Thinkers & Ideas

Paul Polman was the CEO of Unilever from 2009 to 2019, the first from outside the company in its century-plus history, and has been described by the Financial Times as “a standout CEO of the past decade.” Today he works to accelerate action by business to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped develop.

Andrew Winston is one of the world’s most widely read writers and leading thinkers on sustainable business. His books on sustainability strategy, have sold more than 150,000 copies in seven languages.

Together they just published a new book, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take, which outlines a framework to help leaders build net positive companies that profit by contributing more to the world than they use or take.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, the authors share insights from the book, discuss key takeaways of the recent COP26 meeting, and explore how can CEOs drive collective action addressing massive challenges and profound shifts that threaten humanity and biodiversity, building thriving businesses as a result.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Loran Nordgren is Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. His research explores the basic psychological processes that guide how we think and act.

David Schonthal is Clinical Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Kellogg, as well as Faculty Director of Kellogg’s Zell Fellows Program, a selective venture accelerator program designed to help student entrepreneurs successfully launch or acquire new businesses.

Their new book, The Human Element, focuses on how to get people to say yes to a new idea or innovation. Many believe that the best (and perhaps only) way to convince people to embrace a new idea is to heighten the appeal of the idea itself. However, the authors argue, this neglects the other half of the equation — the psychological “Frictions” that oppose change.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Insitute, the authors share insights from the book, explore the causes of frictions, and provide guidance on how we can identify and overcome them.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Azeem Azhar is the creator of Exponential View, a global platform for in-depth tech analysis. He is a member of the WEF’s Global Futures Council, a contributor to publications including the Financial Times and the MIT Technology Review, and the host of HBR’s Exponential View podcast.

His new book, The Exponential Age, explores how the emergence and exponential advancement of key technologies have led us to a new era of human society and economic organization — the “Exponential Age”.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Azhar discusses insights from his new book, the prospects for business in the new age, job transformation, and how technology can help us to tackle the greatest challenge we face, climate change.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Christian Stadler is a Professor of Strategic Management at Warwick Business School and a member of the Editorial Board of the Strategic Management Journal and Strategic Organization. Through his research, Christian primarily examines long-term corporate sustainability — how companies grow, adapt, and beat their competitors through learning, innovating, and diversifying.

Together with Julia Hautz, Kurt Matzler, Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen, he recently published Open Strategy, a persuasive call to action for companies to “open up” their strategy process to people outside the C-suite — whether they are external customers, internal employees, or complete bystanders.

The authors argue that history is flooded with examples of companies, governments, and individuals who faced problems that could have been solved with openness — the book analyzes these examples to warrant the overall premise of opening up strategy.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Christian discusses insights from the book and how open strategy can be used in all three elements of the strategic design process (ideation, formulation, execution).

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Jennifer Moss is an award-winning author, speaker, and radio columnist, reporting on topics related to happiness and workplace well-being. Her articles have appeared in Forbes, the Society of Human Resource Management, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review.

Since March 2020, many of us have been operating in crisis mode; quick pivots, learning new policies, and processes on the fly, working from home while juggling family priorities all under the mental fog of chronic stress. Burnout is real and it has increased significantly since the pandemic struck.

Jennifer’s new book, The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It, attempts to explain burnout and provide the strategies to navigate these challenging times.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Jennifer explores the causes and implications of burnout, the responsibilities of both the employee and the employer in identifying and preventing burnout, and tangible solutions to combat it — helping leaders to distinguish between good intentions and effective policies.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Kai-Fu Lee is the CEO of Sinovation Ventures and the New York Times bestselling author of AI Superpowers. Lee was formerly the President of Google China and a senior executive at Microsoft and Apple. He chairs the Artificial Intelligence Council at the World Economic Forum.

His new book, AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future, co-authored with Chen Qiufan, is a literary call-and-response: Qiufan calls to Lee with one fictional chapter on the future of AI, and Lee responds to Qiufan with a supporting, nonfictional analysis of those futures. Each chapter deals with the applications of a different technology and explores the human dilemmas which arise as a result. This novel approach not only educates, engages, and entertains readers but also encourages to think ahead on the moves we need to takes as companies and societies in order to maximize benefits and minimize negative consequences.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Insitute, Lee shares his thinking and predictions on artificial intelligence’s potential applications, its social impact, and also the regulations required to tame it.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Sandra Sucher is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and an internationally recognized trust researcher.

Her new book, The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It, co-authored with Shalene Gupta, is an exploration of the changing nature of trust. The book leverages interdisciplinary research, alongside key business case studies, to help elaborate on the four components of trust: competence, motives, means, and impact.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Sucher explains how companies, build, lose, and regain trust in today’s world, and suggests concrete steps for leaders to assess and enhance trust.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Jeffrey Garten was Dean of the Yale School of Management until 2005, before that Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, and before that a Wall Street investment banker. In his new book, Three Days at Camp David: How a Secret Meeting in 1971 Transformed the Global Economy, he tells a detailed narrative of the forces and protagonists that led up to the “Nixon Shock” and the breakdown in the gold standard that altered the post-war economic order.

In a conversation with Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, BCG’s global chief economist, Garten argues that the “Nixon Shock” was the right decision, and that the US is experiencing many similar pressures today, and that — while calling a turning point is difficult — the global monetary order may be nearing one.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Rob Lachenauer is the CEO at BanyanGlobal, an organization that advises the owners of the world’s leading family enterprises on strategy and governance.

He recently co-authored a book, Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook: How to Build and Sustain a Successful, Enduring Enterprise, that provides an overview of the success factors for family businesses, based on his experience as a family business advisor.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Lachenauer argues that family businesses can represent both the best and worst forms of capitalism, outlines what separates the best from the worst, and describes the steps needed to build enduring family businesses.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Tsedal Neeley is Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Her work focuses on how leaders can scale their organization by developing and implementing global and digital strategies and regularly advises top leaders who are embarking on virtual work and large-scale change that involves global expansion, digital transformation, and becoming more agile.

The rapid changes brought on by Covid-19 were unprecedented but remote work (and the concerns that accompany it) are not new. In her new book, Remote Work Revolution, Neeley provides evidence-based answers to these pressing concerns as well as practical guidance for internalizing and applying best practices.

In a conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Neeley introduces a trust palette and a “trust curve” to understand which types of trust are particularly challenging in a remote setting and how they develop over time, and explains how agile teams can (perhaps surprisingly) still thrive in a remote setting.

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.