Economics & Strategy Podcast

To cap off the academic year, I talked with DePaul MBA Alumnus Bryan Davis, Senior Treasury Manager at Ryan Specialty. Bryan has many strengths and a lot of experience in the strategically vital area of Treasury Management. This episode serves as a reminder that strategic plans are only as good as the people executing them. Like links in a chain, if each business area isn't aware of, and prepared for the what, when, and how of their firm's strategic plans, those plans are likely to fail. We discuss the critical role of Treasury in that model of success and highlight the reality that strategic success really does take a village.

This month I talked with DePaul MBA Alumnus Anthony Palcheck; Strategic Business Development Advisor at Zebra Ventures, the venture capital arm of Zebra Technologies. Zebra has been on a roll and, as you'll hear, that success results from a series of good decisions made by leadership with a clear vision and good communication skills. Their success pivoting from a hardware manufacturer to a vertically integrated solutions provider is a masterclass in business transformation and working your way up the value chain.

This month I was delighted to discuss alternative energy with DePaul MBA Alumnus Doug Edgar, VP of Operations at White Harvest Energy. In this discussion we explored Doug's background, the obstacles he faces prophesizing alternative energy solutions, and discovered how value creation, value capture, and coopetition coexist to benefit all of White Harvest Energy's stakeholders.

This month we are thrilled to host DePaul Double Demon, Andy Polacek. Andy is a Senior Economic Research Analyst with Insurance Initiative at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He speaks with me about how insurance markets develop and how we are currently dealing some highly correlated risks that may defy our standard mechanisms of insurance and de-risking.

In this episode, Erik Lindholm, Digital Transformation Lead at Deloitte, talks with us about how he considers what resources are available and what is the best strategy that is going to maximize the success of those resources. This is called consonance. The musical definition of this is the combination of notes which are in harmony with each other due to the relationship between their frequencies, which is a powerful way to view the relationship between resources and strategy!

This month we are joined by AT&T Vice President of Mobility Customer Care, Jennifer Asplund. Jennifer not only sits in a position that has a 30,000 ft view of a highly competitive industry within one of its most powerful established firms, but she also has over 15 years of experience within AT&T that ranges from front line store operations to product development. The main focus of our conversation is related to the human component of value creation, strategy development, and innovation.

John Adams III is the Inside Sales & Customer Support Manager at Zekelman Industries, a firm that manufactures steel piping for large scale construction projects. The steel industry is a part of well developed supply chain and is highly competitive, making relationship maintenance important and price competition possible. John speaks with me about how his firm creates value without falling into the price competition trap. Surprisingly, one of those value adds is an award winning website!

Jordan Blue is the West Coast Director for AIRINC, a firm that specializes in employee mobility. Employee mobility conjures a pretty clear image of employees moving from place to place. You might think of this as simply a firm that coordinates logistics of employee relocation. This might have been an accurate description at the beginning of this industry, but now that barely scratches the surface.