Business Talk

In this episode of Business Talk, host Deepak Bhatt sits down with Dr. Aparna Joshi, Professor of Management and Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Fellow of the Academy of Management, and recipient of the 2025 Academy of Management General Impact Award, to explore her landmark paper, "An Integrative Conceptual Review of Gender Bias in Leader Evaluations: An Observer-Focused, Motive-Driven Process Model." For decades, gender bias research has implicitly placed the burden of change on women, from unconscious bias training to the Lean In movement, asking them to navigate, adjust, and get it just right. Dr. Joshi makes a decisive pivot: rather than asking what women leaders should do differently, her research asks why different observers evaluate the very same woman leader so differently.

At the heart of her model are three core observer motives, identity (rooted in either threat or affinity), value alignment (shaped by ideology and beliefs about merit), and resource dependence (which can lead to bias-by-proxy in multilateral settings), each revealing that bias is not simply a product of the leader's behaviour, but of the goals and motives the evaluator brings to the room. This conversation challenges organisations, managers, and scholars to stop targeting women and start targeting the systems and evaluators that shape these unequal outcomes.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Aparna Joshi shared key insights from her fascinating research, “An Integrative Conceptual Review of Gender Bias in Leader Evaluations: An Observer-Focused Motive-Driven Process Model”, 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.

In this episode of Business Talk, we sit down with Dr. Adam J. Berinsky, Mitsui Professor of Political Science at MIT and one of the foremost scholars on public opinion and political behavior, to explore the unsettling world of political misinformation. Drawing from his book Political Rumors: Why We Accept Misinformation and How to Fight It (Princeton University Press), Dr. Berinsky unpacks why false political narratives continue to circulate long after being debunked, not because people are irrational, but because of rational inattention, the power of social transmission, and the outsized influence of political elites. His research reveals a striking finding: while only a small percentage of people believe many conspiracy theories, a staggering 85% of people will endorse at least one political rumor when presented with a range of claims. From the "Whack-A-Mole" challenge of repeated corrections to the critical role of trusted messengers who speak against their own apparent interest, Dr. Berinsky offers evidence-based strategies for communicators, fact-checkers, and everyday citizens navigating an age of widespread misinformation.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Adam J. Berinsky shared key insights from his book, “Political Rumors: Why We Accept Misinformation and How to Fight It”, 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. Jessica Green, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, with cross-appointments at the School of Environment and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, shares insights from her book Existential Politics: Why Global Climate Institutions Are Failing and How to Fix Them, a courageous and incisive examination of the critical gaps in global climate governance and the urgent reforms needed to bridge them.

In this compelling episode of Business Talk, Dr. Jessica F. Green challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in climate policy, that climate change is fundamentally a collective action problem requiring global cooperation on emissions. Instead, she reframes it as an existential political conflict between fossil asset owners, whose trillion-dollar investments would be rendered worthless by decarbonization, and green asset owners, who stand to gain from the transition. Drawing from her book Existential Politics, Dr. Green argues that decades of climate governance have been built on the wrong diagnosis, producing technocratic tools like carbon pricing, carbon offsets, and net-zero targets that are not only ineffective but actively harmful, obscuring real power dynamics and generating public backlash. Her proposed remedy, which she calls "radical pragmatism," shifts the focus from managing tons of emissions to managing assets and capital flows, using existing levers such as green industrial policy, global corporate minimum tax, and withdrawal from fossil-fuel-friendly investment treaties to constrain fossil fuel power and accelerate the rise of renewable energy. Ultimately, Dr. Green argues that the most politically viable path forward lies not in asking citizens to sacrifice for distant climate goals, but in reframing climate action as an investment in economic security, energy independence, and everyday public goods.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Jessica Green shared key insights from her fascinating book, “Existential Politics: Why Global Climate Institutions Are Failing and How to Fix Them”, 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.

In this episode, Dr. Koen Pauwels, Distinguished Professor of Marketing at Northeastern University, unpacks the central ideas from his book It's Not the Size of the Data, It's How You Use It: Smarter Marketing with Analytics and Dashboards. Drawing on decades of academic research and real-world consulting experience, Dr. Pauwels challenges the widespread belief that more data automatically leads to better business outcomes, arguing instead that the real problem facing organizations today is not a lack of data but a lack of insight. He introduces a powerful decision-first framework, one that asks marketers to work backwards from the decisions they need to make before selecting metrics or building dashboards, and outlines the four essential questions every effective dashboard must answer: What happened? Why did it happen? What would happen if? And what should happen? Through compelling case studies, from a car company in Istanbul that confused Facebook engagement with actual sales impact to a Dutch electronics brand that overlooked the critical role of conversation volume, Dr. Pauwels demonstrates why chasing a single "silver bullet" metric is a strategic trap. He also introduces the MEEM framework, Model, Experiment, Model, Experiment, as a practical path for building organizational trust in data-driven decisions, and offers a realistic 90-day roadmap for mid-sized companies ready to put smarter analytics to work.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Koen Pauwels shared key insights from his book, “It’s Not the Size of the Data - it’s How You Use It: Smarter Marketing with Analytics and Dashboards”, 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.

What does it truly mean to be anonymous in the digital age, and who gets to decide? In this thought-provoking episode of Business Talk, Dr. Hector Amaya, Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California Annenberg, unpacks his compelling new book, The Economy of Anonymity: Power in the Age of Identification. Drawing on vivid real-world cases, from Lucy, the courageous anonymous blogger who risked her life reporting on Mexico's cartel violence, to Jane Austen publishing novels under a pen name to defy 19th-century gender norms, Dr. Amaya reveals how anonymity is neither a simple shield nor a privilege, but an unevenly distributed social resource that can both empower the marginalized and be weaponized against them. He introduces a critical distinction between horizontal anonymity, the kind we enjoy among our peers online, and vertical anonymity toward institutions, which corporations and governments are rapidly eroding in the age of surveillance capitalism.

Whether you are a citizen, a policymaker, or a designer shaping the digital world, this conversation will fundamentally change the way you think about identity, power, and the right to disappear.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Hector Amaya shared key insights from his book, “The Economy of Anonymity: Power in the Age of Identification”, 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.

Joining us today is Dr. Sven Nyholm, Professor of the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Munich and Principal Investigator for AI Ethics at the Munich Center for Machine Learning, who takes us on a fascinating journey deep into the heart of his compelling book, The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction.

In this thought-provoking episode of Business Talk, Professor Sven Nyholm takes us far beyond the boundaries of conventional AI discourse, inviting us to wrestle with some of the most profound philosophical questions of our time. From challenging the age-old notion of what makes humans special, a question that stretches from Aristotle to the age of chatbots, to unpacking the dual nature of responsibility in AI systems, where blame and credit must both be examined, Professor Nyholm reveals that the ethical landscape of artificial intelligence is far richer and more complex than any binary of "permitted" or "banned" can capture. Drawing on philosopher Susan Wolfe's three foundational questions, Does AI make us happier? Does it make us morally better? Does it make our lives more or less meaningful?, he charts a compelling philosophical framework for evaluating AI's true impact on human life. Whether it's the thorny question of authorship in the age of generative AI, the ethics of romantic relationships with chatbots, the illusion of AI consciousness, or the sobering concept of the "AI wager", a gamble with humanity's future, this conversation is a masterclass in thinking carefully, critically, and courageously about the technology reshaping our world.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Sven Nyholm shared key insights from his book, “The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction”, 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.

In this compelling episode of Business Talk, Dr. C.B. Bhattacharya, H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics at the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business and recipient of the American Marketing Association's Lifetime Achievement Award (2026), draws on his landmark research across 1,600+ employees to reveal how a company's sense of purpose directly shapes employee sustainability behaviors. He introduces the concept of "sustainability ownership", a psychological state where employees feel a personal sense of responsibility over environmental initiatives, rooted in three core human needs: the need for control, the need for meaning, and the need for belonging. His research found a striking implementation gap: while many companies claim sustainability credentials, the message rarely cascades from the CEO to the factory floor, with as many as 47% of employees in one study reporting zero sustainability behavior at work. The solution, Dr. Bhattacharya argues, lies not in top-down mandates but in empowering employees with autonomy, the freedom to act on sustainability challenges without waiting for permission, backed by visible leadership and a culture where every person, at every level, becomes a sustainability champion.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. CB Bhattacharya shared key insights from his research, “Corporate Purpose and Employee Sustainability Behaviors”, 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. Ismael Sanz, Full Professor in the Department of Applied Economics I at Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, Visiting Senior Fellow in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE), and Research Associate at FUNCAS, shares his insights on Artificial Intelligence in Education: Computer-Assisted Learning and AI-Guided Tutors.

Artificial intelligence holds remarkable promise for transforming education, but its impact depends entirely on how it is implemented. Research by Dr. Ismael Sanz and his collaborators reveals that AI-powered tools like the "Detective" platform in Spain can meaningfully accelerate student learning, particularly in mathematics, where adaptive algorithms deliver personalized feedback equivalent to five months of additional learning. However, a landmark randomized control trial in Turkey by Vastani et al. sounded a clear warning: students given unrestricted access to ChatGPT to complete their homework suffered a 17% decline in performance, roughly four months of learning loss, once that access was removed, a phenomenon researchers call "cognitive offloading". By contrast, students who used AI only for guidance and questioning continued to improve. The evidence is unambiguous, AI succeeds when it acts as a thinking partner, not a thinking replacement, and when it is backed by trained, willing teachers and integrated thoughtfully into the curriculum from the ground up.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Ismael Sanz shared key insights from his research, “Artificial intelligence in education: computer-assisted learning and AI-guided tutors”, 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.

In this episode of Business Talk, Dr. Manashi Ray, Professor of Sociology at West Virginia State University, unpacks the bold ideas at the heart of her recent book, Becoming Boundless: Indian Transnational Entrepreneurs in the Global Economy, published by Stanford University Press.

Drawing on a decade-long ethnographic study conducted between 2007 and 2018, Dr. Ray explores the journeys of 60 Indian transnational entrepreneurs operating across India, North America, and Europe, revealing how these individuals were not simply adapting to a global economy, but actively constructing new transnational spaces of exchange. Her research challenges the popular myth that migration is a great equalizer, showing instead how pre-existing inequalities rooted in caste, class, and gender travel across borders, often reproducing themselves in new and less visible forms. She also shines a spotlight on women transnational entrepreneurs, arguably the most underrepresented yet strategically resilient actors in the global economy, who constantly navigate gendered expectations while mobilizing identity, networks, and cultural capital to build businesses across cultures.

Ultimately, Dr. Ray invites us to see globalization not as an abstract economic process, but as something deeply lived, contested, and experienced in the everyday lives of people who dare to become boundless.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Manashi Ray shared key insights from her fascinating book, “Becoming Boundless: Indian Transnational Entrepreneurs in the Global Economy”, 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.

In an age where algorithms and big data dominate decision-making, what truly sets humans apart is not the volume of data we can process, but the mental models, or frames, we use to make sense of the world. In this episode of Business Talk, Dr. Francis de Véricourt, Professor of Management Science at ESMT Berlin and co-author of Framers: Make Better Decisions in the Age of Big Data (Penguin Random House, named among the Financial Times' best books of the year), unpacks why human framing remains an irreplaceable cognitive superpower. While AI excels at identifying correlations, it cannot reason about cause and effect, imagine counterfactuals, or innovate beyond its training data, limitations that Newton and Einstein never had when predicting the moon's motion or the existence of black holes, long before a single data point confirmed their theories. Dr. de Véricourt argues that the art of good decision-making lies in choosing the right frame for the right context, much like knowing when to use a street map versus a subway map, and that constraints, far from limiting our thinking, are what make truly creative and actionable ideas possible. As leaders and organizations navigate complexity, the most urgent imperative is this: protect and strengthen your framing ability, rather than surrendering it to algorithms.

This podcast is brought to you by Global Management Consultancy.

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. Francis de Véricourt shared key insights from his book, “Framers: Make Better Decisions in the Age of Big Data”, 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.