Thought Sparks

One of the biggest barriers to growth and innovation is the overhang of the corporate budgeting process. Bjarte Bogsnes, Chairman of the Beyond Budgeting Institute and implementation head at Equinor, Scandinavia's largest company, has a better idea. Get beyond rote, mind-numbing budgeting processes and create flexible, changeable structures that allow your company to actually use the new strategy playbook.

Carter Copeland is the President of Melius Research, where he is also the lead research analyst covering the global aerospace and defense sector. He is consistently ranked in Institutional Investor’s annual survey of top analysts, and was named the number one aerospace and defense analyst by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine. His recent co-authored book, "Lessons From the Titans" takes us on an analysts' journey to understand the inner workings of the corporate giants that are so critical to our everyday lives. With CEO's blaming the pressure of Wall Street for an excessive short-term focus and failure to appropriately balance the needs of multiple stakeholders, I'm really interested to hear t

Harvard's Amy Edmondson pioneered the breakthrough concept of psychological safety at work, in which people feel that they can speak up without fear of retribution.  It's been shown to be crucial to innovation and growth.  Psychological safety has also been essential for improvements in hospital care.  I can't think of a more important topic for where we are right now.  In this chat, we'll discuss the initial research behind the concept and how it has now been embraced.  We'll also touch on the core themes of the book "The Fearless Organization" which is a treasure.

Protests in the streets, against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic with political upheaval the world over. What kind of leadership should we look to under such complex and highly uncertain conditions? I'm grateful to be speaking with Chris Fussell of the McChrystal group, who together with Stan McChrystal, transformed the culture in the Joint Special Operations Command to distributed, not hierarchical, leadership with a network form of governance. What Chris learned in highly deadly military situations are essential insights for all of us today.

We are in the midst of several huge inflection points - a global pandemic, a recognition of structural inequities in American society and a looming economic crisis. How timely then to be talking to the founder of Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP) and a senior executive at Otsuka, with a unique perspective on all three and what needs to happen next.

Protests in the streets, against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic with political upheaval the world over. What kind of leadership should we look to under such complex and highly uncertain conditions? I'm grateful to be speaking with Chris Fussell of the McChrystal group, who together with Stan McChrystal, transformed the culture in the Joint Special Operations Command to distributed, not hierarchical, leadership with a network form of governance. What Chris learned in highly deadly military situations are essential insights for all of us today.

Clive Thompson's recent book "Coders" takes us into the minds and hearts of the people that are actually creating the digital world we all live in.  From the first piece of code many learned to love - "hello, world" to the sophisticated interactions behind artificial intelligence, Thompson gives us a fascinating fly on the wall perspective.  In this #FridayFiresideChat​, he explains why coders hate to be interrupted, why they sometimes don't even eat and why grappling with inhuman amounts of frustration comes with the job.  Have a listen - you'll find it really interesting.

It's pretty clear that we need a whole new playbook for strategy, and Erich Joachimsthaler has just published a thought-provoking new book on this very topic. While strategy used to be thought of as the property of a firm, the winners today are building what he calls "interaction fields" where value comes from the velocity of transactions partners can create between customers and suppliers and other value-system members. In this thought-provoking #FridayFiresideChat​, the two of us draw the contours of what an entirely new way of thinking about strategy looks like.

Gisbert Rühl, the CEO of German metals distributor Klöckner is one of my corporate heroes.  He and his company have digitized a very old legacy business, changed their business model and created new growth in an incredibly difficult traditional business.  In this recording of our Friday Fireside chat, we discuss why he felt digital transformation was an imperative, how Yammer became a tool for breaking through the bureaucracy and how he got the right balance between the legacy core businesses and the new businesses the company is pursuing. It was an inspiring conversation and I learned a lot!

Jennefer Witter, public relations expert, CEO and one of the “10 most successful black CEOS and entrepreneurs” by Madame Noire Magazine enjoy a spirited conversation in this #FridayFiresideChat​.   She describes her professional journey - from a financially strapped upbringing to a scholarship at Fordham to the challenging world of public relations to creating her own company.  We talk about the importance of networking, diversifying  your portfolio, and lessons learned through the experience of setbacks.  We also cover resources for those wishing to learn more about racism and social injustice and some practical things you can do.  Have a listen!