Business Talk

In this episode, Dr. Virginia Dignum, Professor of Responsible Artificial Intelligence at Umeå University in Sweden and head of the AI Policy Lab, discusses her book The AI Paradox: How to Make Sense of a Complex Future, a user's guide to navigating the intricate, often contradictory relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence.

She challenges the popular notion that AI is an unstoppable force that "just happens" like weather, asserting firmly that AI is a human-made artifact and that we have real agency in shaping how it is designed and deployed. Drawing on thought-provoking paradoxes, including why equal treatment does not always lead to just outcomes, and why true superintelligence may lie not in machines but in human cooperation, Dr. Dignum offers a compelling, purpose-driven framework for how individuals, organizations, and policymakers can navigate the complex and often contradictory relationship between artificial and human intelligence.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

1. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

2. Dr. Virginia Dignum shared key insights from her book, “The AI Paradox: How to Make Sense of a Complex Future”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. Brian Gunia, Professor and Area Chair for Management and Organization at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, joins us to unpack the central ideas from his acclaimed book, The Bartering Mindset: A Mostly Forgotten Framework for Mastering Your Next Negotiation.

In this episode of Business Talk, Dr. Brian Gunia introduces us to a powerful yet often overlooked lens for negotiation, the bartering mindset. Unlike the conventional monetary mindset, which reduces negotiations to a single-issue tug-of-war over price, the bartering mindset encourages negotiators to think like traders: recognizing multiple needs, bringing multiple offerings, accounting for multiple parties, and understanding that every negotiator is simultaneously a buyer and a seller. Drawing on a deceptively simple story of two siblings quarreling over a single orange, Dr. Gunia illustrates how asking "why" and "how", rather than fixating on stated positions, can unlock creative solutions that leave both parties far better off. Rooted in careful preparation and a holistic view of stakeholders, this framework doesn't reject money but repositions it as just one of many resources at the table, opening the door to negotiations that are not only more effective, but more human.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

1. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

2. Dr. Brian Gunia shared key insights from his book, “The Bartering Mindset: A Mostly Forgotten Framework for Mastering Your Next Negotiation”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. Zheng Liu, Lecturer in Innovation Management at the University of Bristol Business School, joins Business Talk to discuss her book Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China, unpacking how non-state bookstores in China navigate commercial pressures while preserving intellectual autonomy and distinctive cultural identities. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, she explains how these bookstores define their independence through non-state ownership, operational autonomy, and a strong, characterful presence, and how they use strategies such as careful political framing, moral positioning, and cultural distinction to stand out in an intensely competitive, highly capitalist book market.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

1. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

2. Dr. Zheng Liu shared key insights from her book, "Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China", in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. Simon Kirchin, Director of the IDEA Centre at the University of Leeds and Deputy Head of School, joins us to unpack the central ideas from his edited volume The Future of Normativity.

This podcast episode explores how Dr. Simon Kirchin’s work on The Future of Normativity helps us think more clearly about values, reasons, and what we ought to do in real life. Drawing on themes from his edited volume, the conversation ranges from the basic distinction between descriptive claims about how the world is and normative claims about how it should be, to deeper questions about where the authority of moral, aesthetic, and epistemic standards comes from. Dr. Kirchin explains why no single concept, reasons, oughts, norms, or obligations, can fully capture our normative lives on its own, and shows how these ideas interact across ethics, aesthetics, and epistemology.

Throughout, he connects abstract debates to practical contexts in business, policy, and education, illustrating how a better grasp of normativity can sharpen public discourse and guide more reflective decision-making.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Dr. Simon Kirchin shared key insights from his acclaimed book, “The Future of Normativity”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. George Papaconstantinou, Chair of International Political Economy at the Florence School of Transnational Governance and Academic Director of the Global Executive Master at the European University Institute, joins us to draw on his unique experience at the intersection of high level policymaking and academic research to rethink global governance in an era of geopolitical rivalry. Building on the arguments in his book New World, New Rules: Global Cooperation in a World of Geopolitical Rivalries, he unpacks the central paradox of our time: a world that is more interconnected than ever in trade, finance, climate, and technology, yet less willing to cooperate.

The conversation explores why traditional Bretton Woods institutions struggle to provide global public goods, how informal and hybrid governance arrangements are quietly succeeding in areas like taxation, banking regulation, and climate, and why existential challenges such as climate change, future pandemics, and artificial intelligence demand a recalibration of international priorities.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Dr. George Papaconstantinou shared key insights from his book, “New World, New Rules: Global Cooperation in a World of Geopolitical Rivalries”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. Johann Fortwengel, Professor of International Management and Head of the Department of Strategy, International Management and Entrepreneurship at King’s Business School, UK, joins us to discuss his research on how Huawei constructed its organizational identity through political ideology between 1987 and 2020. Drawing on his co-authored study with Dr. Keyan Lai from the University of Edinburgh, he explains how the Chinese concept of Fen Dou, rooted in Chinese communist ideology yet progressively reinterpreted over time, became the central pillar of Huawei’s identity, motivating employees, resonating with political stakeholders, and later being adapted for global audiences.

In this conversation, Dr. Fortwengel unpacks the advantages and risks of building an organization around such an ideological resource, traces Huawei’s identity evolution across founding, internationalization, and national security allegation phases, and reflects on what this reveals about the long-term consequences of early ideological choices for today’s organizations operating in an increasingly polarized and geopolitical world.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Dr. Johann Fortwengel shared key insights from his research, “CONSTRUCTING AN ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY WITH POLITICAL IDEOLOGY: THE CASE OF HUAWEI, 1987-2020”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Monica Angst, Founder of CultureNow, shares compelling insights from her research and experience on the theme “Face, Pride, and Power: The Hidden Rules Behind Global Negotiations.”

Drawing from Monica Angst’s rich international experience across Europe and South America, this piece explores how culture quietly shapes the success or failure of global negotiations. Using a memorable wine metaphor, she explains that the negotiation itself is like the wine, the concept of “face” is the delicate glass that must never be cracked, pride is the soil that roots people in their group or nation, and national identity is the climate that influences how everything comes together.

Through vivid contrasts between Western Europe and Latin America, Monica shows how dignity, hierarchy, trust-building, and conflict management differ across regions, and why moving too fast, focusing only on numbers, or ignoring titles can derail promising deals. She argues that as globalization intensifies, cultural influences are not fading but becoming even more decisive, making empathy, awareness, and cultural fluency essential capabilities for any international negotiator.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Monica Angst shared insightful perspectives from her research, “Face, Pride, and Power: The Hidden Rules Behind Global Negotiations”, during her engaging conversation on the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Carol Graham, Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at Brookings, College Park Professor at the University of Maryland, and Senior Scientist at Gallup, about the core arguments of her book Happiness for All? Unequal Hopes and Lives in Pursuit of the American Dream. Drawing on decades of research, Dr. Graham explains how declining intergenerational mobility, the erosion of stable working-class jobs, and the rise of “destructive” inequality have made it harder for many Americans to believe in or attain a better life than their parents. She highlights the disturbing spread of “deaths of despair,” the surprising optimism gap between poor whites and poor minorities, and the critical role of hope, as a form of agency and psychological capital, in shaping education, health, and employment outcomes.

The conversation also explores how policy choices, social safety nets, and community institutions can either reinforce cycles of despair or help rebuild fairness, opportunity, and well-being in American society.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Dr. Carol Graham shared compelling insights from her acclaimed book, “Happiness for All? Unequal Hopes and Lives in Pursuit of the American Dream”, in an engaging conversation on the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. Ashita Aggarwal, Professor of Marketing and Design Thinking and Chairperson of the Post Graduate Diploma in Management programs at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, discusses her research titled “Value Creation and Value Appropriation Using Voice AI Technology: Integrating B2B and B2C Marketplaces.”

Professor Aggarwal’s research on voice AI emerges from a striking paradox: despite the widespread presence of devices like Amazon’s Alexa in consumers’ homes, firms have struggled to monetize these technologies beyond basic, low-value uses such as alarms and music playback. Her work shows that when voice AI can easily integrate across many contexts, companies often hesitate to build proprietary systems, preferring generic, third-party platforms unless they see a clear opportunity for differentiation and unique value creation. By integrating both B2B and B2C perspectives, the study explains how consumer comfort with conversational interfaces lowers adoption barriers and, in turn, becomes a critical prerequisite for successful organizational investment in voice AI solutions.

Through multi-method research with consumers, professionals, and business leaders, Professor Aggarwal develops a post-adoption framework that helps organizations decide whether to build, buy, or white-label voice AI, identifies the strategic role of domain-specialized applications, and highlights how outcome-based regulation can simultaneously safeguard users and foster innovation, particularly in markets like India, where vernacular voice interfaces can dramatically expand access to healthcare, finance, education, and essential services for low-literacy and rural populations.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Dr. Ashita Aggarwal shared insightful perspectives from her research, “Value Creation and Value Appropriation Using Voice AI Technology: Integrating B2B and B2C Marketplaces”, during her engaging conversation on the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.

Dr. Marc-William Palen, Associate Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a member of its Centre for Imperial and Global History, joins us to explore the key ideas from his acclaimed book Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World.

Dr. Marc-William Palen’s Pax Economica recovers a largely forgotten left-wing tradition that tied free trade to peace, democracy, social justice, and anti-imperialism from the 1840s to the mid twentieth century. Challenging Cold War assumptions that equate globalization with right-wing neoliberalism, he shows how liberal radicals, socialist internationalists, feminist suffragists, Christian pacifists, and anti-imperial activists across multiple empires championed free trade as an antidote to protectionist “gunboat” imperialism and an “iron age of enclosure.” Tracing this history from British abolitionist politics and early women’s suffrage through the creation of supranational institutions like the League of Nations, the United Nations, and GATT/WTO, the book reveals how left-wing free traders helped design a more cooperative international order before their influence waned under post 1950s neoliberalism. Yet their legacy endures today in fair trade movements, cooperative economics, and ethical consumption, offering vital resources for reimagining globalization in an era marked by renewed nationalism, trade wars, and geopolitical rivalry.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy. For more information, please visit www.globalmanagementconsultancy.com.

Disclaimer:

A. The background music incorporated in this video is the intellectual property of its respective developer and is protected under applicable copyright laws. Notwithstanding that it is a free-to-use version, Business Talk, Global Management Consultancy, and Deepak Bhatt do not own, and expressly do not claim, any rights, title, or interest in or to this music.

B. Prof. Marc-William Palen shared key insights from his book, “Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World”, in an engaging episode of the Business Talk podcast. The uploaded video contains copyrighted content, so changing any graphics, music, or on-screen appearance of the author or host is not allowed.