Podcasts about freek vermeulen

What can shake organizations out of the cycle of doing things the way they have always been done because that's the way they have always been done? Will a shift within an organization be more likely to stick with a top-down approach or a bottom-up approach? How can organizations allow freedom for their employees, but still be in control of the direction of that freedom?Freek Vermeulen is a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School and the author of Business Exposed: The Naked Truth about What Really Goes on in the World of Business and Breaking Bad Habits: Why Best Practices Are Killing Your Business.Greg and Freek discuss the essence of strategy in organizations, highlighting the complexities and dysfunctions within organizations, the evolutionary parallels in human behavior and cultural practices, and the critical importance of understanding organizational strategy at all levels. Freek emphasizes the necessity of both top-down strategic direction and bottom-up innovation, the pitfalls of over-reliance on visible metrics, and the value of periodic organizational changes. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:A strategy no one follows is no strategy at all40:14: Strategy can not only be top-down, it has also to be bottom-up, that people display initiative themselves in line with strategy. And this is how it relates to it being a collective cognitive construct, and people knowing about the firm's strategy. A strategy is only a strategy if people do something different as a result of it in their daily job. If the C-suite changes the strategy, but everybody in the cubicles keeps doing the same thing, I'm sorry, you don't have a strategy. Now you have a McKinsey PowerPoint deck, but you don't have a strategy. It's only a strategy if people do something different as a result of it. And one aspect of this is that can only happen if they know about it and if they understand it. And that places a big onus on how you communicate it, how you put that in people's minds or so. Strategy is  collective cognitive construct39:26: Strategy is in the mind, and it is a mindset and understanding of what we're trying to work towards and trying to do as an organization. And it's collective because it has to be shared. It's a tool to cooperate, that we have a joint understanding of what we're actually trying to do and what we're not trying to do.What gets you to the top won't always keep you there14:50: What we certainly know, and also that's what we see in research in cultural anthropology, by the way, as well, where there is research on what sort of individuals are most likely to become the head of a tribe, where we observe highly similar things, is to say your chances of making it to the next level, what sort of variables determine your probability of making it to the next level, and hence eventually reaching the top, are not necessarily the same traits that make you a good CEO and a good steward in the long term for an organization. There can be mismatches between these things. In a tribe, for instance, if you are a very combative individual and prone to a good fight or something like that, that may make you more likely to go through the tournament and become the head of a tribe. But it may also make you more likely to take your tribe on the warpath, which may not be so good for survival. So the same characteristics that make people more likely to become CEO are not necessarily the same characteristics that make them better as CEOs for organizations.Are business schools equipping mba students with the right tools for leadership success?53:23: This understanding about how behavioral mechanisms, including norms and so on, work is something that we need to do better in business schools. The experiment... is indeed to see if people who have more managerial experience and more economics training get it more wrong because we have some other studies that suggest that understanding more about financial incentives and economic rational behavior makes you less aware of these other aspects of human behavior, which of course exist in organizations and in reality.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Kuru (disease)Creutzfeldt–Jakob diseaseFrans van HoutenLeo TolstoyChange for Change's Sake | HBRSEI Investments CompanyWilliam H. StarbuckConstantinos C. MarkidesAsch Conformity ExperimentsGuest Profile:LinkedIn ProfileFaculty Profile at London Business SchoolSocial Profile on XHis Work:Amazon Author PageBusiness Exposed: The Naked Truth about What Really Goes on in the World of BusinessBreaking Bad Habits: Why Best Practices Are Killing Your BusinessGoogle Scholar Page

THREE words to describe this episode's conversation with Freek:  Eclectic – Myth-busting - Storytelling Everyone likes to think of themselves as a highly evolved person – and a great leader to. But strip away the jargon, polish and pretence...and aren't we're all just a bunch of naked apes?   Only now they're in charge of the most powerful organisations and technologies in the history of the planet – and it turns out they are as naked as we are.   This episode digs into the truth of organisational culture – and draws its lessons from some surprising places.   What do a tribe of Papua New Guinean cannibals have to teach us about the perils of Total Quality Management?   Which other sacred cows of might actually be ‘idea viruses?'  And is your firm secretly infected?  Freek Vermeulen is Director of Strategy, and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, at London Business School.   His erudite, bubble-bursting books include Breaking Bad Habits, and Business Exposed: the Naked Truth about What Really Goes On in the World of Business.    HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS FASCINATING EPISODE INCLUDE: GIVING YOUR PRODUCT AWAY IS GOOD FOR YOUR PAYING CUSTOMERS TOO. Aravind Eye Care began no-charge cataract treatment for India's poorest – and outcomes soared for their richer customers too. Could this surprising message help get subsidised green tech to the global South?    SOME MANAGEMENT THEORIES CAN BECOME VIRUSES. Survival of the fittest doesn't always apply in business, especially when good ideas are championed out of context – like Total Quality Management. Bad ideas can spread faster than they kill.   LESSONS FROM THE BABY-MAKERS: DO HARD THINGS ON PURPOSE. Freek's study of IVF shows that incentivising ‘selection at the gate' hurts long-term competitiveness. ESG metrics and divestment could stop firms taking on hard-to-decarbonise problems.   PUBLIC MARKETS PUNISH JARGON. Freek's analysis of 1,300+ deals shows that CEO ‘management speak' – even well-intentioned – turns investors off. Leaders who use ESG jargon risk eroding trust in their own useful climate action.  "… because we imitate this high performing firm, including the practices that may have contributed nothing to them being high performers…harmful management practices, just like cultural practices, including eating deceased relatives and like viruses can spread and survive…" "…and suddenly the world of business isn't as simple as that either …therefore not being judgmental or angry at people, but helping to understand the context and changing the context for people in organisations so that they don't make these wrong choices anymore. That's actually what's important."   REFERENCES: https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/v/vermeulen-f https://uk.linkedin.com/in/freek-vermeulen-a68617 https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4558503.Freek_Vermeulen   Conversations on Climate is a podcast produced by United Renewables and this episode is in association with London Business School It brings together the best minds from academia and business, to offer their experience and expertise in the face of climate change –from game theorists to corporate diplomats, and oil industry veterans to micro-algae entrepreneurs.  For more top-quality interviews with our incredible guests, subscribe to our YouTube channel or follow us on Twitter. We'd love to have you join us! Don't forget to share with your colleagues, friends, and family. We would love to hear your opinions and feedback, so please leave your comments on our platforms. We talk about how the scope of the challenge before us is beyond that of any one individual or any one solution. We listen to thinkers, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders. They discuss a diversity of ideas and solutions to global climate and environmental issues and why they matter. Season 3 is presented by Chris Caldwell and produced by UNITED RENEWABLES. Tune into both the video and audio versions of this podcast NOW: https://www.unitedrenewables.co.uk/podcast Please visit our YouTube channel, where all of our Conversations are available for you to enjoy. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL HERE: https://bit.ly/3GZpd7R  and ring the notification bell Join us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3MnhuSf  Join us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3Q5UKcj  Join us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3tFEnK3    #leadership #organisationalbehaviour #climate #renewableenergy #conversationsonclimate #londonbusinessschool    

On today's episode, Teresa interviews Freek Vermeulen, a professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School. October marks the start of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. In continuing to honor this year's theme, “Advancing Access and Equity," we're dedicating today's episode to highlighting the competitive advantages inherent in hiring those with disabilities. Teresa and Freek discuss his research into ‘Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage.' They discuss the common misconceptions employers may have about inclusion in the workplace for people with disabilities. Freek and Luisa Alemany recently published their study that was in Harvard Business Review, "Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage. Employing people with disabilities can significantly improve an organization." This concluded that companies realize the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion. But most focus on gender and ethnicity, paying less attention to people with disabilities. In the United Kingdom, people without disabilities, of employable age are 81% rate of employment, whereas people with disabilities are just 53% employed. People with a disability struggle with employment. Freek and Luisa interviewed mostly European companies but also included companies in Columbia, some being multi-national. The study found that when you hire people with disabilities it can lead to a real competitive advantage, here are the many ways: Disabilities often confer unique talents that make people better at particular jobs. The presence of employees with disabilities elevates the culture of the entire organization, making it more collaborative and boosting productivity. A reputation for inclusiveness enhances a firm's value proposition with customers, who become more willing to build long-term relationships with the company. Being recognized as socially responsible gives a firm an edge in the competition for capital and talent. To connect with Freek click here To read the article, click here For information on National Disability Employment Awareness Month, click here Episode Timestamp 00:06Introduction and Disclaimer 01:32Common Misconceptions About Inclusion 08:31Break and Public Service Announcement 8:55Advantages of Hiring People with Disabilities 017:06Teresa's Closing Remarks

It is now accepted wisdom that increasing the diversity of your workforce in any dimension can improve both organizational culture and performance. But one group — people living with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities — continues to be overlooked by many companies. Luisa Alemany, associate professor at London Business School, has studied workplaces that do recruit and hire employees with disabilities and found that it can be a true source of competitive advantage. She explains four main ways this talent strategy benefits the firm. She's the coauthor, along with Freek Vermeulen, of the HBR article “Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage.”

What are the five forces causing the biggest disruption in business today? Find out in this podcast, in which LBS experts explore new approaches to innovation and strategy.

Extra services do not always mean customer statisfaction; companies can perform better by striving to do less, says Freek Vermeulen

Freek Vermeulen, an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School, argues that too many companies are following so-called best practices that are actually holding them back. They do it because of deep-seated industry tradition—and because it’s hard to know how seemingly successful business models will hold up over the long term. That’s why, he says, organizations should avoid benchmarking and instead routinely test their business practices before there’s a problem. Vermeulen is the author of “Breaking Bad Habits: Defy Industry Norms and Reinvigorate Your Business.”

Freek Vermeulen of London Business School explains how best practices become bad practices.

When you compare the 2008 banking crisis with the Enron debacle or even with the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in 1984, some surprisingly clear parallels emerge, says Freek Vermeulen, Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management

Freek Vermeulen, Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management, talks about imitation and breaking the mould

Freek Vermeulen, Associate Professor of Strategic and International Management, explains how luck really does exist in the business world.