Minds Worth Meeting

Women face unique challenges as leaders, so we invited two of the top thinkers on women’s leadership to join us on the show. On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we welcome workplace dynamics and conflict resolution expert Amy Gallo and University of North Carolina organizational psychologist and status, power, negotiation and influence expert Alison Fragale.

In this episode:

• Amy and Alison reveal the secrets for cultivating courage in the workplace.
• We learn how reframing risks lead to better decision-making.
• Amy and Alison give us strategies for recognizing bias, including our own.
• We touch on strategies for successfully resolving conflicts, using authenticity as a leadership strength and how investing in relationships can enhance our professional experiences.

Where to find Amy Gallo

• Amy’s Speakers & Advisors profile
• Amy’s book “Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)”
• Amy’s website

Where to find Alison Fragale

• Alison’s Speakers & Advisors profile
• Alison’s book “Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve”
• Alison’s website

Don't miss Alison's appearance on Amy's "Women at Work" podcast

• We’re Asking for (and Getting) What We Want

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Conventional wisdom tells us that those who compete the best will thrive. According to award-winning inclusion strategy consultant and bestselling author Ruchika T. Malhotra, we need to flip that thinking. On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Ruchika joins us to talk about her new book “Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success.”

In this episode:

• Ruchika describes the concept of “uncompete” and why collaboration, not competition, is what really drives innovation.
• She outlines the vital need for empathetic leadership and psychological safety, revealing how radical generosity transforms team dynamics.
• We discuss how social media has turned into a high-stress competitive landscape and the implications on mental health.
• Ruchika provides strategies for how women can amplify each other’s voices in leadership. 

Where to find Ruchika T. Malhotra

• Ruchika’s Speakers & Advisors profile
• Book - “Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success”
• Book - “Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work”
• Ruchika’s website
• Ruchika on LinkedIn

Email us to let us know your thoughts on this episode and to learn how Ruchika T. Malhotra’s strategies can enhance your organizational dynamics and reinforce your commitment to collaboration and inclusion.

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Going back hundreds of years, history is full of paradigm-shifting innovations. In today’s era of epic disruptions, how can leaders boldly usher their organizations into the future safely and strategically? On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we talk with Scott D. Anthony, clinical professor of strategy at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and an award-winning, globally renowned expert on navigating disruption, about his new book “Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World.” 

In this episode:

• Scott connects the dots from history’s most consequential innovations – like gunpowder and the printing press – to today’s unfolding AI era.
• He reveals why, when disruption arrives, the right thing to do strategically may seem wrong at first. 
• Scott tells us that while disruption is uncomfortable, leaders should embrace it as a driver of growth. 
• We talk about the human side of change, and why it’s just important as the technological side. 

Where to find Scott D. Anthony

• Scott’s Stern Speakers & Advisors profile
• “Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World”
• Scott’s LinkedIn page
• Scott’s Dartmouth Tuck School of Business faculty page

Email us to let us know your thoughts on this episode and to learn how Scott D. Anthony’s tools and strategies help individuals and organizations thrive in today’s rapidly shifting business landscape. 

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Whether it's a natural or humanmade disaster, weathering the storm comes down to preparation ahead of time, leadership through the crisis and resilience after. On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we sit down with Juliette Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Global Crisis Resilience Projects at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a former homeland security official in the Obama White House and CNN's senior national security on-air analyst.

In this episode:

• Juliette reveals the three key questions of disaster management - What? So what? Now what?
• She explains that when disasters strike, leaders have to "assume the boom" with strategies for "failing safer" to minimize negative outcomes. 
• We discuss how the latest AI developments are making the cybersecurity conversation more urgent than ever.
• We touch on the unique challenges presented to women leaders and the upside of adaptability.

Where to find Juliette Kayyem

• Juliette's Stern Speakers & Advisors profile
• Juliette's personal website
• "The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters"
• "Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home"
• Juliette at The Harvard Kennedy School

Email us to let us know your thoughts on this episode and to learn how Juliette Kayyem can lead your organization through the process of understanding today’s risk environment through practical strategies for responding quickly and effectively.

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We’re excited to let you know that season 5 of Minds Worth Meeting is right around the corner, kicking off on September 10th! 

Whitney Jennings and Justin Louis return with thought-provoking conversations from some of the most important voices of the day. 

In the new season, we’ll discuss disaster prep, women’s leadership, rethinking collaboration and much more with experts who have dedicated their careers to analyzing and accessibly explaining today’s top of mind topics. On the season 5 premiere, we’ll be speaking with Harvard Kennedy School professor and crisis management expert Juliette Kayyem. 

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Few could predict the speed with which generative AI evolved in 2024, surprising even top global experts. Could we see similar explosive capability growth in 2025? On this bonus New Year episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis sits down with Mark Esposito, a faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and director of Hult International Business School’s Futures Impact Lab.

In this episode:

• Mark gives us some takeaways from 2024 in tech, including what surprised him.
• Thinking about generative AI specifically, we discuss what organizations are getting right so far and what leaders should think about so as not to make an expensive mistake when adopting the tech.
• We discuss what the next step in AI looks like and why “agentic AI” is already one of the top buzzwords of 2025.
• Mark zooms in on tech issues that have quickly become top priorities including regulation, privacy and cybersecurity concerns and why leaders should be paying attention to them immediately.

Where to find Mark Esposito:

• Mark’s Stern Strategy Group Speakers & Advisors profile
• Mark’s website
• Mark at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University
• Mark at Hult International Business School’s Futures Impact Lab

Email us to let us know your thoughts on this episode and to learn how Mark Esposito can help your organization create strategies to leverage artificial intelligence, identify trends and build future capabilities, and utilize circular economy business models to activate sustainable transitions.

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This season on Minds Worth Meeting, we talked to global experts including renowned thought leaders from Stern Strategy Group’s exclusive roster of speakers and advisors about everything from leading with purpose to digital exhaustion, protecting reputation and more.

Now, we’re taking a look back at our favorite moments to share the best of Minds Worth Meeting's fourth season.

In this episode:

• Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati talks about leadership, purpose in the new digital age and how to view AI implementation.
• Researcher and head of the Human-First AI Group at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy Renee Richardson Gosline emphasizes the importance of trust and privacy in digital commerce.
• University of California Santa Barbara professor and Technology Department chair Paul Leonardi reveals the causes of digital exhaustion and how to counteract them.
• Oxford University Saïd Business School associate fellow Megan Reitz explains why we all need permission to pause and the new landscape of employee activism.
• Former Cisco and Deloitte HR executive Ashley Goodall takes on performance reviews and how the HR department can put people first.
• Founding director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation Rupert Younger breaks down reputation, how vulnerable it is in today’s online world and how to protect it. 

Learn more about this season’s guests:
Ranjay Gulati
Renee Richardson Gosline
Paul Leonardi
Megan Reitz
Ashley Goodall
Rupert Younger

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Contact us to find out how you and your organization can work with any of our globally renowned expert speakers and advisors and for information about how you can partner with or sponsor the show. 

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It’s always been vital to stay on top of reputation management, both individually and organizationally. Today, though, bad actors can tarnish a reputation in the blink of an eye thanks to social media and artificial intelligence. On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we sit down with the founding director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation and author of “The Reputation Game,” Rupert Younger.

In this episode we discuss:

• How reputation attacks are becoming more sophisticated with AI and deepfakes.
• Preparing for when – not if – a bad actor will strike.
• The two kinds of reputation – capability and character – and how they can help or hinder you.
•  A positive reputation is hard to regain when it’s lost. Rupert tells us where to start.
• Rupert’s next book, “Forked Tongues,” and “the dark triad” of personality traits that can have a domino effect on those around them.

Where to find Rupert Younger:

• Rupert’s Stern Strategy Group Speakers & Advisors profile
• Rupert’s book, “The Reputation Game: The Art of Changing How People See You“
• Rupert’s podcast, “Global Conversations with Global Leaders“
• Rupert Younger at The University of Oxford

Email us to let us know your thoughts on this episode and to learn how Rupert Younger can equip your leadership team with practical, clear-eyed frameworks for managing integrity, organizational resilience and reputational excellence through custom speaking and advising arrangements.

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From an employee standpoint, constant upheaval and the specter of having to sit down with the boss multiple times a year to be graded via performance review is a recipe for organizational disaster. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, former Cisco and Deloitte HR executive and author, Ashley Goodall joins Justin Louis to discuss his latest book, "The Problem with Change" and offers practical solutions to help your business understand what people need at work in order to contribute their best.


In this episode:

• We talk about Ashley's book and how constant change stymies the process of actually achieving organizational goals.
• Ashley delves into why leaders need to get serious about understanding how their teams operate, especially what makes the best teams so good. 
• He picks apart the performance review process and explains why regularly assigning a grade or number to an employee's achievements has the opposite of the intended effect of boosting performance and morale.
• Ashley describes how HR has lost its way in today's business ecosystem, explaining why leaders need to become more focused on the human aspect of "human resources."

Where to find Ashley Goodall:

• Ashley's website
• Ashley Goodall on LinkedIn
• Ashley's book, “The Problem with Change: And the Essential Nature of Human Performance”

Click or tap here to learn more about how Ashley Goodall provides leaders with strategies for rethinking the change process and performance evaluations that will build stronger teams, not disengaged employees.

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Speaking up – and empowering your employees to speak up – is a vital prerequisite for a company culture that supports innovation. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis and Meg Virag sit down with Oxford University Saïd Business School associate fellow, Megan Reitz. We discuss the importance of how leaders “show up” to work, why we all need safe environments to speak up and permission to pause, and how AI is starting to change dialogue in organizations.

In this episode:

• Before employees can be empowered to speak up, Megan explains why leaders need to work on their own habits first.
  
  
• She shares fascinating insights about employee activism and how workers and leaders alike can constructively participate.
  
  
• Megan dives into her new research on “spaciousness” at work and how it can supercharge productivity, creativity and wellbeing.  

Where to find Megan Reitz

• Megan’s website
  
  
• Megan Reitz at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School 
  
  
• Megan’s book, “Speak Out, Listen Up: How to Have Conversations That Matter”
  
  
• Megan’s book, “Speak Up: Say What Needs to be Said and Hear What Needs to be Heard”

Click or tap here to learn more about how Megan Reitz teaches leaders how to cultivate environments of psychological safety where employees genuinely feel empowered to voice their perspectives with the confidence they will be heard.

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