Demystifying Organizations

Sharon Parker is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Curtin University, Director of the Centre for Transformative Work Design, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Sheffield. We discuss remote work in the covid era. 

Michele Zanini is the co-founder of the Management Lab.  Together with Gary Hamel, Zanini helps forward-thinking organizations become more resilient, innovative and engaging places to work.  Zanini was previously an Associate Partner at McKinsey and Company. Zanini’s work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal.  Zanini holds degrees from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Pardee RAND Graduate School.  He is the co-author of the upcoming book Humanocracy.

The faculty at Washington and Lee University recently voted to remove Lee from the name of the institution.  Ultimately, this monumental decision rests with the board of trustees.  In this episode, I speak with faculty members that represent three distinct perspectives on this issue: keep the name as is, remove Lee from the name, remove both Washington and Lee.

Geoffrey Cain is an award-winning foreign correspondent, author, commentator, anthropologist and scholar of East and Central Asia. His first book, SAMSUNG RISING, from a decade of his coverage of the world’s largest technology conglomerate, was published in March 2020 and is the topic of our conversation.  A former correspondent at The Economist, Cain is a regular commentator in The Wall Street Journal, Time, and The New Republic, and a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, BBC and Bloomberg. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Grant Williams is a preeminent thinker on finance, markets and the economic implications of coronavirus.  Over the past 30 years he has held senior positions at a number of investment banks and brokers across the globe.  Grant is a senior advisor to Matterhorn Asset Management AG in Switzerland, a portfolio and strategy advisor to Vulpes Investment Management in Singapore and also one of the founders of Real Vision Television — an online, on-demand finance channel showcasing the brightest minds in finance. He is the founder of Things That Make You Go Hmmm..., which has grown to become one of the most popular and widely-read financial publications in the world.

Nate Bennett, Ph.D., is a professor of management and the faculty director of Georgia State University’s executive MBA program. He has published in many widely read resources for managers including the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek.com and Forbes.com. He is co-author of two books, Riding Shotgun: The Role of the COO and Your Career Game: How Game Theory Can Help You Achieve Your Professional Goals.  We discuss his recent article “Readying millennials for the C-suite.”

Arun Arora is a partner at McKinsey with over 25 years of experience managing operations for US-based and multinational companies. He has extensive expertise in all environments, including digital, retail, and omnichannel. Arun specializes in helping clients transform their business and overall customer experience by harnessing the power of technology. We discuss his new book “Fast Times: How Digital Winners Set Direction, Learn, and Adapt.”

Jennifer Logg is an Assistant Professor of Management at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business​.  Prior to joining Georgetown, she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University. Logg’s research examines how people expect algorithmic and human judgment to differ.  In this podcast, we discuss a wide range of issues surrounding algorithms and decision making.

Peter Zeihan is an expert in geopolitics: the study of how place impacts financial, economic, cultural, political and military developments. He presents customized executive briefings to a wide array of audiences which include, but are not limited to, financial professionals, Fortune 500 firms, energy investors, and a mix of industrial, power, agricultural and consulting associations and corporations. Mr. Zeihan has been featured in, and cited by, numerous newspapers and broadcasts including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, AP, Bloomberg, CNN, ABC, The New York Times, Fox News and MarketWatch.

Susan David is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and an award-winning Harvard Medical School psychologist. We discuss her new #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Emotional Agility.  Susan’s TED Talk on the topic went viral with over 1 million views in its first week of release. She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and guest on national radio and television. Susan was named on the Thinkers50 global list of the top management thinkers.