data and writing
15:12—The four functions of data
18:08—The data making process
22:43—Data's impact on ecosystems and platforms
26:38—TripAdvisor case study
30:25—Redefining industry concepts
33:02—Future of competitive advantage
37:44—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Link to book: DATA RULES: Reinventing the Market Economy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinaalaimo/
X: https://x.com/cristina_alaimo

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Stephan Meier, is Chair of the Management Division and the James P. Gorman Professor of Business Strategy at Columbia Business School whose work lies at the intersection of behavioral economics, business strategy, and the future of work.

Customer-centricity has long been at the forefront of conversations that involve optimizing profit, with the idea that happy customers lead to increased revenues. But a new theory is quickly gaining traction—that employee-centricity is just as important.

Stephen is a big advocate for the idea that happy employees not only boost company morale, but have a clear direct correlation on the bottom line. In his upcoming October 2024 book, The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive, he collects fascinating case studies and insights from his research to showcase how businesses that invest in employee experience often outperform others.
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In this conversation, we discuss key points from his book, including:

How you can adapt customer-centricity frameworks and tools to improve your employee experience
The four key motivators in the workplace beyond compensation that have an enormous impact on performance
How technology can both help and hinder the workplace—and how you can use it to optimize the employee experience

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:26—Introducing Stephan+ the topic of today’s episode
2:59—If you really know me, you know that...
5:34—What's your definition of strategy?
06:06—The thesis of Stephan's book
08:38—Clarifying employee value creation
09:58—Employees as the new customer
16:13—How companies should see their employees
19:49—Are companies really prioritizing employees?
22:03—Common misconceptions about employee motivation
27:47—Exemplary employee-centric companies
32:20—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: www.stephanmeier.com
Link to book: The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-meier-5297082/
X: https://x.com/meier_steph?lang=en

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The world has undergone a transformation in the past century, as the industrial revolution turned many luxuries into everyday commodities. Then, at the turn of the century, the advent of the internet compounded this supply and demand shift. Now, we are entering yet again a new era as we see technology once again propel us into a new radical shift we call: Proximity.

Full disclosure, in this episode, we follow a different format to present the findings a book I co-authored with Rob Wolcott, cofounder and chair of The World Innovation Network (TWIN Global). He came up with the idea years ago. He I spent the last three years compiling research and case studies on the topic into our recently released book: Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life.

In this discussion, Rob and I are honored to be joined by guest host Stuart Crainer, co-founder of Thinkers50, the definitive listing of the world's top 50 management thinkers. Rob is the cofounder and chair of The World Innovation Network (TWIN Global) and adjunct professor of innovation at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago.

Together, we lay out the key discoveries Rob and I made as we interviewed innovators, business leaders, and other experts seeking to piece together the facets of the concept of proximity: the idea that digital technologies are pushing the production and provision of value ever closer to the moment of demand in time and space.

What we discovered is a monumental shift in how businesses approach value creation. Rather than following the typical value creation chain that has so long prevailed the concept of business and industries, businesses are now meeting customers by creating value at the moment it is needed. Not just when they need but actually where they need it.

The implications of this shift with change most, maybe every, area of life: the way we work, eat, heal, produce, power, defend, explore space. And the implications for businesses are profound as well, and we share what leaders need to know and act on now if they want to stay ahead of this curve that will likely upend every business industry as we know it.

We hope you enjoy this special episode of Outthinkers.

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
0:33—Introducing the topic of today’s episode
4:25—If you really know me, you know that...
5:41—What's your definition of strategy?
6:36— What is Proximity? Unpacking the core concept
11:31— Praise for Procrastination: The counterintuitive logic of proximity
14:38—The Proximity revolution: Real-world examples and implications
17:20—How well is the Proximity concept understood in the business world
20:40—Proximity and AI
25:01— Overcoming obstacles
26:27— Proximity pioneers: Organizations leading the way
31:40— Just-in-time reimagined
32:46— Sustainability and Proximity
36:04—Projecting proximity's timeline
38:40—Optimism and caution in the proximity era

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Matt Beane, is an Assistant Professor in the Technology Management Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has conducted extensive field research with robots and AI seeks to uncover systematic positive exceptions that we can use in the workforce. His award-winning research has been published in top management journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly and Harvard Business Review, and he has spoken on the TED stage. Curiously enough, 2012 he was also selected as a “Human-Robot Interaction Pioneer.”

Matt took a two-year hiatus from his PhD at MIT’s Sloan School of Management to help found and fund Humatics, a full-stack IoT startup. All this is testament to his passion for bridging what he calls the “master-apprentice gap.” In this discussion, we dive deep into topics from his book, The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines.___________________________________________________________________

In this episode, Matt shares:

His concept of “the skill code,”— and the 3 Cs needed to ensure skills are able to transfer between humans
The setbacks organizations could face if they don’t address the widening gap that is preventing upcoming workers from gaining skills from more experience workers. Imagine what happens if – doctors, lawyers, engineers, chefs, and other apprenticeship-heavy professions are unable to build bench skills
What science and psychology teach us about how humans have traditionally learned and developed
The steps business leaders can take to ensure that this novice-expert gap remains manageable

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:13—Introducing Matt+ the topic of today’s episode
3:18—If you really know me, you know that...
5:07—What's your definition of strategy?
05:50—Matt shares what lead him to the subject his research and latest book
11:20—Learning skills through a three-tiered approach: See one, do one, teach one
14:48— Defining skill vs knowledge
16:38—3 Cs: Challenge
21:35—3 Cs: Complexity
23:42—3 Cs: Connection
28:48—The impact of AI on capability building
31:41— Organizational strategy for skill preservation
34:12—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: www.mattbeane.com
Link to book: The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbeane
Twitter: https://x.com/mattbeane

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Christopher Marquis, the Sinyi Professor at the University of Cambridge Judge School of Business. Chris writes a regular column for Forbes and his work has appeared in the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Fortune, TIME, Foreign Policy, and Harvard Business Review. He is also author of Better Business: How the B Corp is Remaking Capitalism and Mao and Markets, which made the Financial Times “Best Book of 2022,” list.

Christopher takes on topics that are, or should be, important for companies and society. In this episode, we dive into concepts from his newest book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs

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In this episode, Christopher shares:

The underlying premise that drove him to write his new book—the fact that companies often pass on the hidden negative costs of their business onto society and the environment, while keeping the benefits and profits for themselves
Why this is changing now, thanks to broad systemic changes underway with investors, consumers, employees, and governments
Evidence that a group of pioneers taking actions to minimize their negative impacts and turning that into a competitive advantage
Upcoming policy changes that business strategists should keep top of mind, that will impact all businesses—and how jumping on this curve serves to potentially reward those who do

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:19—Introducing Chris + the topic of today’s episode
3:05—Chis shares what lead him to the subject of his latest book
5:46—The cost of externalities
11:21—EU's CSRD policy, a seismic shift in corporate sustainability reporting
15:33—Regional competition and policy differences
19:51—Regenerative business models
26:48—Starting points for corporate strategists
28:53— How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://chrismarquis.com/
Link to book: The Profiteers How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Cost
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-marquis-3884834/
Twitter: https://x.com/Chris_Marquis_

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Bruce Vojak, is Managing Director of Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, LLC, and serves on the Advisory Board of Midtronics, Inc., JVA Partners, and the Board of Directors of Micron Industries Corporation, and is a Senior Fellow with The Conference Board. Further, he has co-authored five book chapters—in addition to numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations—on innovation. He is the author of No-Excuses Innovation: Strategies for Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises (published 2022) and Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms from 2012.

Bruce was formerly the Dean and an Adjunct Professor in the top-ranked Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign. Earlier in his career, he was Director of Advanced Technology for Motorola’s non-semiconductor components business and was on the research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Bruce brings together real research with real-world practice, while taking a more human-view of innovation. Spanning a career at the intersection of business and technology, Bruce has experienced and explored innovation purposefully and variously.

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In this episode, Bruce shares:

The definition of innovation, how it relates to strategy
How successful innovators view organization politics and why this is important
The key characteristics of innovators seen from years of research, and what sets them apart from the rest
How innovators often see patterns others miss, and feel it is their "call of duty" to help an organization see and follow through on these ideas
What it takes to be a good manager of innovators—and how they can hold on to these innovators when not equipped to manage these unique individuals

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:04—Introducing Bruce + the topic of today’s episode
2:57—If you really know me, you know that...
4:06—What's your definition of strategy?
7:13—What's your definition of innovation?
9:00— What sets serial innovators apart from others
14:12—What is a serial innovator, and the specific characteristics?
18:01— Managing serial innovators effectively
19:35— Politics as part of the innovation process
21:02— How serial innovators manage politics within an organization
22:30— Motivation for his "No Excuses-Innovation" book
24:40— Book recommendation for strategists
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Additional Resources:
Personal site: https://www.breakthrough-innovation-advisors.com/bruce-vojak/
Link to book: No-Excuses Innovation: Strategies for Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bvojak/

Thank you to our guest. Thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like

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Min Jung is a vice director of the Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea and a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He is also the author of A Brain for Innovation: The Neuroscience of Imagination and Abstract Thinking.

Min’s work gives us scientific insights into the actual foundation working of the brain, specifically how the brain generates innovative ideas. Min believes that everyone has an ability to be creative.

In this discussion, we dive deep into topics from his book, A Brain for Innovation: The Neuroscience of Imagination and Abstract Thinking seeking to uncover what it takes to do just that.

In this episode, Min shares with us:

The many complex, dynamic brain networks and how they function and interact in order to create abstract thinking and creativity
His concept of the "3 B's" of creativity, the three states that provide space for innovative ideas to emerge in your brain
How organizations can foster environments that facilitate creativity
The fascinating critical part “place cells,” neurons in the hippocampus, can play in shaping how we think, remember, organize, and enable organizational transformation

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:16—Introducing Min + the topic of today’s episode
4:00—If you really know me, you know that...
5:38—What's your definition of strategy?
7:07—Understanding the importance of brain networks
8:16—Min's take on abstract thinking
9:59—Min's object recognition neural network graph
11:08— The default mode network in a relaxed state
13:39—How our brains attaches value to things
14:53—The "3 Bs" for creativity
16:41— Finding the right work-relaxation balance
17:43— Comparing brain and organizational idea generation
20:16— The role of place cells in humans and animals
23:12— Using spatial metaphors in strategy to break down thinking
24:33— Tapping into your natural creativity
25:58—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:
Book site: A Brain for Innovation: The Neuroscience of Imagination and Abstract Thinking

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Cathy Hackl is a globally-recognized tech & gaming exec, futurist, & speaker focused on spatial computing, virtual worlds, augmented reality, AI, & gaming platforms strategy. She’s the co-CEO of Spatial Dynamics, a spatial computing and AI solutions company. She is also a top tech voice on LinkedIn, and a fun fact, she was the first person ever to open the NASDAQ market in the metaverse with an avatar.

Cathy is a powerful voice on spatial computing and immersive technology, guiding businesses on integrating these into their product portfolios and business models, having worked with companies like Nike, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, & Louis Vuitton. In this conversation, we dive deep into these topics, narrowing in on key insights from her upcoming May 2024 book, SPATIAL COMPUTING: An AI-Driven Business Revolution.

In this episode, Cathy shares with us:

The definition of spatial computing, and how it’s not just a new emerging technology, but rather an expansion of computing as we have known it
Spatial computing’s interrelation with the metaverse, and the increasingly blurring boundaries between what we knew of as the “virtual world,” and our physical reality
How AI is not just an addition to computing, but a convergence that is opening up new possibilities
What areas of their business model leaders need to be thinking of to stay ahead of the curve in light of this new field of technologically that will quickly become the norm

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Episode Timeline:
00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:07—Introducing Cathy + the topic of today’s episode
3:58—If you really know me, you know that...
4:21—What's your definition of strategy?
5:30—Cathy's virtual Nasdaq experience
6:40— Clarifying what spatial computing encompasses
10:37—What people often get wrong when envisioning the spatial web
14:29—How people who grow up with digital experiences think about virtual vs. real world
16:58—How does supply and demand work with digital goods?
19:42—The opportunity and market size for digital products and goods
21:41—The role and interrelation of AI within the metaverse and spatial computing
24:09—Overlooked business model opportunities for business leaders
26:05—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal site: https://www.cathyhackl.com/
Book site: Spatial Computing: An AI-Driven Business Revolution
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyhackl/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CathyHackl

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Amy C. Edmondson the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, renowned for her research over the last 20 years on psychological safety and teaming. Her award-winning work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Psychology Today, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and more. Named by Thinkers50 in 2021 as the #1 Management Thinker in the world, Amy’s TED Talk “How to Turn a Group of Strangers into a Team” has been viewed over three million times. She is the author of The Fearless Organization, Teaming, and most recently, Right Kind of Wrong.

In this episode, we dive into the complex territory of navigating risk and failure in the midst of our ever-uncertain world.

In this conversation, Amy shares:

What psychological safety is—and what it is not, with the central idea being grounded in allowing people the space to experiment and fail.
The three types of failure, and key characteristics to evaluate what type of failure you might be confronted with
5 questions you can ask to evaluate whether a potentially high-risk failure you are about to take is, as she calls it “an intelligent” failure so that you can avoid hindering your team’s pursuit of new ideas while also taking on too much of the wrong kind of risk

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**Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:06—Introducing Amy + the topic of today’s episode
2:55—If you really know me, you know that...
3:57—What's your definition of strategy?
4:17—What is psychological safety
5:06— How psychological safety relates to performance stands
6:48—The Bridgewater case
9:02— Logical link between psychological safety and the right kind of wrong
10:50—The three types of failures
13:59—The unequal license to fail
16:10—Assessing ideas through an intelligent failure lens
20:11—How stakes, reputation and uncertainty influences intelligent failure
23:22—Fast fail or fast scale, shifting organizational culture around failure
27:43—Using AI to eliminate bias in decision making
30:06—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal site: https://amycedmondson.com**
Book site: Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyCEdmondson

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John Winsor is a prominent figure in strategic marketing and product innovation, known for his deep understanding of future work trends and open talent strategies. His
expertise in collaboration, co-creation, and open innovation has made him a key
influencer in innovation, disruption, and storytelling. He founded and chairs Open
Assembly, an organization pioneering the adoption of open talent and freelancing.

At Harvard Business School's Laboratory for Innovation Science (LISH), as an
executive-in-residence, Winsor significantly promotes innovation. He co-authored the
national best-selling book Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your
Biggest Challenges with Laboratory for Innovation Sciences at Harvard co-founders Jin Paik, published by Harvard Business Press in January 2024. Additionally, Winsor leads the Open Assembly Community, a global network of 4000 members focused on
transforming workplaces worldwide.

In this conversation, we dive deep into concepts from Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges, John’s most recent co-authored and national best-selling book with Jin Paik, published by Harvard Business Press in January 2024.

We discuss the intricate layers of the modern workforce, including:

The rapid shift of the workforce culture, with the rise of micro-entrepreneurs and freelancers at the core, transforming industries
The democratization of talent through digital platforms that provides companies a more varied, diverse workforce while providing individuals more opportunities for work
A growing shift away from traditional roles and jobs, towards a focus on tasks and skills to achieve desired outcomes, with an emphasis on speed and momentum given today’s fast-paced momentum
How to break through the mental and organizational barriers that impede them from embracing new workforce paradigms to fully take advantage of the modern workforce reality

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**Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:04—Introducing John Winsor + the topic of today’s episode
3:18—If you really know me, you know that...
4:24—What's your definition of strategy?
6:56—Using strategy to move things in your favor?11:35—How Open Talent differs from gig work
15:44—Is the talent power shift permanent?
18:24— How is technology transforming talent acquisition?
21:52—Overcoming mental barriers to embrace Open Talent
26:14—The economic benefits of variable workforce costs
28:01—Why innovation is vital for survival
30:08—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal site: https://johnwinsor.com
Book site: Open Talent: Leveraging a Global Workforce to Solve Your
Biggest Challenges
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntwinsor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jtwinsor

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Jeanne Liedtka is the Professor of Business at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, where she teaches both MBAs and executives, as well as consulting on innovation, organic growth and design thinking. Jeanne, has served as Associate Dean of the MBA Program at Darden, Executive Director of the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation, and Chief Learning Officer at United Technologies Corporation, and consulted with a diverse set of organizations including IBM, Samsung, NASA, The United Nations, and the government of Singapore.

Jeanne’s interests lie at the intersection of strategy and design. She has written eight books, including her most recent book published this year, 2024: The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, and many articles on the subject of strategy, innovation, and design thinking.

In this thought-provoking conversation, we discuss why this topic is particularly important, as our research shows that companies truly thriving in today's digital, fast-paced world, discuss strategic experimentation, rather than strategic design, more frequently than their competitors.

In this episode, she shares:

The concept of design thinking—Jeanne's expertise—which provides the structure, tools, and processes needed to unlock creativity—regardless of one’s background.
How design thinking is a perfect complement to strategic thinking—and the nuanced differences between the two
How to strike a balance between risk aversion and meticulous planning with innovation
The interesting paradox of needing data to make decisions, but not over-relying on data to the point where innovation is stifled

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**Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:01—Introducing Jeanne Liedtka + the topic of today’s episode
3:04—If you really know me, you know that...
4:41—What's your definition of strategy?
6:50—What is design thinking?
11:30— Why do constraints enable creativity?
14:40— How do you foster experimentation in a risk-averse organizational culture?
18:52—When thinking about innovative ideas, why is historical data insufficient?
24:50—From product ideas to testable value proposition
29:19—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?
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Additional Resources:Personal site: https://jeanneliedtka.com/
Book site: The Experimentation Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liedtkaj/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeanneliedtka

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W. Russell Neuman is Professor of Media Technology at New York University, a founding faculty of the MIT Media Lab, he served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

His books like The Digital Difference: Media Technology and the Theory of Communication Effects and his most recent book EVOLUTIONARY INTELLIGENCE: How Technology Will Make Us Smarter are rooted in the view that human intelligence and human communication are intertwined. Language and communication are intrinsically linked to the evolution of human intelligence since the dawn of humankind. As our technologies for communication have advanced over time, so too has the sophistication of our cognitive abilities. As you heard in the highlighted clip, this insight gives us a very interesting glimpse at how human intelligence may next evolve as AI comes into play.

The definition of intelligence at its fundamental roots— and how human intelligence is similar to or differs from machine intelligence.
How human intelligence has evolved as our forms of communication evolved and what this insight can tell us about the next stage of human intelligence in the era of Ai
Why machines and AI aren't going to replace human intelligence, but rather converge with it and complement it--think, compensating for human cognitive biases and weaknesses, not taking over.
The future of intelligence as we know it, and how we are already in what Russ calls the “Revolutionary Intelligence” era.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:08—Introducing Russ Neuman+ the topic of today’s episode
3:32—If you really know me, you know that...
4:12—What's your definition of strategy?
5:04—What is your definition of intelligence?
8:08— Four leaps in human intelligence: language, land, leverage and literacy?
13:11—What is the name of our current revolution?
15:42—The regulation of AI
17:46—How machines can help with shortcomings of human cognition
19:41—How can a strategist Use AI as a compensatory tool?
20:52—How can AI tame our natural human biases?
22:17—What are the scenarios we should be worried about with AI?
25:31—How do you see human machine communication evolving?
27:28—Are we already digital beings?
30:14—How many foundational models will there be?
33:01—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Book site: Evolutionary Intelligence How Technology Will Make Us Smarter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/profwrussellneuman/

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Tobias Dengel is President of WillowTree, a TELUS International Company. WillowTree designs and builds digital experiences for the world’s largest brands, and they sit at the forefront of this breakthrough. Tobias understands voice technology's profound, wide-ranging implications for every industry, including marketing, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, media, and more. He counsels leaders in all these fields about how their companies must adapt to the coming age of voice.

He is the recent author, with co-author Karl Weber, of THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE : The Coming Age of Voice Technology, a dive deep into the sweeping changes we can expect as voice technology gains traction.

Tobias’ insights will really open up your imagination around the future of human-machine communication, particularly around how voice technology, accelerated by recent developments in AI, have the potential to radically alter the way we live and how companies do business.

In this podcast, he shares:

How voice technology offers a significant advantage in communication efficiency, and will drastically improve productivity across our lives and many sectors
Why this efficiency applies more to humans communicating to machines and not the other way around
How our interactions with machines will transition from being uni-modal to multi-modal with machines reacting in real-time to our requests in multiple formats.
What individuals can expect will change with everyday tasks and jobs, and for business leaders—where to anticipate opportunities for adoption of voice technology in their company.
How this next technological revolution will mirror the smartphone one in many ways—and how it’ll differ

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:19—Introducing Tobias + the topic of today’s episode
3:09—If you really know me, you know that...
4:19—What's your definition of strategy?
5:21—Why is voice an advantage over other forms of communication?
9:25—What has changed about voice recognition software over time, and how does that lead us to today with Gen AI?
13:14—Could you talk to us about the various modes of communication, particularly humans vs. technology?
15:47—Who do you think will winning or losing across industries as voice tech takes over?
15:18—What are the first steps someone should take in pursuing new ideas?
18:04—Where should people start to identify where a business might implement voice technology?
27:55—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal site: https://www.tobiasdengel.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiasdengel
Twitter: twitter.com/tobiasdengel

Thank you to our guests, thank you to our executive producer, Karina Reyes, our editor, Zach Ness, and the rest of the team. If you like what you heard, please follow, download, and subscribe. I'm your host, Kaihan Krippendorff. Thank you for listening.

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Sukhinder Sing Cassidy is the leader of the growth and performance of Xero globally. With more than 25 years’ experience in Silicon Valley as a CEO, digital leader and board member, she has experienced building and scaling global companies including Google, Amazon, Yodlee, Joyus and StubHub. She currently serves on the board of publicly traded fintech, Upstart with previous experience serving on the boards of Ericsson, Trip Advisor, Urban Outfitters, Stitchfix and J.Crew.

Working across such a diverse, prominent portfolio of companies has given Sukhinder a unique counter-perspective on how leaders and business owners look at risk and reward. Her book, Choose Possibility: Take Risks and Thrive (Even When You Fail) sheds light and dives deep into what she’s learned in her extensive career as a leader in tech, where risk-taking and volatility is the norm.

In this discussion, we journey through the art of risk-taking and decision-making, with its intricate interplay of creating a portfolio of bets, understanding variability, and fostering an environment that embraces ambiguity and iteration.

In this episode, she shares:

The interrelation between possibility and decision-making, and how it’s too-often wrapped up in the “myth of the single choice,” as she calls it
How taking a big risk often starts with building and evaluating a portfolio of small possibilities—and how you build this
How, as a leader, you shouldn't force people to give you false precision—which often results in failures, plus three more mistakes leaders make that inhibit risk-taking and the exploring of possibilities
How the best risk-takers aren’t successful from an absence of fear, but rather, by learning to master what Sukhinder calls “the universal risk equation.”

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:14—Introducing Sukhinder + the topic of today’s episode
3:06—If you really know me, you know that...
4:10—What's your definition of strategy?
5:26—Why did you name your book, Choose Possibility?
6:53—What is the "risk of the single myth"?
10:18—What advice do you have for someone that realizes they're falling into the trap of narrowing on too few ideas?
12:00—How do you know if you have too few or too many ideas?
15:18—What are the first steps someone should take in pursuing new ideas?
16:48—How should leaders create a risk-taking environment?
19:36—Could you talk to us about the psychological impact of taking small bets?
21:59—What is "the universal risk equation"?
25:09—What can a company do at zero to maintain agility as they grow?

27:55—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

choosepossibility.com book
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukhinders
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sukhindersingh

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Jayshree Seth is a Corporate Scientist at 3M who currently holds 80 patents for a variety of innovations, with several additional pending. Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and as is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science and communicate the benefits of science and the importance of diversity in STEM fields to drive innovation. She has a MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York and bachelors of tech in chemical engineering form the prestigious NIIT Trichy in India.

In this discussion, we dive deep into the topic of some of books, especially her latest, The Heart of Science, with material from her upcoming book, Engineering Blueprint and a fascinating Fast Company article she co-wrote with our good friend Rita McGrath titles, A guide for managing innovation: 4 big mistakes technologists wish their business leaders would stop making. She has a lifetime of experiencing building bridges between science and business, something 3M is uniquely good at.

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In this episode, she shares:

How the scientific and technical community embraces ambiguity and failure--and what business leaders can learn from them
Tips on how to foster effective, collaborative communication with your technical employees on the frontline, that are in line with both strategic goals with realistic expectations.
How to foster and optimize the opportunity for "uncommon connections” —or or fortuitous collision of ideas—to happen.
A sneak peek into the culture of empowerment at 3M that makes them a powerhouse of innovation

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:46—Introducing Jayshree + The topic of today’s episode
4:13—If you really know me, you know that...
5:30—What's your definition of strategy?
6:36—Do you believe that the field of management is scientific?
10:59—Can you lay out the four mistakes leadership make when working with techical people on a high level?
11:50—The first mistake: Misdefining ambition
14:53—The second mistake: Limiting collaboration
19:20—Can you lay out the idea of leveraging vs. learning, and how leadership plays a role in this?
25:02—The third mistake: Dismissing technical process
23:58—What are your thoughts around the rise in dynamic pricing?
27:37—Could you describe some attributes unique to 3M that activate innovation
32:19—What are some last thoughts you'd like to share with us?

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Additional Resources:

Fas Company Article: A guide for managing innovation: 4 big mistakes technologists wish their business leaders would stop making.

Books

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayshree-seth-6287b45

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Jean-Manuel Izaret, or, JMI as he often prefers to go by, is a BCG managing director and senior partner and the global leader of the Marketing, Sales & Pricing practice based in San Francisco. His work as a BCG Fellow focuses on the topic of pricing model transformation. JMI has worked on pricing issues across industries, including consumer goods, retail, high tech, financial services, and industrial goods.

JMI has a talent for condensing the intricate and vast topic of pricing into clear, simple concepts that any business person can apply. His book, Game Changer: How Strategic Pricing Shapes Businesses, Markets, and Society, released just this October 2023, and co-written with Arnab Sinha, was written with the mission to flip the flawed and clichéd conversations surrounding pricing to an approach that promises winning strategies for greater and fairer value to the buyer and seller and to society at large.

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In this episode, he shares:

His concept of the Strategic Pricing Hexagon—a framework that enables decision makers to formulate a clear pricing strategy and shape their business and markets with authority using seven logical and distinct pricing games
The top decisions people often get wrong about pricing—and how to avoid them
How to choose what unit to charge by, and how this has the power to changes your entire business model—Illustrated nicely through the simple case of the way in which we buy, lease, or hire cars.
Three trends that have changed pricing models—and how you can use these to your advantage
And a bonus interesting historical take on tipping—and how this originated and evolved in various parts of the world.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:56—Introducing JMI + The topic of today’s episode

3:32—If you really know me, you know that...

5:36—What do people most get wrong when approaching pricing?

7:43—How Netflix's change in their pricing model evolved over time, radically changing the business model itself

8:48—How does a business decide on what unit to use to when establishing price?

12:17—How do you decide what part of the market or customer segment is going to dictate and most influence the decisions you make when shaping your business model and product?

16:57—What has changed over time about pricing?

20:12—Could you walk us through your Hexagon pricing model?

23:58—What are your thoughts around the rise in dynamic pricing?

26:37—As an interesting side tangent—why do you think Europeans have such a different relationship with tipping than Americans?

29:24—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Author Website:https://www.izaret.net/bio

Book website: https:

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Sheena Iyengar is the S.T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, where she has taught since 1998. A graduate of both Wharton and Stanford, she is one of the world's experts on choice and innovation. Famously known for her “Jam Study,” which transformed the way we think about products offered in the marketplace and how we curate them for customers, you may recognize her from one of her Ted Talks, which have collectively been viewed nearly seven million times.

Sheena is a masterful speaker and thinker on innovation. She opens our conversation with a fascinating take on how the Statue of Liberty was created to illustrate how though seemingly a quality of “geniuses” actually creativity and innovation are attainable by everyone.

Sheena has published two books, The Art of Choosing, and her recent 2023, Think Bigger: How to Innovate, which has been hailed by The New York Times and The Financial Times, among others, as a must read for business leaders.

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In this episode, she shares:

The relationship between creativity and innovation, and how one is the output of the other
The six steps to “think bigger,” and unlock innovation, which are—while incredibly powerful—also surprisingly practical and attainable.
A few fascinating exercises you can employ with individuals to master the final sixth step “the third eye,” in which you make sure that your idea translates to others
How AI will enhance our innovation capabilities as humans—not compete with them

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:25—Introducing Sheena + The topic of today’s episode

3:32—If you really know me, you know that...

4:59—What is your definition of strategy?

5:20—Could you tell us about the design of the Statue of Liberty, and what it teaches us?

9:13—How do you define innovation vs. creativity?

9:47—Could you walk us through the steps in the "Think Bigger" process?

17:33—Tell us about the last step (step 6) and this concept of the "third eye"

19:15—Could you share your exercise for "developing" this third eye?

23:42—How do you see AI interacting with human creativity?

26:52—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Website: https://sheenaiyengar.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheena-iyengar-1592b310/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sheena_Iyengar

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David Lancefield is a catalyst, strategist and coach to senior executives, professionals and entrepreneurs. Over the last 25 years, David has worked with organizations on strategy, innovation, culture from start-ups to blue chips, while building and leading successful businesses and client accounts within PwC. He also speaks, facilitates and hosts the Lancefield on the Line podcast, and writes for Harvard Business Review and is a contributing editor for Strategy+Business, as well as being published by Forbes and Financial Times, among others.

David sits in the intersection of how strategy, leadership and culture all come together. In this thought-provoking conversation, we discuss two topics that are prevalent in the business world—strategy and culture. But where they are often treated as one dependent on the other, David brings to us the perspective that the two directly support and inform one another—and that building them in tandem is a competitive advantage is too often overlooked.

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In this episode, he shares:

His definition of culture, and not just a set of beliefs, as most assume.
How heads of Culture and HR are often kept out of strategy conversations and treated separately--but should actually work hand in hand, with culture informing strategy.
You know how every strategy efforts ends with “communication and alignment?” He explains why we should be thinking about this differently.
How to identify your “culture catalysts”—people who naturally exhibit the desired behaviours—and enlist them to enact change, as well as where to start in shaping your culture.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:14—Introducing David + The topic of today’s episode

3:02—If you really know me, you know that...

4:02—What is your definition of strategy?

5:18—How do you align strategy and culture, and which one would you say comes first?

7:22—What is the relationship between behaviors and their relation to culture?

8:59—what happens when strategy and culture are not well aligned?

12:13—How do you measure culture?

13:59—Is there a set of steps you find most effective when enacting a culture change?

15:55—How do you identify your cultural advocates that can help promote your culture?

19:49—What are your thoughts on intrapreneurship?

21:50—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Author Website: https://davidlancefield.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidclancefield/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dlancefield

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Bob Sutton is an organizational psychologist and professor of Management Science and Engineering at the Stanford Engineering School. He has given keynote speeches to more than 200 groups in 20 countries, and served on numerous scholarly editorial boards focused around his work on leadership, innovation, organizational change, and workplace dynamics.

His most recent book, THE FRICTION PROJECT: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, co-written with Huggy Rao is focused on scaling and leading at scale. Based on 10 years of research it outlines how to grow organizations, it suggests something really compelling: you know we all almost by default think we should be strive to build a “frictionless organization” to drive agility and efficiency.

Bob points out that friction is not bad on its own. In fact, you WANT to create friction to slow down “bad” things while reducing friction to promote good things. This can enhance performance, innovation, and help make sure you fall into the trap of letting bad things grow as the company scales.

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In this episode, he shares:

How as organizations grow, they become increasingly complex over time and how to mitigate this
How to identify where to "put in gas" vs. "pump the brakes" to slow down when it comes to new and ongoing initiatives
Why running at full speed is not always the answer (and the surprising byproduct of doing so)
What makes collaboration between individual team members and make teams as a whole efficient
What is changing in the workforce, and what has changed in terms of what makes a good leader in light of that

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:20—Introducing Bob + The topic of today’s episode

3:50—If you really know me, you know that...

5:05—What is your definition of strategy?

7:07—Can you talk to us about the premise of your book, The Friction Project, and its background?

10:50—Could you talk to us about the moments in which friction can be a good thing, or when to apply "gas vs. brakes

16:05—How do you recognize where to apply this idea of velocity vs. slowing down?

18:57—How is it that some teams seem to come together and work seamlessly, while others seem to struggle?

22:57—What is changing in business in terms of leadership, the way people work, etc.?

26:05—Can you talk to us about the importance of reducing frictions, especially in regards to technology?

26:50—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Author Website: bobsutton.net

Email: https://www.bobsutton.net/contact/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobsutton1/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wor

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In this episode, Andy Binns, co-founder and Director of Change Logic, and an award-winning author who publishes articles on innovation strategy and execution in established firms is joined by an additional guest, Ellie Amirnasr, director of digital ventures at MANN+HUMMEL, who was a chapter author, alongside Andy, of Corporate Explorer Fieldbook: How to Build New Ventures In Established Companies.

Their work with this just-released 2023 book brings to the forefront the corporate explorer: the individuals within your organization that have the prowess to lead innovation. In this episode, we delve deep into these pioneers brimming with new ideas.

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In this episode, they share:

What is a corporate explorer, and why are they so advantageous to your organization?
How you as a leader can create a culture that paves the path for success for corporate explorers to innovate
The recipe and ingredients that spark innovation within an organization
and the distinct stages of innovation projects, and what metrics to consider when deciding to continue funding a project at each stage

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:18—Introducing Andy & Ellie + The topic of today’s episode

2:34—If you really know me, you know that...

5:33—What is your definition of strategy?

8:30—Could you talk to us about your organization, qlair?

9:52—Could you define a "corporate explorer" for us?

11:20—What are some of the aspects that an organization needs to have in place to enable corporate explorers?

13:59—What are some shifts that leaders need to make to allow for corporate explorers?

17:53—Could you lead us through the stages of a new venture and how it relates to decision-making and funding?

26:44—What is the mechanism that makes it more likely to be successful if you state your goals and metrics at the beginning?

29:13—What is the biggest mistake you see corporate explorers make that you could advise them on?

31:14—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Book Website: https://www.thecorporateexplorer.com/

LinkedIn: Ellie Amirnasr, Andy Binns

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Shannon Banks is managing director of Be Leadership, and an award-winning facilitator, consultant, and coach. A pioneer in the field of social leadership, she founded her company in 2014 to help organizations bring their purpose to life through their people. In this episode, we'll dive into her steadfast belief that it is leaders that have the power to ignite purpose through social leadership.

Shannon has delivered quality, bespoke work to diverse clients across many sectors, including Roche, BNP Paribas, and the UK House of Commons and has partnered with world-changing organizations such as Teach for India, Grameen Foundation, and Siel Bleu.

She spent twenty years in the technology industry, including seventeen years at Microsoft where she held a variety of global leadership roles across the business and HR. She has won international awards for her work in leadership development and talent management and is a sought-after public speaker.

She is coauthor of the third edition of the field-defining book Optimizing the Power of Action Learning. Her forthcoming book Because: 12 Essential Skills for Connecting How you Lead with Why will be released October 2023.

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In this episode, she shares:

The 12 leadership traits that can elevate you as a leader—both relationship-based and contextual-based
Why now, more than ever, being a social leader is critical as technology cements itself into our work environment
The difference between strengths, values and passions—and how they intermingle to optimize your purpose

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:54—Introducing Shannon + The topic of today’s episode

2:55—If you really know me, you know that...

3:49—What is your definition of strategy?

4:25—Could you talk to us about how your career inspired your book?

5:35—Why did you name your company "BE" leadership?

7:28—Could you lead us through your the 12 skills leaders must have?

9:20—Talk to us about your definition of social leadership

12:40—How can executives find their own purpose to help others to connect to theirs?

16:50—What's a powerful insight you could share for leaders on how to use this passion in the workplace?

18:11—Creating change at scale is incredibly difficult—could you share your story of living in Russia that illustrates this?

22:24—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Author Website: https://shannonbanksauthor.com/

Company Website: https://be-leadership.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-banks-be-leadership

Twitter: https:/

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In this episode, Matt Abrahams, leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host, and coach shares some of his top insights into strategic communication. He gives us a holistic explanation of what effective communication is, as well as dives into practical daily tips and techniques you can use in any conversation.

As a Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, he teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. He received Stanford GSB’s Alumni Teaching Award in recognition of his teaching students around the world. When he isn’t teaching,

Matt is a sought-after keynote speaker and communication consultant. He has helped countless presenters improve and hone their communication, including some who have delivered IPO road shows as well as TED, World Economic Forum, and Nobel Prize presentations. His online talks garner millions of views and he hosts the popular, award-winning podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast. He is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot. His previous book Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting has helped thousands of people manage speaking anxiety and present more confidently and authentically.

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In this episode, he shares:

How to craft a careful, concise, audience-centric conversation in any scenario (which, bonus, it reframes the conversation to take the pressure off of you, reducing your anxiety)
The importance of narrowing your important points to the essentials, while putting the right structure around your conversation to make a conversation, not a presentation
Practical, yet easy to implement tactics from his book that can transform your communication into being poignant and powerful

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:13—Introducing Matt + The topic of today’s episode

3:01—If you really know me, you know that...

4:27—What is your definition of strategy?

5:53—Can you give us your developed theory on communication?

7:56—Could we talk about Step 2, "structures"?

9:56—Can you explain improv (improvisational) speaking, and its benefits in business speaking?

12:04—Can you give us some improv-based tactics that can help us navigate unexpected disruptions during our presentation, speech, etc.?

14:15—Can you elaborate on your tactic of "chunking"?

15:22—What can you tell us about the idea that "communication is the thinking"?

17:22—How do you see AI changing communication as a communication strategist?

19:37—Talk us about your ideas around calendar invites...

21:19—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.co

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Bob Muglia is a data technology investor and business executive, former CEO of Snowflake, and past president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Division. His rich background as a long-time leader in the tech space afforded him the unique position of being on the frontlines of the internet and related tech revolution.

Bob is an advocate that while technology and strategy are important, it is critical to maintain keen awareness of that your people are the critical coupling between digital transformation and your company’s strategic initiatives.

Bob also focuses on how innovation and ethical values can merge to shape the data economy's future in the era of AI and he serves as a board director for emerging companies which seek to maximize the power of data to help solve some of the world's most challenging problems

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In this episode, he shares:

How a leader's role is to lay an effective strategic plan but in a way that empowers people own the idea like it's their own
Fascinating insights into his years working with Satya Nadella, and how Microsoft from its inception leveraged partnerships for growth and competitive advantage
Powerful tips on how you can grow non-core ventures and businesses even from within a slowly-growing company

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:49—Introducing Bob + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—If you really know me, you know that...

3:45—What is your definition of strategy (and the benefit of the weekly meeting)

6:02—Would you be able to characterize the approach to strategy in the Microsoft ecosystem, as you worked with Bill Gates, Satya Nadella and others?

9:18—You were part of the team that saw Satya Nadella's transition into CEO. What characteristics did he exhibit that made you feel that was the right choice?

13:13—What can you share about the ecosystem and partnership strategy Microsoft adopted from early on?

19:14—Could you expound on your views around artificial intelligence from a leadership perspective?

21:31—Could you talk to us about how values play into the rise of AI and sophisticated machines?

23:50—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Newest Book: https://www.thedatapreneurs.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-muglia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bob_Muglia

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Dear listeners, this week we celebrate our 100th episode. We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and listenership, as we treat you to a compilation of some of our favorite insights over the past years. Below you'll find a highlights reel broken down into clips in four categories:

CLASSIC STRATEGY: Featuring Rita, McGrath, Richard Rumelt, John Hagel, and Mike Tushman who each share with us timeless ideas around strategy.

LEADERSHIP, CULTURE & WORKFORCE: Featuring Adam Bryant, Ajay Banga, Sally Susman, Johnny C. Taylor, Tiffani Bova, and Elizabeth Altman, who each share critical insights into leadership, our employees, and the quickly changing landscape of the workforce.

VALUE CREATION: Featuring Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Thales Teixeira, Pete Fader, and Mohan Subramaniam, who each share alternative and modern views around value creation.

INNOVATION, TECH & THE FUTURE: Featuring Alex Osterwalder, Rob Wolcott, Vivek Wadhwa, and Faith Popcorn who each share with us insightful ideas around innovation, upcoming trends in tech and society, and the future of business.

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Episode Timeline:

00:34—Special Introduction to 100th Episode from Kaihan

CLASSIC STRATEGY

2:57—Highlight from Rita McGrath: Strategic Planning Amidst Uncertainty

5:24—Highlight from Richard Rumelt: Finding the Crux of Your Strategy

7:01—Highlight from John Hagel: Why You Should "Zoom Out, Zoom In," and Scale From the Edge

9:01—Highlight from Mike Tushman: Why Ambidextrous Organizations Outperform Others

LEADERSHIP/CULTURE/WORKFORCE

10:52—Highlight from Adam Bryant: Good vs. GREAT CEOs—500 Interviews Reveal What Makes the Difference

12:58—Highlight from Ajay Banga: Insights from a Former CEO with Ajay Banga of MasterCard

15:11—Highlight from Sally Susman: Insights from Pfizer's Chief Corporate Affairs Officer in Crafting Public Discourse

17:27—Highlight from Johnny C. Taylor: Trends You Need to Know About the Workforce

19:27—Highlight from Tiffani Bova: Elevating Your EX to Improve Your CX

21:01—Highlight from Elizabeth Altman: Rethinking the Definition of a Workforce in the Modern Era

VALUE CREATION

23:24—Highlight from Felix Oberholzer-Gee: Applying a Value-Based Strategy to Drive Your Business

26:11—Highlight from Thales Teixeira: Decoupling the Customer Value Chain for Competitive Advantage

28:36—Highlight from Pete Fader: Becoming a Customer-Centric Business

30:49—Highlight from Mohan Subramaniam: The Future of Competitive Strategy and the Evolving Role of Data, Customers and Digital Ecosystems

INNOVATION, TECH & THE FUTURE

33:46—Highlight from Alexander Osterwalder: How Investing in Culture Ecosystems Leads to Innovation

35:57—Highlight from Rob Wolcott: The Power of Proximity in your Strategy

38:31—Highlight from Vivek Wadhwa: Harnessing Tech for an Innovative Future

40:24—Highlight from Faith Popcorn: Predictions to Know From a Leading Futurist

42:34—Closing and Thank you

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Daniel Trabucchi is the co-author, with Tommaso Buganza, of Platform Thinking: Read the past. Write the future.

He is Senior Assistant Professor at the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano where he fosters research and teaches at the intersection between innovation management and leadership, with a strong focus on platform thinking and the human side of innovation.

He is the co-founder of Symplatform, the international symposium on digital platforms that aims to match managers and academics coming from various disciplines and he is the co-founder and scientific director of Platform Thinking HUB the observatory that aims to help established firms in finding innovation opportunities through platforms.

Finally, he co-hosts with Philip Meier “Talking About Platforms,” the podcast where the latest research on platforms is featured and spread. His work has been featured by outlets such as Journal of Product Innovation Management, Technovation, Technological Forecasting and Social Change and many others, but he aims to make scientific research as accessible as possible, so—in addition to the book—his platform knowledge can be found also on Coursera in four courses under the title of “platform thinking."

The idea of value creation has come a long way—where we used to think of providing value along a linear chain for stakeholders, platforms open up an incredible amount of possibilities in making customers and other stakeholders active participants—not only the end-receivers—of value creation.

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"This is the power of platform thinking. You've got the brand. You've got the customers. You've got resources. If you find the right idle assets in your organization, you could actually use platforms as a new way to perceive a value creation."

-Daniel Trabucchi

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In this episode, he shares:

The definition of a platform, and how it has changed over time—and how it expands past what we have all come to think of as the archetype of platforms, digital ones like Airbnb and Uber.
Four types of platforms, and how the core of each one, despite their distinct differences, is to create value between users.
How it’s not just the startups who can utilize platforms—established organizations have many assets to leverage in getting into the platform space
How platforms offer the opportunity for business leaders to reevaluate their business model with fresh eyes, challenging traditional labels and considering alternate perspectives

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:08—Introducing Daniel + The topic of today’s episode

2:42—If you really know me, you know that...

3:51—What is your definition of strategy?

4:21—Let's start with the foundation—how do you define a platform?

8:07—Could you describe the four types of platforms?

13:12—What are some of the mindset changes that need to happen for people to see these different ways to use platforms in value creation?

19:04—What are the first steps to take in creating or plugging into a platform?

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Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She was honored as the #1 Communication Coach by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards and one of the Top 5 Communication Professionals in the World by Global Gurus. She is a keynote speaker and teaches for Columbia Business School.

She is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You,and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine.

A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, Dorie has been described by the New York Times as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and consults and speaks for clients such as Google, Yale University, and the World Bank. Forbes has declared that “her insights connect marketing, social media, communications, learning technologies, and personal discovery to give us a blueprint for success in the future economy.”

She is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, a producer of a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album, and a Broadway investor.

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"We are all being commoditized. But I think that what we can fight back with is relationships, and with brand equity. If you become a person that people wanna be around, if you are a person that people like enough, that they respect enough, then it doesn't matter that AI is nearly as good as what we are doing."

-Dorie Clark

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In this episode, she shares:

What Dorie’s definition of personal brand is—how it’s related to reputation, and what constitutes an effective brand
Tactics you can use to assess your personal brand, and build a brand that really encapsulate you
How you can craft and shape yourself and your career into virtually any role you’d like with some careful consideration and strategic decisions (feel free to cut this one out)
How AI might expand in our organizations and things humans can do to remain relevant
Why relationships and your personal brand equity will become a critical competitive advantage as we enter the era of AI and tech commoditization

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:16—Introducing Dorie + The topic of today’s episode

3:00—If you really know me, you know that...

4:53—What is your definition of strategy?

5:17—Can you define "personal brand," and characteristics of a powerful personal brand?

6:50—How does one assess their personal brand?

9:25—What are some tips on figuring out how to define your personal brand?

13:50—What are the similarities between defining your business brand vs. your personal brand?

15:09—Could you talk to us about why you decided to write The Long Game?

17:16—In what way do you see work itself changing, the future of work?

20:38—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://dorieclark.com/

Newest Book: https://dorieclark.com/thelonggame/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doriec/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dorieclark

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What questions are addressed in this podcast?

What are aspects of Employee Experience (EX) that leaders often overlook with dire consequences on CX?
Who in an organization should own EX?
Are there tangible ways to measure EX vs. CX?
What is the ROI of developing a more thought-out employee experience?

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Summary:

Tiffani Bova is the global growth evangelist and business strategist at Salesforce, an author, and a keynote speaker. We were lucky enough to have Tiffani join us for a second time on this podcast, and in this episode, she brings us a new wealth of much-needed perspective. Where our last episode with Tiffani focused on the how to maximize your company’s Growth IQ—the 10 paths to growing your company—now we shift our focus to the internal movers of this growth—employees and the employee experience, also known as EX.

Tiffani’s career taught her that without the people who make the Customer Experience, you can only get so far in fulfilling your brand promise. In her newest book, The Experience Mindset, she dives into how to complement your CX by revamping your EX.

In this episode, she shares:

A re-definition of EX (though not a new concept), including what it is not
The specific, measurable impact EX can have on your future financial results
How management often not only neglects the Employee experience, but actually makes it worse by offloading customer stress onto employees
What kinds of metrics you can set around EX—which can often run parallel to and complement CX metrics

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"Let me just say to you that that strategy one-pager in that vision and value statement and your tagline does not show up and solve a customer problem. It does not show up and sell something to a customer. It does not show up and design a product. People do that, not the strategy deck that gets you funding from your board." -Tiffani Bova

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Action Items: If you'd like to put takeaways from this episode into action in your organization, we recommend starting here:

Each time you make a change or implement a new initiative, ask yourself "What is the intended or unintended consequence to my people, to our employees? Are we setting them up for success to deliver on this change we're making for customer in order to increase that promoter score or customer satisfaction?"
Develop a KPI for EX that correlates to and complements each CX KPI
Ask your employees one simple tangible question relating to frictions for each task or initiative in weekly check-ins: "How easy on a scale of 1-5 was it to execute on this task?"

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:56—Introducing Tiffani + The topic of today’s episode

2:58—If you really know me, you know that...

3:31—What is your definition of strategy?

4:31—What prompted you to begin your research into the topic of Employee Experience (EX)?

7:05—What were some of the unexpected findings in your research that led you to writing your book?

11:21—What do you consider EX—the definition and items included within it—and what it is not?

12:27—Can you talk to us about the unintended consequences of offloading customer frictions onto employees?

17:21—The staggering statistics around the tech employed within organizations and their impact on EX

19:59—Why there is a vital need for a role accountable for EX

22:12—What are some tangible steps an organization can take to start owning the EX experience more consciously?

24:21—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://www.tiffanibova.com/

Newest book, The Experience Mindset, https://www.tiffanibova.com/experiencemindset/

Podcast: https://www.tiffanibova.com/whats-next-podcast/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanibova/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tiffani_Bova

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Terence Mauri is the founder of the management think thank Hack Future Lab, a bestselling author and a visiting Professor at IE Business School. Terence challenges leaders to pivot from ‘wait and see’ to ‘explore and disrupt’ in a world of complexity and uncertainty. Terence says: ’Building a bold and resilient future never happens by accident. To sustain vitality for the long-term, we must have an eye on the future while searching every day for the upside of disruption.’ His recent publications include co-authoring Thinkers50’s Certain Uncertainty: Leading with Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World’ and Building Resilient Organizations: Best practices, tools and insights to thrive in ever-changing contexts.

In this episode, he shares:

What “unlearning” is and why its so important
How excess bureaucracy and complexity are significant barriers for senior leaders to unlearn
Why we must prioritize context over control, embrace autonomy and accountability, and foster cultures of curiosity rather than conformity
Why companies should avoid the trap of overestimating the risk of trying something new while underestimating the risk of standing still

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:55—Introducing Terence + The topic of today’s episode

2:24—If you really know me, you know that...

3:33—What is your definition of strategy?

4:33—Can you talk to us about your concept of unlearning?

6:59—What is the barrier that keeps organizations from implementing a culture of unlearning?

9:24—Could you explain your concept of "concept over control"?

11:18—What does a career ladder look like nowadays?

12:25—Could you talk to us about the risk of standing still?

14:14—Why do you believe we should we be planning from the future?

16:26—How does one do the third piece of activating the urgency within your organization?

18:03—How do you suggest companies move to a more decentralized org structure without the cognitive overload?

20:20—What do you think is something people should know as a closing thought?

21:01—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://www.terencemauri.com/

Books: https://www.terencemauri.com/#bestsellers

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terencemauri

Twitter: https://twitter.com/terencemauri

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Ralph Birchmeieir’s expertise is in accounting, finance, valuation, and strategy. He is a former partner at a global investment firm where he headed financial research into banks, insurers, and real estate concerns. He and his team routinely met with company managements, emerging fintechs, insurtechs and IT professionals. He also sat on two investment committees, constructing global equity portfolios in small cap and all cap strategies.

Ralph retired at the end of 2018, taking time out to teach, volunteer, and to become more involved in private company investments. He was an advisor to a digital life distributor, an advisor for a fintech accelerator, and consulted in the AI health care space. He was also a member of Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel groups, where he participated in the due diligence process. His first investment book, Reasons To Pass, was published in early 2023.

In previous roles he worked as a CPA at a tier one accounting firm, for a quantitative investment manager, obtained his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and earned his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School.

In this episode, he shares:

The top four reasons investors might pass on investing in your company – that are particularly important for strategists to be thinking about.
Why governance in an organization is so indicative of future success—and what specifically investors will be looking at when assessing your CEO or board or compensation or decision-making.
He lays out some key strategic measures that strategists and management don’t typically think about – like asset liability mismatch – and why this can be a game-changer for a company
What factors really matter when thinking about valuation of your own company

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

01:15—Introducing Ralph + The topic of today’s episode

3:42—If you really know me, you know that...

4:11—What is your definition of strategy?

5:18—Could you tell us a little bit about why you wrote Reasons to Pass?

7:30—What should management be thinking about when it comes to corporate governance?

11:55—Can you talk to us about as a strategist, what should I be thinking about with regard to asset liability mismatch?

14:46—Can you talk to us about valuation, and making sure the messaging is appropriate for the market?

17:39—Let's get into financial leverage...

20:51—Let's recap the reasons to pass addressed in this episode...

21:28—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Newest Book: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/reasons-to-pass/9780231556804

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Dr. Elizabeth J. Altman is an associate professor of management at the Manning School of Business, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and guest editor of the MIT Sloan Management Review Future of the Workforce project. Altman served as a visiting assistant professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point in Fall 2018 and has served as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School. Altman teaches strategy, organizational theory, and human resources management in undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral programs. Her research focuses on strategy, innovation, platform businesses and ecosystems, leadership in the digital economy, organizational identity, and organizational change.

It used to be, your workforce were your employees. But today, 30-40% of a company’s workforce is made up by contractors! Add to this the increasing amount of work being done by suppliers and partners and you see that what composes your workforce is much different than what it once was. This raises lots of questions.

Elizabeth has spent 19 years in industry. She was a vice president at Motorola in executive and leadership roles in industrial design, product development engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and strategy. Awarded a U.S. Dept. of Commerce and Japanese government fellowship, Altman worked as an engineer for Sony in Japan. She lectures and consults worldwide for multi-national clients on strategy and platform businesses and has served on corporate and non-profit boards.

Her work has been published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Marketing Letters, and other internationally recognized management journals and books. Her HBR article with Prof. Andrei Hagiu was selected for inclusion in an edition of the “HBR 10 Must Reads 2019” book and included in “HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Business Model Innovation.” She also co-authored the book, The Innovator’s Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work, (Harvard Business Press), as well as the recent Workforce Ecosystems (2023).

In this episode, she shares:

The new role of institutions in society, and how workforce employee and stakeholder sentiment play into that
The actual definition of a workforce, and how it has even expanded into including questions like: What is a workforce? Who is in the workforce? and how do you think about it from an ecosystem perspective to incorporate technologies as an integral part of them?
How to consider goals and incentives for employees given this broader perspective?
How do you build culture when your workforce is composed by a large percentage of contractors and suppliers?
How AI and machine learning technology can now be considered an official part of the workforce in many cases

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

01:07—Introducing Elizabeth + The topic of today’s episode

2:55—If you really know me, you know that...

4:19—What is your definition of strategy?

6:44—Why do you think the focus in companies has shifted to more than just financial performance in this era?

8:34—Tell us about your journey into researching workforce ecosystems.

11:27—Breaking down the types of employees in a typical organization

12:17—A new definition of a workforce

15:13—How do goals change within an organization that has varying types of employees?

17:20—Could you talk to us about the most important implications or adjustments that need to be made in light of this changing workforce ecosystem?

20:54—What is the role of technologies in our workforce as they become a big part of our production?

23:20—How does organizational culture fit into all of this?

25:32—What are some other big implications in leadership as workforces change?

27:18—How is the structure and processes around workforces changing?

29:56—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Manning School of Business Faculty Page: https://www.uml.edu/msb/faculty/altman-elizabeth.aspx

Newest Book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047777/workforce-ecosystems/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizaltman

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lizaltman

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Thales Teixeira the co-founder of digital disruption consultancy Decoupling (Decoupling.co), and previously the Lumry Family Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, where he taught for 10 years. There he has taught MBA, doctoral and executive-level courses in Marketing Models, Digital Marketing and E-commerce. His two primary domains of research constitute Digital Disruption and The Economics of Attention.

He is the author of dozens of articles published in trade press outlets such as The Harvard Business Review, The McKinsey Quarterly, Think with Google, and in academic journals such as Marketing Science, JMR, JM, and JAR. His research and opinions have been routinely featured in The NY Times, The Financial Times, among others.

In his most recent book, Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption, he dives into his concept of decoupling—the idea that what drives disruption is not technology or new innovations, but the ability to identify and create solutions in the links along the customer value chain. We dig into this concept in its implications in this episode, including:

In this episode, he shares:

His definition of the customer value chain —and where it really starts and ends, contrary to what we traditionally have thought
How disruption is not as much about competitors as it is about understanding the customers’ point of view
How startups often create disruption by learning how to target weaknesses in the customer value chain neglected by incumbent organizations
And how incumbent organizations can stay competitive by beating others to disrupting their own value chain—even those not heavily invested in technology

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:52—Introducing Thales + The topic of today’s episode

2:41—If you really know me, you know that...

2:29—What is your definition of strategy?

6:55—Could you share your definition of disruption with us?

8:09—Could you explain how your work led you to one of your most central principles of decoupling?

12:03—What exactly constitutes the customer value chain, and how is it different than the customer journey?

14:24—Could you share an example of a company that has decoupled and disrupted a customer value chain?

16:27—Could we dive into how Best Buy effectively decoupled their service offering?

18:05—How did Airbnb target a narrow type of customer in a value chain to start their business?

22:30—What should an incumbent do in these decoupling instances, and what do they get wrong?

26:23—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

24:23—How can people follow you and connect with you to continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Decoupling United Company Page: https://www.decoupling.co/about

Newest Book: https://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Customer-Value-Chain-Decoupling-ebook/dp/B07D6BD87K?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thales-teixeira-391587

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThalesHBS

Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption

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Linda Yates is the founder and CEO of Mach49, the growth incubator for global businesses with clients including Goodyear, Gundersen Health, Hitachi, Intel, Pernod Ricard, Schneider Electric, Shell, and many more. She is a seasoned CEO and board member with over thirty years of experience bridging Silicon Valley and the Global 1000, creating global strategy, building companies, and driving innovation for large multinationals worldwide, and the author The Unicorn Within: How Companies Can Create Game-Changing Ventures at Startup Speed.

She is a seasoned CEO and board member with over thirty years of experience bridging Silicon Valley and the Global 1000. With her firsthand e experience in one largest geographic incubators of unicorns in the world—Silicon Valley—Linda has fine-tuned a proven framework for building and sustaining corporate ventures.

As heard in the highlight clip, Linda believes that incumbent enterprises CAN unlock their innovative capabilities. Contrary to commonly held dogma of large, established companies as being stagnant, and slow, the reality is that it is these large companies have many advantages to launch transformative projects that start-ups can only dream of.

In this episode, she shares:

Why your company needs to learn to pivot and adapt strategy to execution asap or risk becoming part of the 88% of companies that won't survive next decades
The four pillars needed to jumpstart your company’s growth engine
How to overcome the reticence many companies have of allocating funding toward risky new ventures
How to ensure your organization is ready to successfully accelerate and scale opportunities—and make these stages fail-proof while doing so.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:46—Introducing Linda + The topic of today’s episode

2:48—If you really know me, you know that...

3:49—What is your definition of strategy, and what got you interested in it?

8:29—What are your thoughts on the idea that incumbent companies are too slow, too archaic?

9:00—Could you talk us through the four pillars that companies need to build their growth engines?

12:15—How do you overcome the reticence of companies to invest in new riskier investments and be willing to invest in new ventures?

13:20—Could you lead us through how to really get to the heart of understanding customer pain?

17:50—Could you talk to us about the need to understand customers' perspectives, and what we overlook around this topic?

19:55—How do you go about conducting customer development interviews?

23:10—Can you lead us through building a portfolio of opportunities in the pipeline?

17:09—Do you have any advice to which pathway should a company commit to?

29:40—How can people follow you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Mach 49 Page: https://www.mach49.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-yates-19550249

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lindakyates

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Mohan Subramaniam is a Professor of Strategy and Digital Transformation at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. He focuses on the digital transformation of incumbent industrial firms and new sources of competitive advantage in the digital age. He is a recognized thought leader in digital strategy, and have helped senior executives in several companies find new sources of value and growth for their companies when competing with data within emerging digital ecosystems.

He outlines his thinking in his 2022 book The Future of Competitive Strategy: Unleashing the Power of Data and Digital Ecosystems, where he introduces a new paradigm for competitive strategy anchored in data and digital ecosystems and the game-changing role of digital technologies in the modern economy. Legacy firms have for decades anchored their competitive strategy in products and industry characteristics, but these approaches are now becoming outdated. His book therefore explains how legacy firms can harness their existing assets, infrastructure, and traditional strengths to leverage the new and explosive power of data by thoughtfully applying and emulating the best practices of digital titans such as Amazon and Google.

His articles regularly appear in Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. I have also published articles in several leading academic journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Management, and the Journal of International Business Studies, and my research has been recognized by awards from Strategic Management Society, McKinsey Corporation, the Academy of Management, the Academy of International Business, and the Decision Sciences Institute.

In this episode, Mohan shares:

Why some of the long-prevailing concepts of competitive strategy, like Michael Porter’s industry value chain, industry attractiveness (or five forces), and even the central paradigm of these approaches may have served us well for decades, but are increasingly becoming ineffective
How traditional legacy firms can harness their existing assets, infrastructure, and traditional strengths to be even more effective at the digital game than digital native giants like Amazon and Google
Why the first step for such incumbent organizations should be to evolve your traditional customers to digital customers
Why we should not just be thinking about ecosystems broadly, but about two specific—and different—ecosystems we need to create, and what they are
Why the idea that so many companies have of capturing and owning lots of data misses the point of what it means to win with data, in a world where the shelf-life value of the data you collect is getting shorter and shorter

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

01:02—Introducing Mohan + The topic of today’s episode

2:58—If you really know me, you know that...

3:25—What is your definition of strategy?

3:36—Could you talk to us about your thesis involving your ideas around Michael Porter's idea of competitive advantage?

7:51—Why is competitive advantage less relevant today than it was 40 years ago when it was created?

10:50—Can you explain how data has impacted our idea of customers, and how companies should make the transition from traditional customers to digital customers?

13:06—Can you give an example of a physical product that is able to create continuous data and not episodic?

15:11—Could you explain the differences between two different types of the two types of ecosystems you detail in your book?

18:23—Could you explain how value chains have expanded to include complements outside of the traditional service and product offering?

21:03—If we were to put production and consumption capabilities into a diagram (like an x and y-axis), how would you explain how the two interact and interplay?

24:20—Could you illustrate your point of how products can deliver value outside of what its obvious value with the light bulb story?

27:13—How should companies be thinking about the role of data given everything we've talked about today? It has a very short shelf life, so it is about controlling data necessarily?

29:25—Closing

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: http://www.professormohan.com/

IMD Faculty Page: https://www.imd.org/faculty/professors/mohan-subramaniam/

Newest Book: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/david-shrier/basic-metaverse/9781472148131/

Linkedin: https://ch.linkedin.com/in/mohan-subramaniam-961986b

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Profmohans

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Sally Susman is Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pfizer. She is also Vice Chair of the Pfizer Foundation. Sally leads engagement with all of Pfizer’s external stakeholders, overseeing communications, corporate responsibility, global policy, government relations, investor relations, and patient advocacy. Before joining Pfizer in 2007, she held several senior communications and government relations roles at Estée Lauder Companies and the American Express Company.

Through these extensive career experiences, Sally has honed an acute sense of how to navigate the delicate conversation that an organization must perpetually engage in with their stakeholders.

And her work and expertise are more needed now than ever. With the growing interest among consumers, investors, and the community in the companies they support doing the right thing, your corporations’ success depends, more so than perhaps any time in history, on your ability to strategically approach the complex challenges of when to take stand, what stand to take, and how to authentically community your corporate stance to the world.

In this episode, she shares:

The 5 questions leaders can ask to determine what discourses they will engage in with the public, especially in this modern era where that channel is never “off’
How an organization can work in a collaborative way with their leadership and corporate affairs team to craft a united message that reflects company values
The principles to mastering “informal influence”—getting others to be willing to adopt your ideas, as discussed in her most recent book, BREAKING THROUGH: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World
Why communications is not a nice-to-have soft skill, but an essential capability that any leader or company must master

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:52—Introducing Sally + The topic of today’s episode

3:00—If you really know me, you know that...

4:14—What is your definition of strategy?

4:37—Can you tell us about a document Pfizer has developed called a "purpose blueprint"?

6:00—What made you make the career shift from a government to corporate role?

7:27—It seems that there is now a more pronounced expectation for corporations to channel their impact in the world, why do you think this is taking place, and why now?

9:47—What are some suggestions you can share from the experience of navigating really high-stakes, fast moving moments?

12:20—Could you tell us about how Pfizer navigated the Russian/Ukraine crisis?

13:45—How does a leadership team approach creating a communication plan so that it's coming from authority?

15:07—Could you talk about the personal story in chapter two of your book regarding approaching difficult moments with courage and candor?

17:48—Is there something you've changed your mind about?

18:45—Any advice for being effective at using communication for informal influence?

22:21—How can people follow you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://www.sallysusman.com/

Pfizer Profile Page: https://www.pfizer.com/people/leadership/executives/sally_susman

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallysusman

Breaking Through book: https://www.sallysusman.com/the-book

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David Shrier is a globally-recognized expert on technology-driven change at scale. He is a Professor of Practice, AI & Innovation, with Imperial College Business School, where he is founding faculty of the Centre for Digital Transformation and leads the new Trusted AI initiative. Healso chairs the Research group for the World Metaverse Council.

Through his venture studio Visionary Future, David also works extensively with the private sector helping established organizations build innovative capacity, having developed $10 billion of value-creation opportunities with companies such as UBS, Dun & Bradstreet, Kyriba, Ernst & Young, GE and The Walt Disney Company, as well as leading private equity and VC funds. He is CEO of a NYSE-listed company which he led through a 500%-oversubscribed IPO, and advises disruptive technology companies such as Dandelion Science (neurotechnology) and Kaleidoco (metaverse).

He is best known for creating and leading the blockchain and fintech classes for MIT and Oxford that expanded access in over 150 countries and revolutionized the business model for higher education online. His efforts resulted in nearly $1 billion of financial support for MIT, Harvard and Oxford. David’s government advisory work spans over 100 countries and has influenced policy affecting more than 2.4 billion people.

He has published seven books in seven years; his eighth book, Basic Metaverse, is coming out June 8, from Little Brown and Harvard Business Publishing. More information at www.VisionaryFuture.com.

In this episode, he shares:

His definition of the metaverse in simple terms, and how it goes beyond just virtual reality, as it’s often perceived
Several real-world examples of how AI and the metaverse are already changing industries, careers and businesses, from architecture to the practice of medicine, among many others
The sheer accelerated pace at which newer technologies are being adopted compared to previous groundbreaking technologies in history
How technology has shaped the way in which the public and private spheres work together to advance new initiatives and funding around these

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:51—Introducing David + The topic of today’s episode

2:47—If you really know me, you know that...

3:44—What is your definition of strategy?

4:47—Could you talk to us about your work at Oxford and MIT around digital technologies?

7:51—Could you give us your definition of the metaverse as you would explain it?

9:43—How do you see business changing, and how long will these digital transformations be adopted?

14:06—What are some of the implications of the adoption of these technologies that people would be surprised by or people get wrong?

17:05—What drove you to write your newest book on AI, what was the timing?

19:18—What do you think business leaders need to act in light of this fast impending change?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://davidshrier.com/

Company Page: https://visionaryfuture.com/

Newest Book: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/david-shrier/basic-metaverse/9781472148131/

Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/david-shrier

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidShrier

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Avi Goldfarb is the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and Professor of Marketing at Toronto's Rotman School of Management. He is also Chief Data Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, a fellow at Behavioral Economics in Action at Rotman, and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Avi has written extensively on a broad range of topics from marketing, statistics, law, management, medicine, political science, refugee studies, among many others. He has also conducted much deep work in the study of AI and machine learning and how businesses can wield and leverage the predictive capabilities of these technologies.

In this podcast, he shares:

Point-to-point changes v. the bigger, broader systemic changes that AI may introduce
How AI prediction changes judgement. Until now, most of the exploration of machine learning have been around prediction, but how will things change when AI starts getting good at judgement?
The fascinating implications machine learning and AI will have on business decision-making, economics, and competitive advantage

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:44—Introducing Avi+ The topic of today’s episode

2:21—If you really know me, you know that...

2:50—Could you talk about cost of prediction coming on?

6:25—Can machine learning surpass human judgment, or where do they have their place?

9:30—Could you explain the point-to-point solutions vs. systemic changes?

11:40—How does technology change power?

14:27—Could you give us an example of the impact of AI-powered predictions in a practical real-life case?

17:01—Do you think we have a reason to worry?

19:01—How can people continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://www.avigoldfarb.com/

Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/avi-goldfarb-46a7473

Twitter: https://twitter.com/avicgoldfarb?lang=en

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Nina Mažar is Professor of Marketing at Questrom School of Business at Boston University and author of the book Behavioral Science in the Wild (with Dilip Soman).

Nina was the 2019 president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making and has been named one of "The 40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs Under 40 In The World” (2014). With her focus on behavioral science she examines ways to help individuals and organizations make better decisions and increase societal welfare. Popular accounts of her work have appeared among others on NPR, BBC, Wired, and various NYTimes Bestsellers.

Nina is the co-founder of BEworks and former inaugural Senior Behavioral Scientist of the World Bank’s behavioral insights team (eMBeD) in Washington, DC. She has served as advisor on boards of various government (e.g, Austria and Canada) and organizations (e.g., Irrational Labs in San Francisco, CA). She holds a Dr. rer. pol. in Marketing from the University of Mainz in Germany.

In this podcast, she shares:

Fascinating insights from her years of study about how morals, honesty and dishonesty guide our decisions.
How an organization can impact a client or customer’s decisions at the moment they happen
How pricing can be a powerful, and I would say overlooked, lever for affecting customer behavior
How to design experiments to understand your customers’ underlying motives

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:59—Introducing Nina + The topic of today’s episode

2:21—If you really know me, you know that...

4:33—What is your definition of strategy?

5:46—What is an insight you can share when it comes to honesty?

8:29—Could you tell us about your work with the Ontario government on projects affecting human behavior?

11:03—Can you share an experience where the attempt to influence human behavior backfired?

12:42—How do you approach designing a behavioral science experiment as a company?

16:14—What do organizations get wrong when they are looking to scale behavioral science and shape behavior?

20:00—How can people follow you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://ninamazar.com/

Thinkers50 Profile: https://thinkers50.com/biographies/nina-mazar/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninamazar/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ninamazar

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Whether building hyper-growth startups or advising Fortune 500 companies, the Royal Family or the United Nations, Lindsey McInerney has spent her career helping people understand the impact of cutting-edge technologies and adopt them early.

An internet nerd and tech futurist, Lindsey has launched multiple projects in the metaverse and web3 space and remains excited about the ways crypto, blockchain, NFTs, and extended reality (XR) will change our digital and physical landscape.

As Global Head of Technology and Innovation at AB InBev (Anheuser-Busch), the world's largest brewer, she launched Stella Artois into the metaverse in an explosive partnership with ZED RUN, a crypto horse racing game.One of the first major brand executions in the space, the Cannes Lion award- nominated campaign, put Stella Artois on the map as the first beer brand and FMCG company in the metaverse and was well received by traditional and crypto media alike.

McInerney was named to the 2023 ‘Thinkers50 Radar List’, a cohort of 30 thinkers whose ideas are predicted to make an important impact on management thinking. She has also been named one of ‘The 30 Most Influential People in the Metaverse’, one of ‘The Most Prominent Digital Futurists to Watch Out For in 2022’, one of the ‘Top Players of the Metaverse' and an 'Adweek Pride Star class of 2022'.

As Founder and CEO of Black Sun Labs, Lindsey works with executives, teams and personalities on their web3 and metaverse strategies. She is also the CEO of Sixth Wall, a technology and entertainment company co-founded with actor/producer Mila Kunis and producer Lisa Sterbakov.

In this podcast, she shares:

How important it is to learn to pivot in the ever-changing digital landscape
What the Metaverse, NFTs, Augmented Reality and Virtual reality all are in simple terms—and where they bring new opportunities to businesses
How any brand can distill the essence of their business to launch into the metaverse and emerging tech space

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:45—Introducing Lindsey + The topic of today’s episode

2:19—If you really know me, you know that...

3:41—What is your definition of strategy?

4:47—Could you start off with a simple definition of the metaverse?

10:10—Would you say the physical technology of modern devices have an impact on their adoption?

14:17—What kind of applications do you see for companies that are in more traditional industrial and infrastructure industries?

16:01—How does blockchain or NFTs fit into this bigger picture?

20:05—How do you transfer a brand and its essence to the metaverse?

23:06—How should a company structure their team to move into this new space of technology?

25:56—How can people follow you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Thinkers50 Profile: https://thinkers50.com/biographies/lindsey-mcinerney/

Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lindseymcinerney

Twitter:https://twitter.com/themcinerney?lang=en

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David Rogers is one of the world’s leading expert on digital transformation, a member of the faculty at Columbia Business School, and the author of five books.

His landmark bestseller, The Digital Transformation Playbook, was the first book on digital transformation and put the topic on the map. David defined the discipline by arguing that digital transformation (DX) is not about technology; it is about strategy, leadership, and new ways of thinking.

In his newest book, The Digital Transformation Roadmap, he tackles the biggest barriers to DX success and offers a blueprint to rebuild any organization for continuous digital change.

David has helped shape the way companies around the world transform their business for the digital age, working with senior leaders at corporations including Google, Microsoft, Citigroup, Visa, HSBC, GE, Toyota, Cartier, Pernod Ricard, China Eastern Airlines, and NC Bank Saudi, among others.

He regularly delivers keynotes at conferences on all six continents and has appeared on CNN, ABC News, CNBC, Channel News Asia, and in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist.

At Columbia Business School, Rogers is faculty director of executive education programs on digital business strategy and on leading digital transformation, having taught over twenty-five thousand executives.

In this podcast, he shares:

What companies usually get wrong when they pursue a digital transformation
The cognitive barriers that most often stop companies from effectively embracing digital transformation
Lessons from some really tangible cases from Intel and Disney, to the New York Times, what works and what doesn’t
Why digital technologies ultimately are changing how organizations will organize themselves

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:46—Introducing David + The topic of today’s episode

3:03—If you really know me, you know that...

4:01—What is your definition of strategy?

5:50—Can you give us an example of a company that successfully mastered digital transformation?

8:20—Can you lay out the five domains that you outline in your book, The Digital Transformation Roadmap?

11:05—As we become aware of the cognitive biases we carry, then what are some strategies that companies can think about maybe in customer strategy?

14:00—Have you found a framework or tool that you think is particularly good for culture transformation?

17:06—Where can people get in touch with you and follow your work?

17:30—What's something important you changed your mind about?

19:47—How do you get people to support a cultural change and transformation?

20:38—How do digital tools help in a cultural transformation?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: davidrogers.digital

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrogersdigital/

Columbia faculty page: https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/dlr42

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Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is an international authority in people analytics, talent management, leadership development, and the Human-AI interface. He is the Chief Innovation Officer at Manpower Group, co-founder of Deeper Signals and Metaprofiling, and Professor of Business Psychology at both University College London, and Columbia University.

He has previously held academic positions at New York University and the London School of Economics, and lectured at Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, London Business School, Johns Hopkins, IMD, and INSEAD, as well as being the CEO at Hogan Assessment Systems.

Tomas has published 10 books and over 200 scientific papers, making him one of the most prolific social scientists of his generation. He is a frequent contributor to Fast Company, the Guardian, Forbes, and the Harvard Business Review. His latest book is I, Human: AI, Automation, and the Quest to Reclaim What Makes Us Unique.

In this podcast, he shares:

The link between diversity and ROI
What many organizations get wrong when identifying talent that has potential
How AI and data analytics are going to change how organizations in the future select, develop, and manage talent

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

00:51—Introducing Tomas + The topic of today’s episode

2:20—If you really know me, you know that...

3:02—How would you tie the win of the recent Argentina world cup win to what you know of talent and leadership training?

5:05—What can we learn about identifying talent from soccer?

7:16—What is the difference between a manager and a leader?

10:33—What do people look at when trying to determine talent early on?

15:10—What is the right mechanism for spotting the right talent decisions?

12:12—What do you think is the link between diversity and organizational success?

21:26—How can people learn from you and connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://drtomas.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtomaschamorro

Twitter: twitter.com/drtcp

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Tom Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College. He is also a Visiting Professor at Oxford's Said Business School, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte's AI practice.

He is a widely published author and speaker on the topics of AI, analytics, information and knowledge management, reengineering, enterprise systems, and electronic business. Tom has written, co-authored, or edited 23 books, including the first books on business analytics, enterprise AI, business process reengineering, knowledge management, attention management, and enterprise systems. He recently published “Working with AI,” and “Advanced Introduction to AI in Healthcare.” And just published “All in on AI: How smart companies win big with artificial intelligence”

He has written over 300 articles for such publications as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, the Financial Times, and many other publications, and has been a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Information Week, and CIO. He has been named one of the world's top 25 consultants by Consulting magazine, one of the 100 most influential people in the IT industry by Ziff-Davis magazines, and one of the top 50 business school professors by Fortune magazine.

In this podcast, he shares:

Operational transformation to maximize the use of AI
New products and services made capable by AI
Using AI to change customer behavior
5 levels of analytics organization

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode

1:17—Introducing Tom + The topic of today’s episode

3:25—If you really know me, you know that...

4:59—What is your definition of strategy?

6:00—How does competitive advantage change with the adoption and evolution of AI?

7:13—What are the different ways in which companies are thinking about using AI?

10:15—Could you elaborate on the idea that you don't have to be a digital-first company to be an AI-fueled one?

11:17—What advice do you have for overcoming barriers to implementing AI?

13:04—Do you have any lessons form companies that were able to make a successful cultural shift to AI?

15:11—Could you talk about the different levels of tech or data maturity that companies fit into?

18:10—Where do the teams that work on AI sit within a company?

19:33—Is there a particular model or framework that you found particularly helpful that you'd like to share with us?

21:26—How can people learn from you and connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://www.tomdavenport.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davenporttom

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tdav

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Tony O’ Driscoll is a Professor, Research Fellow and Academic Director at Duke University. His central message emphasizes that the key digital-age differentiator is not technology, but people.

Tony is the co-author of the new release, Everyday Superhero: How You Can Inspire Everyone and Create Real Change at Work. His role as adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Pratt School of Engineering afford him the unique opportunity to apply cutting-edge academic research to increasingly complex business challenges. He has spent the bulk of his professional and academic career at the nexus of business, innovation, technology, change, and learning, creating and implementing strategies that enable organizations to realize the full potential of their most valuable asset: human beings.

There are few people in the world who have thought as deeply about the interface of technology and human organizations and imagined what the future models might be for how organizations will evolve than Tony.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why AI is going to transform the way we organize in ways we have never experienced in history
The key reasons why strategy execution fails and some tips for addressing them
Why attempts at organizational and digital transformation so often create resistance and how you can help mitigate that response

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Short preview of Tony's episode

00:58—Introducing Tony + The topic of today’s episode

2:37—If you really know me, you know that...

3:55—What's the difference between productive learning vs. creative learning?

5:10—How AI has changed the new capabilities to change the human-machine interface

7:13—Why is this level of technological revolution with AI and machine learning happening now, and how is it different, and how can we learn what will unfold?

10:15—Why do 60-70 percent of strategies fail?

11:39—Why humans are at the center of systems and technology

12:53—What should strategists be thinking about human-centered transformation?

15:48—How do you build accountability alongside trust?

19:00—Could you explain how we are shifting paradigms as a global culture?

20:39—How can people connect and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: http://tonyodriscoll.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-o-driscoll-5bb46b5

Twitter https://twitter.com/Compleximple1

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZxzoSCU9ZdSE5UwcIGxuw

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Efosa Ojomo is the Director of the Global Prosperity research group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, an innovation-focused think tank based in Boston. Efosa is also on the faculty of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management where he teaches the course, Entrepreneurship and Market Creation in Emerging Markets. Efosa was selected as one of 30 thinkers in the 2020 Thinkers50 Radar list.

He researches and writes about how innovation can transform organizations and create inclusive prosperity for many. In January, 2019, alongside the late Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen, he published the book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. Christensen was the world’s foremost thinker on Disruptive Innovation and was a mentor to Efosa Ojomo.

Over the past several years, his work has been published and covered by the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, The Guardian, Quartz, Forbes, Fortune, The World Bank, NPR, and several other media outlets.

He speaks and consults often on how organizations can develop a culture that fosters market-creating innovations, and has presented his work at TED, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the World Bank, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and at several other conferences and institutions.

His TED Talk on Innovation and Corruption has garnered over 2 million views.

Efosa graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in computer engineering and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why the big opportunity of metaverse is not on the all the B2C marketing side that we tend to talk about
The number one future trend that keeps her up at night
What competencies will be necessary in the future of AI

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Efosa + The topic of today’s episode

2:27—If you really know me, you know that...

3:08—What is your definition of strategy?

5:55—How did working with Clayton Christensen impact your career?

7:33—Can you talk about disruption theory in the context of prosperity, as you developed it?

10:31—Could you describe the three types of innovation?

15:55—What are the reasons—that we can address—to unlock non-consumption?

19:38—How can people connect with you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: http://efosaojomo.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/efosa-ojomo-95b74710

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EfosaOjomo

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Erica Orange is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of The Future Hunters, one of the world’s leading futurist consulting firms. She evaluates emerging social, technological, economic, political, demographic and environmental trends—and identifies the strategic implications (the “So what?”) of those trends for several of the most influential Fortune 500 companies, trade associations and public sector clients.

Erica’s ability to identify patterns, think critically and analytically, and translate that into actionable strategies is what has made her an invaluable asset to clients. Erica frequently speaks to a wide range of global audiences about the macro trends that are shaping and impacting today’s landscape. She has spoken at TEDx and keynoted over a hundred conferences around the world, including across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

She has authored numerous articles and industry white papers on a variety of future-focused topics, and has been featured in news outlets including NPR, Time, Inc, Yahoo Singapore, WWD, Bloomberg, and CBS This Morning. In 2020, she was named by Forbes as one of the world's 50 Top Female Futurists.

In this podcast, she shares:

Why the big opportunity of metaverse is not on the all the B2C marketing side that we tend to talk about
The number one future trend that keeps her up at night
What competencies will be necessary in the future of AI

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" "

-Erica Orange

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Erica + The topic of today’s episode

2:17—If you really know me, you know that...

2:55—What is your definition of strategy?

4:59—How did you become a futurist?

6:59—For the individual what does it look like to think about these trends and extrapolate?

8:20—Could you elaborate on the trends you've seen in artificial intelligence, and what we should be thinking about?

12:08—What are the implications for AI in terms of what it will affect, e.g. hiring, training...

14:57—What keeps you up at night?

18:35—Could we dig into the concept of "digital twins"?

21:50—How do we balance reaching too far in the future with what's immediately possible?

22:59—How do you get companies ready for the permutations of the future?

25:46—Where can people follow you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://thefuturehunters.com/speaking-engagements/erica-orange/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaorange

Twitter: https://twitter.com/erorange

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Dr. Simone Ahuja is the founder of Blood Orange, a global innovation and strategy firm headquartered in Minneapolis, USA. She is co-author of the international bestseller, Jugaad Innovation, called “the most comprehensive book yet on the subject” on frugal innovation by the Economist. This practical innovation playbook makes clear how and why leaders must support the passionate and purpose-driven “intrapreneurs” inside their organizations to drive innovation and achieve sustainable growth.

Dr. Ahuja has served as an advisor to MIT’s Practical Impact Alliance and Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. She provides innovation and strategy advisory and consulting services to organizations including 3M, UnitedHealth Group, Procter & Gamble, Target Corp, Stanley Black & Decker, and the World Economic Forum.

Dr. Ahuja is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and a practitioner of improvisational comedy.

In this podcast, she shares:

Why severe resource constraints often activate intrapreneurship and innovation
Three things you need to put in place to unlock greater levels of internal innovation
Why bottom-up innovation is so important to include in your portfolio of innovation approaches
The mindset shift leaders and intrapreneurs should make to unlock greater levels of internal innovation

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-Simone Ahuja

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Simone + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—If you really know me, you know that...

3:14—What is your definition of strategy?

6:24—Simone's biggest pet peeve

6:54—Where do you see the link between strategy and innovation being broken?

9:28—Could you talk about your idea of intrapreneurship?

11:50—Could you explain the concept of "juugad"?

15:06—Can you give us examples of these internal intrapreneurs who practice juugad innovation?

18:33—What is something I haven't asked you'd like to talk about?

22:02—How do you solve for intrapreneurial experience to encourage their abilities?

24:32—Where can people follow you and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://simoneahuja.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-simone-ahuja-6b93a52/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/simoneahuja?lang=en

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Derek Lidow is unique in having successful careers as CEO of a global publicly traded semiconductor company, a founder and CEO of an innovative and valuable startup, and now as a teacher and scholar of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Derek is a professor of the practice at the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education at Princeton University. He is the author of Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises , Building on Bedrock: What Sam Walton, Walt Disney, and Other Great Self-Made Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us About Building Valuable Companies, and THE ENTREPRENEURS: The Relentless Quest for Value, as well as more than a hundred articles on innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Lidow graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and received a PhD from Stanford as a Hertz Foundation Fellow.

In this podcast, he shares:

What it really takes to be a successful entrepreneur—and the history of these individuals
What people often get wrong when they think about entrepreneurship
Lessons for you to apply to become a successful entrepreneur
The positive and unexpected negative consequences of entrepreneurship in society

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-Derek Lidow

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Derek + The topic of today’s episode

2:23—If you really know me, you know that...

2:54—What is your definition of strategy?

3:29—What is your definition of entrepreneurship?

5:14—Could you talk about the history of corporations and their structures, and how entrepreneurs fit into that?

7:01—How were business people like the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos perceived 4,000 years ago, and who were they?

8:15—What would the world look like without entrepreneurs within the business mix?

9:39—What are the less desirable impacts of entrepreneurs?

11:51—How do we incentivize entrepreneurs to lean toward positive endeavors?

14:14—Do you believe there is a shift toward entrepreneurs being focused on societal problems rather than self-interest focuses?

15:44—What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur (qualities, characteristics, etc.)?

17:16—What is something you'd like to share we haven't covered?

17:58—How can people continue to learn from you and follow you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://dereklidow.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dereklidow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DerekLidow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derek.lidow1

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Andrew Binns is managing director and co-founder of Change Logic, a Boston-based strategic advisory firm. He works with CEOs, boards, and senior teams as they lead significant business change.

He is the lead author of the new book Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game and won the best article award 2020 for his article, with Charles O’Reilly in the California Management Review – "Three Stage of Disruptive Innovation."

Andy has 25 years of consulting experience as both an external and internal consultant for McKinsey & Co., IBM, and Change Logic. He won an award for his work on the IBM Emerging Business Opportunity program.

He is an Executive Fellow at the Center for Future Organization at the Drucker School of Management and a member of the Fast Company Executive Board.

In this podcast, he shares:

What a corporate explorer is and what it takes to become one
What companies often get wrong why trying to unlock innovation
Why you should think about the value of weaponizing your humility
Why you should’t accept a lot of money
How to look out for silent killers

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-Andrew Binns

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Andrew + The topic of today’s episode

1:47—If you really know me, you know that...

2:44—What do you believe about the idea that things are never perfect, and there is always room for improvement?

4:18—What is your definition of strategy?

6:13—What are some key elements for a company to grow organically?

7:30—How do corporate explorers work with with balancing the core of a company vs. exploring new options?

8:47—What are the characteristics of someone who has the ability to do both core and exploring work?

11:22—What does a "corporate explorer" look like? Is there a "type"?

13:35—Could you talk more on the idea that corporate explorers "weaponize humility"?

15:17—What do you think about the idea of "corporate antibodies," the idea that an explorer has to go outside the company to create something new?

17:53—What are the first steps to developing a culture of "corporate explorers"?

19:02—How can people continue to learn from you and follow you?

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Additional Resources:

Corporate Explorer Page: https://www.thecorporateexplorer.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjmbinns

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJMBinns

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As an award-winning and globally recognised leader, executive coach, company director, writer and speaker, Kirstin Ferguson is one of Australia’s most prominent leadership experts.

Kirstin is also making a global impact, with UK-based Thinkers50 naming her one of the world’s top 30 “Thinkers to Watch” and she was shortlisted for the Distinguished Award in Leadership in 2021.

Kirstin’s career includes over a decade of experience on a range of company boards, including a previous appointment by the Australian Prime Minister as Acting Chair and Deputy Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Kirstin currently sits on the boards of two technology companies. Kirstin has previously been the CEO of a global consulting company, a senior executive at a leading corporate law firm, and spent nearly 10 years as an Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Kirstin’s second book, Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership has been described as an “indispensable companion for every leader” and “the book we need right now.” A passionate advocate for women, diversity, and inclusion, Kirstin was responsible for sparking a viral social media campaign called #CelebratingWomen, and is the co-author of award-winning book, Women Kind.

Kirstin writes a popular weekly column for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age called Got a Minute? answering the nation’s work, leadership, and culture questions.

In this podcast, she shares:

Why great strategy begins with what she calls reading the room
What her research shows are the eight key attributes of an effective leader
Why being the smartest person in the room can often backfire
Many other practical advice for becoming an effective leader

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-Kirstin Ferguson

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Kirstin + The topic of today’s episode

2:20—If you really know me, you know that...

3:09—What is your definition of strategy?

4:47—What got you interested in strategy?

5:40—How can people at every level become leaders?

7:06—Could you explain why you titled your new book "the head and heart"?

9:16—Could you break down the eight attributes of "head and heart" leaders?

11:39—What does it look like to have too much empathy?

12:55—What is your perspective on having confidence vs. humility when it comes to strategic decision-making?

15:29—Having experienced both military and business realms, how has that shaped your perspective?

19:49—How do you help people who don't feel ready to "step up" feel comfortable taking on a leadership role?

21:48—What is the importance or cost of good leadership?

23:15—How can people continue to learn from you and follow you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://www.kirstinferguson.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstinferguson/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kirstinferguson

Head and Heart website: https://headheartleader.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstinferguson/

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Hermann Simon is the Founder and Honorary Chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners, today the world’s leading price consultancy with 41 offices and 1600 employees. From 1995 to 2009 he served as the CEO and is the firm’s Honorary Chairman today.

He is an expert in strategy, marketing and pricing and the only German in the “Thinkers50 Hall of Fame” of the most influential management thinkers in the world. In German-speaking countries he has been continuously voted the most influential living management thinker. The magazine Cicero ranks him in the top 100 of the 500 most important intellectuals.

Hermann was a professor of business administration and marketing at the Universities of Mainz and Bielefeld (and a visiting professor at Harvard Business School, Stanford, London Business School, INSEAD, Keio University in Tokyo and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Hermann has published over 40 books in 30 languages, including world bestsellers on Hidden Champions and Price Management. His most recent books are True Profit! No Company Ever Went Broke from Turning a Profit, and Hidden Champions in the Chinese Century: Ascent and Transformation, both published by Springer Nature, New York. The new book Beating Inflation will be out this fall of 2022.

In this podcast, he shares:

The number one thing most companies get wrong when setting their pricing strategies
How to deal with inflation, and how to know when and by how much to raise your prices
How new technologies are opening up the possibility of evolving to new, innovative pricing models that we should be considering today

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"How does the willingness to pay change for customers [during inflation]? Do you have the pricing power to increase your prices without losing volume and customers?"

-Hermann Simon

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Hermann + The topic of today’s episode

2:12—If you really know me, you know that...

2:47—What is your definition of strategy?

3:30—What do companies typically get wrong when it comes to pricing?

4:35—How do you approach communicating value when you are competing against many other bidders in the same industry?

6:09—What is a "hidden champion?"

7:05—What do you do when your competitors are behaving irrationally and engage in price wars?

8:56—What do companies get wrong when it comes to pricing in an inflationary environment?

11:26—How do you know by how much to change prices given a change in input prices during inflation?

13:06—Could you explain your term "phantom profits" that helps people understand if they're ahead or behind a wave?

14:37—Could you explain any pricing models that come to mind that are emerging that you recommend to clients?

17:57—What are your thoughts on transparency in pricing? Is it a growing trend?

20:59—There is the question of "fairness" when it comes to pricing (who puts in value vs. how much they extract when many players are involved). What are your thoughts on the topic?

24:47—Is there anything we haven't covered that you'd like to address?

26:34—How can people continue to learn from you and follow you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://hermannsimon.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonhermann/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hermannsimon

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZnVfMkFXvm2GLpy5VsVdtA

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Vijay Govindarajan is the Coxe Distinguished Professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and is a Faculty Partner in the Silicon Valley incubator Mach 49. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and innovation.

He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His most recent best seller is Three Box Solution.

His Harvard Business Review articles “Engineering Reverse Innovations” and “Stop the Innovation Wars” won McKinsey Awards for best article published in HBR. His HBR articles “How GE Is Disrupting Itself” and “The CEO’s Role in Business Model Reinvention” are HBR all-time top-50 bestsellers.

Vijay was named by Thinkers50 as a Top 3 Management Thinker in the world and received the Breakthrough Innovation Award in 2011. Vijay was inducted into Thinkers50 Management Thinkers Hall of Fame and was given the Distinguished Achievement Award for most contributions to the understanding of innovation in 2019. Vijay is the only recipient of Distinguished Achievement Awards in two different categories from Thinkers50.

Vijay has worked with CEOs and top management teams in over 40% of the Fortune 500 companies to discuss, challenge, and escalate their thinking about strategy. He has been a keynote speaker in the BusinessWeek CEO Forum, HSM World Business Forum, TED, and World Economic Forum at Davos.

Vijay received his doctorate from the Harvard Business School and was awarded the Robert Bowne Prize for the best thesis proposal. He received his MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School. Vijay received his Chartered Accountancy degree in India where he was awarded the President’s Gold Medal for obtaining the first rank nationwide.

In this podcast, he shares:

Three rules companies should follow if they want to both protect their core businesses and build for the future
Why it is so critical to erase institutional memo
What the biggest possibility gap in the world today is—the metaverse—and why
Why the metaverse will fundamentally change corporations and everything else

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"And this why my framework is easy to say, but not easy to do. It is nothing but common sense. But common sense is never common practice because my common sense message is: If you want to achieve your true potential in the year 2030, it's not about what you have to do in the year 2030. Future is now and, therefore, you have a conflicting situation that you have to manage."

-Vijay Govindarajan

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Vijay + The topic of today’s episode

2:37—If you really know me, you know that...

4:55—What is your definition of strategy?

5:28—Could you explain the "three-box solution"?

10:25—Can an organization have both sides of the equation (possibility vs. performance gap) in an organization? How do you balance that?

18:24—What role does box two—"stopping"—play?

19:33—Could you talk to us on the background and implications of your books The Other Side of Innovation and Beyond the Idea?

20:18—You seem to really have your pulse on what enterprises should be concerned with. What are topics we should be thinking about now?

21:57—How can people connect with you and follow your work?

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Additional Resources:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vg-govindarajan/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vgovindarajan

Books

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Peter G. Klein is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Baylor University’s business school, and Faculty Director of Baylor's Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise. He is also Adjunct Professor of Strategy and Management at the Norwegian School of Economics and Carl Menger Research Fellow at the Mises Institute.

Peter’s research focuses on the links between entrepreneurship, strategy, and organization, with application to innovation, diversification, vertical coordination, health care, and public policy. His work has appeared in numerous top journals from Academy of Management Review, to the Sloan Management Review.

Peter’s 2012 book Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment, received the 2014 Best Book Award from the Foundation for Economic Education. His upcoming book Why Managers Matter, being published in October 2022, focuses on how even though the decentralized, “startup” culture has been increasingly popular the last few decades, the creative use of authority and hierarchy helps companies to be more agile and flexible, enabling educated, motivated people and teams to thrive.

Peter has also held faculty positions at the University of Missouri's Division of Applied Social Science and Truman School of Public Affairs, the Copenhagen Business School, among other academic posts. He was formerly a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

In this podcast, he shares:

Argues why this movement we are seeing toward decentralized organizations—flat hierarchies or no hierarchies—actually are not really flat
Gives us a very clear answer to a critical question for anyone designing an organization: when and where is manager authority or centralized authority the better option to more open models
What organizations need to do to unlock greater levels of intrapreneurship
Why making profits depends on embracing uncertainty

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Peter + The topic of today’s episode

2:22—What is your definition of strategy?

3:41—What got you interested in strategy?

5:04—Could you elaborate on your idea of "without uncertainty there would be no profits"?

7:15—Do you think some companies are more equipped to take on risk than others?

10:25—Are organizational structures becoming "flatter" or more layered, and why now?

14:54—If the role of the manager changes to org design and directing, does strategy change and does leadership in essence change?

17:50—Where do we expect to see hierarchy vs. non-hierarchy structures?

23:18—How can people connect with you and follow your work?

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"The role of the manager is to design, implement, and force the organizational rules of the game. In other words, you're not playing the game for people, you're not making everyone's decision for him or for her, but rather you're putting people in the right places where they can use their abilities, and their human capital if you like."

-Peter G. Klein

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://sites.baylor.edu/peter_klein/

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/petergklein

Twitter: https://twitter.com/petergklein

Newest Book

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Julia Boorstin is the author of recently released book, When Women Lead. CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech Correspondent and has been an on-air reporter for the network since 2006. She also plays a central role on CNBC’s bicoastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” delivering reporting, analysis, and CEO interviews with a focus on social media and the intersection of media and technology.

In 2013, Julia created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. She also helped launch the network’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative covering the people and companies closing gender and diversity gaps.

A graduate of Princeton University, she has been a reporter for Fortune magazine, as well as a contributor to CNN and CNN Headline News. She was also an intern for Vice President Gore’s domestic policy office.

In this podcast, she shares:

Key lessons from over 60 women CEOs and 300 research articles related to women and leadership
Why we see so few women in leadership positions today (hint: a psychological concept called “pattern matching” has a lot to do with it)
What unique leadership traits women leaders can bring to your strategy and company, and why they are so important, especially today

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Julia + The topic of today’s episode

1:59—If you really know me, you know that...

5:06—What is your definition of strategy?

6:32—You talk about listening to diverse opinions. How do women bring this to leadership?

8:55—Can you talk about the unique leadership approaches by women?

12:22—Can you explain what the psychological term "pattern matching" means?

14:36—What are some other leadership trips we haven't discussed yet that women bring to the workplace?

16:16—Could you describe empathy in your own words?

19:40—Of all the strategic advice you've gotten, what has really stuck with you?

20:38—What is something we haven't covered you'd like to share?

21:25—What is your suggestion for where to start for people dealing with these double standards?

23:41—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://juliaboorstin.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaboorstin/

Newest Book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1982168218

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBoorstin

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A research fellow with MIT Sloan School's Initiative on the Digital Economy, Michael Schrage’s research, writing and advisory work focuses on the ‘behavioral economics’ of models, prototypes and metrics as strategic resources for managing ‘innovation risk’ and opportunity.

He is author of award-winning The Innovator’s Hypothesis [MIT Press 2014], Who Do You Want Your Customers To Become? [Harvard Business Review Press 2012] and Serious Play [Harvard Business Review Press 2000].

His most recent MIT Press book, Recommendation Engines, was published Fall 2020 as part of its "Essential Knowledge" series. He runs design workshops and executive education programs on innovation, experimentation and ’strategic measurement' for global organizations.

Currently pioneering work in ‘selvesware’ technologies—he coined the word—Schrage’s design research looks to augment aspects, attributes and talents of productive individuals. Ongoing research efforts also examine the interplay of ’network effects’-driven innovation, such as recommender systems, and human capital creation for the enterprise. His work exploring the future of KPIs, digital ‘performance management’ dashboards and machine learning - in collaboration with Google, McKinsey, Deloitte and the Sloan Management Review – builds on that theme, i.e. what happens when 'essential metrics' become ’software agents.'

He is particularly interested in the future co-evolution of ‘expertise,’ ‘advice' and human ‘agency’ as technologies become ‘smarter’ than the people using them.

In this podcast, he shares:

How human-machine collaboration may evolve
Why we should be asking, “What customer do we serve?” or even, “What problem do we want to solve?” but more importantly, “Who do we want our customer to become?”
A powerful, simple, approach to activating greater innovation and experimentation throughout your organization

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"What kind of selves do our innovations, our products, our services, our user experiences, our customer experiences, our client experiences, facilitate, enable and empower?

-Michael Schrage

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Mark+ The topic of today’s episode

1:59—If you really know me, you know that...

3:09—What is your definition of strategy?

3:45—What is a 5x5 experiment?

6:48—You look at AI and predictability, how does it change the 80/20 strategy that so many strategists abide by?

10:00—You wrote a book on the concept of what a customer becomes. Could you explain what you mean by this?

12:23—Could you talk to us about the idea of how we all have multiple selves, and how as a strategist that plays a part?

15:47—Do people follow algorithmic recommendations, and what happens with algorithms becomes smarter than us?

18:16—Do you think these machines we've been talking about help us become better selves?

20:12—How can people connect and follow you to keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Exp_Mark?s=20&t=DuBbgLTaYk4K7Pw21BJiYQ

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markesposito

Upcoming Book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047937/

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Bruce Usher is professor of professional practice and the Faculty Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School. He teaches on the intersection of finance, social and environmental issues, and is a recipient of the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom, the Lear Award, and the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

In 2019, Bruce published Renewable Energy: A Primer for the Twenty-First Century, the first in the Earth Institute’s sustainability series of books. His latest book is Investing in the Era of Climate Change. Bruce has written numerous cases for use in business school courses, with a primary focus on climate change and business.

Prior to joining Columbia University, Bruce was CEO of EcoSecurities Group plc, which developed greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in developing countries. EcoSecurities completed an IPO in 2005 and was acquired by JPMorgan in 2009. He was previously the co-founder and CEO of TreasuryConnect, which provided electronic trading solutions to banks and was acquired in 2001. Prior to that, he worked in financial services for twelve years in New York and Tokyo. He is an active investor and advisor to entrepreneurial ventures focused on climate change and clean energy, and is Chair of the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why—and how—a climate catastrophe can be avoided, and why investors and business play a central role to avoiding it
Which of the remarkable advances in energy technology forward-looking investors and people pouring money into it are likely to have the greatest impact
Why clean energy is about to become remarkably inexpensive and what the implications might be for businesses and industries around the world

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Bruce + The topic of today’s episode

2:23—If you really know me, you know that...

3:43—What is your definition of strategy?

4:15—What got you interested in strategy?

4:58—What was your main motivation to use capitalism to solve social and environmental problems?

6:50—How can this recent capitalistic interest "doing good" help us deal with climate change, and why now?

8:30—Just to clarify, when we talk about climate change, is it inevitable or is it preventable?

10:12—Could you give us examples of some of your favorite inventions or technologies

12:35—Expanding on your last point, some countries are already moving toward a hydrogen-based energy plan. Could you tell us about this?

13:50—What should I be thinking about climate change in terms of its impact on business?

15:44—What do most people get wrong about everything we've talked about in this podcast?

17:08—How can people connect with you and your work; what's the next step?

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Additional Resources:

Columbia Faculty Page: https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/bmu2001

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-usher-b8b13219

Newest Book: https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Climate-Change-Professor-Bruce/dp/0231200889

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Dr. Mark Esposito is recognized internationally as a top global thought leader in matters relating to The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the changes and opportunities that new technology will bring to a variety of industries. He is Co-Founder & Chief Learning Officer at Nexus FrontierTech, an AI scale-up venture and Co-Founder and Chairman of the Strategic Foresight Board for the Circular Economy Alliance, an EdTech venture.

He was recognized in 2016 by Thinkers50 as one of the 30 most prominent rising business thinkers in the world. He is a global expert of the World Economic Forum, an advisor to national governments and a Distinguished Fellow in the UNESCO Chair in Future Literacy of Finance. He is currently advisor for the Prime Minister Office in the UAE. He serves as Senior Advisor to the Ideation Center of Strategy& at PwC.

He is Professor of Business and Economics at Hult International Business School and at Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education. He has authored/co-authored over 150 publications peer and non-peer reviewed, 12 books, among which two Amazon bestsellers: Understanding how the Future Unfolds and The AI Republic. His latest book is: The Emerging Economies under the Dome of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with Dr. Amit Kapoor for Cambridge University Press and his next one is The Great Remobilization: Designing A Smarter World with Dr. Olaf Groth and Dr. Terence Tse.

He holds a Doctoral Degree in Business and Economics from Ecole des Ponts Paris Tech, one of France’s most prestigious Grande Ecole.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why the fourth industrial revolution is proving to be different from past industrial revolutions
The potential good (and not so good) future implication of AI to business and society
Which types of jobs AI will replace and which will not be effected and, more broadly, how AI and other technologies may shape the future of work

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-Mark Esposito

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Mark+ The topic of today’s episode

3:00—If you really know me, you know that...

3:52—What is your definition of strategy?

6:49—Can you describe your drive framework?

9:04—What are the key technologies that compose the fourth industrial revolution?

10:38—You talk about how technologies are adopted at quicker rates, but also how there are different aspects. Could you talk about that?

13:22—Could you talk about how technology is influenced by humans, not necessarily replacing them?

14:00—Could you talk about how technology is now enabling less-known opinions to be amplified and influence many people?

15:37—Where do you think jobs will be replaced vs. augmented by technology?

20:10—It seems based on what you're saying some people will join the creative work force, while others won't and potentially get left behind. What are the implications of that?

23:22—How can people connect and follow you to keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Exp_Mark?s=20&t=DuBbgLTaYk4K7Pw21BJiYQ

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markesposito

Upcoming Book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047937/

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Venkat Ramaswamy is Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He is a globally-recognized thought leader, idea practitioner, and eclectic scholar with wide-ranging interests in innovation, strategy, marketing, branding, IT, operations, and the human side of the organization.

Venkat's award-winning book in 2004, The Future of Competition, co-authored with the late C.K.Prahalad, introduced Co-Creation as a revolutionary concept. It provided a new frame of reference for jointly creating value through experienced environments and called for a process of co-creation—the practice of developing offerings through ongoing collaboration with customers, employees, managers, financiers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders.

Their articles, the popular 2000 Harvard Business Review article “Co-opting Customer Competence” and the 2003 MIT-PwC award-winning Sloan Management Review article “The New Frontier of Experience Innovation” envisioned an individual and experience-centric view of interactive value creation and innovation.

Venkat's 2010 book, The Power of Co-Creation (with F. Gouillart) showed how enterprises in over twenty industry sectors were all leveraging platforms to create new interactions with people everywhere in the system and how new forms of value could be created together with individuals through a focus on human experiences.

Venkat is currently working on co-creating systemic transformation and positive impact on wellbeing-wealth-welfare, through platforms in digitalized societal ecosystems that afford the enactment of interactional creation by engaging and organizing actors (across the plural, private, and public sectors).

In this podcast, he shares:

How digital technologies including IoT, edge computing, and AI are forcing us to fundamentally re-conceptualize strategy
Why we should be thinking of experiences—rather than products and experiencers—instead of customers
What it take to flip the mind-set of yourself your leadership, and your company to be ready for the future of competition

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-Venkat Ramaswamy

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Venkat + The topic of today’s episode

2:54—If you really know me, you know that...

3:55—What is your definition of strategy?

5:00—How is the idea of value being re-created, and how does that relate to strategy?

8:03—Do you believe it is now easier to coordinate multiple services to deliver a composite experience, and why is that?

11:00—How do you balance the many facets of how the "experiencers" are shifting their expectations of services and products, and how ecosystems are changing the value delivery?

13:15—Could you explain what the mental shift we need to make in imagining a value chain is, and why is it happening now?

15:27—How do you think the pandemic accelerated accepting the technological changes and innovations happening?

20:21—Could you tell us your definition of co-creation?

21:15—What is the cognitive leap that we need to make, and how can a CSO help leadership make that transition?

22:54—What are your thoughts on people shifting their mindset through this big fundamental mind-shift of creating value through ecosystems and interactions?

26:00—How can people connect with you and keep learning from you?

26:23—What are the downsides to the shifts we've been talking about, especially in relation to the new risks they bring?

24:13—How can people connect and follow you to keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: http://www.venkatramaswamy.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/prof_venkat

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/venkat-ramaswamy-ba522810

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Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, a New York Times #1 bestselling author, has written or edited 47 books which have sold over 3 million copies, been translated into 32 languages, and become listed bestsellers in 12 countries. Amazon recently recognized the ‘100 Best Leadership & Success Books Ever Written,' and included Marshall’s Triggers and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Marshall is the only living author with two books on the list.

Marshall is a member of the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. He is the only two-time Thinkers50 #1 Leadership Thinker in the World. He has been ranked as the World’s #1 Executive Coach and Top Ten Business Thinker for eight years, and he was chosen as the inaugural winner of the Lifetime Award for Leadership by the Harvard Institute of Coaching.

Marshall served as a Professor of Management Practice at the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business. His Ph.D. is from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he was the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, and his MBA is from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, where he was the Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year. He is one of a select few executive coaches who has worked with over 200 major CEOs and their management teams. He served on the Advisory Board of the Peter Drucker Foundation for ten years and has been a volunteer teacher for US Army Generals, Navy Admirals, Girl Scout executives, and leaders of the International and American Red Cross – where he was a National Volunteer of the Year.

He has over 1.3 million followers on LinkedIn and over 3 million views on YouTube. Hundreds of his articles, interviews, columns, and videos are available (at no charge) online at www.MarshallGoldsmith.com. People from around the world have viewed, read, listened to, downloaded, or shared his resources tens of millions of times.

In this podcast, he shares:

How to coach people to start focusing on the long-term strategy goal
Why doing good work is not enough, and what you need to do to get credit for the good work you do
After decades of being one of the most sought-after coaches in the world what he has learned about what matters most, and what we should all be focusing on

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-Marshall Goldsmith

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Marshall + The topic of today’s episode

3:02—If you really know me, you know that...

3:53—What is your definition of strategy?

4:25—What is the "trick" to creating a vision for your company?

5:08—What are you most well-known for?

5:52—What motivated you to write your newest book?

6:49—You talk about "every breath is a new me" in your book. Could you elaborate on this?

8:53—How do you coach someone to learn to make the shift to a change?

11:24—You say in your book, "credibility has to be earned twice." What do you mean by that?

16:21—What are your thought on the topic of getting buy-in from leadership, and how this is one of the most critical points of making an idea come to fruition?

20:50—The three big points in The Earned Life

24:13—How can people connect and follow you to keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://marshallgoldsmith.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/coachgoldsmith/

Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshallgoldsmith/

Most Recent Book: https://marshallgoldsmith.com/book/

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A legend and leader in the hotel world, Horst Schulze's teachings and vision have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality across industries.

Horst’s professional life began more than 65 years ago as a server's assistant in a German resort town. He has worked for both Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels Corporation before becoming one of the founding members of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in 1983, where he created the operating and service standards that have become world famous.

Horst served as President and COO, responsible for the $2 billion operations worldwide. It was under his leadership that The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company became the first service-based company to be awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award—twice.

In 1991, Horst was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS magazine. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University gave him an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. Most recently, Horst was honored with the “Legacy of Innovation and Inspiration Award” by Historic Hotels of America.

Horst went on to found The Capella Hotel Group. This luxury hotel company managed some of the most elite properties worldwide, and gave Horst the opportunity to further define the luxury hotel industry, receiving countless awards and recognitions.

Today, Horst serves as Expert in Residence at Arch + Tower, a boutique, organizational strategy consulting firm, and recently completed his first book, titled Excellence Wins.

In this podcast, he shares:

How he built the culture behind the top rated luxury hotel chain in the world, Ritz-Carlton, and later Capella
several immediately actionable practices you can put in place to directly shape and manage your organization's culture
Why he believes you can transform culture within just a year and the first steps to take along that path

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"An overwhelming issue for me, relative to leaders of companies, is to accept your role." Accept that [your employees are] human beings that you deal with to be fulfilled in life. Human beings need to belong and need to have purpose. Why wouldn't we give them purpose that the vision or why wouldn't we do this as organization?"

-Horst Schulze

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Horst + The topic of today’s episode

2:53—If you really know me, you know that...

3:26—What is your definition of strategy?

6:25—How do you know if the purpose or "why" of your company is authentic?

7:39—How do you define customer-centricity?

11:12—How do you help every employee understand the company's intent when it comes to customers?

14:03—Could you explain your meeting structures and mechanisms in which you share messages with your team?

17:14—How long does it take to have a lasting culture change?

18:20—Is there anything we missed you'd like to share?

20:22—Where can people follow you and your work?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://horstschulze.com/

Recent book

Twitter: https://twitter.com/horstschulze

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehorstschulze/

Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise

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FutureThink CEO Lisa Bodell ranks among the Top 50 Speakers Worldwide and is the best-selling author of Kill the Company and Why Simple Wins. She’s a global leader on simplification, collaboration, and innovation, whose keynotes leave audiences inspired to change and arm them with radically simple tools to get to the work that matters.

Lisa brings a compelling perspective to the sought-after topics of simplification and innovation to over 100,000 people each year. A thought leader and serial entrepreneur, her transformational message has inspired executives at top-ranked organizations such as Google, Cisco, Citigroup, and the U.S. Navy War College.

Lisa provides a provocative yet practical approach that enables organizations and individuals to eradicate the unnecessary complexity and time-sucks that hold them back from more meaningful work, and allow simplicity to become their new operating system.

She has also contributed her expertise to a wide variety of media. She is a monthly contributor to Forbes and has frequently appeared in other media including: Fast Company, WIRED, The New York Times, Inc., Bloomberg Businessweek, Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, FOX News, and CNN. She has taught innovation at both American University and Fordham University, and has served on the board of advisors of several organizations, including the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum, the United States National Security Agency, and the Association of Professional Futurists

In this podcast she shares:

Practical tips to get your organization to simplify … that is to stop doing the busy work that is not strategic so you spend more time focusing on the work that actually matters
How to run a “kill your company” exercise and why doing so can unleash innovation and new thinking
Why changing culture should not be a top down process, indeed is should neither be top down or a process at all, and what works instead

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Lisa + The topic of today’s episode

2:39—If you really know me, you know that...

3:06—What is your definition of strategy?

4:00—Can you talk to us about how we do things that are strategic vs. not?

5:02—What are people spending time on if not strategic things?

6:08—What are practical things people can do to encourage a culture that has the space and room to say no to things?

8:27—Can you illustrate effective ways other leaders have created a culture of simplicity?

11:26—We often think of change as a top-down process, could you describe how you think of it differently?

13:05—How can the SWT analysis tool best be used to make strategic decisions?

16:08—Could you share some practical tips on how to run an effective strategy meeting?

17:13—If someone wants to start implementing the shift toward simplicity, how do you get started on that path?

18:29—What are the first steps to addressing risk aversion?

19:47—Where can people follow you and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-bodell-futurethink

Twitter: twitter.com/LisaBodell

Company Page: futurethink.com

Contact: innovate@futurethink.com

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James L. Heskett is UPS Foundation Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and author of his latest book, Win From Within: Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage. He completed his Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and has been a member of the faculty of The Ohio State University as well as President of Logistics Systems, Inc. Since 2000, he has authored a blog on the school's Working Knowledge web site. He has served as a consultant to companies in North America, Latin America, and Europe.

James was the 1974 recipient of the John Drury Sheahan Award of the Council of Logistics Management, the 1992 Marketing Educator of the Year Award of Sales and Marketing Executives International, and the 2010 Distinguished Career Contribution Award in Services Management of American Marketing Association.

Among his publications are books The Culture Cycle (FT Press, 2011), co-authorship of The Ownership Quotient (Harvard Business Press, 2008), The Value Profit Chain (The Free Press, 2003); The Service Profit Chain (The Free Press, 1997); Corporate Culture and Performance, among many others, and numerous articles in such publications as the Harvard Business Review, Journal of Marketing, Sloan Management Review, and California Management Review.

A member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School since 1965, he has at different times taught courses in marketing, business logistics, the management of service operations, business policy, and service management, general management, and the entrepreneurial manager as well as served as Senior Associate Dean in charge of academic programs.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why companies with strong cultures often DON’T outperform and what kind of culture you actually need to win
Lessons from successful culture design efforts from companies like Microsoft, Uber, Southwest Airlines, and Ritz Carlton
Some of the most important things you must do as a leader to transform the culture of your organization
Why the idea that culture takes a long time is false, and how you can actually set the change in motion is six months
Six steps you can take, in a particular order, to do so

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"With culture, you're dealing with changes in values, but I think even more important: changes in behaviors, how we do things around here."

-James Heskett

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing James + The topic of today’s episode

2:33—If you really know me, you know that...

3:14—What is your definition of strategy?

4:05—Could you talk about the relationship between strategy and culture?

7:03—You've talked about how sometimes strategy can be working while culture is eroding. Can you talk about that?

9:25—There's a belief that culture takes a long time to change; do you think that's true?

12:43—What are some of the tools leaders should turn to first to create this cultural change?

13:50—Is culture defined by value or behaviors?

16:22—You talk about the phases of an effective culture transformation—could you talk about those?

21:15—Where can people follow you and your work?

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Additional Resources:

Harvard Business School Page: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6842

Recent book: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/win-from-within/9780231203005

Email: Jheskett@hbs.edu

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Salim Ismail is the lead author of the bestselling business book, Exponential Organizations. A renowned technology strategist and serial entrepreneur with ties to Yahoo!, Google, and Singularity University, he consults with governments and the world’s top Fortune 500 companies on innovation and growth. His work has been featured in premier media outlets like the New York Times, Bloomberg Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, WIRED, Vogue, and the BBC.

Salim founded ExOWorks in 2016 to help transform global business by catapulting organizations into the world of exponential thinking. He travels extensively sharing a global perspective on the impact of breakthrough technologies and how organizations can leverage these disruptions to grow 10 times faster than their peers. He is co-founder and Chairman of OpenExO and an active Board Member of the XPRIZE Foundation.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why a new breed of organization is emerging and what that organization looks like
What exponential technologies are, which of those we should be tracking, and how they will impact your organizations’ future
Three practical steps you can take to fight corporate antibodies and get your leadership to take innovation seriously

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"We've never seen this much innovation hit us at the same time globally, ever. That means, every piece that you thought about the world before is gone."

-Salim Ismail

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Salim + The topic of today’s episode

1:51—If you really know me you know that...

2:10—What is your definition of strategy?

2:58—Could you tell us about your journey with ExO, and what it is?

5:54—Could you explain exponential technology to us?

8:45—How can you function as an ExO organization (the ExO business model)

10:45—Could you give us a breakdown of the tool set you use to transform a business into an exponential one?

12:01—How can you overcome the existing business organization functions to get ideas from being just ideas to reality?

14:26—How do you disrupt your organization's own immune system?

16:55—How are companies branding themselves differently in light of this new wave of businesses?

18:05—What is your opinion on all the newer technologies that have surfaced in the last few year (blockchain, crypto, etc.)?

20:27—Where can people follow you and your work

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://salimismail.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/salimismail

ExOworks Site: https://www.exo.works/salim-ismail

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salimismail

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Dr. Geoff Smart is the Chairman & Founder of ghSMART. Founded in 1995, ghSMART helps Fortune 500 CEOs & boards, billionaire entrepreneurs, and heads of state achieve their goals through hiring, developing, and leading talented teams. They serve clients globally from 12 offices in North America and Europe.

For three consecutive years, Forbes named ghSMART the best management consulting firm in its industry segment. ghSMART is the subject of two Harvard Business School Cases, and its credo is “We exist to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.”

ghSMART has published three bestselling books. Who: A Method for Hiring is a New York Times bestseller that is currently ranked #1 on Amazon.com on the topic of hiring talented teams, among a number of other bestsellers such as TopGrading and the Power Score.

Geoff has personally advised four sitting U.S. Governors, a U.S. Senator, White House Fellows, world leaders in education, defense, and public health, and the President of the World Bank.

In this podcast, he shares:

What Peter Drucker really meant by “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Insights from a decades-long study into hiring practices
The big reasons why the success rate in hiring is only 50%
The four practices you can put in place to raise that success rate to 90%

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"So to me, strategy and culture both come from having better talent, more talented, diverse good-hearted people on your team than the next competitor. That's the work, that's the hard work once you have that "Oh, sure let's go international, let's go digital, let's smoke this set of competitors. Let's do this customer segmentation." You can do strategy when you have the right talent and culture."

-Geoff Smart

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Geoff + The topic of today’s episode

2:13—If you really know me you know that...

2:54—What is your definition of strategy?

3:59—What did you take away with your experience working with Peter Drucker?

6:31—Could you give us a brief overview of the framework from your most successful book, Who?

8:54—What are things you shouldn't do when hiring?

10:49—What are the four things you should be doing for successful hiring?

15:29—The third step of the hiring framework

16:37—The last step of the framework

17:19—What is something you've changed your mind about?

18:14—How can people connect with you and learn more about what you're working on?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://geoffsmart.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/geoffreysmart

Books: https://www.amazon.com/Geoff-Smart/e/B001J8ZIV8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drgeoffsmart

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Ajay Banga is Vice Chairman at General Atlantic, which he joined after 12 years at the helm of Mastercard, leading the company through a strategic, technological and cultural transformation over 11 years as president and chief executive officer and one year as executive chair of the board of directors. Under Ajay leadership, Mastercard’s stock price grew from $30 to $350 per share.

Ajay began his career at Nestlé, India, where for 13 years he worked on assignments spanning sales, marketing and general management. He also spent two years with PepsiCo before joining Citigroup, where he rose to the role of chief executive officer of Citigroup Asia Pacific.

Over the course of his career, he’s become a global leader in technology, data, financial services and innovating for inclusion. Ajay also serves as Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and is an Independent Director at Temasek and for Exor, where he serves as Chair of the company’s Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Committee. He became an advisor to General Atlantic’s BeyondNetZero venture at its inception in 2021.

He is a co-founder of The Cyber Readiness Institute, Vice Chair of the Economic Club of New York, a former member of the World Economic Forum’s EDISON Alliance, and served as a member of President Obama’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, and a past member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, among many other roles he has served.

In this podcast, he shares:

How under his leadership, he significantly grew Mastercard’s stock price
How to connect your company’s message to a global purpose
What advice Ajay would offer as a CEO to CSOs Best career advice he ever received as a CEO
How he structures his day in juggling so many responsibilities

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"Strategy is a way to create a shining city on the hill, for you to know where you want people to go and to define a way to climb that hill, and to give them the tools and resources to get there. If you do that well and if you do it with simplicity and you do it with clarity—If you do that well, Kaihan, then you have what I call strategy."

-Ajay Banga

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Ajay + The topic of today’s episode

2:30—If you really know me you know that...

3:17—What is your definition of strategy?

6:01—Could you share the strategies you used when significantly growing Mastercard's stock price?

9:25—Could you talk about the brand messages you've championed, and how they were transcendent messages that elevated both the business and world?

15:18—What is the best advice you ever received in your career?

17:33—Do you have an advice for strategy officers from a CEO?

20:29—Do you have any tips for amplifying informal influence?

22:47—How do you introduce urgency in a way that moves people to action, not panic?

24:17—How do you structure your day to be efficient as a CEO?

26:26—What is your secret to staying on top of communications and email?

28:31—What are you working on now

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Additional Resources:

Bio: https://newsroom.mastercard.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ajay-Banga-Bio.pdf

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Pete Newell is a nationally-recognized innovation expert whose work is transforming how the government and other large organizations compete and drive growth. He is the CEO of BMNT, an innovation consultancy and early-stage tech accelerator that helps solve some of the hardest real-world problems in national security, state and local governments, and beyond.

Pete is a founder and co-author, with Lean Startup founder Steve Blank, of Hacking for Defense (H4D)®, an academic program that focuses on solving national security problems. It has in turned created a series of sister courses—Hacking for Diplomacy, Hacking for Oceans, Hacking for Sustainability, Hacking for Local and others—that use the H4X® framework to solve critical real-world problems

Pete is also the Co-Founder and Board Director of The Common Mission Project, a 501c3 non-profit responsible for creating an international network of mission-driven entrepreneurs, including through programs like H4D®.

Pete served as the Director of the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF). Reporting directly to the senior leadership of the Army, he was charged with rapidly finding, integrating, and employing solutions to emerging problems faced by Soldiers on the battlefield and was responsible for the Army’s first deployment of mobile manufacturing labs, smart phones merged with tactical radio networks, and tactical drones.

In this podcast, he shares:

Lessons from accelerating innovation in the military that can be applied to business
The key stages you should be focusing on in your innovation pipeline
Why driving innovation is sociological problem, not a technical one
The first step you should take if you want to elevate innovation in your organization

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"Part of the beauty of a pipeline is that you start with a lot of volume and you make hard decisions about the things that go through it. So that increases the velocity, both in terms of speed and pressure, because it allows you to focus your resources on a smaller and a smaller group of things until you pile everything you own on the things that you know are going to win, but you can't get there without having a large pool of things you're sourcing."

-Pete Newell

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Pete + The topic of today’s episode

2:11—If you really know me you know that...

3:04—What is your definition of strategy?

3:44—Could you tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to your work?

6:15—Could you walk us through the key 10 steps of your process of innovation?

9:27—Where do you think large organizations most often falter in this process?

11:00—How does an organization flip failure to seeing it as learning?

15:20—Could you share an example of an organization that gets this process more right than others?

17:18—How do you balance speed and killing ideas off?

17:57—What are the first steps a Chief Strategy Officer should take in their organization?

19:08—How can people connect with you and learn more about what you're working on?

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Additional Resources:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peteranewell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewell/

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Note to listeners This episode is part of a special sub-series on business ecosystems.

Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. An award-winning instructor, his academic work has been published in the very best, peer-reviewed journals of his profession, and he currently teaches competitive strategy in executive education programs. His work is largely focused on helping businesses apply his framework of Value-Based Strategy, in which businesses learn to identify the biggest value drivers.

Within ecosystem-based competition, he’s identified how to specifically leverage ecosystems in maximizing the value delivered to stakeholders.

In this podcast, he shares:

How Value-Based Strategy applies to ecosystems, and how to identify where to draw and give the most value within one
Balancing the dynamics and relationships between your company and different players in your ecosystem
How to identify what complements are best for your business
Motivating partners in the ecosystem to make investments in complements that would deliver value to your customers
What adjustments you need to make within your business model and culture to incorporate ecosystems
Growing your bargaining power and maximizing the value you draw from an ecosystem as you put more value into it

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"When companies vertically integrate the most common reason for that they will say is, 'I get so much more control.' And then you ask people inside your organization, 'What's the hardest thing to do?' And they will tell you, 'Alignment is hard because I don't really have control over everyone.' Well, which is it? Do you have control or do you not have control?"

-Felix Oberholzer-Gee

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Felix + The topic of today’s episode

1:35—Could you describe the concept of your 'Value Stick' to us to get familiar?

3:10—Why are ecosystems helpful in staying competitive?

8:34—How the nature and inclusivity of an ecosystem largely depends on who started it, for what purpose, and the capacity to scale

10:42—How do you balance how much you're depending on an ecosystem for complements with giving away customer relationship ownership?

13:52—The two rules the relationship manager working in ecosystems must remember

17:51—How do you manage a changing relationship (buy-out, M&A, etc.) and the effects of that on how much value is being put in vs. received in an ecosystem?

21:51—When is the right time to seek vertical integration?

23:59—How do you translate your idea of the value stick in a model like ecosystems?

29:03—How does the strategy thinking need to change for a company that's starting to embrace the idea of ecosystems?

33:22—What should you consider about switching costs in relation to ecosystems?

35:20—What are some last closing thoughts you'd like to leave us with?

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Additional Resources:

Faculty Page at HBS: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=251462

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-oberholzer-gee-16424b4/

Most recent book: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Simpler-Strategy-Value-Based-Exceptional/dp/1633699692

Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance

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Richard P. Rumelt is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on strategy and management. McKinsey Quarterly described him as “strategy’s strategist” and “a giant in the field of strategy.”

He is the author of Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, reviewed by the Financial Times as “the most interesting business book of 2011” and by Strategy + Business as “the year’s best and most original addition to the strategy bookshelf.”

Richard received his doctoral degree from Harvard Business School and is the Harry and Elise Kunin Chair Emeritus at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. His new book, The Crux, goes on sale May 3, 2022, from PublicAffairs.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why so many organizations practice “Bad Strategy” and how to spot it when you see it
Why strategy is fundamentally about solving problems
How the secret behind the strategies of SpaceX and other breakthrough companies rests on finding the “crux” of the problem and how to choose a crux that others are not paying attention to
Why we see so much vertical integration today and when that will change
The three skills of: figuring out what is critical, constraining what is critical vs. what is controllable, and focusing energy on that

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"."

-Richard Rumelt

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Richard + The topic of today’s episode

1:46—If you really know me you know that...

2:20—What is your definition of strategy?

6:38—What are some of the ideas or concepts you are most well-known for?

9:17—How do you recognize bad strategy?

10:39—Could you explain the concept of "crux"?

14:50—How to narrow down on actual challenge being solved

16:40—Do you think you've seen a rise in vertical integration, and what is your opinion on it?

18:48—Where can people find you and connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Faculty Page: https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty-and-research/strategy/faculty/rumelt

Newest book: https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/richard-p-rumelt/the-crux/9781541701243/

Last book: http://goodbadstrategy.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-rumelt-18520828/

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Note to listeners This episode is part of a special sub-series on business ecosystems.

Ben Gomes-Casseres has been studying ecosystems since before the term as we know it existed. He is an expert on business combinations, in particular alliance strategy and management, having researched this topic for 30 years.

He has published five books and many articles and case studies on M&A, alliances, and joint ventures, and his views have appeared widely in the business press. Ben helps companies create value from external resources by improving the way they manage partnerships. He holds degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and Brandeis. A native of Curaçao, he speaks four languages, and his work can be found at www.remixstrategy.com.

Drawing from his experience at the beginning of the development of business ecosystems while studying computer companies in the early 90s, Ben has followed the development of ecosystems from a research standpoint since its infancy. In this discussion, Ben shares the in-depth insights he has learned over his time as a cutting edge—and early—expert of ecosystem study. In this discussion, Ben shares his insights on

In this podcast, he shares:

What he learned from the earliest industries that adopted ecosystems and ecosystem-based competition as a business model
The background and development of the term “ecosystems” as we know it today
The various types of ecosystems, and the different terms used to describe these groups
His Remix Strategy he developed as a result of his long-term research, including the three laws of business combinations
How to play fairly in an ecosystem, ensuring that you add to its value rather than take away from it
A practical set of questions that will help you determine where you can draw value from joining an ecosystem, and in what ways

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"So, it has really been this interesting shift that kind of 2000, this chasm was crossed around opening up ecosystems to different kinds of partners as well, the opportunity to reach different kinds of customers in new ways through new channels."

-Ben Gomes-Casseres

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Ben + The topic of today’s episode

1:47—How did you fall into studying ecosystems before it was even a known area?

7:26—How constellations (ecosystems) have evolved in the way they're perceived and defined over time

9:10—Could you walk us through your model of the three laws of business combinations?

12:07—The first law of business combinations

13:10—The second law of business combinations

15:41—The third law of business combinations

18:41—What kind of changes does an organization need to make to be effective in ecosystem-based competition (mindset, capabilities, key success, factors, organizations, structure, incentives)?

21:45—How do you decide what ecosystem to plug into if you're not yet in one?

23:18—How does an ecosystem become more fragemented at the ecosystem or constellation level? What factors go into deciding is?

26:08—How different ecosystems can be organized depending on their needs

28:32—What is the difference between a platform and a constellation or ecosystem?

30:42—Do you think ecosystem-based competition is becoming more popular and essential to business' success, or has it always been popular and it's just the terminology that is becoming more popular?

32:42—How the digital connectedness across the globe has pushed the need for more cooperation.

36:01—Closing

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Additional Resources:

Company page: www.alliancestrategy.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencasseres

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengomescasseres

Brandeis Faculty Page: https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=d6dac7e5051c516ace0f11fbc430d0cd13c40dcf

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Amy Webb is a quantitative futurist and a bestselling, award-winning author. She is a professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and the Founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm that helps leaders and their organizations prepare for complex futures.

Amy has advised CEOs and heads of strategy of some of the world’s largest companies, three-star generals and admirals and executive government leadership on strategy and technology. She was also a Delegate on the former U.S.- Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission, where she worked on the future of technology, media and international diplomacy.

She is the author of several popular books, including The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity, which was longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year award, shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Digital Thinking Award, and won the 2020 Gold Axiom Medal for the best book about business and technology. She also wrote The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe Is Tomorrow’s Mainstream, which won the Thinkers50 Radar Award, was selected as one of Fast Company’s Best Books of 2016, Amazon’s best books 2016, and was the recipient of the 2017 Gold Axiom Medal for the best book about business and technology.

Amy was named by Forbes as one of the five women changing the world, listed as the BBC’s 100 Women of 2020, and the Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 management thinkers most likely to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led.

In this podcast, she shares:

Why we should be doing 'back-casting' rather than forecasting
Why strategizing for the future is NOT about predicting it, but instead about shifting your mindset to be prepared for the future’s uncertainty
Some practical advice about who should be doing the kind of future planning work that that is so critical for today for any organization that wants to remain relevant

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"If you're on a three-year strategic planning cycle, typically...you're marking milestones and KPIs...on that corporate strategy. The problem is that it doesn't account for uncertainty. This is where a lot of companies fall short, and they don't have the ability to recalibrate. So I do not use a line, I use a cone it's a different shape. So the intersecting vectors where that cone begins on the left that represents today. And the further out in time, you go, the wider, the angle becomes on the inside of that cone. And that represents uncertainty over time."

-Amy Webb

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Amy + The topic of today’s episode

2:10—What is your definition of strategy?

3:32—A model for thinking about time and foresight

6:05—What's a tip or go-strategy for getting people to appreciate the importance of thinking of long-term horizons?

8:15—Could you explain the difference between predicting the future vs. being ready for many possible futures. Could you explain the difference?

10:22—Using data and evidence to model out plausible next-order impacts

12:24—The term and history of the futurist

13:50—Could you describe your work in synthetic biology?

17:16—You mentioned that synthetic biology will become as commonplace a term as AI, could you explain how other industries could be affected that seem unrelated?

19:27—Do you have any other tips for how people can learn more about this topic?

20:34—What is a science fiction book or movie people should know about?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://amywebb.io/

Company Page: https://futuretodayinstitute.com/amy-webb/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amywebb

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywebb

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Prof. Dr. Christian Busch is the bestselling author of The Serendipity Mindset: The Art & Science of Creating Good Luck. Arianna Huffington called it “a wise, exciting, and life-changing book” that Paul Polman says “provides excellent practical guidance for all.”

Christian is an internationally-known expert in the areas of innovation, purpose-driven leadership, and serendipity. He is the director of the CGA Global Economy Program at NYU, and also teaches at the London School of Economics. He is a cofounder of Leaders on Purpose and the Sandbox Network, and a former director of LSE's Innovation Lab.

His work has been featured by outlets such as the Strategic Management Journal,Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The Guardian, Washington Post, and the BBC. He is member of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Expert Forum, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and on the Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 thinkers "most likely to shape the future.

In this podcast, he shares:

His concept that luck (or serendipity) is not random, but can actually be cultivated
Some of the specific characteristics and practices of organizations that are able to turn unexpected events, trends, market developments into opportunity
Some really practical ways you can start generating more luck, for yourself, your life, and your organization

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"That...idea that we have to stick to the plan is something that...portrays authority, portrays the idea that we are reliable and dependable, but actually a lot of times it does the opposite in the end because we now have an incentive to hide numbers, to somehow try to figure out how we can tweak the budgets to still look good. And so actually from a performer perspective, we actually a lot of times do the opposite."

-Christian Busch

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Christian+ The topic of today’s episode

2:23—What is your definition of strategy?

4:23—How did you get into the idea of serendipity?

5:28—How can serendipity be applied to business?

7:10—What are the barriers to seeing these opportunities that serendipity affords?

10:52—What are other leverage points to embed serendipity into a company's culture?

13:05—How companies can encourage or kill serendipity

21:30—What is something people get wrong?

17:40—Could you explain your concept of casting hooks?

19:04—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Company Page: https://theserendipitymindset.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisserendip

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/christianwbusch

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Note to listeners This episode is part of a special sub-series on business ecosystems.

Tiffani Bova is the chief growth evangelist at Salesforce and the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book GROWTH IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business.

Tiffani has been named to the latest Thinkers50’s list of the world’s top management thinkers and is a welcomed guest on Bloomberg, BNN, Cheddar, MSNBC, and Yahoo Finance, among others. She also contributes her thinking to publications including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Quora, Thrive, among others.

She is a change-maker who’s thought-provoking and forward-thinking insights have made her a frequent guest on a variety of industry-leading podcasts and live broadcasts.

Tiffani Bova began her career as a sales, marketing and customer service executive for startups and Fortune 500 companies where she was recognized as being one of the first to develop a robust go-to-market model for cloud-based solutions and indirect channel strategies. This experience brought her to Salesforce where she became global growth evangelist, driving customer success through a vast network of customer and partner ecosystems. She has consistently been a leader in witnessing, understanding and helping shape the relationship with ecosystems across various organizations. In this discussion, Tiffani shares her insights on:

In this podcast, she shares:

What defines an ecosystem, and why it’s more common than you may think
The history of ecosystems, as she witnessed them on the frontlines, and how the internet and digital technology have accelerated their prevalence
A practical set of steps and questions to decide if an ecosystem is right for your company, where to draw value from it, and deciding how it will help close your gaps
The importance of putting the customer first when making the decision to join an ecosystem
The different types of relationships you can develop with partners in an ecosystem
How ecosystems can become a significant part of your profitability—and why this is critical to your success

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-Tiffani Bova

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Tiffani + The topic of today’s episode

1:58—What are your thoughts on the future of ecosystem-based competition?

5:28—How partnerships in ecosystems are different than traditional business partnerships

7:03—How the internet has changed ecosystems by connecting different players to customers

8:17—Are there more ecosystem-based companies now?

9:57—What are sources of competitive advantage of key success factors that companies need to add to their strategic toolkit in light of ecosystems becoming more prevalent?

15:54—What can you tell us about ecosystem players that just join an ecosystem, vs. have to do a lot of the heavy lifting to build it?

21:29—What are the first steps in evaluating how to enter an ecosystem?

23:00—Could you tell us about organizations that have started organizing themselves like ecosystems internally?

28:46—Thinking of how to build ecosystems regardless of your business or industry

30:09—The importance of collecting customer feedback

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://www.tiffanibova.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tiffani_Bova

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanibova

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffanibova

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Whitney Johnson is the CEO of human capital consultancy WLJ Advisors, an Inc. 5000 2020 fastest-growing private company in America. She is an expert at helping high-growth organizations develop high-growth individuals, and recognized as one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world (#14) as named by Thinkers50.

Having worked at Fortune 100 companies, been an award-winning equity analyst on Wall Street, invested with Harvard’s Clayton Christensen, and coached alongside the renowned Marshall Goldsmith, Whitney understands how companies work, how investors think, and how the best coaches coach–––all of which she brings to her work in coaching CEOs and CSuite executives. Whitney works with high growth venture-backed start-ups and Fortune 100 companies across a variety of sectors including consumer goods, technology, higher education and financial services. In 2017, she was selected from more than 16,000 candidates as a “Top 15 Coach” by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith.

She is an award-winning author, world-class keynote speaker, and frequent lecturer for Harvard Business School's Corporate Learning. She is a popular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, has 1.8 million followers on LinkedIn, where she was selected as a Top Voice in 2018, and her course on Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has been viewed more than 1 million times.

Whitney joined us last year in our podcast as a guest speaker and she introduced us to how the S Curve or adoption curve can be applied to yourself and your career. But in her books so far, the S Curve was sort of a “supporting character.” Now, in her new book, Smart Growth, she puts the S Curve front and center and lays out with remarkable precision and clarity the milestones along that S Curve.

In this podcast, she shares:

Points out that without landmarks, people literally walk around in circles
Provides a map of six landmarks you can use to help you avoid walking around in circles in your career
How to know if you have plateaued in your career or your business, and whether it's time to get uncomfortable or find a new adventure
How to then know if you are the right next s-curve

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"And when you know where you are, you increase your capacity to grow and the more you grow, the more you can grow. And so, you can use this for yourself, if you're willing to grow yourself, then you're going to be able to grow your people. And if you can grow your people, then you can grow your organization"

-Whitney Johnson

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Whitney + The topic of today’s episode

3:00—Why did you decide to write your third and newest book?

3:56—Could you unpack the metaphor from your book?

8:22—How can you know if you've plateaued, whether in your life or career?

10:45—How do you know if the next S Curve you're stepping on to is the right path?

12:28—Digging deeper into the "Explorer" phase of the S Curve

16:00—The sweet spot of the S Curve

18:05—How can you know when you've reached the mastery phase vs. you're actually just in the beginning phase?

20:10—Are there any last thoughts you'd like to share?

20:48—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Email: wj@whitneyjohnson.com

Personal Website: https://whitneyjohnson.com/

Smart Growth & Other Books

Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnsonwhitney

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneyjohnson

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Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 16,000 members worldwide, and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today.

Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 200 partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past four decades helping companies scale up.

He’s the author of the bestseller Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword; and wrote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) which has been translated into 22 languages and has won eight major international book awards including the prestigious International Book Award for Best General Business book. His latest book, Scaling Up Compensation, rocketed to the #1 HR book on Amazon.

Verne also chairs the annual ScaleUp Summits and serves on several boards including vice chair of The Riordan Clinic; co-founder and chair of Geoversity; and board member of the social venture Million Dollar Women, and is a private investor in many scaleups.

In this podcast, he shares:

Several practical proven tips for designing your growth strategy
How strategy has evolved over the last few decades and
How to identify the right customer niche for you
The key lesson for keeping competitors at bay
Why you shouldn’t be designing strategy at the office, and where you should do it instead

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"We have the framework: right people doing the right things right. So, it’s figuring out the right things for people to do, and that those right things are different than what everyone else in your industry is doing. That is the essence of strategy: doing it different. "

-Verne Harnish

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Verne + The topic of today’s episode

2:23—What is your definition of strategy?

4:02—What do you say to CEOs about going after a big market share vs. a niche market?

5:23—How can a company figure out what their niche is?

7:23—Examples of companies that have dominated their niche

8:22—How to "blackmail" a market

11:00—How have you seen the field of strategy evolve in the last few decades?

12:03—The importance of organizing a council

13:48—Why all great thinkers have a physical space for creative thinking

15:55—What is an important framework you'd highly recommend?

19:04—How can people connect with you?

16:55—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Company Page: https://scalingup.com/verne-harnish/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agilescaleup

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verneharnish

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Keith Ferrazzi is a bestselling author, award-winning speaker, investor, philanthropist, and executive team coach who helps teams transform enterprises. As Founder and Chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight and its applied research institute, he coaches executive teams in top organizations to achieve transformative outcomes by harnessing Radical Adaptability. He is recognized as one of the world’s most sought-after executive team coaches.

Keith is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Who’s Got Your Back, Never Eat Alone, Leading Without Authority, and Competing in a New Work World. He formerly served as CMO and Head of Sales at Deloitte and Starwood Hotels.

Fast Company Leadership Hall of Fame and Toastmaster’s 2018 Golden Gavel Award Winner, Keith’s is one of the most in-demand keynote speakers.

In this podcast, he shares:

Specific ways in which the COVID crisis is transforming the nature of work
Why would should just be thinking of “remote” work but rather the much bigger opportunity represented by “asynchronous work”
Ideas for leveraging the crowd in your company to design better strategies
A simple, 5-minute exercise you can put in place to help ensure you don’t get surprised by the next unexpected disruption

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"People think to think that reason to be in business is to make a profit. No, profit is the applause you get for creating a motivating environment for your people so they take good care of your customers."

-Keith Ferrazzi __________________________________________________________________________________________

Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Keith + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—If you really know me, you know that....

3:24—Having the courage to lean into "I don't know," and the value of crowdsourcing insights

6:12—What's your definition of strategy?

7:15—How the roles of (Chief Marketing Officer) CMOs and (Chief Strategy Officers) CSOs have changed over time

8:27—In light of the pandemic, companies have had to adapt. What do you think of adapting "back"?

9:39—5-Min Exercise: "The foresight Meeting"

13:21—Moving from synchronous to asynchronous teamwork

14:22—What are tools that work well for asynchronous collaboration?

15:58—Resilience: Curating your team's energy to redesign your workforce

17:29—Last thoughts and how to connect with Keith

15:48—What are you working on now?

16:55—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://www.keithferrazzi.com/

Newest publication: https://www.goforwardtowork.com/book

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ferrazzi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithferrazzi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithferrazzi/?hl=en

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Ken Blanchard is one of the world’s most influential leadership experts. A prominent, sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, Ken is respected for his lifetime of groundbreaking research and thought leadership that has influenced the day-to-day management and leadership of people and companies throughout the world.

In 2005, he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time. He is the co-author of more than sixty-five books, including the iconic The One Minute Manager, with combined sales of over 23 million copies in forty-seven languages. He and Randy Conley are also co-authors of Simple Truths of Leadership.

He is co-founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a leading international training and consulting firm.

In this podcast, he shares:

Why you want to be an servant leader and how to know you actually are
The first step to take when seeking to transform your culture
Why you should be focused on your employees before your customers

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-Ken Blanchard

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Ken + The topic of today’s episode

1:58—If you really know me, you know that....

2:28—What is your definition of strategy?

4:20—How has your business model changed over time?

5:00—Could you tell us about servant leadership?

7:15—How can a leader know that they're not using their title and position as a servant leader?

8:45—Do you have any advice for someone who doesn't have a ton of influence, but is a leader?

10:20—Are there any highlights about trust you could point us to from your book?

11:28—Do you have any frameworks or tips you like to point to in transforming company culture?

12:31—What's something that you've changed your mind about?

14:01—What's something you wish you had learned earlier?

15:48—What are you working on now?

16:55—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://www.kenblanchard.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kenblanchard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenblanchard1

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Gary Hamel is one of the world’s most influential and iconoclastic business thinkers. He has worked with leading companies across the globe and is a dynamic and sought-after management speaker. Hamel has been on the faculty of the London Business School for more than 30 years and is the director of the Management Lab.

Gary has written 20 articles for the Harvard Business Review and is the most reprinted author in the Review’s history. His landmark books have been translated into more than 25 languages. His most recent bestsellers are Humanocracy and The Future of Management. In these volumes, Hamel presents an impassioned plea for reinventing management and lays out a practical blueprint for building organizations that are “fit for the future.”

Fortune magazine describes Hamel as “the world’s leading expert on business strategy,” and the Financial Times calls him a “management innovator without peer.” Hamel has been ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the world’s most influential business thinker and is a fellow of the Strategic Management Society and of the World Economic Forum.

In his work, Gary has led transformational efforts in some of the world’s most notable companies and has helped to create billions of dollars in shareholder value. He is one of the world’s most sought-after management speakers on the topics of strategy, leadership, innovation and change.

In this podcast, he shares:

What “strategic intent” is and why your strategy setting should begin with it
How to address "leadership myopia" when you recognize it, and to make sure you don't develop it
What his research shows are the four sources of breakthrough strategic ideas
The source of the differentiating choices that will ultimately determine your competitive advantage

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"You start with an aspiration and then you work backward from that. You know, innovation is born in the gap between aspiration high and resources."

-Gary Hamel

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Gary + The topic of today’s episode

2:40—If you really know me, you know that....

3:10—What is your definition of strategy?

4:49—What would you say you are most known for?

6:31—Second well-known article, The Core Competence of the Corporation

8:40—The concept of "Strategies Revolution," looking at strategy as an innovation problem, and letting go of strategic planning

10:30—How do you know if you're spending enough time on core initiatives vs. new initiatives?

14:25—How to address "leadership myopia" when you recognize it

19:12—Should all strategists start with strategic intent, or where if not?

20:58—Where do new game-changing strategies come from?

24:37—If you want to be the next "unicorn" creating a process for developing a portfolio of strategic options is essential

27:24—Learning to recognize patterns when developing strategic options

29:58—The benefit of collaboration in making strategic decisions

32:38—How can people connect and engage with you, and what are you working on next?

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Additional Resources:

Columbia University Page: https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/jk2110

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jonathanaknee

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Jonathan Knee is a of Professional Practice in Media and Technology and Co-Director of the Media and Technology Program at Columbia Business School, where he has taught Media Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Management of Media.

He serves as a Senior Advisor at Evercore, an investment banking advisory firm. Before joining here as Senior Managing Director in 2003, he was a Managing Director and Co-head of Morgan Stanley’s Media Group and was previously Publishing Sector Head in the Communications, Media and Entertainment Group at Goldman Sachs.

Jonathan also serves on the boards of New Alternatives for Children, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York and is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic.

He is the author of Class Clowns: How the Smartest Investors Lost Billions in Education, The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed Wall Street, co-author of The Curse of The Mogul: What’s Wrong With the World’s Leading Media Companies? and his most recent book, The Platform Delusion: Who Wins and Who Loses In the Age of Tech Titans, packed with real-word insights, gathered on the streets, from decades of feasting or fasting based on the accuracy of his prediction of which companies will thrive and which will fall.

*Note: We condensed this original hour-long discussion into a format to fit this podcast series, but be on the lookout for the full-length version in the coming weeks.

In this podcast, he shares:

The three competitive advantages discussed in his framework from The Platform Delusion
Why you should NOT be looking become a platform, as it seems nearly every entrepreneur and incumbent wants to do—and what you should be looking for instead
How to build your competitive moat by creating multiple reinforcing sources of advantage
Why Netflix is NOT a platform, though many think it is
What’s better: building “network affects” or “scale advantages?”
And he starts exploring what it takes to compete in an ecosystem
The difference between a platform and an ecosystem

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" [An] Ecosystem is really about the overall business environment. Who are the constituents? How do they interact with each other? Platform is a specific business model that connects some part of an ecosystem. But to me what's most interesting about the connection between the structure of the ecosystem and the question that we were just talking about...is: Is the platform a good business or not?"

-Jonathan Knee

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Jonathan + The topic of today’s episode

2:46—If you really know me, you know that....

3:20—What is your definition of strategy?

5:09—Could you talk to us to your ideas behind "platform delusion"?

7:49—What makes a business have a competitive advantage?

9:32—What exactly is a platform, and what is its core value?

12:19—Network effects vs. scale

14:18—Creating customer captivity as a digital company

16:09—Understanding fixed costs and its advantages in the digital world

17:52—When and what kind of data matters, and when it doesn't offer much value

19:30—What is the difference between a platform or an ecosystem, and how do you know which resource to tap into?

20:25—How can people connect with you and keep learning with you?

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Additional Resources:

Columbia University Page: https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/jk2110

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jonathanaknee

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Francesca Gino is an award-winning researcher who focuses on why people make the decisions they do at work, and how leaders and employees have more productive, creative and fulfilling lives.

She is the author of Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules in Work and Life, Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan and numerous articles that have been featured in HBR and other top publications.

She is the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School, and also affiliated with the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, as well as the Mind, Brain, Behavior Initiative at Harvard, and the Behavioral Insight Group. She co-chairs HBS Executive Education programs on Behavioral Economics (focused on how to apply behavioral insights to organizational problems) and Driving Profitable Growth.

Gino has been honored as one of the world’s Top 40 Business Professors under 40 and one of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers by Thinkers 50. Professor Gino has won numerous awards for her teaching, including the HBS Faculty Award by Harvard Business School's MBA Class of 2015. Her studies have also been featured in The Economist, The New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, Psychology Today, and The Wall Street Journal, and her work has been discussed on National Public Radio and CBS Radio.

In this podcast, she shares:

Why curiosity is so critical for your career and the future longevity of your organization
Simple, practical tips you can take to express more creativity and curiosity at work
And similarly, how your organization can unlock greater curiosity throughout
Her definition of a “rebel” and why you should consider becoming one

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" I collected data on hundreds of employees who are starting new jobs or new roles, and sure enough, across the board...you see curiosity being pretty high, but you go back to the same people nine, ten months later, curiosity had dropped by at least 20%. And so it raises the question of: What is happening? Why are people are losing their curiosity? And I think that again, there is the same fear of a new role, a new place , "others are going to judge me if I try to do things differently,"...so we just follow the usual ways of working."

-Francesca Gino

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Francesca + The topic of today’s episode

2:30—If you really know me, you know that....

3:43—What is your definition of strategy?

4:45—What are you most known for?

6:29—The importance of asking 'why' or 'what if' in an organization.

8:12—How can you encourage people to feel comfortable being curious?

9:33—How do you make learning goals that encourage being curious?

10:43—For someone in a strategy role, what is a way to embed curiosity into the organization in a systematic way?

12:27—How do you distinguish between a learning objective and an outcome objective for your team?

14:42—Building your curiosity muscle

16:49—Could you tell us about your idea of "rebel talent"?

17:30—What are you working on next?

19:05—How can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Page: https://francescagino.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/francescagino

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-gino-b7139436/

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Martin Reeves is a Managing Director and Senior Partner in BCG’s San Francisco office and Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, where he explores ideas from beyond the world of business, which have implications for business strategy management.

He is the co-author of The Imagination Machine: How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company's Future (HBR Press, 2021), the series Inspiring the Next Game: Strategy Ideas for Forward Looking Leaders, and arguably one of the best strategy books of all time: Your Strategy Needs a Strategy: How to Choose and Execute the Right Approach (HBR Press, 2015). He has also written numerous articles in top business journals like MIT Press and Harvard Business Review.

Martin joined BCG in London in 1989 and later moved to Tokyo, where he was responsible for BCG’s business with Western clients. His consulting career has focused on strategy – with equal emphasis on idea origination and development, and application by consulting with clients on their strategy challenges. A perennial generalist, Martin’s interest range widely.

In this podcast he shares :

“Strategy Stacks”—what they are, and why you need to start thinking about them
Six steps that creativity theory shows are needed to harness imagination in yourself and in your company
Why business strategy can no longer follow a one-size-fits-all model.
How ecosystem-based competition differs from the company to company battles most business strategy knowledge is based on

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" So, therefore, whatever generalization we might want to make about strategy is increasingly inapplicable to the whole. Therefore we need to ask, pluralistically not what the approaches to strategy in the modern business environment, but which approach is applicable under which circumstances."

-Martin Reeves

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Martin + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—If you really know me, you know that....

2:30—What is your definition of strategy?

3:29—What are you most known for?

4:40—Could you talk a bit about your strategy of strategies?

7:24—Do the sources of competitive advantage change in light of the rising dominance of ecosystems?

9:47—What does creativity in strategy have to do with play and imagination?

12:05—The first step of the Imagination Cycle: Seduction

12:50—The second step of the Imagination Cycle: Idea

13:44—The third step of the Imagination Cycle: Collision

14:22—The fourth step of the Imagination Cycle: Epidemic

15:40—The fifth step of the Imagination Cycle: Codification

17:10—The sixth step of the Imagination Cycle: Encore

17:50—How can people connect with you, and what are you working on next?

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Additional Resources:

Company Page: https://www.bcg.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MartinKReeves

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-reeves

The Imagination Machine Book: https://theimaginationmachine.org/

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Julian Birkinshaw is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Strategic Management Society, and the (American) Academy of Management.

Julian is a recognized thought leader on the impact of digital technology on the strategy and organization of established companies, for example such topics as digital disruption, agile working, corporate entrepreneurship, business model innovation and management innovation. He is the author of fifteen books, including Mindtools for Managers, Reinventing Management, and Fast/Forward: Make Your Company Fit for the Future among others, as well as over one hundred articles.

He is currently ranked as one of the Thinkers 50 top thought leaders in the field of Management, and is regularly quoted in international media outlets, including CNN, BBC, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, and The Times. He is a regular keynote speaker and a consultant to many large companies, such as BP, Dell Technologies, among others.

In this podcast he shares:

Why digital disruption is overrated
How incumbent organizations should be thinking about react to disruptive attackers
What this tells us about the future of Tesla and the electric vehicle industry

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" Traditional hierarchical, top-down methods work ok as long as what you're trying to do is just deliver a standard product a million times...as we move away from efficiency and quality as the narrow definition of performance to innovation and agility and purpose, we need people to take more initiative. We need to find ways of liberating and harnessing their talents."

-Julian Birkinshaw

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Julian + The topic of today’s episode

2:10—If you really know me, you know that....

2:28—What is your definition of strategy?

3:53—What got you interested in strategy?

5:53—Could you talk a bit about your work on ambidextrous organizations and management innovation?

7:44—How was the framework of how we manage ourselves changed over time?

9:45—How has your research supported the idea that corporations or incumbent organizations can become agile?

11:22—Could you talk to us about the survival rate of S&P 500s?

13:30—What should strategy officers in an incumbent organization be aware of?

16:23—For a company that was ahead of the game, like Tesla, what are the potential moves they could take next to not be surpassed?

17:52—What are you working on now, and how can people find you and follow you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://julianbirkinshaw.com/index.html

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBirkinshaw

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-birkinshaw-7044951/

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Faith Popcorn founded her BrainReserve (FPBR), the futurist marketing consultancy, in 1974. The New York Times has called her “The Trend Oracle," Fortune Magazine named her “The Nostradamus of Marketing," and she is recognized globally as the original and foremost Futurist. She has identified such sweeping societal movements as “Cocooning,“ “SOS,” “AtmosFear,“ “Anchoring,“ “99 Lives" and “Vigilante Consumer."

As the key strategist for Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, Faith and her esteemed team apply their insights to cultural and business Trend Truths, opening the vision of their clients, repositioning their brands/companies, developing new models and innovating for sustainable growth. She is a trusted advisor to the CEOs of The Fortune 200 including such companies as American Express, Apple, Campbell's Soup, Citigroup, Chipotle, Colgate, Comcast, among many others.

With a documented 95% accuracy rate, Faith predicted the demand for fresh foods, home delivery, telemedicine, enhanced entertainment and home schooling, as well as capturing the spiritual tenor of the millennium with Cocooning and its impact on COVID-culture. Additionally, she predicted the rise of Social Media.

Faith is also the best-selling author of four books: The Popcorn Report, Clicking, EVEolution, Dictionary of the Future and the Upcoming, and Popcorn Report 2030: A Leap of Faith.

In this podcast she shares:

What strategists often get wrong in attempting to predict the future
Her view on the future of the Metaverse and Non-fungible tokens (or NFTs)
Whether we are ever going to go back to work
Why employees hold so much bargaining power now and how that will change how companies compete

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" I think the greatest error that people make about the future is trying to extrapolate what's going to happen from what did happen from the past. That is a major error, the way to figure out the future and become an overnight futurist is look forward."

-Faith Popcorn

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Faith + The topic of today’s episode

2:20—If you really know me, you know that....

3:06—What is your definition of strategy?

3:40—What are you most well-known for?

4:51—What is the process you use, and how do you frame a strategy around those trends?

6:30—How do you define the metaverse, and what does it mean for the future?

8:13—How do you see bitcoin shaping the future?

8:50—Can you give us an example of a company that was reluctant to adapt to change, and the effects of this?

10:00—Tell us more about NFTs

10:50—What happens when technology is misused?

11:33—What are you thoughts on early adapters?

12:23—Talk to us about the future of work

11:33—What are you thoughts on early adapters?

14:05—How will freelance and gig workers find security in the future?

14:50—Can you talk to us about the future of robots?

18:00—What is something people do wrong when predicting future trends, and what kind they do to avoid this?

19:05—What are you working on now?

20:24—How can people find you and follow you?

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Additional Resources:

Company page: https://faithpopcorn.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FaithPopcorn

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faithpopcorn

Email: faith@faithpopcorn.com

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Adam Bryant is managing director of The ExCo Group, a senior leadership development and executive mentoring firm. Prior to this, Adam worked for 30 years as a journalist, including 18 years as a reporter, editor and columnist at The New York Times. He interviewed more than 500 CEOs for “Corner Office,” a series on leadership that he created in 2009. He also writes a monthly column for Strategy+Business magazine and is the Senior Advisor to the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia University.

Adam is the author of three books: His new book is THE CEO Test: Master the Challenges that Make or Break All Leaders, published by Harvard Business Review Press, which he co-authored with Kevin Sharer, the former President and then CEO of Amgen during which he grew the company to $16 billion in revenue from just $1 billion.

Adam’s first book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, was a New York Times bestseller, drawing on insights from CEOs to identify the qualities that help explain why certain executives are promoted over others to become CEOs. In his second book Quick and Nimble: Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation, Adam distilled the wisdom of hundreds of business leaders to identify the secrets to a high-performing corporate culture.

In this podcast he shares:

The seven most critical tests that determine the success of a CEO
Advice on how to simplify strategy so that everything can get on board
Why we should be thinking about strategy as “making bets” rather than plans
A compelling metaphor for strategy and leadership—think of it as keep bunnies in their boxes

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"I think that is one of the things that set effective leaders apart...is they have the skill of simplifying complexity. So take all the complexity in the world, in your industry and your company, and boil it down to a simple framework because I always say it's one of the leader's tests is to be able to stand on a stage at an all-hands meeting...and answer the questions that little kids ask...like 'Where are we going? How are we going to get there? '...To be able to do that takes a certain habit of mind...it is a muscle that you need to develop."

-Adam Bryant

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Adam Bryant + The topic of today’s episode

2:32—If you really know me, you know that....

3:24—What is your definition of strategy?

6:10—Can you explain more what you mean about leaders lacking "shared language"?

6:40—What has been your biggest surprise in interviewing so many CEOs?

9:07—Could you tell us about the seven key attributes that you discovered throughout your work?

11:40—Is the skill of demystifying and clarifying the complex a skill that can be learned?

14:00—Why do people have a tendency to overcomplicate ideas and use hundred-dollar words?

15:10—Getting people accept ideas is more than just simplifying; can you explain the importance of repetition?

16:48—You talk about business being about bets—could you elaborate on that?

18:40—How can people follow, find and learn from you

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Additional Resources:

Company page: https://www.excoleadership.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/adambbryant

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambryantleadership/

Personal Site: https://adambryantbooks.com/

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Ben Gomes-Casseres has worked on partnership strategies for thirty years, as a researcher, teacher, and advisor. A professor at Brandeis University, Ben directs the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship. Previously, he was at Harvard Business School and at the World Bank.

Ben has published five books and many articles and case studies on M&A, alliances, and joint ventures, and his views have appeared widely in the business press. Ben helps companies create value from external resources by improving the way they manage partnerships. He holds degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and Brandeis. A native of Curaçao, he speaks four languages, and his work can be found at www.remixstrategy.com.

His newest book is Remix Strategy: The Three Laws of Business Combinations. He also offers two online courses on Linked-In Learning (Lynda.com): “Strategic Partnerships” and “Ecosystems and Platforms.”

In this podcast he shares:

Why the future of competition is not firm to firm but rather ecosystem to ecosystem
The three rules you must master to win an ecosystem-based competition
How to think about the decision of which ecosystems to join, and how much value you can sustainably extract … which by the way has been one of the top questions members of our network of chief strategy officers have be thinking about. __________________________________________________________________________________________

-Ben Casseres-Gomes

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Ben Gomez + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—If you really know me, you know that....

3:10—What is your definition of strategy?

5:24—Could you tells us more about your concept of "business combinations"?

6:58—What are the "rules" so to speak about the blurred lines between B2B and B2C in this new ecosystem business environment?

8:50—Could you describe the difference between an ecosystem and a platform?

11:28—Could you walk us through the three rules of ecosystems?

13:16—How does the "pie" get divided so all players get an equal amount of value?

15:12—Tell us about branding. Can an ecosystem have a brand?

17:53—Could you tell us a little more about the "one plus one" rule?

19:38—What do people usually get wrong?

21:23—How can people follow, find and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

Company page: www.alliancestrategy.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencasseres

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengomescasseres

Brandeis Faculty Page: https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=d6dac7e5051c516ace0f11fbc430d0cd13c40dcf

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Fred Reichheld is the creator of the Net Promotor Score (or NPS). He is a Bain Fellow and the founder of their Loyalty practice, which helps companies achieve results through customer and employee loyalty.

His work in the area of customer and employee retention has quantified the link between loyalty and profits. He's authored numerous best-selling books including The Loyalty Effect, Loyalty Rules!;  and The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer Driven World.

His work has been widely covered in outlets like The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Fortune, Business Weekand The Economist.

Consulting Magazine chose Fred as one of the “25 Most Influential Consultants”. According to The New York Times, "[He] put loyalty economics on the map." The Economistrefers to him as the "high priest" of loyalty.

This episode covers key take-aways from his most recent book: Winning On Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers.

In this podcast he shares:

How too many companies misuse—even abuse—NPS
Lessons from companies like Apple Retail, Philips, Schwab, Allianz, American Express, and Intuit who get it right
Why our historical view on capitalism is fading and why the emerging concept of capitalism will lead you to being truly customer-centric
Why focusing on investor returns or even employee happiness is short-sighted
And why establishing and truly living a core purpose is fundamental to your company’s long-term success __________________________________________________________________________________________

-Fred Reichheld

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Fred Reichheld + The topic of today’s episode

2:07—What made you revisit your idea of NPS?

2:47—How are companies misusing NPS?

3:54—Why do the ideas about focusing on various themes that aren't centered around the customer, never work out?

5:25—Can you define the golden rule?

6:22—How do you overcome the resistance to the language of what many consider "soft skill" language?

8:28—What metrics should we be starting to embrace?

11:10—Can you give us an indicator or metric that can help us gauge how much we're learning?

12:54—What is the role of culture and values in this topic?

15:40—Could you explain how capitalism fits into all of this?

17:01—How can people follow, find and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

Company page: https://www.bain.com/our-team/fred-reichheld/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FredReichheld

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredreichheld

Newest Book: https://www.netpromotersystem.com/books/winning-on-purpose/

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Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA, served as Senior Advisor to the Kingdom of Bahrain for Employment Policy from, was a Distinguished Scholar of the Ministry of Manpower for Singapore, and was Co-Director of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce.

He was recently named by HR Magazine as one of the top 5 most influential management thinkers, by NPR as one of the 50 influencers in the field of aging, and was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources.

He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and writes a monthly column for HR Executive magazine. His recent work on performance management, agile systems, and hiring practices, and other workplace topics appears in the Harvard Business Review.

In this podcast he shares:

Insights on remote working: When does it work? Will we ever all go back to the office post-COVID?
Gig workers: how do you manage them?
Temp workers: why using them can decrease morale
Psychological safety: can you ever have too much of it? __________________________________________________________________________________________

"When you feel extremely safe, it's kind of like saying the guardrails are off. Now, I suppose if you're a true believer in psychological safety, you would say that there are other ways where you could keep the guard rails on—clear standards and clear norms, a strong culture, that sort of stuff—and we found some evidence for that. Then you get this situation where there's so high of a space psychological safety, that people's performance begins to slide. Not too surprising, too much of good things, in many cases, don't end up being so great."

-Peter Cappelli __________________________________________________________________________________________

Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Peter Cappelli + The topic of today’s episode

1:45—If you really know me, you know that...

2:20—What is your definition of strategy?

2:58—What got you interested in your topic, and could you tell us about your recent work for your new book?

4:30—Could you describe some of the big gaps in tradeoffs between employees and companies?

7:15—What lessons do we have from companies that have gone fully remote?

8:38—Is there something we can learn from history about what happens when there is no longer a competitive labor market?

11:00—When labor markets are tight, and then aren't, do they revert back to the norm, or are we entering a new kind of contract between employer and employees?

13:08—Do companies compare their wages to market average value often? Are there drawbacks to not doing so?

15:15—What are the differences in how you manage gig or contract workers and employees, could you elaborate on that?

17:10—Could you talk about psychological safety? Is the approach "more is always better" valid?

18:28—Where can people follow your work and find you?

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Additional Resources:

Faculty page: https://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/cappelli/

Books: https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Cappelli/e/B001HNWTLM%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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Dan Toma is an innovation thought leader and the co-author of two of my favorite books on innovation. The award-winning book The Corporate Startup, (awarded "Management Book of the Year for Innovation and Entrepreneurship" by Chartered Management Institute and The British Library in 2018) and his latest, Innovation Accounting.

Dan started his career in entrepreneurship, being involved with technology startups across the world. Puzzled by the questions "Why are innovative products mainly launched by startups?," together with his team at the consultancy company OUTCOME, he focuses on enterprise innovation transformation. Specifically on the changes blue-chip organizations need to make to allow for new ventures to be built in a corporate setting.

A big proponent of the ecosystem approach to innovation, Dan has also worked with various government bodies, in Asia and Europe, helping develop national innovation ecosystems and implement national innovation strategies. Most noteworthy is his work in the economic aid program of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam where he helped design and manage a nationwide business acceleration program and supported the capability development activities.

Dan was also featured on the Thinkers50 2020 Radar list of "Management Thinkers to Watch," while also being a member of the World Economic Forum’s working group on accelerating digital transformation.

In this podcast he shares:

Why the traditional financial metrics we use to manage our core business are inappropriate for measuring innovation.
While many people say things like “you have to measure innovation differently” or “we need to start measuring learning rather than revenue for innovation to work,” Dan gives us really tangible, practical advice on how to measure the right things.
He also argues that we should not be focused on big “moon shot” ideas and what we should be focused on instead. __________________________________________________________________________________________

"There's a gap in the market. There's a lot that talks about employees.There's a lot that talks about customers, and then loosely we'll talk about them together. But what is the value? We went out and did some primary research, and we found that brands that do that really well in the U.S. is 1.8X faster growth rates. For a billion-dollar brand, it's a $40-million impact."

-Dan Toma

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Dan Toma + The topic of today’s episode

2:32—If you really know me, you know that...

2:50—What is your definition of strategy?

4:40—What got you interested in strategy?

5:27—What are you most known for?

5:56—Could you tell us about how Covid-19 has shifted companies' approach to innovation?

8:59—What are some of the pitfalls of financial accounting?

11:10—Can you give us an indicator or metric that can help us gauge how much we're learning?

12:50—How do you measure a learning?

13:30—What do people get wrong?

14:50—What's the error in measuring innovation of "moon shot" ideas?

16:00—What's something you've changed your mind about?

17:13—Could you describe the framework you lay out in Corporate Startup?

18:36—How can people follow, find and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

Company page: https://weareoutcome.co/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/danto_ma

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dantoma/

Books: https://weareoutcome.co/books/

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She is a change-maker who’s thought-provoking and forward-thinking insights have made her a frequent guest on a variety of industry-leading podcasts and live broadcasts.

She’s also a host of her own podcast, What’s Next! with Tiffani Bova, an iTunes’ all-time business and management bestseller and a top sales podcast according to Top Sales Magazine. Tiffani has interviewed a growing number of exceptional humans including Arianna Huffington, Dan Pink, Seth Godin and Tom Peters.

She's also considered a top Twitter influencer in Business Growth, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, the Future of Work, and Sales. She was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 37 Sales Experts You Need to Follow on Twitter, a LinkedIn Top Sales Expert to Follow in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and a Top 100 Women in Tech.

In this podcast she shares:

What it takes to increase your Growth IQ
Why its critical today to be a “master asker”
And why after deeply studying product and sales strategies, she is now turning her attention to employees __________________________________________________________________________________________

-Tiffani Bova

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Tiffani Bova + The topic of today’s episode

2:20—If you really know me, you know that...

3:18—What is your definition of strategy?

4:38—Could you give us background on Growth IQ, your most well-known concept?

7:53—What's something that appears on your paths to growth that in wasn't included before?

9:59—Could you characterize what makes Salesforce something beyond CRM?

12:15—What made you decide to focus on business growth?

16:16—What are you working on now?

18:10—What should strategists do next, and how can we connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal page: https://www.tiffanibova.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tiffani_Bova

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanibova

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffanibova

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Michael Tushman is a Baker Foundation Professor, Paul R Lawrence Professor Emeritus, and faculty chair of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School. He is also a founding director of Change Logic, a Boston-based strategic advisory firm.

Michael is internationally recognized for his work on the relations between technological change, executive leadership and organization adaptation, and for his work on innovation streams and organization design. Mike is an active business consultant and educator, working with CEOs and senior teams around the world.

Mike leads several Harvard Business School's premier learning opportunities for executives. In addition to AMP, he is faculty co-chair of Leading Change and Organizational Renewal and is a former Faculty Chair for the Professional Leadership Development Program. He also teaches on the Business Analytics Program, HBS’s first online only program.

Mike’s publications include Lead and Disrupt, Winning Through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Renewal and Change, both with Charles O’Reilly; and Corporate Explorer: how corporates beat startups at the innovation game with Andy Binns.

In this podcast he shares:

How to structure a company so it can simultaneously exploit your current business and explore new businesses
The definition of an ambidextrous organization
Why it's so critical that you think about your firm's “identity” and purpose
And why the greatest barrier to your ability to innovate may be dealing with “identity threats” __________________________________________________________________________________________

"My experience with ambidexterity is the structure is pretty trivial. You just put the past in the future. Oftentimes the reason that ambidextrous structures fail is that the senior team cannot deal with the paradox and tensions and contradictions associated with both exploiting and exploring simultaneously. So I would beg the strategy types in the room to help your colleagues attend to inconsistent strategies simultaneously in service of the overarching identity and help their colleagues deal with tension in the room is that is not there exploit always kills, explore."

-Michael Tushman

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Michael Tushman + The topic of today’s episode

2:38—If you really know me, you know that...

2:01—What is your definition of strategy?

4:50—What are you most well-known for?

7:25—Could you explain to us the concept of an ambidextrous organization?

10:15—How do you find leaders that can manage the tension between exploit and explore?

15:40—Could you explain how explore companies differ in how they shape the context and rules?

16:50—Could you explain a little more about this identity conflict that companies experience?

19:18—What are you working on now and how should people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Faculty Page at HBS: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6584

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-tushman-b356a57/

Most recent book: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/is-company-failure-inevitable

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Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. An award-winning instructor, his academic work has been published in the very best, peer-reviewed journals of his profession. He currently teaches competitive strategy in executive education programs such as the Harvard General Management Program. He also serves as faculty chair of the Senior Executive Leadership Program for China and the Driving Digital Strategy program. He is a cohost of the popular HBR Presents podcast, After Hours.

His most recent book Better, Simpler Strategy, Felix is one of the most compelling, complete, and yet, simple strategy books out there. He shows how successful companies that appear to be in very similar businesses – say Home Depot and Lowes - dramatically outperform their rivals. At a time when rapid technological change and global competition conspire to upend traditional ways of doing business, these companies pursue radically simplified strategies focused on value.

In this podcast he shares:

Why focusing on differentiating our value proposition for customers misses half of the opportunity (we should be equally focused on employees and suppliers).
Why we so often confuse “complements” with “substitutes”—for example, we thought music streaming would kill the music business, but it actually had the opposite effect.
A simple, immediately-actionable framework design a strategy that maximized the value of your firm.

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"There are two key ideas: One is value creation for customers, and that is just ways to increase willingness to pay for your customers. Willingness to pay is the most a customer would ever be willing to pay for a product or a service. We want to make sure that we do the kinds of things that increase value where value is the difference between willingness to pay the most the customer is willing to pay verses the actual price for a better camera in your smart phone, and the actual price that we charge."

-Felix Oberholzer-Gee

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Felix Oberholzer-Gee + The topic of today’s episode

1:54—If you really know me, you know that...

2:01—What is your definition of strategy?

3:22—What are you most well-known for?

5:18—Could you walk us through your framework of what value-based strategy is?

10:15—Differentiating your offer to increase willingness to pay

13:10—What is the right amount of value to capture?

17:40—What is a favorite framework or tool you have?

19:50—Applying the value of differentiation to more than just marketing

23:00—How should people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Faculty Page at HBS: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=251462

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-oberholzer-gee-16424b4/

Most recent book: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Simpler-Strategy-Value-Based-Exceptional/dp/1633699692

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Liz Wiseman is a researcher and executive advisor who teaches leadership to executives around the world. I first met her in 2010 when she had just published her New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. I’ve been following her work since, as she published The Multiplier Effect and Wall Street Journal bestseller Rookie Smarts. In this podcast we are going to dig into her latest book, Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact.

Liz is the CEO of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Some of her recent clients include: Apple, AT&T, Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Salesforce, Tesla, and Twitter. Liz has been listed on the Thinkers50 ranking and in 2019 was recognized as the top leadership thinker in the world.

She has conducted significant research in the field of leadership and collective intelligence and writes for Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and a variety of other business and leadership journals. She is a frequent guest lecturer at BYU and Stanford University and is a former executive at Oracle Corporation, where she worked as the Vice President of Oracle University and as the global leader for Human Resource Development.

Have you every found yourself in a situation in which you are working hard, feeling overwhelmed, but you realize you are spinning your wheels and not actually having impact? Yet, somehow, there is that person on your team who is able to avoid the distractions, focus on the right things, and make a breakthrough impact?

These are called impact players, and Liz has dedicated her last years of research into discovering what makes them unique.

In this podcast she shares:

What impact players are, and how they differ from others
Secrets of these stellar professionals drawn from a two-year study
The five mindsets of impact players __________________________________________________________________________________________

"In the process of studying leadership and trying to teach this, I came to this realization, and if I've learned anything in my research, it is this: It's not about leadership; it's about contributor-ship. And that is, that people come to work every day desperately wanting to contribute everything they have. When people talk about the experience working for a diminishing leader, they're like, "It was painful, and it was exhausting." Being only able to give 50% of your know-how and capability was exhausting, and demoralizing."

-Liz Wiseman

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Liz Wiseman+ The topic of today’s episode

2:50—If you really know me, you know that...

3:30—What is your definition of strategy?

4:22—What are you most well-known for?

6:09—Could you give us an example of a habit a diminisher might exhibit unconsciously?

8:33—Why did you choose "impact players" as your next area of research?

11:01—Clarifying the five practices of impact players

12:20—Figuring out the "job to be done"

13:03—Impact players step up and lead

14:52—Moving things across the finish

16:18—Learning and adapting to change.

18:22—Making work light

19:57—What is the first step you want to leave people with toward creating the environment for fostering impact players?

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Additional Resources:

Personal Website: https://thewisemangroup.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizwiseman/

Most recent book: https://impactplayersbook.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LizWiseman

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Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., is President and Chief Executive Officer of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members in 165 countries, SHRM is the largest HR professional association in the world, impacting the lives of 115 million workers every day.

As a global leader on the future of employment, culture and leadership, Johnny is a sought-after voice on all matters affecting work, workers and the workplace. He is frequently asked to testify before congress on critical workforce issues and authors the weekly USA Today column, "Ask HR."

Johnny’s career spans over 20 years as a lawyer, human resources executive and CEO in both the not-for-profit and for-profit space. He has held senior and chief executive roles at IAC/Interactive Corp, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment Group, the McGuireWoods law firm, and Compass Group USA.

He was appointed chairman of the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and served as a member of the White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board during the Trump Administration.

In this episode, it's worth nothing that all of his projections are fact-based, not conjecture, built on a large database of employment data SHRM has been collecting for decades.

In this podcast he shares:

Some fascinating, counterintuitive insights about Generation Z. Hint: They actually care a lot about money.
A breakdown of the macro policy structural barriers that are going to have to be removed if organizations are going to create workplaces that will work in the future
Practical, first steps CEOs, Strategists, and leaders can take to begin resetting their culture __________________________________________________________________________________________

"I have a shorthand definition of what culture is, and it's how things really work around here. How things get done, not how they should or how you want them to. So number one, and just practical thing I would say to anyone listening is you've got to sit down and you've got to engage in introspection."

-Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. + The topic of today’s episode

2:28—If you really know me, you know that...

2:47—What is your definition of strategy?

3:47—Is strategy changing in nature to being made more spontaneously and spread out, and what's causing it?

6:02—What are the top one or two shifts in strategy that a strategist or CEO needs to be thinking about?

8:44—How would you characterize how Gen Z is different in the way they think about work?

12:00—What can strategists and CEOs to rethink the way that the definition or a 'worker' is changing?

15:01—How can a strategist or CEO if their company needs a cultural reset?

16:42—Among all the frameworks on culture, what's your go-to first step or driver in shifting culture?

18:42—How can people connect and keep learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

SHRM Website: https://www.shrm.org/

Personal Website: https://johnnyctaylorjr.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyctaylorjr/

Most recent book: https://reset.shrm.org/

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Pete Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise centers around the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping and purchasing activities. He works with firms from a wide range of industries, including telecom, financial services, gaming/entertainment, retailing, and pharmaceuticals. He’s the author of Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage and co-authored The Customer Centricity Playbook with Sarah Toms.

Pete co-founded a predictive analytics firm (Zodiac) in 2015, which was sold to Nike in 2018. He then co-founded and continues to run Theta Equity Partners to commercialize his more recent work on “customer-based corporate valuation," a simple but powerful idea, that you can value any company by adding up the value of its individual customers.

He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching accomplishments. Among these achievements, he was named by Advertising Age as one of its inaugural “25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers” in 2017, and was the only academic on the list.

In this podcast he shares:

What customer lifetime value is, and why it should be the central driver of your strategy
A challenge to the idea that you should treat all customers equally well
The first set of steps you should take to begin becoming a truly customer-centric business

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"Of the portfolio things we sell, here's the next thing that you should buy. That's not customer centricity. I mean, it can be if they love us, and they really do want to buy all of our things in sequence, but in a lot of cases, that's not the way it works. So it really is figuring out who are those valuable customers? And what are their broader wants and needs beyond just the stuff that we sell to them?"

-Pete Fader

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Pete Fader + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—If you really know me, you know that...

2:38—What is your definition of strategy?

3:21—What are you most known for?

4:37—Could you define customer centricity?

6:00—What's a company that models being customer-centric well?

9:15—How do you identify who the most valuable customers are?

15:05—Can B2B companies apply these principles as well?

17:57—What's something that you've changed your mind about?

19:05—What last thoughts do you want to leave us with?

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Additional Resources:

Twitter:https://twitter.com/faderp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com › peterfader

Faculty Page: https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/peter-fader/

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Professor Richard D'Aveni is the Bakala Professor of Strategy at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. He is considered one of the premier competitive strategists of his time. His research looks for the winning competitive strategies used by corporations, governments, and militaries. He writes regularly for Harvard Business Review and Forbes and is a frequent commentator on strategic and technological developments. Fortune Magazine has described Professor D’Aveni as modern-day Sun-Tzu, the ancient Chinese master of the strategic arts. Marketing News says, “Today's Internet marketers’ worship at the competitive altar of D'Aveni.”

Thinkers50 awarded him its 2017 Strategy Award, and nominated him for the 2019 Breakthrough Ideas Award. He has since been inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, along with Peter Drucker, Clay Christensen, and many other groundbreaking innovators. His diverse background includes a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, as well as a law degree and MBA, bringing a unique perspective into business.

His most recent book, The Pan-Industrial Revolution, examined the impact of 3D printing on manufacturing, global competition, and society.

In this podcast he shares:

The idea that most of us are grossly underestimating the impact of 3D printing on business and global economy
An argument for why in the near future assembly lines—the corner stone of manufacturing since the industrial evolution—won’t matter
Why Michael Porter's theories might be misplaced in an era of hypercompetition __________________________________________________________________________________________

"You know, life is about temporary advantages, not about sustainable advantages. Those days are gone with the 1950s and ‘60s. So that's hypercompetition in a nutshell."

-Richard D'Aveni

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Richard D'Aveni + The topic of today’s episode

2:48—If you really know me, you know that...

3:33—What is your definition of strategy?

5:33—Could you summarize your concept of hypercompetition?

8:28—What do people get wrong when it comes to 3D printing?

11:39—How will Wall Street be impacted by the adoption of 3D printing?

14:00—Are there any capabilities or strengths that incumbents can realistically hold on to to keep ahead?

16:58—What's the next shift in strategy; what should leadership in strategists be focusing on?

18:22—How can people find you or follow you and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

Direct line to his office at Dartmouth: 603-646-2921

Personal Website: http://daveni.tuck.dartmouth.edu/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-d-aveni-5169749/

Most recent book: http://daveni.tuck.dartmouth.edu/research-and-ideas/the-pan-industrial-revolution

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Dr. Alexander (Alex) Osterwalder is one of the world’s most influential innovation experts, a leading author, entrepreneur, and in-demand speaker whose work has changed the way established companies do business and how new ventures get started.

Ranked No. 4 of the top 50 management thinkers worldwide, Alex is known for simplifying the strategy development process and turning complex concepts into digestible visual tools. Together with Yves Pigneur, he invented the Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, and Business Portfolio Map—practical tools that are trusted by millions of business practitioners from leading global companies. And they really introduced into the strategy dialogue the idea that business models can be intentionally—and creatively—designed.

Strategyzer, Alex’s company, is on a mission to evolve large established companies so that they inspire and activate and liberate their employees to be innovators. They do this using online courses, applications, and technology-enabled platforms.

His books include the international bestseller Business Model Generation, Value Proposition Design, Testing Business Ideas, The Invincible Company, and the recently launched High-Impact Tools for Teams.

In this podcast he shares:

Why innovation MUST begin with your culture
Why if there were only ONE metric you should be tracking to unleash innovation, it should be your “innovation kill rate”
Real-world examples of large enterprises who have been able to transform into agile, innovate organizations, proving it CAN be done __________________________________________________________________________________________

"So there are now those outliers who have done exactly that. They invested in innovation, but it's not just the money, they gave innovation power and they created this ecosystem for exploration, with tons of failures. They hold up their failures—same thing as Amazon. They hold up their failures and say, "You can't succeed without failures, and the bigger you get, the bigger your failures. But you know that's the system you need to create for the winners to emerge. So, failure's never the goal, but it's an inevitable side consequence of exploration."

-Alex Osterwalder

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Alex Osterwalder + The topic of today’s episode

2:05—What is your definition of strategy?

3:01—What got you interested in strategy?

4:01—Could you explain a "dual culture"?

5:50—What are the drivers of culture?

8:09—What are you most well-known for?

11:16—What should a CEO be encouraging to engage innovative behavior?

14:30—What is the key lesson people should take away from the case studies you've described?

16:20—What do most companies get wrong?

18:07—What's a belief that you've changed your mind about?

19:54—What are you working on now, and how can people engage with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal website: https://www.alexosterwalder.com/

Strategyzer Website: https://www.strategyzer.com/

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Chris Marquis is the Samuel C. Johnson Professor in Sustainable Global Enterprise and Professor of Management at the Cornell University Johnson College of Business. Prior to joining Cornell, he worked for 10 years at Harvard Business School and has held visiting positions at Harvard Kennedy School, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Peking University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University. Chris received a PhD in sociology and business administration from the University of Michigan.

These research projects build on Chris’ earlier research on how business can have a positive impact on society and in particular how historical and geographical processes have shaped firms’ and entrepreneurs’ social and environmental strategies and activities. He is one of the foremost authorities today on the intersection of corporate social responsibility and strategy. His latest book, Better Business: How the B Corp Movement Is Remaking Capitalism, focuses on the potential for stakeholder governance models to reform capitalism. Chris believes that businesses have a big role to play in a capitalist society.

In this podcast he shares:

Why corporations need to pursue both positive social impact and profit—and why we no longer get to choose
A fascinating concept called “Universal Ownership Theory,” that could explain why suddenly (seemingly) corporations are awakening to this need
A practical first step you can help to help your company start embracing multi-stakeholder approach __________________________________________________________________________________________

"This is where I think the strategist is so important because something like a 'net zero commitment' is easy to say, but actually how to get there is a lot harder. And I think that's where strategy can play a really big role is actually in ways of transforming the company to meet a bold and important objective, like being net zero."

-Chris Marquis

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Chris Marquis + The topic of today’s episode

2:10—If you really know me, you know that...

2:40—What is your definition of strategy?

3:08—What got you interested in strategy?

3:44—What are you most well-known for?

4:29—Can you describe a B corp for us?

5:13—Why is it valuable for a company or strategy to be looking at this type of strategic rationale?

6:08—Why do you think the ESG and B Corp movement is happening now?

7:38—Can you help shatter the myth that B Corps must be socially-driven, small entrepreneurial entities?

10:22—What have you changed your mind about with regard to B Corps?

11:13—Is there a set of tools, leverage points or framework a strategist can look at to align the company behind multi-stakeholder benefit?

12:51—Where do you see the future relationship of corporations and stakeholders in society?

14:13—What do you think should be the first steps and agenda for a strategist looking to implement these ideas into their company?

15:43—Of all the strategic advice you've ever gotten, what has been most impactful for you?

16:35—Could you tell us about "Universal Ownership Theory"?

17:36—What are you working on now and how can people connect with you?

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Additional Resources:

Personal website: https://www.chrismarquis.com/better_business

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-marquis-3884834/

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Robbie Kellman Baxter is a consultant, author and speaker. She is also the author of The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction, and hosts the podcast Subscription Stories. Robbie has more than 20 years of experience providing strategic business advice to major organizations, including Netflix, Fitbit, Microsoft and Consumer Reports and has worked in or consulted to clients in more than twenty industries. She has been focused on subscription and growth strategies for the past decade and coined the popular business term “Membership Economy," which is now being used by organizations and journalists around the country and beyond. 

Robbie has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on CNN. She earned her MBA from the Stanford GSB, and graduated with honors from Harvard College.

In this podcast she shares:

Why you should consider evolving your business model from a transaction-based one into a membership-based one
What she learned from working with Netflix and other member-based companies across a range of industries
Why evolving into a membership model is not just about changing your pricing structure, but requires you also looking at making three others sets of changes

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"You have to think about the impact on the products that you offer, the processes that you use internally, the metrics that you educate your leadership and your board to focus on all of that needs to change as well. If you're [moving toward a membership model], it's not as simple as taking the products you have and slapping a subscription price on it."

-Robbie Baxter

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Robbie Baxter + The topic of today’s episode

2:00—If you really know me, you know that...

2:31—What is your definition of strategy?

4:31—What got you interested in strategy?

5:51—What are you most well-known for?

7:53—Can you paint a picture for us of how a business could become a membership economy business?

11:43— What is the key lesson or takeaway from your work?

13:09—How do you align your metrics, business processes and products to a membership economy model?

14:30—Can you be both transactional and subscription, or do you have to choose between two worlds?

15:54—Of all the strategic advice that you've gotten, what has been most impactful?

17:04—Where can people connect with you and what are you working on now?

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Additional Resources:

Subscription Stories podcast: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/podcast-2/

Personal website: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbiekellmanbaxter/

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April Rinne is a “change navigator,” speaker, investor, and adventurer whose work and travels in more than 100 countries have given her a front-row seat to a world in flux. She is one of the 50 leading female futurists in the world, a Harvard Law School graduate, a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, and a Fulbright Scholar. She is also a trusted advisor to well-known startups and companies, financial institutions, nonprofits, think tanks, and governments worldwide.

Earlier in life she was a global development executive, an international microfinance lawyer, and a hiking guide. She spent nearly four years traveling solo (with a backpack and a shoestring budget) to better understand how to help shape a more inclusive, equitable world.

From her varied and vast experiences, she developed her concept of Flux—how to adopt a mindset that thrives in our world's pace of constant change. In this episode, she'll share with us the eight mental shifts you need to make to thrive in a state of constant change, and why you should not try to run fast, but instead run slower.

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"The flux mindset, you just nailed it, because one of the ways I'll define it is: It is the state of mind or the ability to see every change whether it's good or bad, loved or hated, unwelcomed or unexpected as an opportunity, as a means of growing and improving even the hard stuff, it’s not a threat but to be able to harness those silver linings."

-April Rinne

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing April + The topic of today’s episode

1:48—If you really know me, you know that...

2:15—What is your definition of strategy?

2:53—What got you interested in strategy?

3:47—Could you describe the flux mindset?

5:00—Why does a strategist need to get their head around to build their awareness about a flux mindset?

5:48— Can an organization or a sector or community also have a mindset?

7:09—What's the right perspective to approach flux from?

9:18—Could you explain the concept of slowing down, even if the world is accelerating?

11:14—What are some of the other eight superpowers that we should be mindful of?

13:30—Could you tell us more about the superpower of scenario planning?

15:10—What do people usually get wrong?

16:52—What's some advice or something you wish you had learned earlier?

19:28—Where can people find you and connect with you and learn from you?

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Additional Resources:

Flux website: https://fluxmindset.com/what-is-a-flux-mindset

Personal website: https://aprilrinne.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilrinne/

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David Ulrich is a Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and the Co-Director of Michigan's Human Resource Executive Program. He is one of the most influential thought-leaders in the area of HR, organizational design, and leadership having written over 30 books on those topics.

His teaching and research address the question: How do people create organizations that add value for customers? Dave studies how organizations change, build capabilities, learn, remove boundaries and leverage human resources activities. He is known for continually learning, turning complex ideas into simple solutions, and creating real value to those he works with in three fields: organization, leadership and human resources.

In this podcast episode, Dave will share his insights on changing culture while aligning it with your organization as a whole. He'll discuss what it really means to give value (and to whom it's most important), what some common misconceptions are when innovating for value, and how to build your organization for these aspects.

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"Yes, we've got to have great talent, people, workforce, but even more, we've got to have a great organization. And if we don't create the right organization, the workplace, and the culture, we're not going to be successful. Individuals can be champions, but teams win championships"

-Dave Ulrich

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Dave Ulrich + The topic of today’s episode

2:09—If you really know me, you know that...

2:40—What is your definition of strategy?

4:30—What are you most known for?

6:36—What should people do to implement the idea that value is all about how it's perceived by others?

8:08—Is there a set of tools or checklist of drivers to look at to shape the organization?

11:22— What do people get wrong?

14:21—What's something you've changed your mind about?

17:10—What are some resources or a place to start for companies looking to make the first steps?

18:04—What are you working on now?

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Additional Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveulrichpro/

Latest Book: http://hrfromtheoutsidein.com/

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Ash Fontana became one of the most recognized startup investors in the world after launching online investing at AngelList. He then became a Managing Director of Zetta, the first investment fund that focused on AI. The firm was the lead investor in category-defining AI companies such as Kaggle, Domino, Tractable, Lilt and Invenia. He has appeared in Fast Company, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC and at the UN.

Ash previously co-founded Topguest, a Founders Fund-backed company that built customer analytics technology for companies like United, Virgin, and InterContinental. Topguest sold in an eight-figure transaction 18 months after the company was founded.

From his experiences, he’s written his first book, The AI-First Company, the definitive playbook to putting AI first in every business conversation. The playbook is an executable guide for applying AI to business problems, made for real companies, with real budgets, that need strategies and tactics to effectively implement AI.

In this podcast, we’ll dive into the topics from his book and really understand how you can apply these concepts to infuse AI in your organization. Ash will share with us why the concept we often hold about AI—a big brain in the sky—isn't accurate, and how we should be thinking of AI. He'll also define what it means to be an “AI-First company” and lead us through practical steps you can take now to start moving your organization on the path being an AI leader.

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"[AI] is very good at discrete things like making the same decision over and over again, very reliably with a predictable output or making very rational decisions or whatnot. So, I think it's important to just remember it's different from our form of intelligence. And that's why it's important to develop, because if it was the same why would we be bothering with all this."

-Ash Fontana

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Episode Timeline:

01:06—Introducing Ash Fontana + The topic of today’s episode

3:06—What is an AI-first company?

4:49—How do you describe AI?

5:50—Is AI less adaptable than humans at making decisions when the parameters or underlying ideas suddenly shift?

7:16—Could you explain how flywheel concept as it relates to AI systems?

9:08—How would a legacy or incumbent company approach where to start with AI?

10:59—How can a company shift from a lean approach to being "all in"?

13:14— What is some of the languages or some of the words that we need to start learning to grasp AI?

14:49—What do companies most often get wrong when seeking to prioritize AI?

17:10—What are some resources or a place to start for companies looking to make the first steps?

19:20—Where can we find you?

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Additional Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashfontana/

The AI-First Company(Book)

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Tendayi Viki is an author and corporate innovation expert. As Associate Partner at Strategyzer, he helps companies innovate for the future while managing their core business. He has written three books: Pirates In The Navy, The Corporate Startup and The Lean Product Lifecycle.

He previously served as Director of Product Lifecycle at Pearson, where he co-developed an innovation framework that won the Best Innovation Program 2015 at the Corporate Entrepreneur Awards in New York. Tendayi has been shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Innovation Award and was named on the Thinkers50 2018 Radar List for emerging management thinkers to watch. He is also a regular contributor at Forbes.

In this episode, Tendayi discusses with Kaihan why innovation has to follow strategy and how you can become a pirate in the Navy (or an employee entrepreneur) to create new innovative solutions.

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"One of my pet peeves is when I meet heads of innovation and they say, 'My job is to let a thousand flowers bloom. There's no such thing as a bad idea.'and I just think that it sounds good in a sense that you want to democratize innovation, and yet it's very rare that I've ever found any innovation that is succeeded without some strategic connection."

-Tendayi Viki

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Tendaya Viki + The topic of today’s episode

1:20—If you really know me, you know that...

2:04—What is your definition of strategy?

3:07—What got you interested in strategy?

5:13—Which comes first—strategy or letting ideas bloom?

6:18—What would you say you're most known for?

8:15—What story best illustrates why your concept is so important?

9:47—Could you explain your concept of "Pirates in the Navy?"

12:09—What framework or idea has been most impactful for you?

12:56—What's your favorite framework or tool that you like to use?

14:40—What are you working on now?

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Additional Resources:

Tendayi's Books

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Whitney is the CEO of human capital consultancy WLJ Advisors, a2020 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company in America. She is an expert at helping high-growth organizations develop high-growth individuals, and recognized as one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world (#14) as named by Thinkers50.

Having worked at Fortune 100 companies, been an award-winning equity analyst on Wall Street, invested with Harvard’s Clayton Christensen, and coached alongside the renowned Marshall Goldsmith, Whitney understands how companies work, how investors think, and how the best coaches coach–––all of which she brings to her work in coaching CEOs and C-Suite executives. Whitney works with high-growth, venture-backed start-ups and Fortune 100 companies across a variety of sectors including consumer goods, technology, higher education and financial services. In 2017, she was selected from more than 16,000 candidates as a “Top 15 Coach” by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith.

In this podcast...Whitney shares with us how to apply disruption theory to your career and your life, why sometimes it is a smart move to step back in order to get onto a faster growth curve, and why doing that is often so difficult (and it's not just because of what is going on your mind, but because of what others around you are thinking.)

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"With people around us, what we have to remember is that whenever you disrupt yourself, you are disrupting the people around you, your disruption precipitates, their disruption."

-Whitney Johnson

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Whitney Johnson + The topic of today’s episode

3:01—If you really know me, you know that...

3:35—What is your definition of strategy?

4:08—What got you interested in strategy?

4:50—What would you say you are most known for?

5:34—How does the traditional concept of the J curve apply to one's own career?

7:25—How then does the S curve apply to people's persona life and career?

9:30—Where does "following your gut" fit into all of this?

10:40—Why is it so hard to disrupt yourself?

12:10—What would you say to someone who's scared of losing their identity in disrupting themselves?

14:49—What are other aspects that hold people back from personal disruption?

15:54—What do people usually get wrong?

16:12—What's one of the most important things that you've changed your mind about?

17:47—What's been most impactful for you or something maybe you wish you'd learned earlier?

18:41—What are you working on now?

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Additional Resources:

Disrupt Yourself

Smart Growth (follow for updates on Whitney's release of her new upcoming book)

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David Robertson is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he leads the IEM and EPGM programs. He is one of the most experienced Faculty Directors at MIT, having directed executive programs for dozens of companies over the past 15 years.

From 2014 through 2017, David was the host of Innovation Navigation, a weekly radio show and podcast that focuses on the management of innovation. Each week he interviewed thought leaders from industry and academia. David is the author of the award-winning book about LEGO’s near-bankruptcy and spectacular recovery—Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry. He has published articles in Wired, Forbes, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, The Financial Times, and many other business journals.

For the past couple of decades, David has focused his work around innovation and disruption. His most recent book, The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation, is largely based on his findings in which he discusses how innovation is limited in its scope, understanding and definition. Rather being a sudden discovery, it’s often about rethinking how you work the products and solutions you already have to better meet seemingly incremental customer pain points.

In this episode, David discusses with Kaihan why we should be focusing small innovations rather that big, industry changing ones, why Steve Job’s was not a disruptor (at least not intentionally), and the approach to innovation that allows Lego to transform from near bankruptcy to supremacy, and that enabled CarMax, Gatorade, Disney, and USAA to out-innovate their competition.

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"But too often, we put so much time, effort, and expense. All the cool kids go work on the disruptive revolutionary projects. And we ignore those things that made us great, we forget to honor the things that the company did to make itself great that our customers still depend on us for and that, in terms of what we know how to do and the people we've hired, that we're not just going to do yesterday and today, but we're going to continue to do tomorrow."

-David Robertson__________________________________________________________________________________________

Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing David Robertson + The topic of today’s episode

2:32—If you really know me, you know that...

4:23—What is your definition of strategy or innovation?

5:55—What got you interested in innovation?

6:41—What would you say that you're most known for?

10:26—The mis-told myth of Steve Jobs as a disruptor

15:57—What would be one key lesson you'd want people to take away from The Power of Little Ideas?

17:08—What is the most impactful advice you've ever received?

18:30—What are you working on now + how to connect with David

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Additional Resources:

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry

The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry

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Along with a varied background with a degree in psychology from Duke and a PdD in Physics from Harvard, David Duncan has also worked at career at McKinsey & Company, then Innosight, and collaborated with Clayton Christensen on Competing Against Luck. This has given him a systems perspective and the ability to really understand customers from a unique lens.

He is also the co-author of two other books and a number of influential articles, including a groundbreaking book which introduced a simple yet profound idea: customers don’t buy products and services; they hire them to do a job. Building a Growth Factory," co-authored with Scott Anthony, and the Harvard Business Review articles, “Knowing When to Reinvent” and “Build an Innovation Engine in 90 Days."

In this episode, David discusses with Kaihan why so many companies, business leaders, and strategists mistake the reasons their customers buy from them, and why this can be fatal, why focusing on jobs to be done can help you avoid this trap, and why you should start with “small data” before your you get to “big data."

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"Because oftentimes, the most useful aspects of [customer] conversations are unexpected, and they ramble around a little bit, often into the rambling that leads to the greatest insights. And when you see one done well, it often seems a little chaotic and even not that helpful until you learn the underlying principles that were guiding the interview, and that were guiding the insights that they got out of it. "

-David Duncan

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing David Duncan + The topic of today’s episode

2:02—If you really know me, you know that...

2:39—What got you interested in strategy?

4:32—What is your definition of strategy?

6:14—You come at problems with this multi-point solution look, can you tell us a little bit about that?

10:03—Explain to us the concept of your new book, The Secret Lives of Customers

12:30—Writing the book in an unorthodox format from a detective's perspective

16:12—Thinking of customers in the concept of "jobs to be done"

17:25—Big data versus qualitative research

19:10—How to connect with David

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Additional Resources:

www.marketdetective.com

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Navi Radjou is a New York-based innovation and leadership scholar who advises senior executives worldwide on breakthrough growth strategies. A Fellow at Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, Navi has served as vice president at Forrester Research. In 2013, Navi won the prestigious Thinkers50 Innovation Award—given to a management thinker who is re-shaping the way we think about and practice innovation. He delivered a talk at TED Global 2014 on frugal innovation which has over 2 million views.

Navi co-authored Frugal Innovation: How To Do Better With Less, as well as the global bestseller Jugaad Innovation (over 250,000 copies sold worldwide) and From Smart To Wise. He is working on his next book Conscious Society: Redefining Who We Are, Reinventing How We Consume, Work, Relate, and Live.

In this podcast, Navi discusses with Kaihan what we can do to reinvent how business is done—concepts like frugal innovation and focusing on a regenerative economy—both aimed at making the most of the resources we have to affect a larger social impact. He'll also talk about recovering from Covid-19 in a 'Y' pattern rather than a 'V' as many tend to, and the new opportunities that can create.

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"So, this is...what regeneration is about. It's essentially going from the old notion of sustainability, which was all about doing less harm, to doing more consciously, to have a more positive impact on the environment, but also the society."

-Navi Radjou

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Navi Radjou + The topic of today’s episode

2:13—If you really know me, you know that...

2:43—What is your definition of strategy?

6:15—The 'Y' shaped recovery vs. 'V' shaped recovery path

11:46—Is technology and crowdsourcing creating a drive for a multi-stakeholder approach?

14:48—Digging into the "Regenerative Economy" concept

17:31—The concept of "Frugal Innovation"

19:36—What should strategists do now?

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John Hagel has had a prosperous 40-year career in the Silicon Valley world. Through it, he's learned firsthand how quickly things can change, and how easy it is for companies to fall behind when they lose sight of this.

John has experience as a management consultant, author, speaker, and entrepreneur. As a partner from McKinsey & Company, he helped open up their Silicon Valley office and launched two new practices as a partner at Deloitte and established the Center for the Edge after recently retiring. He recently published his new book The Journey Beyond Fear that addresses the psychology of change, which will be accompanied by a series of programs to help people navigate through change and many levels. John is also a faculty member at Singularity University, where he speaks on the mounting performance pressure created by digital technology and promising approaches to help traditional companies make the transition from a linear to an exponential world.

John has several bestselling books under his name, including, Net Gain, Net Worth, Out of The Box, and The Only Sustainable Edge and is widely published in major business publications, including The Economist, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal among many others. He has won two awards from Harvard Business Review for best article and has been recognized as an industry thought leader by a variety of publications and institutions, including the World Economic Forum and Businessweek.

In this episode, John shares two of his most important concepts, "zoom out, zoom in," and "scaling from the edge." Each will transform the mental model by which you think about strategy. He argues that we are indeed facing a big shift in business. He'll also unpack insights from his latest book, The journey Beyond Fear, which in the words of Dan Pink shows "how to move past fear to improve performance and deepen meeting."

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"If you zoom out 10 to 20 years—and you understand exponential change—and you think you're going to be the same business that you are today, go back to the table. You haven't figured out what makes leaders out of their comfort zone."

-John Hagel

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing John Hagel + The topic of today’s episode

2:33—If you really know me, you know that...

3:20—What is your definition of strategy?

4:23—What got you interested in strategy?

5:08—What are your big strategic ideas that people have adopted?

5:36—"Zoom out, Zoom in" explained

8:45—More on "Scaling from the Edge"

10:55—What are you seeing now that is changing the way organizations need to strategize or lead or function?

12:25—How fear drives people

15:17—The "Passion of the Explorer" concept

17:20—What has been the most impactful piece of advice you've received?

18:45—What are you working on now?

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Few people have a pulse on the world like Ram Charan does. Ram is an award-winning professor from Harvard and Wharton and a worldwide expert on business strategy, execution, corporate governance and building high-performance organizations.

He sits on seven corporate boards and has worked with the CEOs of some of the world's most successful companies, including GE, Bank of America, Verizon, Coca-Cola, 3M, Merck, Aditya Birla Group and Tata Group.

He is the author or coauthor of 32 books, four of them best sellers, including Execution and Confronting Reality. His latest book is Rethinking Competitive Advantage.

Ram is known for cutting through the complexity of running a business in today’s fast-changing environment to uncover the core business problem. His work takes him around the globe non-stop and gives him an unparalleled, up-to-date insider view of the challenges and trends from inside the boardrooms leading companies.

In this conversation he lays out what you, as a strategist, should be focusing on now, including: why you should focus on cash, not earnings, why the smartest companies have stopped doing strategic planning and what they are doing instead, and what it takes to change the mindset of your CEO, to get them to embrace the customer-centric, digital-first perspective your future will depend on.

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"We used to say...strategy first, and then do the execution. That was the case. It's over. Strategy and execution now run simultaneously."

"Digitizing is not expensive. Not doing, is very expensive."

-Ram Charan

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Ram Charan + The topic of today’s episode

2:00—If you really knew me, you know that...

2:55—What is your definition of strategy?

4:40—Why focus on cash, not earnings per share

8:03—A bit on Execution, and what Ram learned about execution in writing this book

9:30—The importance of external audits

10:30—What to say to the excuse, "I don't have time."

11:15—How algorithms are changing business models

14:42—How organizational structures change because of algorithms

16:00—What are the implications of tech giving us the ability to access a global market?

17:00—How do you approach creating a mindset shift from the top in a company?

19:05—What are you working on now?

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Disruptive innovation is a term heard around every corner these days. But our default way of thinking about it may have holes in it. In this episode, Michael Raynor discusses a new way of looking at it, in addition to other timely topics.

Michael is a Managing Director with Deloitte LLP where he is part of the team working on developing and implementing Deloitte’s two-track response to the global climate crisis. The first track focuses on reducing and eventually eliminating the firm’s carbon emissions, while the second track comprises a portfolio of efforts designed to mobilize larger ecosystems of organizations—commercial enterprises, NGOs, governments, etc.—to generate an impact on the scale of the problem.

His book "The Strategy Paradox" (2007) was named by Strategy + Business as one of its top five picks in strategy, and BusinessWeek named it one of that year’s 10 Best Business Books.

Michael co-authored The Innovator’s Solution with the late Clayton Christensen and collaborated extensively with Christensen over the years. Another of his books, The Innovator's Manifesto, released in 2011, became a Canadian bestseller, which prompted the Financial Times to call Raynor, "one of the most articulate and interesting of…strategists.”

In addition to discussing the discussing what people assume wrongly about disruptive innovation, Michael also leads us through understanding his concept of the "Strategy Paradox," and to understand the urgency of climate change and what our role is within this near future.

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I'm of a mind that although there's obviously an appropriately increasing awareness and concern about the climate crisis, I continue to believe that for the most part, we have really not come to terms with the urgency and severity of the problem face."

"So you're disruptive as a consequence of your impact on an industry rather than you are disruptive as a consequence of the way in which you have attempted to have an impact. And that's a critically important distinction because what it means is that disruptive innovations are not necessarily successful."

-Michael Raynor

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Michael Raynor + The main idea of today’s episode

2:00—If you really knew me, you know that...

2:38—What is your definition of strategy?

3:31—Explaining the concept of tradeoffs

6:15—What got you interested in strategy?

9:07—What are you most known for?

9:50—What are the most important things strategists should know about your work?

12:50—How should the climate question be incorporated into strategy?

16:28—Are we past the point of remedying the global climate change crisis?

17:43—What can a company do to start engaging productively in whatever ecosystem they're in to this common cause?

20:00—Concluding remarks

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Resources Mentioned: The Innovator's Manifesto - Michael Raynor

The Innovator's Manifesto: Deliberate Disruption for Transformational Growth

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Innovations aren't born overnight, and we already know that. What many overlook is the idea that you don't have to have big changes in order to be innovative; some of the best out there were born out of a succession of small steps toward it. In this episode Kaihan welcomes Josh Linkner, a Creative Troublemaker passionately a believer that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.

Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.

Today, Josh serves as Chairman and co-founder of Platypus Labs, an innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

In this episode he breaks down why we should focus on “little” innovation breakthroughs rather than big ones and some practical steps to unlock innovation in your employees.

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"I think as leaders, because I know we have a lot of leaders listening, it's critical for us to create the conditions that foster creativity. If you think about like a greenhouse what is the optimal conditions for plants to grow. We as leaders probably need to be thinking about creating a greenhouse to nurture and grow the creative capacity of our team."

We're often told that innovation only counts if it's a billion-dollar idea, where only certain rules can be innovative, like unless you're wearing a lab coat or a hoodie, forget about it. This is the opposite. It's sort of like innovation for the rest of us. And it encourages people not to take giant, highly-risky moonshot swings, but rather to cultivate high-velocity, high-volume of small micro-innovations, daily acts of creativity."

-Josh Linkner

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Josh Linkner + The topic of today’s episode

1:34—If you really knew me, you know that...

2:43—What is your definition of strategy?

3:52—What got you interested in strategy?

4:28—What would you say you're most known for?

5:30—The founding the unicorn company StockX

6:10—"Big Little Breakthroughs" explained

7:53—Examples of little innovations that have had a big impact

11:18—What's something that you believed in that you've changed your mind on?

12:38—Can you give us some practical tips or ideas on what we can do to empower greater employee-led innovation?

14:08—What is one takeaways from this discussion?

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Resources Mentioned:

Big Little Breakthroughs - Josh Linkner

biglittlebreakthroughs.com - Download an assessment tool

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In this episode Kaihan welcomes Vivek Wadhwa, who talks with him about exponential technologies, what it takes for a large legacy company to act like a nimble entrepreneurial one, and why at this moment, over the next decade or so, we have one of the biggest opportunities humanity has faced in our history.

Vivek is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. He’s based in Silicon Valley and researches, speaks, and writes about advancing technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and nanomaterials. He's the author of five bestselling books and was named one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine, was on TIME magazine’s list of “Tech 40," one of forty of the most influential minds in tech.

In this discussion, Vivek helps us understand how we can create a “start trek” future in which we have almost unlimited free clean energy, an abundance of food for the planet, cure almost every disease, and educate the world. We can have that if we make the right choices about how and where technology is used. But if we don’t play our cards right, we could be headed to a dark future, the “mad max” future. He leaves us finally with some concrete ideas of what you can do right now, as an innovator, as a strategist, to move us toward that “star trek” future.

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"The problem is that every technology can be used for good and it can be used for evil. The first technology was fire. Fire could use to keep us warm, or it could be used to burn down houses. That's the way it's always been.

Use technology for good...You can use technologies for uplifting communities. You can help the poor. You can do a lot of good for the world. Think big, start, small solve problems."

-Vivek Wadhwa

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Vivek Wadhwa + The topic of today’s episode

2:30—If you really knew me, you know that...

3:04—What is your definition of strategy?

4:08—How can a linear large company act like an agile exponential one?

6:06—Could you describe exponential technologies and point us to ones that people aren't paying as much attention to that we should be?

8:09—Can you tell us about the implications of devices not only being smarter, but also communicating better?

9:33—What are you predictions for fundamentals, like energy, food, health and education?

12:00—What is the challenge for us to be able to create or plan for this exponential Star Trek future or maybe the dark future?

14:21—We can't rely on the individual to say "This technology should be used for good." How do we unravel that?

16:20—Is there an action, a framework, a tool, a step that you would recommend that someone take?

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Resources Mentioned:

Clayton M. Christensen: The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

Vivek Wadhwa: From Incremental to Exponential: How Large Companies Can See the Future and Rethink Innovation

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)

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Lindsay McGregor is the co-founder of Vega Factor and co-author of bestselling book, Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation.

Previously, Lindsay led projects at McKinsey & Company, working with large fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, universities and school systems. 

In this episode she shares the concept of Total Motivation, or ToMo—a simple theory based on the idea that why people work determines how well they work. She'll walk us through the six reasons why people work—three leading to higher performance and three leading to lower performance—and how to measure and manage them all. What is so powerful about her approach is that ultimately it enables you to take something that is often considered "soft" and "squishy"—culture—and turn it into something tangible you can actually measure, track, and manage.

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"Your reason for working will change what you do. And there's a spectrum of reasons why people do anything...it can range because you're working because you love the work itself. -Lindsay McGregor

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Introducing Rita McGrath + The topic of today’s episode

1:27—If you really know me, you know that...

2:01—What would you say you're known for?

4:04—What is your definition of strategy?

5:36—What got you interested in strategy?

7:00—The Total Motivation (Tomo) Model

9:34—Indirect negative motives

11:55—Thinking of Tomo as an NPS measurement

13:21—An example of implementing Tomo in an organization

16:36—The Cobra Effect

18:55—How to start influencing culture in your company

20:27—Where to connect with Lindsay

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Book: https://www.vegafactor.com/book

Total Motivation Survey: https://app.vegafactor.com/take_the_survey

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Rob Wolcott is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth, and Adjunct Professor in Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.

A managing partner with innovation strategy consultancy Clareo, he is a regular contributor to Forbes regarding the impact of technology change on business, leadership and society.

Co-author of the book Grow From Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation, his work has appeared in prestigious global outlets including MIT Sloan Management Review (where two of his articles have ranked as among the most downloaded of all time), strategy+business, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times among many others.

Co-founder and Chairman of The World Innovation Network (TWIN), a network of senior executives dedicated to driving sustainable innovation, Rob brings together and embraces the value of learning and collaboration across industries.

In this episode Rob introduces us to at least two important strategic concepts that will change the way you think about strategy innovation and growth. He will lay out a framework that shows that there are four primary models your, and any, company can follow to manage your growth plans. And he will arm you with a concept called “Proximity.” In full disclosure, I’m working on a book on this topic with Rob, but even if I weren’t I would say that this simply idea of his could be the unifying lens that clarifies what innovation projects you should be pursuing and which you should avoid if you want to lead the future.

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"Business is about satisfying desires, perhaps creating desires and demands, but providing supply for the demand and over time. What digital technologies enable is for us to more and more effectively, efficiently, economically drive the production of products and services closer to that moment where they're actually demanded."

-Rob Wolcott

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Episode Timeline:

00:00 - Introducing Rob Wolcott + The topic of today’s episode

2:08 - If you really know Rob, you know that…

2:46 - Rob's work with TWIN Global

4:15 - What is your definition of strategy?

5:08 - What kind of objective should an organization have?

5:54 - The 4 Models of Corporate Entrepreneurship

12:53 - The concept of Proximity

15:07 - Examples of how Proximity works with various products

19:21 - What else do you want us to know about you?

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Resources mentioned:

Twin Global
The Four Models of Corporate Entrepreneurship

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In this episode of The Outthinker Podcast, Kaihan welcomes Fons Trompenaars. Fons is one of the world's leading thinkers in the area of cross-cultural communication and culture strategy. 

His work infuses experience from his years as an executive and consultant for Shell, GM, Nike and other global fortune 500 companies with his own thought-leadership and research into the underlying drivers and complex variables that influence cultural understanding and strategy. 

The author or co-author of over 20 books, including the best-selling Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, Fons is known for his model of the 7 Dimensions of Culture and other practical frameworks for creating intercultural collaboration and developing culturally aware strategies for global businesses. 

In this episode, Fons will walk through a six-step process that can be used to reconcile cultural challenges or dilemmas.  He will also walk us through an example of a strategic challenge involving a car crash to illustrate a provocative take on strategy: that strategy not about making choices, but about reconciling dilemmas. 

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"So in fact, culture is a way we approach the dilemma, and it gives foreground and background. Although the dilemma is human, but it depends on your culture what you give priority."

-Fons Trompenaars

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Episode Timeline:

00:00 — Introducing Scott Anthony + The topic of today’s episode

1:40 — If you really knew me, you know that...

2:25 — What is your definition of strategy?

4:05— How do you approach strategy?

5:28 — The 6-Step Process to Reconciling Dilemmas

8:00 — Story on provocative question that highlights how culture comes into play in dilemmas

12:25 — What are you working on now?

15:09 — Where can people go to find you?

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Resources Mentioned:

THT Consulting (Website)

Riding the Waves of Culture (Book)

Transcultural Competence: reconcile dilemmas to collaborate and innovate (Article)

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In this episode of The Outthinker Podcast, Kaihan welcomes Rita McGrath, a best-selling author, a sought-after speaker, and a longtime professor at Columbia Business School. She is widely recognized as a premier expert on leading innovation and growth during times of uncertainty. She received the number one Achievement Award for Strategy from the prestigious thinker's 50 and has been consistently named one of the world's top 10 management thinkers in its biannual ranking. As a consultant to CEOs, her work has had a lasting impact on the strategy and growth programs of Fortune 500 companies worldwide. She is the author of numerous books, including The End of Competitive Advantage, Discovery Driven Growth, and her latest book, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen.

In this episode, Rita talks about her discovery-driven planning approach, which has transformed the traditional strategic planning approaches companies used to design strategies and gave birth to the now popular agile and lean startup approaches. She's going to give us some practical tips to get smarter at predicting and preparing for the inflection points that will inevitably disrupt your industry.

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“I realized that I was falling victim to something I warn people about. Just because that's the future you prefer, does not mean that's the only future you should be preparing for.”

-Rita McGrath

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Episode Timeline:

00:24 – Introducing Rita McGrath + The topic of today’s episode

02:22 – If you really know Rita, you know that…

02:42 – Rita’s definition of strategy

04:08 – What initially got you interested in strategy?

06:22 – Explaining levels of experimentation, trial, and learning as part of a strategy

07:46 – Explaining the discovery-driven planning

10:08 – Where would a strategist start?

12:50 – Does the balance of portfolio change with greater or lower degrees of uncertainty?

14:02 – Explaining the Use of the Term Arena instead of Industry

16:06 – Talking about Her Book, Seeing Around Corners and Strategic Inflection Points

19:12 – What is something that you've changed your mind about?

20:05 – Opportunity of a New Social Contract, Applying Models and Seeing Your Corners

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Resources Mentioned:

Article: What if you changed the world and nobody noticed: https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/when-you-change-the-world-and-no-one-notices/
Find more of Rita’s books: https://www.ritamcgrath.com/books/
Connect with Rita McGrath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/

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In this episode of The Outthinker Podcast, Kaihan welcomes Scott Anthony, Managing Partner at Innosight, a consulting firm founded by the late Clayton Christensen. Scott is the author of several books about business management and has been rated one of 2019’s top 10 management thinkers in the world.

Listen in as Scott highlights practical actions you can take right now to boost innovation in your organization and start shifting your company’s culture and behaviors to allow for the kind of innovation that your future depends on. Scott shares what his children have taught him about innovation and divulges his ‘Beans framework’, which can be leveraged to effectively break down barriers to innovation. He then shares his candid thoughts on ambidexterity and what it really takes to be an innovative thought leader in 2021 and beyond.

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“One of the greatest enemies inside organizations is what I call the plague of the zombie project, the walking on dead, the projects that suck all the innovation life out of the organization… if you start saying cheers to failure, you put the zombies down, you create the energy, you create space to be more psychologically safe, and lots of good things happen.”

-Scott D. Anthony

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Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Introducing Scott Anthony + The topic of today’s episode

01:25 – If you really know Scott, you know that…

02:32 – Scott’s definition of strategy

03:21 – What initially got you interested in strategy?

05:03 – Explaining the core concept of his book, Dual Transformation

07:00 – What Scott’s kids have taught him about innovation + How to shift company culture and behavior to drive innovation

10:27 – What’s something that you have changed your mind about?

12:17 – Discussing How Leaders Delude Themselves About Disruption

13:43 – What we’re learning about innovation + Why implement the Beans framework

15:45 – Practical steps you can take to boost innovation in your organization

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Resources Mentioned:

Dual Transformation: www.innosight.com/insight/dual-transformation

Article: How Leaders Delude Themselves About Disruption: www.sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-leaders-delude-themselves-about-disruption

Eat, Sleep, Innovate: www.innosight.com/insight/eat-sleep-innovate

Find more of Scott’s books: www.innosight.com/team_bio/anthony-scott-d

Connect with Scott Anthony on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scottdanthony

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