What happens to institutions when technology gives people the power to do everything on their own? Today it is easier than ever for individuals to start businesses, engage in politics, share information and ideas, and disrupt the status quo. Harvard Kennedy School faculty member and author of The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath, talks about why institutions are struggling to keep up, and what they have to do to stay alive.

Stayin’ Alive: Technology and the End of Institutions

The Business is a Harvard Business School podcast. Twice a month, host Brian Kenny will bring you a new take on the business world. Through unexpected stories, and conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs and faculty members, our goal is to inspire listeners to think more broadly about the word business. Thanks for listening!

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Every company is in the health care business, no matter its industry. So says John Quelch, a professor at both the Harvard Business School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where Quelch has devoted an entire class to the intersection of business and health care called “Consumers, Corporations and Public Health.” The course uses cases on a wide range of subjects, from HealthCare.gov to Royal Caribbean Cruises, to medical marijuana, to dig into issues of corporate strategy, employee safety, and how to solve health problems through research and innovation.

Health Care is Every Company’s Business

Twitter’s Founder, Jack Dorsey, talks about the history of Twitter, the founding of Square, and how he made the transition from programmer to CEO.

You Don’t Know @Jack: Twitter’s Founder Talks Entrepreneurship

Year-Up, a business taking low-income 18 to 24 year olds from poverty to a professional career, seems more relevant than ever with business professionals pushing to fill the middle skills gap. Listen to last year’s interview with 2014 Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award Winner Gerald Chertavian about how Year-Up is teaching young adults middle skills for success in Fortune 500 companies.

Man of the Year-Up: Creating Opportunity for Young Adults

HBS alumnus Sir Ronald Cohen, founder of Apax Partners and known as the father of venture capital in Great Britain, sits down with CMO Brian Kenny on The Business to talk about the importance of social impact investing, a new way to link financial incentives directly to social improvements that could change the world and revolutionize the philanthropic and not-for-profit sectors.

Philanthropy 2.0: Investing with a Purpose

HBS Alumni Dan Koh (MBA 2011) and Senior Lecturer Mitch Weiss (MBA 2004) both served as Chief of Staff to the Mayors of Boston. Under the guidance of former Mayor Tom Menino and Mayor Marty Walsh, they learned to lead in the public sector for the greater good, but their path to get there wasn’t always a smooth one.

Stayin’ Alive: Technology and the End of Institutions

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