Cornell Keynotes brings together Keith Cowing, executive coach and lecturer in Cornell’s MBA program, and Dan Van Tran, CTO of Collectors Holdings, to consider questions with huge consequences: What is AI doing to teams, talent, and labor? How can you leverage AI today to improve your product, your company, yourself, and your team? What happens if you don’t and your competitors do?

In a fast-moving conversation, Keith and Dan share how today’s sharpest leaders are adopting AI-native workflows, collapsing the talent stack, stripping out middle management, and rewarding leaders and team members with multiple specialties.

You’ll come away with a concrete playbook to sharpen uniquely human skills, pair them with AI superpowers, and deliver the kind of exponential impact today’s market demands.

What You'll Learn

• How AI is reshaping organizations, particularly in reducing middle management layers and favoring multi-skilled professionals who can work with AI tools
• The strategic importance of adopting AI-native workflows and the potential competitive disadvantages of delayed AI implementation
• How to combine uniquely human capabilities with AI capabilities to dramatically increase productivity and create exceptional value

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Unlock the transformative potential of emotional intelligence (EI) and its role in shaping personal and professional success. How does developing EI help us build stronger relationships, improve decision making, and become more effective leaders in today’s interconnected world?

Join Nicola Fabrizio from Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy as he explores the five fundamental components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skills, and motivation. This session will highlight how mastering these interconnected skills can empower individuals to understand and manage emotions effectively, fostering resilience and collaboration in both personal and professional spheres.

Discover how practices like mindfulness, active listening, and seeking feedback can serve as powerful tools to enhance emotional intelligence and create lasting impacts in your relationships, career, and community. This engaging discussion will equip you with actionable insights to navigate challenges, build meaningful connections, and succeed in your journey while positively influencing those around you.

What You’ll Learn:

• How the five components of emotional intelligence can positively influence or  transform your approach to leadership
• Practical techniques to stay composed and remain effective during tough challenges
• How to better understand interpersonal dynamics and build stronger professional relationships within your team and throughout your organization
• Strategies to get better at communication and become more influential in your position

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As the Trump administration rewrites U.S. trade policy and 2025 European Union rules banning goods made with forced labor go into effect, many questions about trade’s global impact have arisen.

Some of what we buy worldwide is produced by an estimated 28 workers in forced-labor situations. New government leaders in Washington and Brussels will influence how forced labor is uncovered as well as how regulations to control it are developed, enforced, or even reversed.

Join Jason Judd of the Global Labor Institute (GLI) at Cornell’s ILR School and two global labor governance experts, Samira Rafaela and Kelly Fay Rodríguez, as they discuss different approaches being taken by the U.S. and European countries and how those differences could unfold for individuals, companies, and consumers.

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The European Commission launched its AI Continent Action Plan, signaling a commitment to a more proactive role in the global AI ecosystem.

Join Cornell’s Lutz Finger and Lucilla Sioli, Director of the European Commission’s AI Office, as they explore the EU’s bold and optimistic vision of becoming the “AI Continent.”

From cutting-edge AI factories and gigafactories to trusted data spaces and talent development, this Keynote highlights how Europe is building a uniquely powerful AI ecosystem rooted in collaboration, excellence, and democratic values.

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Join Devon Proudfoot from Cornell’s ILR School as we discuss her groundbreaking research on this "diversity heuristic" — a lay belief that demographic diversity enhances creativity — and its profound implications for organizations, team dynamics, and the evaluation of creative work.

Drawing on findings from studies involving over 5,500 participants, the discussion will cover key insights, including:

• Observers consistently perceive demographically diverse teams (in terms of race and gender) as more creative than homogeneous ones.
• Products attributed to diverse teams are judged as more creative, even if they may be identical to those of homogeneous teams.
• Manipulating perceptions of cognitive diversity can shift judgments of team creativity.
• There is evidence of a relationship between the proportion of racial minorities or women in a group and judgments of creativity.

This webinar is ideal for organizational leaders, HR professionals, diversity and inclusion advocates, creativity researchers, and anyone interested in understanding how beliefs about diversity shape workplace outcomes.

What You'll Learn:

• The ways in which psychological mechanisms can drive the association between diversity and creativity
• How the diversity heuristic influences real-world judgments, including in competitive organizational settings
• Actionable strategies to align team composition with creativity assessments in professional contexts

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The success of high-performing teams hinges on trust and transparency, yet many organizations struggle to foster open, honest communication. How can teams overcome these barriers and create a culture where the truth thrives?

Join Robert Newman, Senior Lecturer and Executive Director of the Master in Engineering Management Program, as he explores actionable strategies for integrating truth telling into your team’s culture. This session will cover key insights on building psychological safety, overcoming barriers to honesty, and using proven frameworks like radical candor and nonviolent communication to foster collaboration and accountability. Discover how embracing the truth can drive innovation, strengthen relationships, and create resilient, high-functioning teams.
Why telling the truth matters: How honesty builds trust, boosts collaboration, and enhances team performance

• Common barriers to truth telling: Understanding fears, biases, and organizational obstacles that can hinder open communication
• Psychological safety and engagement: How creating a safe space for honesty improves team dynamics and aligns with Gallup’s G12 performance factors
• Proven truth-telling techniques: Practical frameworks like radical candor, nonviolent communication, and the truth-telling spectrum
• How to deliver truth without harm: Strategies for balancing honesty with empathy to strengthen relationships and avoid conflict
• The link between honesty and accountability: How transparency drives measurable success, improves engagement, and leads to higher team and company performance

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eCornell has joined forces with our longstanding enterprise partners at AT&T to explore together what truly drives team performance. 

We’re joined by AT&T’s Katie Keser, Assistant Vice President, Technology, with Unified Front Door who, among other things, will bring insights on leadership and emotional intelligence from her perspective at AT&T. 

And on the Cornell side, we’ve got Professor of Management Robert Bloomfield from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, who, as a longtime friend and Keynote guest, has always offered unique perspectives on organizational systems and accountability.

We’re going to examine both the human and structural elements that make teams successful, and our guests will likely challenge some common assumptions you may have about how teams actually work.

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The Loire Valley's signature grapes define its wines: melon de Bourgogne (famous for Muscadet), Chenin Blanc (starring in Vouvray), Sauvignon Blanc (the magic in Sancerre), and Cabernet Franc (notable in Chinon). These varieties thrive in the region's diverse terroir of limestone, schist, and flinty clay soils — there’s so much to explore!

This Keynote will guide you in new directions in your own wine journey and help provide a framework for future wine exploration. For those new to Loire Valley wines, this virtual tasting may be a revelation and a game changer in the way you think about wine. For those familiar with the magic of Loire wines, you already know why we’re having this conversation. It’s essential wine education for both the newbie and the connoisseur. Santé!

Wine list:

Crémant de Loire

Muscadet

Sancerre

Menetou-Salon

Vouvray

Rosé d’Anjou

Chinon

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While we have access to countless communication tools and AI technologies, the core elements of powerful communication in today's digital age remain unchanged: authentic connection, emotional intelligence and understanding your audience. Maria Wolfe, a senior lecturer in the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration, shares the foundational skills needed to command attention and inspire action.

What You'll Learn 

• Navigate communication challenges and manage potential risks
• Connect to your audience in an authentic way
• Communicate to empower people and inspire action

The Cornell Keynotes podcast is brought to you by eCornell, which offers more than 200 online certificate programs to help professionals advance their careers and organizations. Learn more from Maria Wolfe in these online certificate programs: 

• Business Communication 
• Communications 360
• Persuasive Communication 

Did you enjoy this episode of the Cornell Keynotes podcast? Watch the Keynote.

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Organizations are now leveraging advanced analytical platforms to not only drive real-time talent management but also help guide leadership decisions that drive business success. Merck’s Beth Perrone, SVP of Talent, and Jeremy Shapiro, AVP of Workforce Analytics, join Lisa Csencsits from Cornell’s ILR School to discuss practical applications of cutting-edge analytical tools that are reshaping talent management and leadership decision making this year.

What You'll Learn

• How leading-edge analytical tools are changing the HR landscape
• Ways to integrate analytics into leadership conversations, engaging senior leadership and boards of directors
• How and where to place guardrails when leveraging analytics
• Strategies for building on insights and using them to inform decisions at your organization

The Cornell Keynotes podcast is brought to you by eCornell, which offers more than 250 online certificate programs to help professionals advance their careers and organizations. Learn more in our HR certificate programs.

Did you enjoy this episode of the Cornell Keynotes podcast? Watch the full Keynote.

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