Thought Sparks

It is staggering how many truly awful jobs Americans hold. Low pay, unpredictable hours, no opportunity for advancement and no chances of development. Little surprise then is that what we get as a result is high turnover, poor customer service and even higher risks in our everyday lives. In this masterful and entirely readable book, Zeynep Ton systematically dismantles the argument that bad jobs are the price we pay for profitable companies. If you combine operational excellence with good jobs, you can create a competitive advantage - and that's something competitors with the wrong mindset won't be able to match!

It's easy to despair at high levels of inequality and lack of access to capital and resources that still face entrepreneurs who aren't white, male or well-connected. @Freada Kapor Klein's career is a beacon of hope for those of us looking for real, practical solutions. The Fund, @Kapor Capital, which she co-founded puts its money into underrepresented founders with huge impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and benefits for all of us! She is going to be joining me to discuss her new co-authored book "Closing the Equity Gap" to share with others how it's done. Join us live on May 5th at 1pm EST or catch the recording afterward.

Do you feel as though you are perennially chasing your tail? Look up from your screen and wonder where the morning went? Feel as though you accomplished nothing but are totally exhausted by it? The problem may not be one big thing, but an accumulation of lots of little things. On Friday, I'll be talking with Rob Cross and Karen Dillon about their highly anticipated new book "Micro-stressors" with guaranteed practical and actionable takeaways. Join us live or catch the recording on my YouTube channel once it's released.

Hiding in the Bathroom: How to Get Out There When You’d Rather Stay Home - Is this a great title, or what?? My Friday fireside chat guest is Morra Aarons-Mele, a globally recognized speaker, podcast host and author of the new book "The Anxious Achiever." She's on a mission to get people to understand that anxiety can actually be a superpower if you train yourself to manage it well. More broadly, she's at the forefront of making mental health issues a discussable phenomenon at work and in your personal life. Her new book is personal, readable and engaging and I'm really looking forward to our conversation. Join us live!

If you haven't been keeping up with Bob Sutton's research-based but incredibly practical work, you are missing a treat.   

 Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. 

As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50.  

Get in Touch, Keep in Touch! https://www.ritamcgrath.com/You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), on Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), on LinkedIn and here on YouTube. For access to the archives, ability to make comments and to be part of the community, subscribe.

Richard Rumelt has been described by no less than McKinsey as a "giant in the field of strategy."  He's also a dear friend and an enormously influential thought leader.  We're going to chat about his latest book, "The Crux" in which he illustrates the principles of challenge-based strategy.  The idea is that strategists need to identify the main obstacle to overcome, and do so again and again - a very dynamic approach.  

Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. 

As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50.  Get in Touch, Keep in Touch! https://www.ritamcgrath.com/You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), on Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), on LinkedIn and here on YouTube. For access to the archives, ability to make comments and to be part of the community, subscribe.

Rita Kakati-Shah, an award-winning gender inclusion strategist, is the author of "The Goddess of Go-Getting," a fun guide to making your way in the world when you are not in the majority group. Rita’s spin on diversity, equity and inclusion is that most people get it wrong and, as a result, the outcomes are causing people to segregate rather than unify. Rita attended Sandhurst, the British equivalent of West Point, where she attained the rank of sergeant major. She then became one of the first women on Goldman Sachs’ trading floor in London and spearheaded business development in the CNS drug development industry before starting her own company.  

Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50.  Get in Touch, Keep in Touch! https://www.ritamcgrath.com/You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), on Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), on LinkedIn and here on YouTube. For access to the archives, ability to make comments and to be part of the community, subscribe.

@Christian Stadler is a Professor of strategy at Warwick Business School in the UK (formerly at the Tuck School). He was short-listed for the @Thinkers50 strategy award in 2021. His new book "Open Strategy: Mastering Disruption from Outside the C-Suite" explores how interconnected and open strategies can challenge conventional wisdom about keeping things to yourself! 

 Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. 

As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50.  Get in Touch, Keep in Touch! https://www.ritamcgrath.com/You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), on Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), on LinkedIn and here on YouTube. For access to the archives, ability to make comments and to be part of the community, subscribe.

"Let's take it yard by yard." This philosophy, shared by my Guest entrepreneur and Bartesian CEO Ryan Close is one reason his company is poised to triumph in a  market in which far larger and better-funded competitors have stumbled. Drop in on this clip from our longer conversation to see how true entrepreneurs build things worth building!  

Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50.  

Get in Touch, Keep in Touch! https://www.ritamcgrath.com/You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), on Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), on LinkedIn and here on YouTube. For access to the archives, ability to make comments and to be part of the community, subscribe.

In 2018, Goldman Sachs reported that Google paid Apple $9 billion to be the default search engine on the iPhone; by 2022 that number is reportedly $20 billion. Why is a position that a user could easily change with just a few clicks so valuable? The answer, according to my Friday Fireside Chat guest, Eric J. Johnson, has to do with choice architecture. How choices are presented to us affect our decisions in deeply profound ways. This is explored in his terrific new book "The Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters." We'll be talking about his idea of sludge - when a decision situation makes what is in the best interest of the chooser difficult - and dark patterns, when users are tricked into taking an action they didn't intend to. Join us for what I know will be an eye-opening session.   

Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School. As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consistently ranked among the Top 10 management thinkers in the world and was ranked #1 for strategy by Thinkers50.  Get in Touch, Keep in Touch! https://www.ritamcgrath.com/You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), on Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), on LinkedIn and here on YouTube. For access to the archives, ability to make comments and to be part of the community, subscribe.