Frontiers

Professor Alexander Wagner is one of the world's leading financial economists, a Professor at the Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich (UZH) and a senior chair of the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI). Professor Wagner has taught corporate finance to thousands of students and hundreds of executives, and he has helped shape the governance systems of companies, large and small. He is the Chairman of the Executive Education of the UZH Faculty of Business, Economics, and Informatics and Co-Head of the UZH Center for Crisis Competence. He has served as chairman of a proxy advisor and as an independent counsel for PwC. His research focuses on corporate finance, sustainable finance, and behavioural economics.

Key Moments:

01:16 Professor Wagner's Research Interests

03:12 Impact of Surprise Elections on Stock Market

19:02 Why Do Share Prices of Companies Change?

23:50 Connection between Financial Crisis and COVID Deaths

40:12 Do Investors Care About Biodiversity?

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Professor Matthew Grimes is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Futures at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Professor Grimes examines how individuals and organisations create, introduce, and sustain positive social change through entrepreneurship. He’s a member of the Organisational Theory and Information Systems subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, Academic Co-Director of the Cambridge Judge Entrepreneurship Centre, and current Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Journal.

Key Moments:

01:21 Defining Social Entrepreneurship

06:39 The Purpose of Business

07:06 The Historical Background of Social Entrepreneurship

13:13 Government Support for Social Entrepreneurship

16:32 Convergence of Social and Traditional Entrepreneurship

20:56 The Role of Business in Society

23:20 Examples of Social Entrepreneurship

28:03 Challenges for Social Entrepreneurs

34:18 Government Support for Social Entrepreneurship

37:11 Advice for Social Entrepreneurs

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Professor Thorsten Wuest is a leading expert on Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and Digital Supply Networks and a Professor of Smart Manufacturing at West Virginia University. His research focuses on Smart Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0, Servitization, and Digital Supply Networks. He is globally recognised as one of the 20 most influential professors in smart manufacturing whose work has been featured by Forbes, IndustryWeek, and the World Economic Forum, in addition to the premier academic outlets in his field.

Key Moments:

01:25 Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0

13:48 Role of Artificial Intelligence in Smart Manufacturing

28:37 Digital Supply Networks

45:43 Servitization

54:47 Importance of Data and Objectives

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Professor Kerstin Alfes is one of the world's leading experts on diversity and inclusion and human resource management, and a Professor of Organisation and Human Resource Management at ESCP Business School. Professor Alfes is one of the most cited researchers in the World (top 2%, according to Stanford), whose work has been published in some of the most respected and widely read academic journals.

This conversation is nothing short of a masterclass in diversity, inclusion, and neurodiversity.

Key Moments:

01:25 Defining Diversity and Inclusion

02:22 Dimensions of Diversity

06:03 Evolution of Diversity and Inclusion

08:28 Why Diverse Organizations Outperform

11:52 Managing Conflict in Diverse Organizations

14:46 Case Study: Lack of Inclusion in a Diverse Organization

16:38 Creating Inclusion in Organizations

18:30 Addressing Language and Communication in Inclusive Cultures

20:17 Supporting Neurodiversity in the Workplace

41:11 Navigating Conversations about Neurodiversity

45:31 The Importance of Awareness and Education

48:50 Inclusion Practices for Neurodiversity

50:13 The Role of Education in Creating Inclusive Societies

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Dr. Gordon McGranahan is one of the World's leading urban development scientists with a particular specialism in urbanisation. Gordon has worked with the World Bank, the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Stockholm Environmental Institute, and has published over 200 articles in leading scientific journals.

My conversation with Dr. McGranahan covers urbanisation, its history and its future developments with a particular focus on low-elevation deltas, which are urban areas where more than 300 million people live around the world and are at or close to sea level and, therefore, at significant risk to climate change and extreme weather events.

Key Moments:

01:28 What is Urbanisation?

07:17 Causes of Urbanisation

11:41 The Future of Urbanisation

16:55 Low Elevation Deltas and Climate Change

25:27 Population in Low Elevation Deltas

36:08 Challenges and Recommendations for Governments

51:33 Concerns and Solutions

57:16 Local Solutions for Global Problems

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Professor Florian Lüdeke-Freund is one of the World's leading experts on corporate sustainability management and sustainability entrepreneurship and a Professor of Corporate Sustainability at ESCP Business School.

As well as publishing numerous journal articles, books, and book chapters on these topics, Professor Lüdeke-Freund is an Editorial Review Board Member at Organization & Environment, Co-Editor of several journal special issues, and the Chair for Corporate Sustainability at ESCP Business School.

We discuss sustainable business models and explore the 45 patterns for creating sustainable businesses that Professor Lüdeke-Freund has identified in his research.

Key Moments:

01:24 Defining Sustainable Business Models

04:16 Characteristics of Sustainable Business Models

13:25 Emergence of Sustainable Business Models

19:42 The 45 Patterns for Sustainable Business Model Design

26:13 Examples of Sustainable Business Models

46:31 Impact of Regulation and Investor Demands

55:40 The Future of Sustainable Business

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Professor Daniel Byman is a globally recognised expert on terrorism, a Professor at Georgetown University, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a senior adviser to the US Department of State on the International Security Advisory Board. His most recent books include Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement and Road Warriors: Foreign Fighters in the Armies of Jihad.

In this episode, Professor Byman discusses the conflict between Israel and Hamas. He provides background information on Hamas and its rise to power, its reasons for the October 7th 2023 attacks, the Israeli response, and possible outcomes for the conflict. The conversation also explores the connections between this conflict and other conflicts around the world, as well as the shifting global power dynamics.

Key moments:

01:42 Background of Hamas

09:02 Reasons for the October 7th 2023 attacks

13:52 Israeli response

24:58 Possible outcomes

30:48 Connections to other conflicts

37:28 Shifts in global power

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Professor Mark Maslin is an Earth System Scientist at the University College London, a Royal Society Industrial Fellow and the World's leading sustainability thought leader and influencer.

Mark's expertise is in global and regional climatic change, and has published over 175 papers in journals such as Science, Nature and The Lancet.

Our conversation delves into Mark's research on climate change and covers the actions that governments, businesses, and we all as individuals can take to avoid what he calls the climate emergency.

Key moments:

03:24 Understanding Climate Change and Setting Targets

06:17 Current and Future Impacts of Climate Change

10:11 Impacts of Climate Change on Everyday Life

12:35 Individual Actions to Address Climate Change

14:27 Businesses and Climate Change Risk Assessment

22:33 Opportunities for Businesses in Addressing Climate Change

26:12 Vulnerable Sectors and Risks of Climate Change

28:59 Link Between Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change

31:41 Government's Role in Addressing Climate Change

35:24 Carbon Capture and Storage and the Importance of Restoration

41:41 Role of Climate Science in Policy Decisions

53:51 Vision of an Ecotopia and the Need for Action

56:25 Building a Sustainable Metropolis

57:24 Efficient Transportation and Delivery Systems

58:19 Positive Community Impact

58:47 Net Zero: A Better, Cheaper, Safer, Healthier, and Wealthier World

01:05:23 Thinking as a Global Species

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Following the last episode's conversation with research scientist Jana Sedlokova, Ian Hallett explores the use of conversational AI in psychotherapy and the factors influencing the adoption of AI-based products. Ian covers the importance of attitudes towards innovation, the impact of socio-demographic factors on AI adoption, the role of familiarity and conformity in driving product adoption, and the potential of AI avatars in mimicking discussions with clinical psychologists.

Takeaways:

• Attitudes towards innovation strongly influence the adoption of AI-based products.
• Socio-demographic factors, such as gender, can impact the likelihood of adopting AI products.
• Familiarity and conformity to existing products drive greater adoption of new technologies.
• AI avatars and messaging mechanisms have the potential to mimic discussions with clinical psychologists.
• Conversational AI has the potential to revolutionise psychotherapy and other fields.

Key moments:

01:05 Attitudes Towards AI and Product Adoption

03:02 Gender Disparity in AI Adoption

03:54 Driving Adoption of New Products

05:22 Familiarity and Innovation in AI Adoption

06:44 Mimicking a Discussion with a Clinical Psychologist

08:29 AI Apps for Conversational Support

09:59 The Future of Conversational AI in Psychotherapy

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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Jana Sedlakova is a research scientist at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich in Switzerland. Jana's expertise lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human interaction.

Our conversation delves into Jana's research on the role of conversational AI in psychotherapy. We begin by laying a foundational understanding of what we mean by conversational AI in the context of psychotherapy, and then we dive into the complex questions that Jana is exploring in this area.

Music credit: David Cutter Music / @dcuttermusic

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