By Stanford GSB
How do we get people back to the office? How and when can AI be a powerful decision-making tool? How will digital currencies transform payment systems?
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The podcast currently has 18 episodes available.
Behavioral economist and Professor of Marketing Baba Shiv works with entrepreneurs on how to build a risk-tolerant mindset. A mindset, Shiv believes, that is crucial in times of crisis.
While we take a break and prepare for season two of If/Then, we're sharing an episode of Grit & Growth, a podcast from our partners at Stanford Seed. Here, Baba explains two types of mindsets: a fear of failure or a risk-averse mindset (type one) and a fear of missing out on opportunities mindset (type two).
“What the rational brain is good at is simply being rational ... it lists what the emotional brain has already decided to do. If you’re stuck in a risk-averse mindset, the rational brain will come in and say, 'These are the reasons why you should not innovate’ Whereas if you’re in a type two mindset, the rational brain will come in and say, 'Here are the reasons why you should take some chances.'”
And Shiv believes that taking chances, especially when your competitors are being more timid, is how leaders and companies can succeed. Shiv has seen firsthand that entrepreneurs from emerging economies are particularly innovative: “They’re facing constraints all the time and as a result are more resourceful, not in spite of their situations, but because of them.”
Shiv is the Sanwa Bank, Limited, Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business
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It can be tempting to think one thing causes another because they happen in succession, but there’s a lot to unwrap in the idea of causality. This week, If/Then is featuring an episode from the podcast All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions. Listen as hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explain the difference between correlation and causality, and examine cases where it is tempting to assume one thing caused another. Their guest for this episode, Guido Imbens, is a professor of Economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021.
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford GSB and is produced by University FM. It is hosted by Jonathan Berk, The A.P. Giannini Professor of Finance at Stanford GSB, and Jules van Binsbergen, The Nippon Life Professor in Finance, Professor of Finance, at The Wharton School. Each episode provides insight into how to make better decisions.
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To wrap up the first season of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, we invited Senior Associate Dean Jesper B. Sørensen into the studio to talk about the importance of research at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He shares insights on what motivates faculty to study what they do and how it impacts practitioners across industries.
“One of the challenges of being a great researcher is that you need to move away again from this kind of day-to-day reality.… I think a gift that a lot of our faculty have is to be able to both live in that very abstract kind of world and then make it relatable to somebody who’s not living in that world,” Sørensen says.
“Sometimes putting fundamental insights into practice is really hard. One of the hallmarks of research is trying to isolate particular mechanisms through various kinds of control. Scientists live in the world where it’s a vacuum, and so we just watch the leaf fall and we can then time it and then tell you what the answer is,” Sørensen says. “And managers live in a world where the wind is blowing and there’s all these kinds of forces getting in the way.”
In his conversation with podcast host Kevin Cool, Sørensen also shares his thoughts on three episodes from If/Then’s first season.
If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society. Each episode features an interview with a Stanford GSB faculty member.
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While our team starts working on our second season, we'll still be sharing insights, bonus content, behind-the-scenes audio, and "class takeaways" from Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty throughout the summer. Stay Tuned!
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Getting to elect our leaders is certainly a privilege. Yet, even in a representative democracy, the choice that citizens have is often only as good as the candidates they have to choose from. That’s why Professor Andrew B. Hall, The Davies Family Professor of Political Economy, wonders: How do we get society’s best and brightest to participate in politics?
As a political economist at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, Hall has spent years studying what motivates people to engage in the democratic process. On this episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, he shares his insights on how we can create a system that attracts a more diverse and qualified pool of candidates to run for public office and encourages greater voter participation at the local, state, and national levels.
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If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
If we want to get fair outcomes, then we need to build fairness into algorithms.
Whether you’re looking for a job, a house, or a romantic partner, there’s an app for that. But as people increasingly turn to digital platforms in search of opportunity, Daniela Saban says it’s time we took a critical look at the role of algorithms, the invisible matchmakers operating behind our screens.
Saban is an Associate Professor of Operations, Information & Technology at Stanford Graduate School of Business whose research interests lie at the intersection of operations, economics, and computer science. With algorithms significantly influencing who gets matched with opportunities, she advocates for building “equity into the algorithm.”
In this episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, Saban explores how properly designed algorithms can improve the fairness and effectiveness of matching processes. If we want algorithms to work for good, then we need to make conscious choices about how we design them.
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If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society. Each episode features an interview with a Stanford GSB faculty member.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Unless you’re a CPA or own a large business, it might be hard to see the relevance of accounting. While it’s true that the average person doesn’t necessarily need to be able to read a corporate balance sheet, Professor Ed deHaan says a deeper understanding of accounting — a greater fluency in the “language of business” — can help everyone get a grip on their finances and make more empowered decisions for their lives.
deHaan is a professor of accounting at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In this episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, he explores why accounting principles are crucial given money's centrality across personal and professional domains, and how by proactively fostering financial literacy, we can empower a generation of informed consumers and leaders equipped to harness money as a force for good.
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If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society. Each episode features an interview with a Stanford GSB faculty member.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
If we create good institutions, then we can live up to our good intentions.
Knowing and articulating our values is essential. But when the metaphorical Siren’s song fills the air, is knowing our values enough to ensure that we live by them?
According to Ken Shotts, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, having stated values is just expressing aims not necessarily actualizing them through concrete policies and practices. “We need those binding institutions to help us live up to those intentions,” Shotts says.
From incentive structures within organizations to regulatory bodies, laws, and civic organizations in society at large, Shotts explains how carefully designed institutions can ensure that we don’t just espouse good intentions, but that we actually live up to them.
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If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society. Each episode features an interview with a Stanford GSB faculty member.
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Whether or not robots can feel is a question that, at least for now, might be better left to the philosophers. But what’s becoming increasingly clear, says Associate Professor Szu-chi Huang, is that robots do have the capacity to make us feel.
In this episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, Huang delves into the effect that robots can have not just on our emotions, but on our behavior.
Huang’s research shows that when people witness people helping others, they’re inspired to do the same. This is what she calls “pro-social” behavior. But she wondered: what happens when a robot is the one lending a helping hand? Are people inspired to by machines?
To find out, Huang designed a study where participants were shown various news reports about natural disasters and the measures being taken in response. In some stories, the “heroes” were human first responders; in others, they were robots.
“In both cases, we [explained] in detail what those heroes were doing,” says Huang. Whether dragging survivors out of ruins after an earthquake or disinfecting hospitals amidst a surging COVID-19 pandemic, “The actions are exactly the same, but the heroes are different.”
Following test subjects’ exposure to these stories, Huang measured their willingness to engage in pro-social behavior, like donating to support children in need. What she found was those who saw robot heroes were significantly less likely to donate than those who saw humans take the same actions. “The robot stories actually make people feel less inspired,” says Huang. “And that has important consequences. If using robots lowers our intention to help others, it could have a pretty big negative social impact.”
So what do we do as AI and robots play an increasing role in our lives? How do we embrace their benefits without downgrading our humanity and pro-sociability in the process? On this episode of If/Then, Huang explores how “humanizing” robots — highlighting their vulnerability, autonomy, and finitude — helps us connect with them and ourselves more deeply.
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If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Digital currency — whether privately-developed or government-issued — seems like an inevitability to Stanford Graduate School of Business finance professor Darrell Duffie. “Virtually all countries are exploring a central bank digital currency for potential use,” he says.
An expert on banking, financial market infrastructure, and fintech payments, Duffie is interested in how central bank digital currencies (CBDC) could revolutionize economies around the world. The shift to a digital version of a fiat currency, still backed by a country’s central bank, could offer significant benefits compared to the current financial system. These include improved financial inclusion, lower cross-border payment costs, and more timely and secure transaction processing.
The key, Duffie says, is striking the right regulatory balance to foster innovation while mitigating risks. As this episode of If/Then explores, if the U.S. wants to future-proof banking, then a digital dollar could be a solution.
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Darrell Duffie, The Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance.
Capitol Gains: GSB Professors Share Their Expertise in DC and Beyond
If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The podcast currently has 18 episodes available.
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