Podcasts about mckinsey

Send us a textIn this case example, former McKinsey consultant Ravi Chandra leads a profitability case in Greece's cheese industry – with a real candidate tackling it live before an audience. Listen as Ravi tests structuring, math, and communication under pressure, while offering real-time coaching and feedback.You'll learn how to:Build clear, MECE frameworksTackle profitability casesTurn math into actionable insightsAvoid common pitfallsWhether you're prepping for McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, this episode gives you a front-row seat to what top firms expect.Work with Ravi:Book a 1:1 coaching session with RaviJoin the Black Belt case prep program for 1:1 coaching with Ravi Connect on LinkedInAdditional Resources:Subscribe on YouTube for more live casesUnlock your next consulting job – create a free profile on the Management Consulted Job BoardPractice McKinsey-style math with MC's free Math DrillsListen to the Market Outsiders podcast, the new daily show with the Management Consulted teamConnect With Management Consulted Schedule free 15min consultation with the MC Team. Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube! Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and industry insights! Join an upcoming live event - case interviews demos, expert panels, and more. Email us (team@managementconsulted.com) with questions or feedback.

In this episode, Casey sits down with Chris Crittenden, entrepreneur, educator, and co-founder of Sandbox, for a conversation on courage, innovation, and rethinking what education should be. From selling a startup to Walmart to leading at BYU and now building Sandbox into a movement across multiple universities, Chris shares why closing doors and going deep often leads to the greatest returns.He and Casey explore the flaws of traditional higher education, the trap of chasing prestige, and the power of learning by doing. Chris outlines how Sandbox is equipping students to launch real companies while reshaping themselves in the process. Their discussion dives into resilience, resourcefulness, and why the greatest opportunities often lie off the beaten path.This episode is both a critique of the old system and a vision for a new one, where students learn through building, failure is embraced as part of the process, and desire becomes the ultimate differentiator.What you'll learnHow traditional higher ed's incentives produce shallow learning—and how changing the “soil” unlocks genuine growth. The launch of the Sandbox Fellowship: a 12-month, accredited master's built around one job—build a company. The “neobank for universities” model: partnering with New Mexico Highlands University to innovate on top of accredited infrastructure. Why desire beats pedigree for founders, and how door-to-door grit translates into startup success. Chapters00:00 | Welcome & Chris's background 00:16 | Walmart exit, BYU connection & early influences 06:30 | Resourcefulness as the core Sandbox skill07:14 | Growing up: farm roots, do-it-yourself mindset09:51 | BYU → Consulting: chasing “stamps” vs. depth 10:27 | McKinsey, prestige traps, and closing doors 16:05 | Leaving Duke's PhD for a startup17:19 | Joining an unsexy company → billion-dollar outcome31:11 | Teaching at BYU: joy vs. the politics of change32:24 | Running the Rollins Center & building inside BYU 33:24 | Sandbox thesis: learn by doing, start real companies 35:58 | Early wins: teams into YC, model effects41:29 | Scaling beyond BYU: UVU story & lucky plane ride 43:02 | Six campuses: BYU, UVU, Utah State, Utah Tech, Boise State, Louisville 43:41 | The “neobank for higher ed” insight 45:27 | Announcing the Sandbox Fellowship (12-month MS, build a company) 46:42 | Why for-profit: hire the best, build the best experience 51:39 | Education as human transformation 53:36 | Sales, rejection, and D2D grit in startups 56:56 | Failure isn't opposite of success—it's part of it 59:55 | Fellowship launches today + how to apply 01:01:32 | Who gets in? One word: desire 01:03:46 | Scale: cohort sizes, no equity, partner funds 01:05:20 | Faith, purpose, and building for impact Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Hustleshare, we chat with Phil Renner, co-founder and CEO of Dr. Shiba, to share how a German-born McKinsey consultant turned his love for pets into one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing pet care brands. Phil breaks down how his multicultural upbringing shaped his hustle, why he bet on the Philippines' booming e-commerce scene, and how Dr. Shiba became a go-to brand for pet parents across the region. He also talks about scaling from startup to multi-market player, the tough calls behind culture and hiring, and what it takes to build a proudly Filipino-led global brand from the ground up.Resources:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipprenner Website: https://dr-shiba.com Links/Sponsors:OneCFO: https://www.onecfoph.co/Hustleshare is powered by Podmachine Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carolyn Dewar shares insights from top CEOs on how to master each season of your leadership career.— YOU'LL LEARN — 1) How to avoid the nearly universal blind spot of leaders 2) How
 to thrive in any leadership role3) How to nail your first impressions and set the right tone Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1101 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT CAROLYN — Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner in McKinsey's San Francisco office. She coleads McKinsey's CEO Excellence service line, advising many Fortune 100 CEOs how to maximize their effectiveness and lead their organizations through pivotal moments. She has published more than 30 articles in the Harvard Business Review and McKinsey Quarterly and is a frequent keynote speaker. She is also the founder of and faculty member for many of McKinsey's client master classes for sitting CEOs and those preparing for the role.• Book: A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership• LinkedIn: Carolyn Dewar• Corporate Profile: McKinsey & Company— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (One World Essentials) by Trevor Noah• Past episode: 1066: How to Thrive When Your Resilience Runs Out with Dr. Tasha Eurich— THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • Strawberry.me. Claim your $50 credit and build momentum in your career with Strawberry.me/Awesome• Vanguard. Give your clients consistent results year in and year out with vanguard.com/AUDIO• Quince. Get free shipping and 365-day returns on your order with Quince.com/AwesomeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#650: Sarah Williamson is the kind of person who shapes the decisions that move trillions of dollars. She earned her MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and holds both the CFA and CAIA designations, two of the most demanding credentials in finance. In this episode, she helps us understand how investing really works, who the major players are, how capital flows through the system, and why the incentives driving investors, activists, and asset managers often collide. Sarah spent more than twenty years at Wellington Management, where she rose to Partner and Director of Alternative Investments, after working at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, and the U.S. Department of State. Today she leads FCLTGlobal, an organization dedicated to helping companies and investors focus on long-term value creation. She is also the author of The CEO's Guide to the Investment Galaxy. She explains why index funds now dominate corporate ownership, how Reddit and retail traders changed the market's dynamics, and what it means when activists push companies to “bring earnings forward.” She also introduces a framework for understanding the “five solar systems” of investing, a map that connects everyone from day traders to trillion-dollar sovereign wealth funds. Whether you are a passive investor or simply curious about what drives the market, this episode gives you the clarity to see how capital really moves and why it matters. Key Takeaways Reddit and the meme-stock movement permanently changed how individual investors move markets Index funds now dominate ownership, creating both stability and new corporate challenges Activists often prioritize short-term profit over long-term innovation Sovereign wealth funds act like national endowments, investing with century-long horizons Understanding who owns what (and why) makes you a more informed, confident investor Resources and Links The CEO's Guide to the Investment Galaxy by Sarah Williamson FCLTGlobal, a nonprofit that helps companies and investors focus on long-term value creation Chapters Note: Timestamps will vary on individual listening devices based on dynamic advertising segments. The provided timestamps are approximate and may be several minutes off due to changing ad lengths. (00:00) Meet Sarah Williamson: CEO, CFA, Harvard MBA, global finance leader (5:41) The five “solar systems” that organize the investing world (7:55) Reddit and the rise of the retail investor (16:25) Tesla, brand loyalty, and shareholder activism (22:57) How sovereign wealth funds invest for generations (28:57) Inside asset managers and their incentives (41:56) Activist investors and the tension between short and long term If you want to understand the real power dynamics behind modern investing, from Reddit traders to trillion-dollar endowments, don't miss this episode. Share this episode with a friend, colleagues, and your cousin who is obsessed with latest meme stocks: https://affordanything.com/episode650 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Russ brings an entrepreneurial spirit and a wealth of financial and operational expertise to Transom. He thrives on solving complex problems, and has earned a reputation as a responsive, proactive leader, investor, and business-builder. Russ manages Transom day-to-day, plays an active role in new investment evaluation & execution and with portfolio companies, and is a member of the investment committee. Prior to forming Transom, Russ was a Junior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on operational transformations across several industries and worked in the firm's Private Equity Practice.  Prior to McKinsey, Russ was a product developer at Microsoft and an investment banker at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he executed corporate finance transactions for technology companies. Russ graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Russ is an active member of the Young Presidents' Organization, Santa Monica Bay Chapter.  

https://www.big-fintech.com/the-great-wealth-transfer-great-inheritance-drain/John and Glen speak with Defense Credit Union Council CEO Tony Hernandez about his organization's rapidly increasing visibility and how the armed forces' impact on the credit union movement extends well beyond the expected nameplates. Also- the shutdown creates new complexities for earned wage access, Bitcoin breaks the $125K barrier, and plenty of bingo card calls.       Links related to this episode:   The Defense Credit Union Council (including government shutdown resources): https://www.dcuc.org/     The CU Daily's recent interview with DCUC CEO Tony Hernandez: https://thecudaily.com/the-defense-cu-council-goes-on-the-offense-echoes-a-page-from-cu-history/    Create your own 2025 BIGGo card: https://bingobaker.com/#67a12342928998c6    Our recent interview with earned wage access provider Veep Software (among other startups): https://www.big-fintech.com/the-great-wealth-transfer-great-inheritance-drain/    Our April blog about the Executive Order “eliminating” government paper checks: https://www.big-fintech.com/executive-order-to-eliminate-checks-isnt-worth-the-paper-its-printed-on/     BCG's 2025 Global Payments Report: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/global-payments-transformation-amid-instability    McKinsey's 2025 Global Payments Report: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/global-payments-report    Join us for our next CU Town Hall- Wednesday October 15 at 3pm ET/Noon PT- for a live and lively interactive conversation tackling the major issues facing credit unions today. Quantum computing will be among the topics discussed this session, given HSBC's announced financial services breakthrough. The Town Hall is free to attend, but advance registration is required:  https://www.cutownhall.com/   Follow us on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/best-innovation-group/   https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbfintech/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/glensarvady/

My fellow pro-growth/progress/abundance Up Wingers,For most of history, stagnation — not growth — was the rule. To explain why prosperity so often stalls, economist Carl Benedikt Frey offers a sweeping tour through a millennium of innovation and upheaval, showing how societies either harness — or are undone by — waves of technological change. His message is sobering: an AI revolution is no guarantee of a new age of progress.Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, I talk with Frey about why societies midjudge their trajectory and what it takes to reignite lasting growth.Frey is a professor of AI and Work at the Oxford Internet Institute and a fellow of Mansfield College, University of Oxford. He is the director of the Future of Work Programme and Oxford Martin Citi Fellow at the Oxford Martin School.He is the author of several books, including the brand new one, How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations.In This Episode* The end of progress? (1:28)* A history of Chinese innovation (8:26)* Global competitive intensity (11:41)* Competitive problems in the US (15:50)* Lagging European progress (22:19)* AI & labor (25:46)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. The end of progress? (1:28). . . once you exploit a technology, the processes that aid that run into diminishing returns, you have a lot of incumbents, you have some vested interests around established technologies, and you need something new to revive growth.Pethokoukis: Since 2020, we've seen the emergence of generative AI, mRNA vaccines, reusable rockets that have returned America to space, we're seeing this ongoing nuclear renaissance including advanced technologies, maybe even fusion, geothermal, the expansion of solar — there seems to be a lot cooking. Is worrying about the end of progress a bit too preemptive?Frey: Well in a way, it's always a bit too preemptive to worry about the future: You don't know what's going to come. But let me put it this way: If you had told me back in 1995 — and if I was a little bit older then — that computers and the internet would lead to a decade streak of productivity growth and then peter out, I would probably have thought you nuts because it's hard to think about anything that is more consequential. Computers have essentially given people the world's store of knowledge basically in their pockets. The internet has enabled us to connect inventors and scientists around the world. There are few tools that aided the research process more. There should hardly be any technology that has done more to boost scientific discovery, and yet we don't see it.We don't see it in the aggregate productivity statistics, so that petered out after a decade. Research productivity is in decline. Measures of breakthrough innovation is in decline. So it's always good to be optimistic, I guess, and I agree with you that, when you say AI and when you read about many of the things that are happening now, it's very, very exciting, but I remain somewhat skeptical that we are actually going to see that leading to a huge revival of economic growth.I would just be surprised if we don't see any upsurge at all, to be clear, but we do have global productivity stagnation right now. It's not just Europe, it's not just Britain. The US is not doing too well either over the past two decades or so. China's productivity is probably in the negative territory or stagnant, by more optimistic measures, and so we're having a growth problem.If tech progress were inevitable, why have predictions from the '90s, and certainly earlier decades like the '50s and '60s, about transformative breakthroughs and really fast economic growth by now, consistently failed to materialize? How does your thesis account for why those visions of rapid growth and progress have fallen short?I'm not sure if my thesis explains why those expectations didn't materialize, but I'm hopeful that I do provide some framework for thinking about why we've often seen historically rapid growth spurts followed by stagnation and even decline. The story I'm telling is not rocket science, exactly. It's basically built on the simple intuitions that once you exploit a technology, the processes that aid that run into diminishing returns, you have a lot of incumbents, you have some vested interests around established technologies, and you need something new to revive growth.So for example, the Soviet Union actually did reasonably well in terms of economic growth. A lot of it, or most of it, was centered on heavy industry, I should say. So people didn't necessarily see the benefits in their pockets, but the economy grew rapidly for about four decades or so, then growth petered out, and eventually it collapsed. So for exploiting mass-production technologies, the Soviet system worked reasonably well. Soviet bureaucrats could hold factory managers accountable by benchmarking performance across factories.But that became much harder when something new was needed because when something is new, what's the benchmark? How do you benchmark against that? And more broadly, when something is new, you need to explore, and you need to explore often different technological trajectories. So in the Soviet system, if you were an aircraft engineer and you wanted to develop your prototype, you could go to the red arm and ask for funding. If they turned you down, you maybe had two or three other options. If they turned you down, your idea would die with you.Conversely, in the US back in '99, Bessemer Venture declined to invest in Google, which seemed like a bad idea with the benefit of hindsight, but it also illustrates that Google was no safe bet at the time. Yahoo and Alta Vista we're dominating search. You need somebody to invest in order to know if something is going to catch on, and in a more decentralized system, you can have more people taking different bets and you can explore more technological trajectories. That is one of the reasons why the US ended up leading the computer revolutions to which Soviet contributions were basically none.Going back to your question, why didn't those dreams materialize? I think we've made it harder to explore. Part of the reason is protective regulation. Part of the reason is lobbying by incumbents. Part of the reason is, I think, a revolving door between institutions like the US patent office and incumbents where we see in the data that examiners tend to grant large firms some patents that are of low quality and then get lucrative jobs at those places. That's creating barriers to entry. That's not good for new startups and inventors entering the marketplace. I think that is one of the reasons that we haven't seen some of those dreams materialize.A history of Chinese innovation (8:26)So while Chinese bureaucracy enabled scale, Chinese bureaucracy did not really permit much in terms of decentralized exploration, which European fragmentation aided . . .I wonder if your analysis of pre-industrial China, if there's any lessons you can draw about modern China as far as the way in which bad governance can undermine innovation and progress?Pre-industrial China has a long history. China was the technology leader during the Song and Tang dynasties. It had a meritocratic civil service. It was building infrastructure on scales that were unimaginable in Europe at the time, and yet it didn't have an industrial revolution. So while Chinese bureaucracy enabled scale, Chinese bureaucracy did not really permit much in terms of decentralized exploration, which European fragmentation aided, and because there was lots of social status attached to becoming a bureaucrat and passing the civil service examination, if Galileo was born in China, he would probably become a bureaucrat rather than a scientist, and I think that's part of the reason too.But China mostly did well when the state was strong rather than weak. A strong state was underpinned by intensive political competition, and once China had unified and there were fewer peer competitors, you see that the center begins to fade. They struggle to tax local elites in order to keep the peace. People begin to erect monopolies in their local markets and collide with guilds to protect production and their crafts from competition.So during the Qing dynasty, China begins to decline, whereas we see the opposite happening in Europe. European fragmentation aids exploration and innovation, but it doesn't necessarily aid scaling, and so that is something that Europe needs to come to terms with at a later stage when the industrial revolution starts to take off. And even before that, market integration played an important role in terms of undermining the guilds in Europe, and so part of the reason why the guilds persist longer in China is the distance is so much longer between cities and so the guilds are less exposed to competition. In the end, Europe ends up overtaking China, in large part because vested interests are undercut by governments, but also because of investments in things that spur market integration.Global competitive intensity (11:41)Back in the 2000s, people predicted that China would become more like the United States, now it looks like the United States is becoming more like China.This is a great McKinsey kind of way of looking at the world: The notion that what drives innovation is sort of maximum competitive intensity. You were talking about the competitive intensity in both Europe and in China when it was not so centralized. You were talking about the competitive intensity of a fragmented Europe.Do you think that the current level of competitive intensity between the United States and China —and I really wish I could add Europe in there. Plenty of white papers, I know, have been written about Europe's competitive state and its in innovativeness, and I hope those white papers are helpful and someone reads them, but it seems to be that the real competition is between United States and China.Do you not think that that competitive intensity will sort of keep those countries progressing despite any of the barriers that might pop up and that you've already mentioned a little bit? Isn't that a more powerful tailwind than any of the headwinds that you've mentioned?It could be, I think, if people learn the right lessons from history, at least that's a key argument of the book. Right now, what I'm seeing is the United States moving more towards protectionist with protective tariffs. Right now, what I see is a move towards, we could even say crony capitalism with tariff exemptions that some larger firms that are better-connected to the president are able to navigate, but certainly not challengers. You're seeing the United States embracing things like golden shares in Intel, and perhaps even extending that to a range of companies. Back in the 2000s, people predicted that China would become more like the United States, now it looks like the United States is becoming more like China.And China today is having similar problems and on, I would argue, an even greater scale. Growth used to be the key objective in China, and so for local governments, provincial governments competing on such targets, it was fairly easy to benchmark and measure and hold provincial governors accountable, and they would be promoted inside the Communist Party based on meeting growth targets. Now, we have prioritized common prosperity, more national security-oriented concerns.And so in China, most progress has been driven by private firms and foreign-invested firms. State-owned enterprise has generally been a drag on innovation and productivity. What you're seeing, though, as China is shifting more towards political objectives, it's harder to mobilize private enterprise, where the yard sticks are market share and profitability, for political goals. That means that China is increasingly relying more again on state-owned enterprises, which, again, have been a drag on innovation.So, in principle, I agree with you that historically you did see Russian defeat to Napoleon leading to this Stein-Hardenberg Reforms, and the abolishment of Gilded restrictions, and a more competitive marketplace for both goods and ideas. You saw that Russian losses in the Crimean War led to the of abolition of serfdom, and so there are many times in history where defeat, in particular, led to striking reforms, but right now, the competition itself doesn't seem to lead to the kinds of reforms I would've hoped to see in response.Competitive problems in the US (15:50)I think what antitrust does is, at the very least, it provides a tool that means that businesses are thinking twice before engaging in anti-competitive behavior.I certainly wrote enough pieces and talked to enough people over the past decade who have been worried about competition in the United States, and the story went something like this: that you had these big tech companies — Google, and Meta, Facebook and Microsoft — that these were companies were what they would call “forever companies,” that they had such dominance in their core businesses, and they were throwing off so much cash that these were unbeatable companies, and this was going to be bad for America. People who made that argument just could not imagine how any other companies could threaten their dominance. And yet, at the time, I pointed out that it seemed to me that these companies were constantly in fear that they were one technological advance from being in trouble.And then lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. And while in AI, certainly, Google's super important, and Meta Facebook are super important, so are OpenAI, and so is Anthropic, and there are other companies.So the point here, after my little soliloquy, is can we overstate these problems, at least in the United States, when it seems like it is still possible to create a new technology that breaks the apparent stranglehold of these incumbents? Google search does not look quite as solid a business as it did in 2022.Can we overstate the competitive problems of the United States, or is what you're saying more forward-looking, that perhaps we overstated the competitive problems in the past, but now, due to these tariffs, and executives having to travel to the White House and give the president gifts, that that creates a stage for the kind of competitive problems that we should really worry about?I'm very happy to support the notion that technological changes can lead to unpredictable outcomes that incumbents may struggle to predict and respond to. Even if they predict it, they struggle to act upon it because doing so often undermines the existing business model.So if you take Google, where the transformer was actually conceived, the seven people behind it, I think, have since left the company. One of the reasons that they probably didn't launch anything like ChatGPT was probably for the fear of cannibalizing search. So I think the most important mechanisms for dislodging incumbents are dramatic shifts in technology.None of the legacy media companies ended up leading social media. None of the legacy retailers ended up leading e-commerce. None of the automobile leaders are leading in EVs. None of the bicycle companies, which all went into automobile, so many of them, ended up leading. So there is a pattern there.At the same time, I think you do have to worry that there are anti-competitive practices going on that makes it harder, and that are costly. The revolving door between the USPTO and companies is one example of that. We also have a reasonable amount of evidence on killer acquisitions whereby firms buy up a competitor just to shut it down. Those things are happening. I think you need to have tools that allow you to combat that, and I think more broadly, the United States has a long history of fairly vigorous antitrust policy. I think it'd be a hard pressed to suggest that that has been a tremendous drag on American business or American dynamism. So if you don't think, for example, that American antitrust policy has contributed to innovation and dynamism, at the very least, you can't really say either that it's been a huge drag on it.In Japan, for example, in its postwar history, antitrust was extremely lax. In the United States, it was very vigorous, and it was very vigorous throughout the computer revolution as well, which it wasn't at all in Japan. If you take the lawsuit against IBM, for example, you can debate this. To what extent did it force it to unbundle hardware and software, and would Microsoft been the company it is today without that? I think AT&T, it's both the breakup and it's deregulation, as well, but I think by basically all accounts, that was a good idea, particularly at the time when the National Science Foundation released ARPANET into the world.I think what antitrust does is, at the very least, it provides a tool that means that businesses are thinking twice before engaging in anti-competitive behavior. There's always a risk of antitrust being heavily politicized, and that's always been a bad idea, but at the same time, I think having tools on the books that allows you to check monopolies and steer their investments more towards the innovation rather than anti-competitive practices, I think is, broadly speaking, a good thing. I think in the European Union, you often hear that competition policy is a drag on productivity. I think it's the least of Europe's problem.Lagging European progress (22:19)If you take the postwar period, at least Europe catches up in most key industries, and actually lead in some of them. . . but doesn't do the same in digital. The question in my mind is: Why is that?Let's talk about Europe as we sort of finish up. We don't have to write How Progress Ends, it seems like progress has ended, so maybe we want to think about how progress restarts, and is the problem in Europe, is it institutions or is it the revealed preference of Europeans, that they're getting what they want? That they don't value progress and dynamism, that it is a cultural preference that is manifested in institutions? And if that's the case — you can tell me if that's not the case, I kind of feel like it might be the case — how do you restart progress in Europe since it seems to have already ended?The most puzzling thing to me is not that Europe is less dynamic than the United States — that's not very puzzling at all — but that it hasn't even managed to catch up in digital. If you take the postwar period, at least Europe catches up in most key industries, and actually lead in some of them. So in a way, take automobiles, electrical machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, nobody would say that Europe is behind in those industries, or at least not for long. Europe has very robust catchup growth in the post-war period, but doesn't do the same in digital. The question in my mind is: Why is that?I think part of the reason is that the returns to innovation, the returns to scaling in Europe are relatively muted by a fragmented market in services, in particular. The IMF estimates that if you take all trade barriers on services inside the European Union and you add them up, it's something like 110 percent tariffs. Trump Liberation Day tariffs, essentially, imposed within European Union. That means that European firms in digital and in services don't have a harmonized market to scale into, the way the United States and China has. I think that's by far the biggest reason.On top of that, there are well-intentioned regulations like the GDPR that, by any account, has been a drag on innovation, and particularly been harmful for startups, whereas larger firms that find it easier to manage compliance costs have essentially managed to offset those costs by capturing a larger share of the market. I think the AI Act is going in the same direction there, ad so you have more hurdles, you have greater costs of innovating because of those regulatory barriers. And then the return to innovation is more capped by having a smaller, fragmented market.I don't think that culture or European lust for leisure rather than work is the key reason. I think there's some of that, but if you look at the most dynamic places in Europe, it tends to be the Scandinavian countries and, being from Sweden myself, I can tell you that most people you will encounter there are not workaholics.AI & labor (25:46)I think AI at the moment has a real resilience problem. It's very good that things where there's a lot of precedent, it doesn't do very well where precedence is thin.As I finish up, let me ask you: Like a lot of economists who think about technology, you've thought about how AI will affect jobs — given what we've seen in the past few years, would it be your guess that, if we were to look at the labor force participation rates of the United States and other rich countries 10 years from now, that we will look at those employment numbers and think, “Wow, we can really see the impact of AI on those numbers”? Will it be extraordinarily evident, or would it be not as much?Unless there's very significant progress in AI, I don't think so. I think AI at the moment has a real resilience problem. It's very good that things where there's a lot of precedent, it doesn't do very well where precedence is thin. So in most activities where the world is changing, and the world is changing every day, you can't really rely on AI to reliably do work for you.An example of that, most people know of AlphaGo beating the world champion back in 2016. Few people will know that, back in 2023, human amateurs, using standard laptops, exposing the best Go programs to new positions that they would not have encountered in training, actually beat the best Go programs quite easily. So even in a domain where basically the problem is solved, where we already achieved super-human intelligence, you cannot really know how well these tools perform when circumstances change, and I think that that's really a problem. So unless we solve that, I don't think it's going to have an impact that will mean that labor force participation is going to be significantly lower 10 years from now.That said, I do think it's going to have a very significant impact on white collar work, and people's income and sense of status. I think of generative AI, in particular, as a tool that reduces barriers to entry in professional services. I often compare it to what happened with Uber and taxi services. With the arrival of GPS technology, knowing the name of every street in New York City was no longer a particularly valuable skill, and then with a platform matching supply and demand, anybody could essentially get into their car who has a driver's license and top up their incomes on the side. As a result of that, incumbent drivers faced more competition, they took a pay cut of around 10 percent.Obviously, a key difference with professional services is that they're traded. So I think it's very likely that, as generative AI reduces the productivity differential between people in, let's say the US and the Philippines in financial modeling, in paralegal work, in accounting, in a host of professional services, more of those activities will shift abroad, and I think many knowledge workers that had envisioned prosperous careers may feel a sense of loss of status and income as a consequence, and I do think that's quite significant.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedFaster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

Small and medium businesses make up nearly half of all employment and GDP, yet they often struggle to compete against the scale, brand power, and resources of large corporations. Too often, the advice given to them is to “play bigger”—but that's a losing battle. What if the real advantage lies in embracing their underdog status?In this episode of the Happiness Squad Podcast, Ashish Kothari sits down with Sri Kaza, Advisory Board at Markaaz and author of the upcoming book UNCONVENTION: A Small Business Strategy Guide, to explore how SMBs can thrive by leaning into what makes them different: positioning, proximity, and purpose. They discuss why small doesn't mean weak, and how founders can unlock resilience, loyalty, and growth by playing their own game.Sri Kaza is an entrepreneur, investor, and former McKinsey consultant with a career spanning engineering, consulting, finance, and startups. He has helped scale visionary companies like Viking Cruises, co-founded ForwardLine to provide innovative financing for small businesses, and worked closely with entrepreneurs across industries to unlock growth. Ashish and Sri unpack inspiring stories, actionable insights, and practical strategies that will change the way you think about leading and growing a small to medium business. Tune in to discover how to turn your size into your greatest strength.Things you will learn in this episode:• The three Underdog Principles—Positioning, Proximity, and Purpose—and how to apply them• Why focusing on your core customers builds resilience during crises• How closeness to employees and community becomes a competitive edge• How AI can serve as a growth engine for SMBs rather than just a cost-cutting tool• Practical ways to stay grounded as a founder and align every decision with purposeIf you want to discover how small and medium businesses can outcompete giants and make flourishing their competitive edge, this conversation is one you won't want to miss.✅Resources:• How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit by Alex Edmans: https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/10/01/how-great-companies-deliver-both-purpose-and-profit/ ✅Books:• Unconvention: A Small Business Strategy Guide by Sri Kaza: https://a.co/d/aYYfD8w • The Experimentation Machine by Jeff Bussgang: https://experimentationmachine.com/• Hardwired for happiness by Ashish Kothari: https://happinesssquad.com/hardwired-for-happiness/

Christiana Smith Shi is a seasoned leader in global, multichannel retail, co-author of national, best-selling book Career Forward: Strategies From Women Who've Made It, founder and principal at Lovejoy Advisors, LLC., and an experienced corporate director on multiple Fortune 100 boards. Christiana made an early career pivot from finance to join McKinsey & Company, where she ultimately served as Senior Partner. After 25 years in management consulting, Christiana became the President of Direct-to-Consumer at Nike. In 2016, she retired from Nike and founded Lovejoy Advisors to help provide guidance around digital transformation for consumer and retail businesses. She joins Roy to share insights into navigating a rewarding career, talent lessons from McKinsey and Nike, and much more. Highlights from our conversation include:The timely issue that prompted her to write a book (3:58)Why Christiana puts career first, job second (9:18)How to take a strategic long view with your career (10:55)Advice for building “professional equity” (15:27)What it means to “think like an investor” when it comes to your career (16:58)Christiana's core leadership philosophy (22:20)Her perspective on the value of leadership coaching (25:38)The role of feedback as a leader (26:47)Lessons learned about hiring and talent and the major differences between hiring at McKinsey and Nike (30:25)How Christiana worked to integrate her team into the culture of Nike (35:35)Identifying strengths and opportunities of a team (37:20)How to avoid what she calls "benevolent stagnation” (42:09)How Christiana has applied her career experience and strategies to her work on boards (45:19)Advice for landing board roles (46:45)The ultimate payoff of a rewarding career and what Christiana is thinking about for the future (55:05)Visit HowIHire.com for transcripts and more on this episode.Follow Roy Notowitz and Noto Group Executive Search on LinkedIn for updates and featured career opportunities.Subscribe to How I Hire:AppleSpotifyAmazon

No one is coming to save you. The moment you realize that is the moment you step into your true power as a leader. In this episode of Reflect Forward, I explore the life changing power of radical responsibility. As leaders, we all have moments when we wish someone else would fix the problem, make the decision, or show us the path forward. But waiting for someone to rescue us kills momentum. True leadership begins when we stop waiting and start owning. I talk about how to recognize when you have slipped into victim thinking, how to catch yourself in that moment, and how to reclaim your sense of agency. You will learn how to listen for the subtle signals that you are giving away your power, especially when you hear yourself saying “Yeah, but.” That phrase is the telltale sign that you have moved from ownership to avoidance. This episode will help you build the mindset of accountability and confidence that defines great leaders. It is about shifting from “Why will someone not fix this?” to “What is my next step?” and realizing that you already have everything you need to lead yourself and your team forward. As Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” Taking ownership for your choices, your reactions, and your mindset is how you become the kind of leader others want to follow. Research backs this up. A McKinsey study found that companies with leaders who embrace ownership and accountability are 4.9 times more likely to outperform their peers in overall performance. Accountability is not just about personal growth; it is a competitive advantage. Key Takeaways 1. Ownership starts where excuses end. The moment you stop waiting for rescue, you start leading. 2. Catch your “yeah, but.” It is the red flag of victim thinking. Pause, reframe, and act. 3. Ask the three ownership questions: • What part of this situation can I own right now? • If no one else steps in, what is the best step I can take today? • Am I choosing to be a victim or the leader who changes it? 4. Clarity beats control. You cannot control circumstances, but you can always control your response. 5. Leaders go first. When you model accountability, you build a culture that owns results. Mic Drop Moments • “No one is coming to save you. The moment you realize that is the moment you step into your true power as a leader.” • “Leadership begins when we stop waiting and start owning.” • “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you would not sit for a month.” — Theodore Roosevelt • “You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.” — Jim Rohn If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs this reminder. And don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave a review helps me spread the message of intentional leadership and the ownership mindset even further. Connect with Kerry Visit my website, kerrysiggins.com, to explore my book, The Ownership Mindset, and get more leadership resources. Let's connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok! Find Reflect Forward on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kerrysiggins-reflectforward Find out more about my book here: https://kerrysiggins.com/the-ownership-mindset/ Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-siggins/

Scott Keller: A CEO For All Seasons Scott Keller is a senior partner at McKinsey, where he coleads the firm's global CEO Excellence work within the Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice and serves as a global leader in the Organization Practice. He's a New York Times bestselling author and trusted advisor to boards, CEOs, and senior leadership teams, with whom he guides multiyear, enterprise-wide transformations that shape the future of institutions. His colleagues and him are the authors of the new book, A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership (Amazon, Bookshop)*. One of the most critical phases of taking on the top job is what you do at the start. Whether it's stepping into the role as president, general manager, executive director, owner, or CEO, starting well can make all the difference. In this conversation, Scott and I explore how to begin in the best way possible. Key Points One-third to one-half of new CEOs are considered to be failing within eighteen months of taking the role. Many wish they'd handled the transition differently. New CEOs enter a reality distortion field of many bosses (the board), no peers, and ultimate accountability for everything. The best CEOs guard against this by not making it about them. Ask questions that aren't about you, but the organization. Instead of, “How will I know if I'm successful?” ask, “How will we know if we're winning?” Beginning with a listening tour is essential. People will tell you things when you're new that they'll never say two or three years later. Create a fact-based, one version of the truth. Once you know it, keep to a single narrative for everyone. Err towards complete candor in the toughest realities. Prepare intensely for moments of truth, when they need to happen. Set clear boundaries and stay extremely disciplined. Your narrative and first moves should guide how you frame these. Resources Mentioned A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership (Amazon, Bookshop)* by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes How Top Leaders Influence Great Teamwork, with Scott Keller (episode 585) How to Genuinely Show Up for Others, with Marshall Goldsmith (episode 590) How to Start a Big Leadership Role, with Carol Kauffman (episode 617) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Rumors are flying about how aircraft OEMs are working on technology for the next generation of large commercial aircraft. But a recent survey of the commercial aviation industry by McKinsey and Aviation Week shows surprising results when it comes to what industry players really think is happening. And the truth has significant consequences for how the air transport industry will operate in coming years.  Listen in to this podcast sponsored by McKinsey as McKinsey experts Frank Coleman III and John Moore talk with Aviation Week's Michael Bruno about the survey results and what companies need to do now for the next generation of aircraft. Read more

On the latest episode of After Earnings, Ann sits down with Udemy CEO Hugo Sarrazin to discuss the company's pivot from a traditional online course marketplace to an AI-powered platform designed to reskill the global workforce. Highlights include: - Udemy's shift from one-off course sales to a subscription model - The company's enterprise push to reskill workforces at scale - The future of its instructor-driven marketplace - How AI can deliver mass personalization in learning 00:00 – Hugo Sarrazin Joins 01:12 – Why the online learning industry is under pressure 02:42 – Udemy's consumer vs. enterprise business explained 05:56 – How AI enables personalization in learning 08:00 – Marketplace model vs. proprietary content 11:58 – Transition to subscriptions and monetization challenges 15:02 – Is Udemy becoming a digital media company? 16:48 – Enterprise clients and “just-in-time” learning 20:27 – Selling to CTOs, HR, and business leaders 23:33 – Reskilling 92 million workers in the AI era 25:39 – ROI pressure vs. growth opportunity 27:11 – Margins, cash flow, and product investment 29:03 – Hugo Sarrazin's career journey: McKinsey to CEO 33:40 – Will AI replace consulting? 37:55 – The future of Udemy After Earnings is brought to you by Stakeholder Labs and Morning Brew. For more go to https://www.afterearnings.com Follow Us X: https://twitter.com/AfterEarnings TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@AfterEarnings Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afterearnings_/ Reach Out Email: afterearnings@morningbrew.com $UDMY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Fuad Hannon, VP of New Business Verticals at DoorDash. In this role, he leads a team responsible for building new operating capabilities and delivery channels at DoorDash to expand our local commerce platform to new growth areas. Prior to his current role, Fuad was Head of New Business Verticals at DoorDash, previously a General Manager, and was part of the founding team for DoorDash Drive, the company's white-label fulfillment platform. Prior to DoorDash, Fuad worked at Google leading their Google Express operations and began his career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. Fuad holds a B.S. from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.Follow Fuad Hannon on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fuadhannon/Follow Yoobi on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/doordash/Follow NIQ online at: https://www.doordash.com/This episode is sponsored by DoorDash.Here's what we discussed:Grocery growth: Grocery has been a big area of investment for DoorDash. What progress have you made, and how do you see DoorDash's role evolving in this space?Consumer behavior: How does consumer behavior in grocery differ from other categories in on-demand delivery, and what opportunities does this create for grocery brands? Category momentum: What types of grocery categories or products are seeing the most success on on-demand platforms, and why?We learned at GS that you have just expanded your partner list - can you take us through what's new and exciting with your partners?Convenience & necessity mix: How does the mix of convenience (meal delivery) and necessity (grocery) create differentiated opportunities for brands? Best-in-class partnership: Can you share an example of a partnership with a grocery-focused CPGthat illustrates best-in-class use of DoorDash?Grocery & DoorDash Ads: How does the growth of the grocery vertical unlock new opportunities within DoorDash Ads, and what makes DoorDash a differentiated platform for grocery brands that want to advertise?Dashmart - I am very familiar with this offering through my days at GMI, even have walked through the NYC one, what's new and exciting about who are leveraging this?Advice to brands: What advice would you give to grocery brands looking to scale their presence on digital platforms like DoorDash?Future of Grocery on DoorDash: What message are you hoping to leave the industry about DoorDash's leadership in grocery and new verticals?CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.comFMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.comRhea Raj's Website: http://rhearaj.comLara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of the CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Swig started the Dirty Soda trend that's taking over America… and now it's overtaking alcohol.David Beckham's financials leaked… He makes more $$$ today than as a star soccer player.McKinsey breeds more Fortune500 CEOs than any other org… because their young spar with elders.Plus, Co-CEOs make stocks go up… just look at the Olsen Twins.Vote for The Best Idea Yet to win “Best Business Podcast”: ​​https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/business$PEP $MCD $SPYNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today's top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What separates truly exceptional leaders from the rest? According to Kurt Strovink, it's not just strategy, execution, or decision-making—it's the ability to lead from within. As a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and a global advisor to CEOs, Kurt has spent decades studying the patterns of the most successful executives. In his latest book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out, he reveals what the best leaders do differently and why self-awareness is at the core of transformative leadership.In this insightful conversation, Kurt unpacks the critical contradictions every CEO must navigate—balancing short-term and long-term priorities, managing gut instincts with data-driven analysis, and fostering trust while making tough calls. He also explores the human-centric aspects of leadership, showing why the most effective CEOs focus not just on financial performance but on culture, dissent, and psychological safety to drive long-term success.Mahan Tavakoli and Kurt also discuss practical frameworks for leadership development, including how CEOs can create cultures that encourage truth-telling, manage their energy instead of just their time, and make bold decisions that define their legacies. Drawing on insights from 500+ CEO forums and top leaders worldwide, Kurt shares the strategies that help executives avoid common pitfalls and unlock their full leadership potential.Actionable Takeaways from This EpisodeYou'll learn why leading others starts with leading yourself—and how the best CEOs develop self-awareness as a core leadership skill.Hear how top leaders institutionalize truth-telling and dissent within their organizations to avoid blind spots and drive better decision-making.Find out why managing energy is just as important as managing time—and how CEOs structure their schedules for peak performance.Discover how to make bold, differentiating moves early in your leadership tenure to set the tone for lasting impact.Learn why the most effective CEOs challenge their own organizations like an activist investor, forcing teams to rethink assumptions and drive transformation.Explore the power of leadership storytelling—how CEOs use analogies and language to shape culture and inspire action.Uncover strategies for navigating the inevitable contradictions of leadership—short-term vs. long-term, data vs. intuition, and control vs. delegation.Hear how great CEOs build leadership factories, ensuring a pipeline of strong leaders while avoiding the distractions of succession politics.Understand why the best leaders don't just execute strategy—they create the conditions for others to thrive and innovate.Find out when it's time to step away and transition leadership—and how great CEOs prepare for what's next.Connect with Kurt StrovinkKurt Strovink LinkedIn Kurt Strovink McKinsey & Company The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out Connect with Mahan Tavakoli: Mahan Tavakoli Website Mahan Tavakoli on LinkedIn Partnering Leadership Website

How do multinational consulting firms enable state capture? In this episode, regular KB host Liz David-Barrett chats with Devi Pillay about her research on the role of McKinsey & Co.'s involvement in the capture of South Africa under President Zuma. Drawing on evidence from the Zondo Commission, Devi describes how consulting firms worked with politically connected local partners to extract billions in fees from state-owned enterprises, while providing misleading advice that facilitated further corruption. Liz and Devi also discuss the vital role of investigative journalists and whistleblowers in exposing these arrangements, the devastating impact on South Africa's infrastructure and economy, and the mixed accountability outcomes for the firms involved. Find Devi Pillay's working paper for GI ACE here: https://giace.org/resources/consulting-firms-corruption-and-state-capture/ Find similar themes on South Africa's state capture in episode 129.

Overcoming Negative Self-Talk – with Betsy Holmberg, Ph.D.Betsy Holmberg, Ph.D., joins the show to discuss how to overcome negative self-talk and the traps of overthinking. An award-winning psychologist, Betsy has devoted her career to understanding and addressing the inner critic that undermines mental health and self-confidence.Before becoming an author and therapist, Betsy led the mental health service line at McKinsey & Company and conducted groundbreaking research at Harvard University on self-injury and suicide. She is trained in EMDR, DBT, and CBT therapies, and earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Duke University.Her new book offers powerful insights and tools for breaking free from destructive thought patterns:https://www.amazon.com/dp/1648484719?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_apin_dp_MEZ95QCT2HWSAA46M8FK&ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_apin_dp_MEZ95QCT2HWSAA46M8FK&social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_apin_dp_MEZ95QCT2HWSAA46M8FK&bestFormat=trueAbout Michael Liebowitz – Host of The Rational EgoistMichael Liebowitz is the host of The Rational Egoist podcast, a philosopher, author, and political activist committed to the principles of reason, individualism, and rational self-interest. Deeply influenced by the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Michael uses his platform to challenge cultural dogma, expose moral contradictions, and defend the values that make human flourishing possible.His journey from a 25-year prison sentence to becoming a respected voice in the libertarian and Objectivist communities is a testament to the transformative power of philosophy. Today, Michael speaks, writes, and debates passionately in defence of individual rights and intellectual clarity.He is the co-author of two compelling books that examine the failures of the correctional system and the redemptive power of moral conviction:Down the Rabbit Hole: How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crimehttps://www.amazon.com.au/Down-Rabbit-Hole-Corrections-Encourages/dp/197448064XView from a Cage: From Convict to Crusader for Libertyhttps://books2read.com/u/4jN6xjAbout Xenia Ioannou – Producer of The Rational EgoistXenia Ioannou is the producer of The Rational Egoist, overseeing the publishing and promotion of each episode to reflect a consistent standard of clarity, professionalism, and intellectual integrity.As a CEO, property manager, entrepreneur, and lifelong advocate for capitalism and individual rights, Xenia ensures the podcast stays true to its core values of reason, freedom, and personal responsibility.Xenia also leads Capitalism and Coffee – An Objectivist Meetup in Adelaide, where passionate thinkers gather to discuss Ayn Rand's ideas and their application to life, politics, and culture.Join us at: https://www.meetup.com/adelaide-ayn-rand-meetup/(Capitalism and Coffee – An Objectivist Meetup)Because freedom is worth thinking about—and talking about.Follow Life on Purpose – Xenia's thought-provoking essays at her Substack:https://substack.com/@xeniaioannou?utm_source=user-menu#SelfTalk #Overthinking #Psychology #RationalEgoistPodcast #Objectivism #MentalHealth

Trond Aas is CEO and Co-Founder of Attensi, a leader in AI-powered gamified simulation training. Trond shares his background spanning quantum physics, consulting and gaming. He explains how gamification grounded in behavioral science drives engagement which enhances initial and long-term learning especially for younger employees. Trond describes motivation as a critical success factor for sustainable upskilling. He discusses metrics to demonstrate return on investment in skills development and how to improve skills gap issues starting with cultivating a trust-based culture of learning   KEY TAKEAWAYS   [01:17] Trond starts studying quantum physics to explore fundamental questions about nature.   [02:01] After doing research for his military service, Trond goes into industry seeking practical impact.   [02:38] Trond joins McKinsey as a business school type experience before pursuing entrepreneurship.   [03:10] Interest in games stems from early programming and creativity cultivated during university.   [04:08] In gaming, Trond reveals how behavioral science is used to drive engagement and learning.   [06:12] Tribal, team-based successes are key to stimulating successful collaboration online.   [06:25] Fascination with learning and awareness of superficial gamification drives Attensi's founding.   [07:44] Attensi applies science to drive motivation and behavior change with measurable results.   [09:40] Correlating simulated behavior with real-world outcomes to track learning impact.   [10:23] Measuring soft skills progress when observable behavior is hard to track.   [12:10] As technology evolves rapidly, upskilling must be ongoing across high-competence industries.   [12:50] Skill development tailored to specific job challenges is more effective than one-size-fits-all.   [13:45] Self-motivated learners thrive, while others need help to develop the motivation that anchors learning.   [14:47] Many Gen Zers lack key communication skills and may not recognize this development need.   [15:49] Most learning programs fail on motivation, which must be addressed first to succeed.   [16:22] Creating mastery experiences significantly increases learner motivation and outcomes.   [15:15] Game-based learning builds confidence that translates into better real-world performance.   [19:43] Companies underinvest in onboarding due to unclear ROI, hindering workforce readiness.   [20:08] Trond emphasizes data, ROI, and clear impact as critical for better training investment decisions.   [20:34] Attensi's research shows poor onboarding leads to lower confidence and performance.   [23:42] Skill masking arises when employees hide learning gaps, often from lack of psychological safety.   [24:18] Cultivating trust-based cultures is essential to reduce skill masking and promote learning.   [25:48] Focusing on core skills for each role facilitates the shift to becoming a skills-first organization.   [26:44] Skill-based organizations can start small and ensure programs drive skill improvements.   [28:33] Maintaining skill use needs continuous feedback, clear expectations, and learning structures.   [29:13] Organizations must define competencies to stand out and align training with competitive goals.   [30:37] Tailoring programs to learner motivation and challenges supports effective skills development.     IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Learning motivation and skills usage are cultivated through mastery. Help employees sense their achievement to encourage their enhanced performance and growth.   RESOURCES   Trond Aas on LinkedIn Attensi's website     QUOTES   "We can use these principles of games to drive engagement, drive interest, drive motivation—and then we should be able to impact real behaviors and measure that with data."   "Most people experience poor onboarding and most people are convinced that it affects their work afterwards."   "Skill masking is that people are actually hiding the challenges that they are having."   "Are your people motivated? And if not, address that—that's what you need to address to be able to develop your organization."   “When you are able to instill a feeling of mastery in people that has a huge effect on their motivation.”   "A lot of people think that one [training] system or one approach will fit with all the different employees... and I think it needs to be a lot more nuanced than that."

Send us a textWant to land a consulting role in the Middle East? This episode breaks down the 2025 recruiting landscape and what it takes to succeed in this unique region.We cover:How the Middle East consulting market is shaped by nationalization, expat hiring, and cultural dynamics3 recruiting power moves you can use right nowTop schools, firms, and timing to keep on your radarFor the full playbook, download Management Consulted's Middle East Consulting Recruitment Roadmap – free.Inside, you'll find firm-by-firm insights, hiring timelines, and proven strategies to land an offer.Additional Resources:Join Black Belt, an expert prep program that's helped candidates break into McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and more across the regionFollow along on YouTubeGet real consulting experience from your bedroom in the November 2025 Strategy Sprint project; $200 off expires October 3 Listen to the Market Outsiders podcast, the new daily show with the Management Consulted teamConnect With Management Consulted Schedule free 15min consultation with the MC Team. Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube! Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and industry insights! Join an upcoming live event - case interviews demos, expert panels, and more. Email us (team@managementconsulted.com) with questions or feedback.

Women control more wealth than ever—so how do you find an advisor who shares your values? According to McKinsey & Company, by 2030, women are expected to control nearly two-thirds of U.S. assets. With that kind of stewardship comes both opportunity and responsibility. On the next Faith & Finance Live, Rob West and Sharon Epps share five practices that women should expect from their financial advisors. Then, it’s your financial questions. That’s Faith & Finance Live, where biblical wisdom meets today’s finances—weekdays at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central on Moody Radio. Faith & Finance Live is a listener supported program on Moody Radio. To join our team of supporters, click here.To support the ministry of FaithFi, click here.To learn more about Rob West, click here. To learn more about Faith & Finance Live, click here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes speaks with Alison Collier, the Managing Director of Endeavor South Africa. Collier, who has been at the helm since 2019, brings nearly two decades of experience in strategy, business development and scaling across Africa, Europe and Asia. career includes stints at McKinsey, and global roles with Unilever and SABMiller, where she helped drive digital transformation and global sourcing strategies. The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape.    Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Money Show Listen live Primedia+ weekdays from 18:00 and 20:00 (SA Time) to The Money Show with Stephen Grootes broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/7QpH0jY or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/PlhvUVe Subscribe to The Money Show Daily Newsletter and the Weekly Business Wrap here https://buff.ly/v5mfetc The Money Show is brought to you by Absa     Follow us on social media   702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702   CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/Radio702 CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Er AI i ferd med å snu SaaS-modellen på hodet? Vil fremtidens selskaper se helt annerledes ut? I denne live-episoden fra Shifter samler vi tre av de skarpeste hodene innen AI og Saas for å diskutere hvordan hele forretningsmodellen er i endring – og hva du som gründer, leder eller investor bør forstå nå.

Podcast Episode: Women's Leadership Success with Award-Winning Reputation Expert Lida Citroën Your reputation isn't just what people say about you when you leave the room—it's the invisible currency that determines your promotions, your earning potential, and your influence as a leader. For women executives, managers, directors, VPs, and C-Suite leaders, mastering reputation management for women isn't optional. It's essential. In this comprehensive guide from the Women's Leadership Success podcast, host Sabrina Braham, MA, PCC—an expert in executive leadership development and reputation management—interviews award-winning reputation expert Lida Citroën, whose latest book The New Rules of Influence just won the NYC Big Book Award 2025 in the Business Motivational category. Together, they reveal proven strategies to take control of your professional narrative and accelerate your leadership success. Why Reputation Management for Women Matters More Than Ever in 2025 The leadership landscape for women is shifting—but not fast enough. According to recent McKinsey research, women hold just 29% of C-suite positions, and at the current pace, it would take 48 years to achieve true gender parity in senior leadership. With only 9.2% of Fortune 1000 CEOs being women, standing out isn't just about working harder—it's about strategically managing how you're perceived. The stakes are high: 75% of female executives experience imposter syndrome at some point in their careers, yet 82% of women believe networking with female leaders will help them advance. Reputation management for women becomes the bridge between your capabilities and your career opportunities. The Financial Impact of Your Reputation Research shows that companies with female executives are 30% more likely to outperform their competitors. Yet women continue to face unique challenges in reputation management compared to their male counterparts. Your reputation directly impacts: Promotion decisions and leadership opportunities Salary negotiations and earning potential New business development and client relationships Board appointments and speaking engagements Team influence and organizational impact Industry recognition and thought leadership positioning Understanding Reputation Management for Women Leaders What Is Reputation Management for Women? According to Lida Citroën, author of the award-winning book Control the Narrative: The Executive's Guide to Building, Pivoting and Repairing Your Reputation and the newly released The New Rules of Influence (NYC Big Book Award Winner 2025 - Business Motivational), "Everyone has a personal brand, by design or default. Your reputation is one of the most critical determinants of your career success." Lida Citroën In her latest book, Lida explains that influence isn't about titles, rank, or being loud—it's about showing up authentically, communicating your value, and inspiring others to take action. This is the foundation of effective reputation management for women. As podcast host Sabrina Braham, an executive coach and leadership development expert, emphasizes: "Reputation management for women requires intentional strategy. You can't afford to leave your professional reputation to chance when you're navigating unique gender-specific challenges in the workplace." Reputation management for women is the strategic process of: Monitoring how others perceive you professionally Influencing public perception through intentional actions Measuring and tracking your brand effectiveness Repairing damage when reputation challenges arise Building systems that protect and enhance your good name Think of it as the difference between letting popular opinion define you versus strategically driving your reputation toward your leadership goals. The Unique Challenges Women Face in Reputation Management Do Women Have More Difficulty with Reputation Management Than Men? The research is clear: women face distinct barriers in building and maintaining ...

Branded Content by McKinsey | WIRED's Global Editorial Director, Katie Drummond sat down with McKinsey's Global Institute Director and Senior Partner Lareina Yee for a conversation on the technologies redefining industries—from AI to autonomous vehicles—and how leading organizations turn innovation into long-term strategic advantage. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Yue Zhao's career began with aspirations rooted in a desire to help people, initially thinking she would become a doctor. However, her path led her into the tech industry, where she spent over 15 years as a product executive in Silicon Valley.  Discovering the power of executive and leadership coaching became a pivotal point in her career. Inspired by her experiences and driven by her commitment to support underrepresented groups, Yue transitioned from a tech executive to a full-time executive coach. She now focuses on advancing the careers of women and minorities by leveraging her unique insights and personal journey. Through her Substack newsletter, "The Uncommon Executive," and her coaching work, Yue shares valuable lessons on leadership, overcoming challenges, and creating more inclusive workplaces. Yue has coached hundreds of aspiring executives since 2016, is an instructor at Reforge and Maven and is the author of the Uncommon Executive: Breakthrough to the C-Suite as a Minority. She's also been a VC back founder, venture partner at Life X Ventures and a consultant at McKinsey and Company. Yue has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley    What You Will Hear in This Episode:    02:16 Youi's Journey: From Aspirations to Reality 03:52 Discovering Executive Coaching 06:22 Challenges and Triumphs in Silicon Valley 09:20 Leveraging Unique Perspectives 13:37 Coaching Women and Minorities 17:27 Addressing Gender Bias and DEI Efforts 22:03 Building a Web of Influence 23:04 Challenges in Career Advancement 25:03 The Importance of Advocacy and Relationships 33:24 Creating Inclusive Work Environments   Quotes “Being able to empathize with multiple different perspectives is crucial.” “Finding those moments where you can say, okay, who I am, and where I naturally come from, gives me a step up.” “If I do the work and I do it really well, that'll get me ahead.” “When you've been in environments where you see what great looks like, you're like, ‘This should just be everywhere.”   Mentioned: The Uncommon Executive subastack LinkedIn   eConnect with Bonnie Online Course for Ambitious Women: https://www.female-career-accelerator-online.com/ Substack Newsletter: Own Your Ambition Gendered Ageism Survey Results Forbes article 5 Tips to own the superpower of your age IAMMusicGroup   Purchase my book Not Done Yet on Amazon:    If you enjoyed this episode of Badass Women Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to the podcast and drop us a five-star review  

This week on Conflict Managed we welcome Kate Lowry to talk about what it's like to work under fear-based leadership and how you can respond without losing yourself. Join us as we discuss: Fear based leadership – is it back? How to recognize the signs of fear-driven leadership Practical tools for surviving and staying grounded in toxic environments What it means to be ‘unbreakable' at work Diversifying your identity: you are not reducible to one thing Conflict Managed is available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube: @3pconflictrestoration Kate Lowry is a CEO coach, venture capitalist, and author based in Silicon Valley. An expert in fear-based leaders, Kate developed her methodology growing up in a personal hierarchical family, then refined her approach in the elite worlds of start-ups, private equity, management consulting, and big tech at McKinsey, Meta, and Insight Partners. She is the author of Unbreakable: How to Thrive Under Fear-Based Leaders. In her free time, you can find her writing comedy and music and cuddling her service dog, Annie. Pre-order links: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR1G981Y/ref=sr_1_2? https://www.amazon.com/Unbreakable-Thrive-Under-Fear-Based-Leaders-ebook/dp/B0FQ71FW72/ref=sr_1_1 Social media links: https://www.instagram.com/kateunbreakablelowry/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579366067469   Conflict Managed is produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services and hosted by Merry Brown.

Ed See is Chief Growth Officer at Zeta Global, leveraging over 30 years of experience in marketing, analytics, and growth strategy to help brands scale through AI and technology. Prior to joining Zeta, he was a Partner with McKinsey & Company's Marketing & Sales practice for eight years, advising top CMOs on digital transformation, marketing effectiveness, and customer-centric strategies. Earlier in his career, Ed held senior positions at Deloitte, IBM, and leading analytics and research firms, helping shape the intersection of data, technology, and business growth

Guest Bio Yewande Faloyin is the founder of Otito Leadership and a certified executive coach specializing in energy leadership and performance optimization. With a unique background spanning software development at IBM and Morgan Stanley, management consulting at McKinsey, and hedge fund advisory, Yewande brings a holistic approach to leadership development. After experiencing severe burnout, she discovered coaching and became certified in energy leadership, helping leaders move from burnout cycles to sustainable peak performance. Episode Summary In this powerful conversation, Yewande shares her unconventional journey from tech to leadership coaching, driven by a pattern of boredom that led to continuous evolution. We explore the dangerous myth of "pushing through" in high-achievement cultures and why traditional resilience might be keeping us stuck. Yewande introduces her revolutionary framework that moves beyond burnout recovery to true performance optimization - where rest becomes a strategic tool and integration of mind, body, and spirit drives sustainable success. Key Takeaways Boredom as a Compass: What seems like restlessness might actually be your internal guidance system pointing you toward your next evolution The Performance Paradox: True high performance isn't about pushing harder - it's about mastery orientation over outcome orientation Integration Over Separation: The greatest transformations happen when we stop compartmentalizing and start integrating all aspects of ourselves - technical and creative, strategic and intuitive Quality Over Compliance: Going through the motions of self-care (yoga, sleep, nutrition) means nothing if the energy behind them is angry or resentful Rest as Performance Enhancement: Athletes rest 75% of the time - why do knowledge workers think they can perform while running on empty? Memorable Quotes "If it's your calling, it'll keep calling." "I often say that rest is your only legal performance enhancer." "You could choose to rest, I could choose to rest, and yours could be effective and mine might not be because of the how." "No one else's answer makes any difference whatsoever. It's all about you and what's important to you. And that's okay to switch it every single day." Resources Mentioned Energy Leadership certification (IPEC) Website: [Otito Leadership website] Yewande on LinkedIn Gravitas - 1:1 accelerator for biz owners stepping into their founder era The Curiosity Lab - Strategy sessions for leaders by Chedva You're Gonna Want to Sit Down for This - bi-weekly email packed with lessons and free tools Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions Reflection Questions Where in your life are you "ticking boxes" without addressing the quality or energy behind your actions? What would change if you viewed rest as a performance tool rather than a weakness? How might boredom be guiding you toward your next evolution?

Andrea Samadi revisits her 2019 conversation with neuroleadership pioneer Friederike Fabritius to explore practical neuroscience strategies for better productivity, well-being, and workplace happiness. On this episode, we'll learn: ✔ Why only 20% of people feel passionate about their jobs, and what we can do to change that. ✔ How to use neuroscience to reach peak performance or flow with your work. Neuroscientist and neuroleadership pioneer Friederike Fabritius shows us how three simple ingredients—FUN, FEAR, and FOCUS—can help us find flow and peak performance at work. We'll also explore why men and women often respond differently to stress, how to identify your unique neurosignature, and practical ways to design a workplace (and a life) that helps your brain thrive ✔ Learn the three key ingredients for flow—fun, fear (challenge), and focus—how the stress–performance curve affects apathy and burnout. ✔ Why tailoring roles to individual neurosignatures (dopamine, serotonin, testosterone, estrogen) can unlock peak performance. Welcome back to SEASON 14 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I'm Andrea Samadi, and seven years ago, launched this podcast with a question I had never truly asked myself before: (and that is) If productivity and results matter to us—and they do now more than ever—how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen? Most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, results, or well-being. About a decade ago, I became fascinated by the mind-brain-results connection—and how science can be applied to our everyday lives. That's why I've made it my mission to bring you the world's top experts—so together, we can explore the intersection of science and social-emotional learning. We'll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use every day for predictable, science-backed results. For today's Episode 373, we continue our journey into our mind with the next interview review. Just a reminder-this review series began back with Episode 366[i], where in Part 3 we discovered an important lesson: if we don't like our results—or what we see on the outside—we need to shift our mindset and look within. True change always begins on the inside. We moved onto EP 369[ii] we learned how to Rewire our Brain with Dr. Dawson Church and his Bliss Brain Meditations, and then EP 370[iii] with John Medina's Brain Rules, where we reviewed how important this understanding of neuroscience is, especially connected to education, teaching and learning. Next we went deeper into our mind and brain with EP 371 and 72 where we with clinical professor of psychiatry from UCLA's School of Medicine, Dr. Daniel J Siegel and his Mindsight concept, which is the same idea as Theory of Mind, or seeing the mind in another. All of these episodes are helping us to further sharpen of minds and brains, and connect better with others,  for improved productivity and success in our work and personal lives. For today's EP 373, we go back to EP 27[iv], recorded October 2019, with pioneer in neuroleadership, neuroscientist, Friederike Fabritius[v], from Germany. On this episode, we covered her book, The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better and Happier. Friederike returned again to the podcast, for EP 258[vi] recorded in November 2022 advancing our conversation with her next book, The Brain Friendly Workplace. Both of these interviews covered important tips that I think we should all take into consideration to be happier, and therefore, more productive at work. Going along with our theme-that if we don't like what's going on outside of ourselves, let's dive deeper into understanding how our brain and minds work. Which brings us back to FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS, MS, is a neuroscientist and pioneer in the field of neuroleadership. She trained at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and is an alumna of McKinsey & Company (helping organizations to create change).  Friederike delivers brain-based leadership programs to Fortune 500 executives and organizations around the globe to transform how they think, innovate, and navigate change. I'm always looking for productivity tips that we can all use, and it's clear that stress in our workplaces is at an all-time high, globally. We know that “2/3 of people report being stressed at work, to the point they can't sleep at night”[vii]  and in our first clip, Friederike reports that “only 20% of people feel passionate about their jobs” and that “40% of people never experience FLOW in their jobs.” I think there has to be another way to find balance here. VIDEO 1 Click Here to Watch Let's listen to Friederike's clip on: Why FUN, FEAR, and FOCUS Matter for Flow & Peak Performance  “Only 20% of people feel passionate about their jobs. That's insane. And 40% of people never experience FLOW in their jobs. And (she thinks)  it can be that simple. That everyone can be happy at their jobs. All you need are three simple things. (Friederike calls them ) FUN, FEAR, and FOCUS. And it has to do with a certain mix of neurochemicals in our brain. When we are having fun at work (not the after work party kind of fun) where you have fun after the work is done. I'm thinking of having fun related to the task at hand. And when we are having fun, our brains release a neurochemical called dopamine. Dopamine is a real brain booster. It makes you think faster. It helps you to do everything a bit speedier and better, and makes us more creative.”

Send us a textConsulting recruiting has changed, and digital assessments are now the new gatekeeper. In this episode, we break down what McKinsey, Bain, and BCG's digital tests look like in 2025, what skills they're really testing, and how you can prepare with confidence.Whether you're facing McKinsey Solve, Bain's Gorilla test, or BCG's CCA, this conversation gives you the latest insights and prep tips straight from candidates and firms.Additional Resources:Explore our deep dives into digital assessments across MBB, Big 4, and boutique firmsPremium client or partner student? Take the new Bain Gorilla practice test in your MC accountHelp us keep resources up to date – share your digital assessment experience anonymouslySubscribe to Management Consulted on YouTube for weekly case prep, recruiting insights, and firm updatesPartner Links:Stax is hiring! See open roles and requirementsGet real consulting experience from your bedroom in the November 2025 Strategy Sprint project; $200 off expires October 3 Listen to the Market Outsiders podcast, the new daily show with the Management Consulted teamConnect With Management Consulted Schedule free 15min consultation with the MC Team. Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube! Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and industry insights! Join an upcoming live event - case interviews demos, expert panels, and more. Email us (team@managementconsulted.com) with questions or feedback.

In the high-stakes world of corporate leadership, becoming a Fortune 500 CEO is an Everest-like ascent, with only the savviest succeeding across every stage of the journey. Carolyn Dewar, Vik Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink, authors of the upcoming book A CEO For All Seasons, join Sean to share insights from top-performing CEOs on navigating the first and fourth stages of CEO leadership – preparing for the role and fortifying a legacy, in the first of two episodes based on the new book. Carolyn Dewar, a coauthor of the New York Times bestselling CEO Excellence, is a senior partner at McKinsey and founded and co-leads the firm’s global CEO excellence client service line. She is a frequent keynote speaker on leadership and transformation. Vikram (Vik) Malhotra, a coauthor of CEO Excellence, is a senior partner at McKinsey where he has worked since 1986. He has served on McKinsey’s Board of Directors and as McKinsey’s Managing Partner of the Americas. Kurt Strovink is a senior partner at McKinsey and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. He also leads McKinsey’s global CEO services practice and coauthored the national bestseller The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Lead from the Inside Out. Related insights A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership Sending it forward: Successfully transitioning out of the CEO role Staying ahead: How the best CEOs continually improve performance Stepping up: Becoming a high-potential CEO candidate Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal The inner game of women CEOs The CEO’s essential checklist: Questions every chief executive should be able to answer Leadership lessons from the world’s best CEOs Serving a greater purpose: CEO Excellence revisited Building leaders from the ground up The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets that Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

In this episode of the Rock Camp Podcast, the team welcomes Scott Keller, a New York Times bestselling author and senior advisor at McKinsey & Company. Scott shares his journey of transforming Rock Camp into a profitable business and saving it from financial troubles with strategic advice. He also talks about his personal life, including his extensive travel to every country in the world and his inspiring work with his special needs son, Jackson 'JJ Raw Power' Keller. Jackson, who overcame profound brain damage to become a musician, joins the podcast to share his experiences and aspirations. The episode touches on themes of perseverance, adaptability, and the emotional highs of achieving one's dreams at Rock Camp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textAbout This Episode Lorraine K. Lee, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and LinkedIn Top Voice, reveals how cultivating an unforgettable presence can transform a career. Through her professional experience at LinkedIn, Lorraine K. Lee discovered that advancement depends not only on hard work but on how and where you are seen. Drawing from her book Unforgettable Presence, she shares the EPIC framework (Experiences, Personality, Identity, Community) to help professionals authentically showcase their strengths, plus strategies for virtual visibility through her “TEA METHOD” for video presence. Lorraine K. Lee reframes LinkedIn as a vital virtual office where first impressions are made, and encourages starting small and staying consistent to build influence that feels genuine and sustainable. About Lorraine K.  LeeLorraine K. Lee is a keynote speaker and the best-selling author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career. She also teaches popular courses at Stanford Continuing Studies and LinkedIn Learning. She is passionate about empowering leaders to elevate their presence, influence, and impact. Her frameworks have been adopted by globally recognized organizations like Zoom, Amazon, Cisco, and McKinsey & Company. Lorraine is recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice with hundreds of thousands of followers, and previously spent over a decade as a founding editor at companies including LinkedIn and Prezi. Her insights are featured in top media outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fast Company. Additional ResourcesWebsite: lorraineklee.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lorraineklee Learn more about her book: unforgettablepresencebook.comGet bite-sized career tips: lorraineklee.com/subscribeLorraine's LinkedIn Learning: lorraineklee.com/linkedinlearningSupport the show-------- Stay Connected www.leighburgess.com Watch the episodes on YouTube Follow Leigh on Instagram: @theleighaburgess Follow Leigh on LinkedIn: @LeighBurgess Sign up for Leigh's bold newsletter

The B2B SaaS market is experiencing a significant slowdown with growth rates dropping, while traditional marketing channels deliver diminishing returns in an increasingly saturated landscape.• Marketing benchmarks show companies growing faster than 20% spend 10-15% of revenue on marketing, while slower-growing firms spend only 7-9%• Digital channels like SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay per click), and email are seeing declining performance metrics despite increased spending• Today's B2B buyer completes 80% of their journey independently, yet companies still allocate 70% of go-to-market resources to sales• "What's old is new again" – smaller, intimate events and personalized interactions are outperforming scalable digital tactics• Successful companies balance brand marketing (awareness) and demand generation (conversion) equally• Effective positioning requires elevating problems to the executive level by articulating significant business impact• AI isn't changing what we should measure but enables better personalization at scale across industries and personas• The brand versus demand debate represents a false dichotomy – both work synergistically to drive growthThe rules of B2B marketing are being rewritten before our eyes. In this revealing conversation with marketing benchmark expert Omar Akhtar and go-to-market guru AJ Gandhi, we unpack the surprising reality that most B2B SaaS companies are facing: we're effectively in a recession. Growth rates have plummeted from over 30% to just 11-20%, while traditional digital channels deliver diminishing returns despite increased spending.What's behind this troubling trend? Market saturation, poor tool integration, rapid commoditization, and fundamental shifts in buyer behavior all play a role.The most compelling insight? Companies growing faster than 20% annually are investing 10-15% of revenue in marketing, with a balanced approach between brand awareness and demand generation.Whether you're managing a marketing team, leading sales, or driving overall growth strategy, this episode offers critical benchmarks and tactical approaches for navigating today's challenging landscape. AJ Gandhi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjaigandhi/AJ Gandhi is a distinguished Go-To-Market (GTM) leader and executive community builder. He currently serves as a Board Member for Plum Acquisition Corp.  Additionally, he is a Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital and GTMfund.  AJ is also a co-founder of the GTM Leader Society.  Just recently, AJ served as Chief Growth Officer for Marlin Equity Partners and held significant roles at Salesforce, Ring Central, Bain & and McKinsey.  AJ is an alumnus of UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School.Omar Akhtar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarbilalakhtar/Omar Akhtar is the Founder and Principal Analyst at Benchmarker, leading research on marketing excellence for B2B tech. Previously, he was Head of Research at Altimeter, a Prophet Company, where he advised Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and Netflix, on marketing, data, and content strategies. Omar got his undergraduate degree in economics from Ohio Wesleyan, and then got a Masters in Journalism from Columbia.Website: https://www.position2.com/podcast/Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/Email us with any feedback for the show: sparkofages.podcast@position2.com

In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Lareina Yee, Director at McKinsey Global Institute, to explore how women can thrive at the intersection of time management, technology, and radical empathy. From the promise of AI to the power of experience capital, Lareina shares data-driven insights and practical strategies for navigating the barriers women face in tech and beyond. Whether you're wrestling with the “broken rung” in career advancement or wondering how AI can open new doors, this conversation is packed with both inspiration and actionable takeaways. Inside This Episode: AI as Opportunity: Why it's a tool for everyone, no matter your starting point. Experience Capital: How 50% of lifetime earnings are tied to the skills you build along the way. The Broken Rung: Why women face slower promotions and what to do about it. Sponsorship Over Mentorship: Why finding advocates early matters more than advice alone. AI as Equalizer: How tech is democratizing access and reshaping workplaces. Who This Episode Is For: Women in tech (or aspiring to be) looking for tools to rise and lead. Leaders who want to foster equity, empathy, and innovation. Anyone curious about how AI and experience capital shape the future of work. Tune in to learn why AI is an opportunity, why experience capital is crucial, and how radical empathy can change the game for women in leadership.   More about Lareina Yee: Lareina Yee is a McKinsey Global Institute director leading the technology agenda and the global head of Tech Alliances. Based in San Francisco, she is a senior partner whose client works focus on technology and AI. She served as McKinsey's first Chief Diversity Officer and, in 2015, co-founded Women in the Workplace, an annual research study that has worked with more than 1,000 companies and surveyed nearly half a million employees to understand the barriers to women's advancement in corporate America. She is the author of THE BROKEN RUNG: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women--and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It with fellow McKinsey senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud and María del Mar Martínez. Blocked time, made lists, promised yourself this time will be different—and yet by 5 PM, the work that actually matters is still staring back at you. Enter The Ready-Made 90-Minute Focus Kit: your done-for-you reset for ditching distractions and finally making progress on what matters most. With this simple framework, you'll reclaim your brainpower, protect your energy, and actually finish the work you care about. Download it now and turn “Where did the day go?” into “Wow, I crushed that.”   No, You Hang Up First (Let's Keep Connecting) Did today's episode resonate with you? Leave us a review sharing your favorite insight and we'll send you a free signed copy of I See You! A Leader's Guide to Energizing Your Team through Radical Empathy. Have another question that we can answer? Leave us a Speakpipe audio clip and we'll answer it in an upcoming episode. Don't want to miss another episode? If you're a Spotify listener, find our show here and click “Follow.” If you're an Apple Podcast listener, click here and make sure to hit “+Follow.” Want access to a bunch of free resources for your work life? This is your personal jackpot that gives you access to the frameworks that help us thrive both personally and professionally. Whether you're trying to improve your daily routine, flesh out an idea that you've had for quite some time, or want to add more play into your day - these resources have got your back. Want 2 emails a week from us? One with a quick tip you can implement right away to enhance your personal and/or professional lives & one of our famous F.A.I.L. Fourward Friday newsletters? Subscribe here. Connect with Lareina Yee Lareina's LinkedIn Lareina's McKinsey & Company profile, research, and experience Lareina's book, The Broken Rung Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! Erin's website Erin's Instagram Erin's TikTok Erin's LinkedIn improve it!'s website improve it!'s Instagram

Sarah Keohane Williamson, CEO of FCLT Global and coauthor of The CEO's Guide to the Investment Galaxy, offers a disciplined primer for executives operating at the intersection of corporate strategy and capital markets. Drawing from her background in investment banking, government, consulting, and asset management, she explains why “investors are not a single audience,” how their incentives shape corporate outcomes, and what leaders must do differently to secure durable capital and strategic flexibility.   Williamson pushes back on conventional wisdom about investor relations, replacing it with practical routines and priorities. She emphasizes a consulting-rooted discipline, “Start with the answer”, as a communications principle, and translates it into a concrete playbook for CEOs who cannot afford ambiguity when describing long-term bets. She underscores that “quarterly calls are important, but they're often dominated by the sell side,” and CEOs should deliberately allocate their limited time toward building trust with long-term owners and anchor shareholders.   Key takeaways include: Map the owners. “Who actually owns your company? Who makes the decisions about those shares?” Owner types—retail, index funds, active managers, hedge funds—differ in incentives and time horizons, and executives should treat that map as a strategic input. Build an investor strategy like a customer strategy. Decide which kinds of capital the company needs, why, and how to attract and retain those investors. Use a long-term roadmap. Make risky investments intelligible by explaining milestones that link short-term actions to enduring value, and “don't be afraid to update the roadmap when the assumptions change.” Translate investor signals into operational choices. Avoid reflexive short-term fixes, like cutting R&D to meet a quarter, without measuring the long-term cost. Treat disclosure and dialogue as governance tools. Clarity about ownership, voting, and incentives reduces misalignment and reputational risk. Reframe consultancy input for execution. “The hard part is not the analysis, the hard part is making it happen inside the organization.” This episode equips CEOs, CFOs, and board members with a practical framework for raising capital, defending strategic bets, and managing shareholder composition. It reframes investor engagement from a compliance exercise into a core discipline of strategy and governance.  

In this value-packed episode of The Entrepreneurial You, host Heneka Watkis-Porter sits down with Rashesh Shah, the purpose-driven founder and managing director of Talent Corner HR Services. With a team of over 250 professionals and more than 100 franchise partners across India, Rashesh shares the systems, mindset, and mission behind building a recruitment powerhouse that puts people and purpose before profit. What You'll Learn in This Episode: How to scale a recruitment business with heart, vision, and systems The importance of serving MSMEs and empowering small-scale entrepreneurs How to build a successful franchise model that welcomes first-time founders Real-world examples of surviving economic crises with client loyalty The role of AI in improving business without replacing people Why long-term vision and purpose are essential to sustainable growth Whether you're leading a small business, managing a team, or dreaming of creating scalable impact, this episode offers real strategies and a refreshingly human approach to growth. COMMUNITY CONNECTION: It's time to celebrate your growth. This October, Leadercast Kingston returns — giving you an exceptional opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds in leadership and business. Then in November, the journey continues with the LeadHerShip Cruise — your floating mastermind at sea. Dive into powerful workshops, connect with dynamic leaders, and yes, even treat yourself at the onboard cupcake shop for a little sweet inspiration. Ready to join or share your scaling story? Email heneka@henekawatkisporter.com or message via WhatsApp at 876-849-2571. CONTACT RASHESH DOSHI: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasheshdoshi/  TRENDING NOW: In today's fast-evolving business landscape, purpose-driven growth is more than a buzzword—it's a strategic imperative. Recent reports from McKinsey highlight that companies integrating social impact and systemic innovation are experiencing 2.5 times higher revenue growth than their peers. Moreover, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2025 indicates that entrepreneurs who prioritize long-term value creation over short-term gains are 40% more likely to sustain their businesses beyond five years.  Rashesh Doshi's approach—focusing on systems, empowerment, and community impact—aligns perfectly with this shift. Modern entrepreneurs are leveraging AI and digital tools not just for efficiency but to foster authentic relationships and social responsibility. The trend is clear: Purposeful scaling, rooted in systems and community, is the new gold standard for sustainable success. If you enjoyed this episode of The Entrepreneurial You, subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, leave a rating, and share it with your friends. Visit henekawatkisporter.com to download a free eBook on how to conduct podcast interviews like a pro! RELATED EPISODES YOU MIGHT ENJOY: Discover more episodes that offer valuable insights, inspiration, and practical tips to help you on your entrepreneurial journey. Building Trust and Collaboration: Insights from Mike's ‘We're All in This Together With Mike Robbins Investing in Sustainability, and Redefining Success With Mark Rampolla AFFIRM WITH ME: I am building systems that empower others and multiply my impact. LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE: Spotify: https://bit.ly/TEYSpotify Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/2nDEbsZ  POWERED BY OUR SPONSORS: Thanks to our sponsors henekawatkisporter.com & the Jamaica Stock Exchange Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you waiting for life to “calm down” before you can finally breathe, focus, and thrive, but that day never seems to come? If you've felt paralyzed by uncertainty, drained by constant disruptions, or discouraged by the state of the world, you're not alone. But what if there's a way to both lead AND live well, right now? In this episode, you'll discover how to thrive even if disruption actually is “the new normal.”   In this episode, you will: Discover why waiting for things to “calm down” is the biggest trap keeping you from the life and business you want—and learn what to do instead. Learn the two essential practices that allow you to thrive in an era of nonstop disruption, even when the world feels overwhelming. Hear how leaders like Mandela, Frankl, and Schultz honed their minds and leadership in the midst of chaos—and how you can apply the same principles to your own challenges.   Press play now to reclaim your focus, energy, and joy—so you can lead and live well no matter what's happening in the world. Resources mentioned: Ep# 98:Detox From Overwhelmed Hot Mess To Create More Easeful Business Growth as Women Entrepreneurs With Lauren Dito   122. Turn Catastrophe Into Triumph in 3 Steps: What We Can Learn From the U.S. Election Fact checking organizations: Snopes (snopes.com) – one of the oldest fact-checking sites, covering viral rumors, memes, and breaking stories. PolitiFact (politifact.com) – focuses heavily on political claims in the U.S. FactCheck.org (factcheck.org) – nonpartisan, often digs into statements by public figures. Poynter's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) (ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org) – global network of vetted fact-checking groups. Google Reverse Image Search or TinEye – check if an image is old, repurposed, or from a different event. InVID & WeVerify (browser plugin) – helps analyze videos and images for authenticity. Wayback Machine (Internet Archive) – see if a page has changed over time. Links mentioned: Miller, Claire Cain. “The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting.” The Upshot, The New York Times, December 25, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/25/upshot/the-relentlessness-of-modern-parenting.html    FBI hate crime statistics https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/more-fbi-services-and-information/ucr/hate-crime   Global Sustainability article https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2059479825100185/type/journal_article    Through the Darkness movie https://danainouye.ac-page.com/through-the-darkness?test=true    https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier McKinsey report titled “The Economic Potential of Generative AI: The Next Productivity Frontier” (June 2023). Boston Marathon bombing study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24324161/ Social Media   Find Jenna on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/    The Uncommon Way is your go-to resource for mindset mastery, strategy, and power moves tailored to ambitious women entrepreneurs and leaders ready to break the mold and lead with confidence. This top female business coaches podcast covers leadership coaching for women, business growth strategies, and the female entrepreneur mindset to help you craft magnetic messaging, attract your ideal clients, clarify irresistible offers, and leverage your secret sauce to stand out authentically. Each episode from top-ranked women's business coach Jenna Harrison addresses common pain points like overwhelm, decision fatigue, entrepreneur burnout solutions, and the guilt of stepping back from hustle culture. Jenna shares tools to streamline your business systems, cultivate powerful habits, and delegate with intention—all designed to help you reclaim work-life balance and boost your freedom. Dive into transformational mindset shifts and energetic alignment that empower you to become the powerful force you were meant to be—creating aligned growth, breakthrough clarity, and unapologetic success. Whether you're a female entrepreneur building impact, a leader navigating change, a woman founder scaling your organization, or a business coach for women entrepreneurs, The Uncommon Way equips you to design a business and life that reflect your true vision. Leave behind imposter syndrome, overworking, and people pleasing. Embrace clarity, confidence, and unapologetic success.

How Small Businesses Beat Big: Profit Lessons from McKinsey to Main Street with Sri Kaza   Most small business owners feel like underdogs—limited resources, endless responsibilities, and constant pressure just to keep up. But what if those very constraints were the secret to outpacing billion-dollar corporations?   That's exactly what Sri Kaza, former McKinsey consultant and now small business advocate, reveals in his book Unconventional and in our latest conversation on the Profit Answer Man podcast.   After years advising Fortune 500s and later scaling and selling private-equity backed companies, Sri discovered something surprising: small businesses that embrace their unique strengths can outmaneuver the giants.   Key lessons from our conversation: Profit Struggles Aren't Just for the Small Guys. Even Fortune 500 companies wrestle with profit pressures—just on a different scale. Every quarter, CEOs are forced to deliver “more” to investors. Small business owners feel the same weight, but without the safety net of massive budgets. The lesson? Pressure is universal—discipline is optional. Stop Digging, Take the Ladder. Many business owners keep “digging” harder when they're in a hole—working more hours, cutting corners, or avoiding debt even when smart investment could be the ladder out. Climbing requires perspective. Look up, not down, and take the smarter path to profit. The Underdog Advantage: Positioning, Proximity & Purpose. Sri's underdog principles are what separate resilient small businesses from the rest: Positioning – Know exactly who you serve, and stop trying to please everyone. Proximity – Stay close to your customers; your agility and speed are advantages no big corporation can match. Purpose – Profit matters, but purpose keeps you and your team going when times are tough. Build Jobs Around People, Not Just Seats. Unlike big corporations that design roles and then try to squeeze people into them, small businesses can craft jobs around people's strengths and passions. It's not just about skills—it's about values, culture, and fit. Trust Is the Invisible Profit Driver. There's no line on the P&L for trust, yet it may be your most valuable asset. Sri highlights the Trust Equation: credibility × reliability × intimacy ÷ self-interest. The more authentic, reliable, and human you are, the more customers and employees will follow you.   Key Takeaway: Small doesn't mean weak. It means nimble, personal, and resilient. By leaning into what makes you different—your closeness to customers, your unique positioning, and your purpose—you can outmaneuver the giants and build a business that's both profitable and fulfilling.   Abou Sri Kaza: Sri Kaza is a seasoned business leader and small business advocate with a background in corporate strategy and entrepreneurship. After earning degrees from the University of Michigan and Northwestern, he began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Blue Martini Software before advising Fortune 500 companies at McKinsey & Co.   He later transitioned to executive roles, including a leadership position at Viking Cruises, before shifting his focus to small business support. Sri founded Talytica, a data analytics startup that helped small businesses assess job applicants, and led the employment tax credit division at Tax Credit Co. (now part of Experian), supporting thousands of businesses in securing government incentives. Most recently, as CEO of ForwardLine Financial, he scaled the private equity-owned company and guided its sale to new investors.   His book, Unconvention, draws on this extensive experience, challenging conventional corporate thinking and empowering small businesses to succeed by staying true to their unique strengths.   Links: Website: Sri-Kaza.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikaza   Conclusion: The story of small business isn't about competing on size—it's about competing on strengths. While big corporations drown in bureaucracy and quarterly pressures, small businesses have the power to stay close to their customers, move quickly, and lead with purpose.   Sri Kaza reminds us that profitability isn't just about spreadsheets and strategies. It's about positioning yourself where you can truly make an impact, crafting a business around your people and values, and never underestimating the invisible currency of trust.   At the end of the day, being the underdog can be your greatest advantage. The question is: will you use it?   #ProfitFirst #BusinessProfit #CashFlow #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusinessGrowth #BusinessClarity #Profitability #UnderdogAdvantage #SmartScaling #EntrepreneurTips   Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@profitanswerman Sign up to be notified when the next cohort of the Profit First Experience Course is available! Profit First Toolkit: https://lp.profitcomesfirst.com/landing-page-page  Relay Bank (affiliate link): https://relayfi.com/?referralcode=profitcomesfirst Profit Answer Man Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitanswerman/ My podcast about living a richer more meaningful life: http://richersoul.com/ Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.

NVIDIA has made a significant move by investing $5 billion in Intel, acquiring approximately 4% ownership of the company. This partnership aims to co-develop custom data center and personal computer products, integrating NVIDIA's advanced AI and accelerated computing capabilities with Intel's leading CPU technologies. The collaboration is expected to create custom x86 chips that will be manufactured by Intel to NVIDIA's specifications, potentially generating an annual opportunity worth between $25 and $50 billion once the products are launched. Despite this partnership, Intel will continue to develop its own ARC graphic processing units, although the messaging around this dual focus may create confusion.The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by a quarter point, a decision framed as a risk management measure amid a cooling labor market. While job gains have slowed and inflation remains high, the Fed's cautious approach indicates limited support for deeper cuts. In the tech sector, the U.S. personal computer industry is facing challenges, with shipments declining due to inventory issues and consumer reluctance to upgrade their devices, even with the impending end of support for Windows 10. This stagnation in consumer sales reflects broader economic uncertainties as buyers prioritize essential expenses.Meanwhile, global spending on artificial intelligence is projected to reach nearly $1.5 trillion this year, driven by a boom in cloud data center construction and rising enterprise investments in AI technologies. Despite the enthusiasm surrounding AI, a recent McKinsey report reveals that 80% of companies utilizing generative AI have not seen tangible impacts on their earnings, highlighting a disconnect between the hype and real-world performance. As stock prices rise, recession signals are emerging, suggesting a need for caution in an increasingly concentrated market.Managed service providers (MSPs) are strategically positioned within a $608 billion industry, despite a decline in optimism regarding significant revenue growth. The demand for managed IT services continues to rise, with many providers diversifying their revenue streams by offering consulting and design services. Additionally, IT outages are costing businesses an estimated $76 million annually, emphasizing the importance of uptime over tools. As the landscape evolves, providers must focus on delivering outcomes rather than competing solely on software, ensuring that customers receive the value they need to maintain business continuity. Three things to know today00:00 Fed Rate Cut, PC Sales Slump, and $1.5T AI Hype: Why IT Providers Must Focus on Security and Outcomes04:36 $76M Downtime Losses, Cooling MSP Optimism, 7x Security Multipliers, and Mainframe ROI—All Point to Services as the Real Value08:16 Nvidia Buys 4% of Intel in $5B Deal, Betting on Custom AI Chips for Servers and PCs This is the Business of Tech.    Supported by:  https://scalepad.com/dave/Webinar:   https://bit.ly/msprmail All our Sponsors: https://businessof.tech/sponsors/ Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/ Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/ Want to be a guest on Business of Tech: Daily 10-Minute IT Services Insights? Send Dave Sobel a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/businessoftech Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com Follow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftechBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/businessof.tech Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, Kevin chats with Tom Schmitt, the new CEO of Radial, about the evolution of fulfillment, the challenges for mid-market brands, and the launch of Radial's Fast Track program. With decades of leadership experience at FedEx, DB Schenker, and McKinsey, Schmitt brings a deep perspective on how fulfillment has become inseparable from customer experience. As he explains, “Fulfillment is the customer experience.”Find EPG at IntraLogistex Miami in September! Get better visibility with Surgere. Follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube.Support the show

Ian Clark runs Crescendo Consulting, helping companies monetize AI features. He's advised leadership teams on packaging, pricing metrics, and outcome-based models. And of course, he performed his obligatory stint at Simon Kutcher Partners. In this episode, Ian challenges common misconceptions about AI pricing, explaining why cost-plus pricing is still wrong even with variable AI costs, how to choose the right pricing metrics beyond tokens, and why outcome-based pricing isn't the silver bullet many believe it to be.   Why you have to check out today's podcast:  Understand why AI costs shouldn't drive your pricing strategy, even when margins drop below traditional SaaS levels.  Learn how to identify pricing metrics that correlate with willingness to pay rather than falling into the token-based pricing trap. Discover why outcome-based pricing for AI faces fundamental attribution problems that make it less viable than expected.   "The best way to get willingness-to-pay data and to understand where the value of your product comes from is by doing customer interviews, not the testing, not the data, customer interviews."  – Ian Clark   Topics Covered: 02:59 - Monetizing AI vs. SaaS. The surprising similarities between AI and SaaS pricing, and why cost-plus pricing remains a bad idea even with AI's variable costs. 05:17 - Pricing Strategy in AI.The gross margin threshold where revenue-optimizing and margin-optimizing prices diverge (50-60%), plus the potato chip pricing thought experiment. 09:35 - AI Pricing Strategies.Why token-based pricing is problematic and how to find the right pricing metric that correlates with willingness to pay. 12:24 - Pricing Strategies for AI Tools.Real-world case study of sales enablement AI: choosing between user-based vs. usage-based pricing based on wallet size indicators. 16:27 - Outcomes-based Pricing Skepticism.The attribution problem with outcomes-based pricing and why it's harder to implement than it appears, using grocery shrinkage AI as an example. 20:11 - Outcome-based Pricing for AI. Sierra's "resolved conversations" model critique and the ethics of incentivizing AI agents vs. human labor. 24:03 - Pricing and Value Creation.The three-layer value framework: actual economic value → perceived value → willingness to pay, accounting for risk, timing, and budget constraints. 26:39 - 10% Rule in Pricing Strategy.Debunking the "charge 10% of value created" rule with Y Combinator math showing how small variations (9X vs 11X) can dramatically impact company survival. 30:31 - Customer Interviews for Pricing Insights.Why customer interviews beat data analysis and A/B testing for understanding willingness to pay and pain points.   Key Takeaways: "We have known for a very long time that cost-plus pricing is a really bad idea. And it's not the case that now suddenly that we have AI, now suddenly it's a good idea." - Ian Clark "So the 10x rule, it's great, but it's just woefully insufficient. Why not 11x? Why not 9x? You actually don't know." - Ian Clark "One thing that we like to say about pricing and monetization is that people think it's like architecture, but it really should be like gardening." - Ian Clark   People / Resources Mentioned: Simon Kutcher Partners: https://www.simon-kucher.com/en Alpine Investors: https://alpineinvestors.com/ James Wilton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesdwilton/ Sierra: https://sierra.ai/ Fin AI: https://fin.ai/ Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/ McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/   Connect with Ian Clark: Website: https://crescendo.consulting LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-harrison-clark/ Email: ian@crescendo.consulting   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

From the soccer field to the consulting world — Luis's journey is nothing short of inspiring. In this video, he shares how he went from being a student-athlete at Colby College to landing an Associate role at BCG. You'll hear about his recruiting struggles, networking strategies, case interview prep, and the key lessons that helped him turn rejections into offers. If you're a student, athlete, or aspiring consultant, this story will give you the motivation and practical insights to break into top consulting firms like BCG, McKinsey, and Bain. Colby College, BCG Associate, student athlete consulting, how to get into BCG, breaking into consulting, consulting recruiting journey, case interview prep, networking for consulting, MBB consulting success story, management consulting career tips.

¿Por qué dos profesionales con exactamente el mismo mensaje pueden obtener resultados completamente opuestos? ¿Por qué uno logra que aprueben su propuesta en 5 minutos mientras el otro lleva 6 meses sin éxito?La respuesta está en la oratoria moderna: no el arte clásico de declamación, sino las técnicas específicas, científicamente respaldadas, que convierten ideas brillantes en decisiones inmediatas.En este episodio descubrirás los 4 pilares fundamentales de la oratoria efectiva:

Why bother with risk management when you can just deal with problems as they happen? In this episode, Kim and Kate dig into the heart of that question—and the answer might just save your future self a world of pain. You'll hear: Hard-hitting stats: 1 in 6 projects go 200% over budget (Harvard Business Review), 17% of major IT projects threaten company survival (McKinsey), and why 69% of projects don't succeed. Firefighting vs. fire prevention: why controlled burns (boring, thankless prep) prevent disasters while the “heroes” just put out fires. ROI of risk management: the surprising 20:1 return on time spent planning versus cleaning up issues later. Language hacks: how swapping “risks” for “obstacles” (credit to Dr. Josh Ramirez) can get your team—and executives—on board. Practical techniques: from whiteboarding failure points to slicing your project into risk categories, simple ways to start risk management without drowning in templates. Whether you're a seasoned PM or just tired of project disasters, this episode shows why risk management isn't about doom and gloom—it's about giving future you a fighting chance. JOIN THE HAPPY HOUR! Get access to all podcasts, PDU certificates, bonus content, exclusive member Q&A webinars and more from our membership! https://pmhappyhour.com/membership

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver. Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is the CEO of Xero. Xero is a cloud-based accounting software designed for small businesses. They did $2.1 billion in revenue last year. Over the past 25 years, Sukhinder has had leadership roles at Google, Amazon, and StubHub. Notes: Key Learnings Strategic CEO Job Search Criteria – Sukhinder had four non-negotiables: macro tailwinds/good market, customer she could be passionate about, strong business model, and a role where she could "learn for miles" for 5-8 years. Only two companies met her criteria in 18 months of searching. "Sell, Interview, Sell" Hiring Process – First meeting is 50% selling the opportunity to attract top talent. Only after candidates lean in do you shift to intensive interviewing with leadership team exposure. The Virtuous Cycle Framework – Customer at the top, supported by "high purpose, high performance, high people" culture. "It's an 'and,' not an 'or'" - you don't get to choose just one element. Back-Channeling is Critical – Reference checking happens throughout the entire interview process, not just at the end. "The most important thing is not just front channel... it's all the back channel." Values Alignment Over Pure Qualifications – "Go where my values fit and my strengths are valued." Cultural fit becomes the deciding factor in close hiring calls, not competence. The Layoff Leadership Test – Six weeks after joining, Sukhinder laid off 900 people based on McKinsey benchmarking. Showed consistency between the outside-in analysis presented to the board and transparent communication to employees. Portfolio of Bets Strategy – Balance growth, profitability, and customer happiness through diversified initiatives ranging from "safe moves" to "flyers," with clear probability assessments. Consistency as Culture Foundation – "Culture means consistency of message and what's important." Authenticity through change, not resistance to change. The 10-Slide CEO Interview Deck Framework: Vision statement (destination in 2-3 years) Outside-in market analysis Competitive landscape SWOT analysis of current position Five key strategic moves Implementation approach ("the how") Estimated outcomes with probability ranges Practical Application: Job Search Strategy – Define 4-5 non-negotiable criteria upfront. Be willing to wait for roles that truly meet your standards rather than taking "the job before the job." Interview Preparation – Always build a comprehensive thesis deck even if not requested. Use it to clarify your own thinking and demonstrate strategic capability. Hiring Excellence – Spend equal time selling the opportunity and evaluating candidates. Use diverse interview panels and back-channel extensively throughout the process. Cultural Leadership – Be consistent in messaging across all stakeholders (board, investors, employees). Authenticity enables trust during periods of change. Strategic Planning – Frame initiatives as a portfolio of bets with clear probability assessments. Balance growth, profitability, and customer satisfaction rather than optimizing for one. Leadership Hiring Process: The CEO interviews top 2-3 levels even without hiring authority Diverse interviewer panels with "bar raisers" Business problem-solving presentations in the final rounds Multiple leadership team interactions before the final decision Life Lessons: Patience in Career Progression – Sometimes the right opportunity requires waiting. Sukhinder was frustrated during 18 months of searching but found the perfect fit. Preparation Separates Candidates – The depth of strategic thinking demonstrated in final presentations often determines CEO selections. Culture Survives Through Consistency – Not avoiding change, but maintaining consistent values and communication approach through inevitable changes. Leadership Requires Tough Decisions – Laying off 900 people six weeks into the role, but doing it transparently and based on clear data/analysis. Value Creation Through Alignment – Finding roles where your strengths are valued and values align creates exponentially better outcomes than pure skill matching. Systems Thinking Builds Trust – Sharing appropriate "behind the scenes" context helps teams understand difficult decisions and builds long-term credibility. Early Career Focus – "Do great work for great people." Find talented leaders to apprentice under and work exceptionally hard to maximize learning. Authenticity Enables Performance – Being genuine about challenges and changes builds stronger relationships than trying to maintain artificial stability. Strategic Communication – Frame personal asks in terms of organizational benefits. Make it about solving their problems, not your desires. The Xero Transformation: Financial Performance: $2.1B revenue, 21% YoY growth while maintaining profitability Cultural Approach: "High purpose, high performance, high people" - no choosing between them Strategic Moves: Pricing/packaging optimization, sales motion transformation, customer experience reimagining (new dashboard with 3000+ customer inputs) Leadership Philosophy: Provide a "systems view" to employees, share investor-level insights appropriately, and maintain authenticity during difficult decisions

UPGRADE TO SYSK PREMIUM! To unlock ad-free listening to over 1,000 episodes plus receive exclusive bonus content, go to ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://SYSKPremium.com  When you stay at a short-term rental property such as Airbnb, you often notice security cameras. After all, it is someone's home. But what about cameras inside the home? This episode begins with surprising data about just how common hidden surveillance is—and what every guest should know. Source: https://www.ipx1031.com/surveillance-rental-study/ For as long as humans have been around, we've had to do something with our hair. We've cut it, colored it, styled it—and hairstyles have come and gone through the centuries. But where do these trends really come from? Why do they say so much about who we are? And why are some styles (like the mullet, the pompadour, or “The Rachel”) so iconic? To answer these questions, I speak with Rachel Gibson, a hair historian who knows more about hair than anyone you'll ever meet. She's currently writing a book on the subject and shares fascinating content on her Instagram @thehairhistorian https://www.instagram.com/thehairhistorian/# People can be brilliant, but they can also be incredibly stupid—and sometimes in spectacular ways. Why do individuals, organizations, and even governments make such foolish choices? And what can we learn from it? My guest is Cezary Pietrasik, co-owner of Synerise (a global AI leader in predicting human behavior), former investment banker at JPMorgan, former consultant at McKinsey, and author of Homo Idioticus: Why We Are Stupid and What to Do About It (https://amzn.to/3Jqsa6D). He explains the psychology of stupidity and shares jaw-dropping examples you won't forget. When people are sad, they often ruminate—rehashing negative thoughts over and over. It feels hard to stop, but there is something simple that helps break the cycle. Listen as I reveal what science says about how to stop rumination. Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/how-walking-in-nature-prevents-depression/397172/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! INDEED: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ right now! QUINCE: Keep it classic and cool this fall with long lasting staples from Quince! Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Quince.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns! HERS: Whether you want to lose weight, grow thicker, fuller hair, or find relief for anxiety, Hers has you covered. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forhers.com/something⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you! SHOPIFY: Shopify is the commerce platform for millions of businesses around the world! To start selling today, sign up for your $1 per month trial at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://Shopify.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices