Inquiry to Insight

In this explosive episode, host Steve Valentine brings you three visionaries in their respective spaces of Finance, Technology, and the Arts. These thought leaders are entrepreneurs, innovators, and idealists who shape the conversation and trends in their fields. This podcast follows a unique format: The trio will each present a problem in their respective fields that is attracting the most attention and resources right now. As a group, they will come to a consensus on which is the biggest problem that needs addressing and design a hypothetical company to address it.  Discover how in every paradigm shift, negative and positive outcomes will occur and people will be displaced. The pace of change of Technology in the next 10 years will equate to that of the past 100. How can we help people be agile and organizations to adapt? 

Michael Yamashita '67 has been a photographer at National Geographic for over 40 years, the recipient of a host of industry awards, a teacher and lecturer,  a producer of two documentary feature films, the author of 16 books, and now a dabbler in NFT's. In Episode Three of Breaking Barriers: Hear about Michael's extensive archive of photos from China as well as his incredible travel adventures in the Far East. Learn about his willingness to reinvent his art and himself. Explore his relentless pursuit of a platform in an ever-evolving art world to share his work with the next generation of his audience.

Over the years, Evan Wittenberg '87 has built great companies with great people, including Ancestry.com, Box, and Google. Now driven by the altruistic mission of Pivot Bio, he is creating a work culture that will change the world. In this episode: Hear about Pivot Bio: a climate tech company that's disrupting an industry by transforming the way fertilizer is produced and used by the world's farmers.  Learn how a company whose goal is to exist for a hundred years, plans to do just that with a compelling mission and strong leadership. Explore the idea that there is no one way to “do” leadership. When leading a team, rather than say, “This is what you should do as a leader,” say instead, "Run some experiments with your team and figure out what works for you.”

Best friends from their time at The Kimberley School, Polly Smith '67 and Lisa Lindahl '67, now members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, paved the way for women in the sporting goods industry. Hear about the invention of the “Jogbra” and how a prototype from two men's jockstraps launched the first women-owned business in sporting goods. Learn about the importance of timing. As the United States was going through the Vietnam War and experiencing its second wave of feminism, the sport of running exploded, and two women saw a need and an opportunity.  Explore how a seven-time Emmy-winning costume designer who worked for the Jim Henson company for over 25 years can't watch her beloved show any longer. 

Hear about fairtrade and corporate/social responsibility. Learn about impact investing and trends in impact investing. Explore what conscious leadership means.

Hear what it means to offer ‘frictionless' engagement. Learn about people's resistance to subscription and membership models, and how Flow disrupts an industry. Explore the concept that real estate as a business model can be monetized through access and services that include physical space as an alternative to long-term commitment.

Hear about the importance of understanding the essence of someone else's truth and innovating and experimenting with different technologies to tell their story.  Learn how the musings of an NYU professor and famous writer inspired and guided Carina and ultimately changed the course of her life.  Explore leading with your perspective, your bias, and your intentions to get to the most honest version of a story.

Hear about the importance of alleviating fear in your organization so that innovation can take place and then be baked into the fabric of the organization. Learn how to frame ideas, and what you can do to help evolve these ideas in ways that will allow them to scale and attain maximum impact. Explore how success can actually be a detriment if it leads to company stasis.

Hear about how the facets of the human-centric design process invite us to embrace, and thrive in, ambiguity. Learn about why the design process plays such an important role in technology, specifically when designing features and modalities to meet the needs of consumers. Explore: How are companies beginning to thoughtfully integrate design technology, where previously, frustrations were high because most things were designed for the “system” and not the individual? Devika Patel ‘12 is a human-centered designer, public health researcher, and engineer working at the intersection of health care and community. She is currently the Design Director at The Better Lab, an academic research center at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital under the auspices of UCSF, and the Co-Founder and Director of Health for Period Futures.

Hear about the importance of trust and integrity when licensing at scale and distributing music on a large platform like YouTube. Learn about how one should distinguish between those opportunities that offer legitimacy and those that do not, particularly in the tech industry. Explore: What comes first, the tech or the vision? How do some companies succeed by iterating and fail by creating products for problems that do not exist? What happens when a tech product is created for one purpose but unintentionally disrupts another? Alex Holz ‘99 is a Senior Product Specialist at YouTube. His primary focus includes targeted content acquisition and managing day-to-day operations of 900+ independent music publishing partners on the platform. He is also an investor in multiple start-ups.

Hear about monetizing traditional marketing content and distributing it via tech platforms. Learn about disruptors in the tech industry, their intensive business models, and the need to protect not only various IP rights but also, in the case of many celebrities, the investment and participation in these initiatives. Explore: How is the convergence of tech with traditional industries changing the way people are consuming products? What effect might these convergences have on individuals and larger communities? Vejay Lalla ‘93 is a Partner in the technology transactions group at Fenwick & West and acts as outside general counsel to venture-backed companies across numerous industries including media-tech, blockchain, fintech, proptech, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, gaming, fashion, retail, beauty, and consumer product companies during their entire life cycle.

Hear from Rick Diamond ‘91 as he talks about profound technology trends and their implications for the Fin Tech industry, and ultimately, our lives. Learn the questions you should be asking when trying to develop the next innovation within the tech industry. Explore: Are the current valuations of disruptors in the tech industry sustainable? Are the legacy provider valuations too low? The truth might be somewhere in the middle.​ Rick Diamond ‘91 heads the Global Financial Technology investment banking practice at Citigroup. He joined Citi in late 2017 after 21 years at JPMorgan. Rick spends his time providing merger and acquisition and capital markets advisory to FinTech companies around the world — from mega caps like Mastercard and Paypal to emerging disruptors like Stripe, Robinhood, and Chime.

A continuation of our previous episode, What May Term Looks Like gives listeners an inside look at projects completed by the Class of 2018 during May Term. Hear directly from students as they recount their experiences, what they learned, and how May Term helped them grow as individuals. Interested in viewing projects from the Class of 2019? We encourage you to visit mka.org/storiesofmayterm!

In the first episode of Inquiry to Insight, hosts Jill Maza and Stephen Valentine introduce the origins of a unique and special program at MKA: May Term. Each year during the month of May, seniors are given the opportunity to plan their own education and take charge of their goals through a personal project that falls under one of six categories: Creative Endeavors, Internships, Community Engagement, Global Travel, Teaching Internships, and StartUp 101. In this episode, you'll hear from faculty members who share some insight behind the start of this program and each project category.