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En este nuevo episodio de la sexta temporada de Análisis BIVA nos acompaña Eduardo de la Peña, Socio líder de la práctica de Infraestructura y Capital Excellence de McKinsey & Company, quien nos habla sobre cuáles son las causas de la tendencia del nearshoring y cómo afectará las necesidades de infraestructura en México. Conducido por Francisco Valle, Director de Emisoras de BIVA.
In this episode, Avanish and Andrew discuss:Andrew's journey as an "operational CFO" from Sun Microsystems through ServiceNow, WalkMe, Lacework, and now Amplitude, being part of the team that built ServiceNow from $400M to $4.5B ARRWhy CFOs must "play chess, not checkers" - thinking several moves ahead about decision implications and making strategic investment pivots for anticipated future growthThe critical difference between multi-product and platform strategies: true platforms have definite customer adoption journeys where products aren't sold independentlyRecognizing platform readiness signals: when customers organically create their own workflows and use cases you never conceived, like hospitals using Amplitude for emergency room optimizationBuilding effective teams by mixing "veterans with rookies" to solve problems rather than just "admire problems," and driving focused execution around single key investmentsThe "fair exchange of value" approach to pricing and partnerships that emphasizes customer adoption, transparency, and simplicity over complexityAbout Avanish Sahai:Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and served as a Board Member of Hubspot from 2018 to 2023; he currently serves on the boards of Birdie.ai, Flywl.com and Meta.com.br as well as a few non-profits end educational boards. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Andrew Casey: Andrew Casey is Chief Financial Officer at Amplitude, where he leads Amplitude's General & Administrative organization, which includes finance, accounting, and legal. With more than 25 years of enterprise software experience, Casey brings deep financial expertise combined with extensive go-to-market strategy and business operations experience.Casey joined Amplitude from Lacework, where he served as CFO and oversaw its successful acquisition by Fortinet. Prior to that, he was the CFO of WalkMe, where he led its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and transformed its enterprise sales motion. Casey's career also includes senior finance roles with ServiceNow, Hewlett-Packard, NortonLifeLock Inc. (formerly Symantec), Oracle, and Sun Microsystems.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Andrew CaseyFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
The following article of the Tech industry is: “Achieving Corporate Venture Building Through Dual Transformations” by Marina Cigarini, Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company, México.
How is AI redefining the way we learn? Why are simulations a powerful tool to close skill gaps?My guest on this episode is John Sangimino, Associate Director, Learning Design Center of Excellence at McKinsey & CompanyDuring our conversation John and I discuss:The three essential truths of learning design—and why all learning is experientialThe behavioral science behind why people don't always apply new skills after trainingWhy behavior change is the true measure and outcome of impactful learningHow AI is impacting cognitive skills, judgment, and career capitalThe power of simulation-based learning—from VR scenarios to structured feedback exercises—as a way to close skill gapsHow to design useful and high-impact simulations that build key skills Connecting with John: Connect with John Sangimino on LinkedInEpisode Sponsor: Next-Gen HR Accelerator - Learn more about this best-in-class leadership development program for next-gen HR leadersHR Leader's Blueprint - 18 pages of real-world advice from 100+ HR thought leaders. Simple, actionable, and proven strategies to advance your career.Succession Planning Playbook: In this focused 1-page resource, I cut through the noise to give you the vital elements that define what “great” succession planning looks like.
What if the key to innovation isn't a process, but a mindset that travels across boundaries, disciplines, and decades? From international development to McKinsey to leading AI strategy at Microsoft, Dean Carignan has built his career at the intersection of systems, people, and impact. Now, as co-author of The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft, he's helping organizations rethink how real innovation happens, not just in startups or labs, but in legacy institutions and global companies. In this episode, Dean shares lessons from two decades at Microsoft, where he's worked across Xbox, Office, cognitive services, and AI research. He also reflects on why innovation is ultimately about people, not products, and how leaders can create space for meaningful change, even inside complex organizations. We explore: How Dean moved from solving global problems at the World Bank to driving change inside one of the world's largest tech companies The power of being a “boundary crosser” and why innovation happens in the in-between Why mission often outperforms money as a motivator, especially in hiring for impact The overlooked value of storytelling in innovation (and how case studies bring ideas to life) How AI is transforming not only productivity, but the very nature of scientific discovery Why learning to build with agents may be the most valuable skill of the next decade Dean also shares practical examples of how he uses AI today, from research to writing to daily decision-making, and why “thinking about thinking” is the leadership advantage most people overlook. Whether you're guiding a team through change, building a new product, or trying to stay ahead of the AI curve, this conversation offers a grounded, human-centered approach to innovation in a time of exponential possibility. Dean Carignan's career spans international economic development, startup ventures, and strategic roles in technology. He is an alumnus of Georgetown University and INSEAD, he was a charter member of McKinsey & Company's advanced technology practice. During his 20 years at Microsoft, he has guided new businesses, including the early internet division, Xbox, and multiple Al efforts through the critical growth phases to their first billion dollars in revenue. Most recently, Dean has focused on leading AI innovations within Microsoft Research and the Office of the Chief Scientist. His intrapreneurial spirit, deep institutional knowledge, and expansive internal network made the behind-the-scenes perspective of The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft Get Dean's book here: https://www.innovationatmicrosoft.com/ The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo
Yuval Gonczarowski is the Founder and CEO of Akooda, an AI-powered operations intelligence platform that helps organizations unify and analyze internal data to drive faster, smarter decisions. Under his leadership, Akooda has secured $11 million in seed funding, used by Fortune 500 companies to streamline operations and unlock insights across digital workflows. A graduate of Harvard Business School with a MBA and the Technion from Israel Institute of Technology, Yuval previously served in Israel's elite Unit 8200 and held technical and leadership roles at Intel, Apple, McKinsey & Company, and Tomorrow.io. He brings a unique blend of engineering expertise and business acumen to the enterprise tech space. In this episode… Information overload and organizational silos pose significant challenges for growing companies. As teams scale, finding the right data, the right person, or simply understanding cross-functional collaboration becomes chaotic and time-consuming. How can leaders eliminate these inefficiencies without adding more complexity to their workflows? Yuval Gonczarowski, an expert in AI-powered enterprise intelligence and operational analytics, shares how companies can solve these challenges by leveraging their digital footprints. He explains the evolution from traditional organizational charts to dynamic knowledge graphs, enabling companies to map collaboration patterns in real-time. He emphasizes actionable insights like implementing topic-based search, integrating systems like Slack and Salesforce for unified visibility, and using anomaly detection to spot inefficiencies. Yuval also offers strategies for improving productivity without disrupting current workflows, such as Slack-based search commands and Chrome extensions that surface hidden insights. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Yuval Gonczarowski, CEO of Akooda, about optimizing enterprise operations through AI-driven insights. Yuval discusses how to eliminate information silos, speed up decision-making, and roll out enterprise tools with minimal disruption. He also shares the story of Akooda's first customer, explains the ROI of reducing information hunting, and details lessons from serving large-scale enterprise clients.
In this episode, we interview Christina Campero, an entrepreneurial force behind Prosperia, a tech startup focused on AI in healthcare. Christina discusses her professional journey, moving from a background in bioscience and healthcare consulting to co-founding Prosperia. The startup uses AI to scan retina images for early detection of diabetic retinopathy and other eye diseases, a crucial service in Mexico due to a high prevalence of diabetes and limited access to ophthalmologists. The conversation covers the development process of their AI model, partnerships with primary healthcare touchpoints, and the advantages of operating in Mexico. They also explore the challenges and breakthroughs in fundraising for a Latin American AI healthcare startup, including securing a seed round from a Swedish fund. The episode ends with a look at Prosperia's future goals, including expanding their AI applications to detect other health conditions. If your company is looking to scale its AI initiatives, head over to Tesoro AI (www.tesoroai.com). We are experts in AI strategy, staff augmentation, and AI product development. Founder Bio: Cristina Campero graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM with a Master's Degree in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. She has dedicated her professional career to the transformation of ideas into commercial products with an impact on health, starting in her career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and in start-ups, first as an Associate in business development and strategy at Wren Therapeutics (in Cambridge UK ) where she was in charge of portfolio prioritization and funding (£18M Series A in Dec. 2018), and now as CEO of PROSPERiA. Time Stamps: 00:36 Christina's Professional Journey 04:00 Founding Prosperia and Developing Retinia 05:43 Addressing Diabetic Retinopathy with AI 07:10 Challenges in Diabetic Retinopathy Detection 09:32 AI's Role in Early Detection and Screening 13:33 How does the Retinia software diagnosis work 15:20 The role of AI versus human doctors 20:43 Building and Training AI Models 24:31 Balance between engineers and health care professionals 26:14 Creating a customer base that trusts AI diagnosis 32:53 Fundraising and Growth Strategies 40:45 Advantages of Fundraising in Latin America Compared to the U.S. 44:01 Future Plans and Innovations Resources Follow Darius Gant LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-darius-gant-cpa-44650aa/ Company Website - www.tesoroai.com Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4uDVNgsK3iNeu7yU4Inu2n Subscribe on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ae/podcast/the-darius-gant-show/id1527996104 Company website: https://www.prosperia.health/es LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prosperia/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-campero-peredo-a87a15115/
In this episode, Avanish and Mike discuss:Mike's journey from his early tech roots in Silicon Valley to his role as CRO at Zscaler, including his transformative work growing ServiceNow from $500M to $6B in the Americas regionThe importance of always viewing platform strategy through the customer's lens - helping them achieve outcomes rather than managing multiple point solutionsHow a successful platform requires breaking down silos not just within your own organization, but often within your customer's organizationThe "one team" concept of the three-legged stool: customer, vendor, and partner, all working together toward shared successWhy ecosystem partners are mission-critical, providing industry expertise and customer insights that vendors can't replicateThe role of security in enabling productive AI adoption, with Zscaler helping customers leverage generative AI safely at scaleHow to develop meaningful metrics with partners beyond just pipeline generation, focusing on mutual success plans and regular reviewsThe importance of playing the long game with partners - "It's not how you behave when things are going great, it's how you behave when things hit the fan"Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Mike RichMike Rich is a highly accomplished technology sales professional with a career spanning more than 30 years.During his tenure as President, Americas at ServiceNow from 2011–2023, Mike played a pivotal role in the company's success. Under his leadership, the AMS region experienced unprecedented revenue growth, catapulting from $500 million to $6 billion+.Mike focused on initiatives like vertical industries that enabled customer-facing teams to partner closely with customers. During his time, the company's overall growth skyrocketed from $80 million to $8 billion. Throughout his career, Mike has kept customer satisfaction as the north star, ensuring that every business decision aligns with the goal of providing unparalleled value to clients and career advancement for employees.Before ServiceNow, Mike held leadership roles at enterprise software companies Borland, Rational Software, and Kana.Mike's leadership philosophy revolves around building diverse teams that prioritize achieving desired mutual outcomes. His passion is fostering environments where collaboration, mutual respect, and teamwork are paramount.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Mike RichFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
The following article of the Tech industry is: “Five New Year's Resolutions for Tech Leaders in Mexico” by Philipp Haugwitz, Partner, McKinsey & Company.
Leading Through Culture, Teams, and AI-driven Change John Helmer discusses organizational culture, collective leadership, and AI's impact on future workplaces with Kevin Oakes (CEO, i4cp), Kim McMurdo (Global Head of OD, Standard Chartered), and Terry Jones (International Head of Talent Development, ex-PaloAlto Networks). Key themes include culture renovation, developing team-centric leadership capabilities, and leveraging AI for enhanced human productivity in rapidly evolving organizations. The McKinsey paper mentioned in Kim's interview: De Smet, A., D'Auria, G., Meijknecht, L., Albaharna, M., & Fifer, A. (2024, October 31). Go, teams: When teams get healthier, the whole organization benefits. McKinsey & Company. This article is available online at https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/go-teams-when-teams-get-healthier-the-whole-organization-benefits. (Please note that access to the full text may require a subscription or purchase.) Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Start 00:01:09 – Intro 00:03:31 – Kevin Oakes on culture renovation vs. culture change 00:27:58 – Kim McMurdo on collective leadership and hybrid teams 00:48:41 – Terry Jones on innovation, disruption, and practical AI use 01:14:59 – End Contact: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer X: @johnhelmer Bluesky: @johnhelmer.bsky.social Website: learninghackpodcast.com
Coffee with Samso Episode 203 may well be one of the best ASX small-cap resource business in 2025, that is largely unknown to the general investing community. The Cyclone Metals Limited (ASX:CLE) is about the pedigree of the Iron Bear magnetite project. In Australia, the general ASX punter thinks of iron ore as haematite are greater than 62% Fe, but there is a new sheriff in town and he is called Magnetite. Where can you find a mineral resource business that is owned by a small cap junior with a market capitalisation of less than AUD $50M that has funding all the way through to mining and processing the high-grade iron pellets. Just remember that Cyclone Metals was a AUD $10M market cap company when it started the journey. The transitioning from haematite to magnetite in the iron ore industry is happening and it is largely driven by the depleting of high-grade haematite iron ore. - Paul Berend In this episode of Coffee with Samso we are talking to Paul Berend, Executive Director and CEO of Cyclone Metals Limited (ASX:CLE). Cyclone is a fascinating story of a junior aspiring to be a producer with a major, VALE, partnering with funding. A space in which most juniors would be struggling to find funding, CLE has a big brother taking care of all the bills. The Business of Cyclone Metals Limited. The steel producing industry is transitioning to low emission and the process of Direct Reduction (DR) steel production is the solution to a global reduction in emission for the typically high carbon emission business. . Direct Reduction steel production requires iron pellets that are very low in impurities and this is directly controlled by the quality of the source material. As Paul Berend explains, ....not all magnetite deposits are suitable for Direct Reduction Pellets which is why the Iron Bear deposit is perfectly aligned to allow this process to be achieved. Recent work by Cyclone Metals Limited has shown that the use of Direct Reduction on iron ore from Iron Bear can create iron pellets above 71% Fe content. According to Paul Berend, this is a very unique feature of the ore body. A feature that is not seen in many other iron ore resources and that includes those at Champion Iron. One statement that Paul proudly points out in the Coffee with Samso, and that is, The quality and the size of the Iron Bear Deposit moved the needled for VALE to take a position with Cyclone Metals. This is a great conversation with Paul Berend as he explains the story of Cyclone Metals clearly and in great details. Chapters: 00:00 Start. 00:08 Introduction. 04:10 Who is Paul Berend? 05:24 The Magnetite Story - Why Have We Not Embraced it Yet? 08:44 Transition of Value from Haematite to Magnetite. 09:41 Carbon Footprint of Magnetite. 10:07 Rise of Magnetite Projects? 10:33 Depletion of Brazilian High-Grade Iron Ores -The Reason why VALE is in CLE. 10:51 Importance of Direct Reduction (DR) Steel Production. 11:57 Only Way to Make Direct Reduction Steel - Premium of DR Pellets. 13:05 DR Pellet Market Comparison. 13:48 How Do You Make Direct Reduction Pellets. 15:14 Reason Why DR Pellet Production is Rare. 15:47 Comparison of Low Impurity Iron Deposits. 16:30 DR Player requires an ABILLITY To Reduce Impurities. 18:01 How much of the Current Resource will transition to Reserve Status. 19:08 Iron bear is a Low Stripping Ration deposit. 19:30 Metallurgy Will Increase the Economics of Iron Bear. 21:30 What is the main Business of Cyclone Metals ? Is it DR Production? 22:26 Is Iron Bear DR Capabilities why Vale is interested? 23:18 Iron Bear can supply high-grade iron ore all the way to DR levels. 25:07 How Did the Agreement with Vale Evolve ? 26:55 How important was the 10M ? 28:30 Earning a Mandate to Operate Socially. 29:25 Importance of the First Nations Conversations. 32:12 How Important is the relationship with First Nation Groups. 33:42 The Reasons why Vale could be the Reason for Success for Iron Bear. 36:24 Potentially One Technical Challenge for Iron Bear - Dry Tailings. 37:34 The Importance of Earning a Mandate To Operate 39:07 Twitter Shareholder Questions 39:27 Will the Trump Tariffs affect the Iron bear Business? 40:48 The Vison of Iron Bear - It is a Bigger project than Champion Iron. 41:58 Reducing the Carbon Footprint of a Manufacturing Hub in Northern America. 43:25 How much is the resource expected to be built up to? 43:58 Iron Bear is a Premium Magnetite project. 45:15 What cost will the hydroelectric power cost us per kilowatt? 46:51 Green Energy Narration - Magnetite Naturally Reduces Carbon Emission. 49:48 Discussion on iron ore prices. 54:23 Why is CLE still at 50M? 55:21 Why is the a feeling of disbelief in the Cyclone story? 58:02 The misunderstanding of the Iron Ore industry. 01:00:54 Takeaway. 01:01:18 Conclusion. About Paul Berend Paul Berend brings over 25 years of leadership experience in the iron ore and steel industries, gained across blue-chip corporations and junior mining ventures. His corporate background includes senior roles such as GM Corporate Strategy at ArcelorMittal, GM Business Development at Rio Tinto Iron Ore and Director Australasia at Hatch. Paul is a passionate mining entrepreneur and was a founder and historic CEO of Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd (a titano-magnetite project in New Zealand ASX: MKR) and has played a key role in a number of private early-stage exploration ventures. In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Paul has a successful track record in turning around distressed producing mines and steel mills in difficult jurisdiction including Australia, PNG, Europe, GCC and Africa . He is a trusted advisor for Tier one natural resource companies, supporting operational, organisational and growth strategies. In this capacity, Paul's previous employers include McKinsey& Company and Partners in Performance. Paul has an MBA from HEC (Paris, France), a MSc and DEA (~PhD) in chemical process design and chemistry from ENSIC (Nancy, France), a bachelor's in applied mathematics and algebra from Harvard University (Cambridge, USA) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He speaks native and English and French as well as professional German. About Cyclone Metals Limited Cyclone Metals owns and operates the Iron Bear magnetite iron ore project, formerly known as the Block 103 Project. The Iron Bear Project consists of ten licenses totalling 7,275 ha on 291 graticular Mineral Claims under the applicable Labrador and Newfoundland mining regulation, located near the Provincial border of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and Quebec (QC), approximately 30 km northwest of the town of Schefferville, QC and 1,200 km by air northeast of Montréal, QC. The Iron Bear properties are located within 25 km of an open access heavy haul railway which is directly connected to the Sept Isles and Pointe Noire iron ore export ports. In addition, the Iron Bear has potential access to cheap renewable energy from the Menihek hydro-plant located 75km away. These two factors substantially improve the prospects for eventual economic extraction of the Iron Bear mineral resource. Notably, large scale iron ore export operations currently operate in the Labrador Trough; including IOC (Rio Tinto), Champion Iron and Tata Steel; all sharing the same rail and port infrastructure. Highlights: World Class Iron Ore Project: Mineral resource of 16.6 billion tonnes containing 29.3% total Fe and 18.2% magnetic Fe, cut-off grade 12.5% magnetic Fe. Low OPEX: Estimated OPEX of USD 35.6/t3 FOB Pointe Noire for blast furnace concentrate due to access to low-cost hydropower Strategic Tier 1 Asset: Iron ore asset with flexible development scenarios and the potential to ramp up production to over 100 Mta Mining Friendly Jurisdiction and Proximity to Infrastructure: Iron Bear located in Canada, less than 25km from an open access heavy haul railway with proximity to low cost to hydro-power High Quality Product: Production of high quality magnetite concentrate grading 71,3% Fe and 1.1% SiO2 in industrial pilot plant Fast Track Project Development: Underpinned by the supply of bulk samples of DR and BF concentrates to mill clients by Q2 2024
In this episode, Avanish and Dennis discuss:How Freshworks evolved from a single help desk product to a multi-product platform serving 74,000 customers globally, from small businesses to enterprises like Airbus and Nucor SteelThe importance of being "pulled" by customers into new markets rather than pushing—recognizing when customers you didn't expect are adopting your productsThe challenges of building and scaling a multi-product company where products are at different maturity levels and target slightly different ICPsWhy ecosystem strategy is critical at Freshworks, including both technology integrations with thousands of partners and a services ecosystem to source and implement solutionsFreshworks' differentiated approach of building "uncomplicated" solutions in a market dominated by complexity—particularly for mid-market and low-enterprise customers (up to 20,000 employees)Dennis's philosophy of customer-centricity: "When in doubt, go talk to a customer"Building an ecosystem strategy that includes both technology integrations with thousands of partners and a global services network, with direct sales in nine countries and partner-led expansion everywhere elseAbout the HostAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Dennis WoodsideDennis Woodside is the CEO and President of Freshworks. He joined Freshworks as President in 2022. Dennis has spent more than two decades at innovative companies in Silicon Valley. Previous roles include Chief Operating Officer of Dropbox and sales and strategy leadership roles at Google for more than 10 years, including CEO of Motorola Mobility after Google acquired the company.Dennis serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula in California and previously served on the boards of the American Red Cross and ServiceNow. Dennis holds a B.S. in Industrial Relations from Cornell University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.About FreshworksFreshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) provides people-first AI service software that organizations use to deliver exceptional customer and employee experiences. More than 72,000 companies, including American Express, Bridgestone, Databricks, Fila, Nucor, and Sony choose Freshworks' uncomplicated solutions to increase efficiency and loyalty. For the latest company news and customer stories, visit www.freshworks.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Dennis WoodsideFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
I'm not a financial advisor; Superpowers for Good should not be considered investment advice. Seek counsel before making investment decisions.Watch the show on television by downloading the e360tv channel app to your Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV. You can also see it on YouTube.When you purchase an item, launch a campaign or create an investment account after clicking a link here, we may earn a fee. Engage to support our work.Has your business been impacted by the recent fires? Apply now for a chance to receive one of 10 free tickets to SuperCrowdLA on May 2nd and 3rd and gain the tools to rebuild and grow!Devin: What is your superpower?Brigit: I would say authenticity.The power of social entrepreneurship to drive meaningful change in the world is undeniable. At the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the mission is clear: leverage market forces to end poverty. Executive Director Brigit Helms leads the charge, helping entrepreneurs apply business principles to solve social and environmental challenges."The purpose of a business is purpose," Brigit explained. "The primary reason for having your business is to solve a social or environmental problem that you see around you in your community."Miller Center's impact speaks for itself. Since its founding, it has accelerated over 1,500 social enterprises across 100 countries. With a strong emphasis on women's economic power and climate resilience, the center has catalyzed transformative change in communities worldwide. Brigit highlighted the success of Someone Somewhere, a company based in Mexico that sources artisan work from some of the country's poorest regions. By securing a major contract with Delta Airlines, the company provided thousands of artisans with the opportunity to triple their income.The center's success is measured in tangible results. In 2020, Miller Center set a goal to double the number of lives improved through its entrepreneur network from 75 million to 150 million by 2025. They surpassed that goal ahead of schedule, reaching over 180 million lives impacted. Additionally, entrepreneurs in their programs have seen remarkable growth in fundraising, with capital raised per entrepreneur rising from an average of $500,000 to $2.1 million.Beyond these achievements, Brigit envisions a future where social entrepreneurship is no longer a niche concept but an integral part of all business endeavors. "One of my personal dreams is that all entrepreneurship can be considered social entrepreneurship," she said. "That we don't even have to use that qualifier."As Miller Center looks toward 2030, it aims to foster a stronger global community among its network of entrepreneurs. The shift from transactional support to an interconnected platform of changemakers aligns with the growing demand for community-driven solutions.For those looking to engage, opportunities abound. Miller Center's mentor program allows seasoned professionals to guide emerging social entrepreneurs, while its venture philanthropy fund provides catalytic capital to scalable ventures. As Brigit pointed out, investing in social entrepreneurship creates lasting impact, making it an appealing option for those seeking meaningful ways to contribute to a better world.Miller Center's work proves that entrepreneurship is more than just a pathway to financial success—it is a powerful tool for tackling society's most pressing issues.tl;dr:Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship accelerates social enterprises to end poverty by leveraging business principles.The center has impacted over 180 million lives and helped entrepreneurs raise significant capital.Women's economic power and climate resilience are key focus areas for the center's programs.Brigit's superpower is authenticity, which she uses to foster trust and drive meaningful leadership.Miller Center is shifting toward building a global community of entrepreneurs to drive systemic change.How to Develop Authenticity As a SuperpowerBrigit Helms believes her superpower is authenticity. "What you see is pretty much what you get with me," she explained. She has built a career by fostering environments where people feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to the table. Brigit embraces cognitive diversity and encourages open discussions where differing opinions are valued. "Even if you're the only one in the room with a different opinion, you should feel comfortable voicing it," she said. This dedication to authenticity has helped her build strong teams and drive impactful change.An Example of Authentic LeadershipWhen Brigit arrived at Miller Center in 2020, the pandemic made traditional strategic planning impossible. Instead of gathering people in a room for brainstorming, she adapted. Breaking the process into smaller, virtual conversations, she ensured that over 100 voices worldwide contributed to Miller Center's strategic direction. "We ended up with a better product because we included perspectives that might have been overlooked in a typical process," she reflected. Her ability to pivot while staying true to her leadership style reinforced her commitment to authenticity.Tips for Developing AuthenticityBuild Trust Through Vulnerability: Be open about mistakes and ask for help when needed.Encourage Diverse Perspectives: Welcome differing opinions and create space for honest discussions.Foster Psychological Safety: Ensure that team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts without fear.Practice Self-Reflection: Regularly evaluate whether your actions align with your core values.Embrace Change While Staying True to Yourself: Adapt to new challenges without compromising integrity.By following Brigit's example and advice, you can make authenticity a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!Guest ProfileBrigit Helms (she/her):Executive Director, Miller Center for Social EntrepreneurshipAbout Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship: For over 25 years, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship has been a leader in the global social enterprise movement. With an emphasis on climate resilience and women's economic power, it accelerates entrepreneurship to end poverty and protect the planet, guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Located at Santa Clara University, the center fuses the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley with the university's heritage of social justice, community engagement, and global impact. Miller Center has served 1,500 social enterprises based in over 100 countries that are impacting hundreds of millions of lives.Website: millersocent.orgCompany Facebook Page: facebook.com/millersocentOther URL: mysantaclara.scu.edu/givenow?designation=Miller%20Center%20for%20Social%20Entrepreneurship (fundraising page)Biographical Information:Brigit Helms is the Executive Director of Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University, where she holds the Howard & Alida Charney Professorship for Science, Technology, and Society. For over 30 years, Helms has created and delivered solutions to social and environmental challenges in 55 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She has held leadership roles at DAI, the Multilateral Investment Fund (now IDB Lab), McKinsey & Company, and the World Bank Group, where she was a founding executive at CGAP, a center of excellence for financial inclusion. Helms is the author of Access for All: Building Inclusive Economic Systems and serves on the boards of the AlphaMundi Foundation and BRAC USA. She earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in development and agricultural economics from Stanford University, an M.A. in Latin American studies from Johns Hopkins, and a B.S. in political science from Santa Clara University.Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/millercenter, linkedin.com/in/bhelmsInstagram Handle: @miller.socentSupport Our SponsorsOur generous sponsors make our work possible, serving impact investors, social entrepreneurs, community builders and diverse founders. Today's advertisers include FundingHope, AMIBA, SuperCrowdLA and Crowdfunding Made Simple. Learn more about advertising with us here.Max-Impact MembersThe following Max-Impact Members provide valuable financial support:Carol Fineagan, Independent Consultant | Lory Moore, Lory Moore Law | Marcia Brinton, High Desert Gear | Paul Lovejoy, Stakeholder Enterprise | Pearl Wright, Global Changemaker | Ralf Mandt, Next Pitch | Scott Thorpe, Philanthropist | Add Your Name HereUpcoming SuperCrowd Event CalendarIf a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.Impact Cherub Club Meeting hosted by The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, on March 18, 2024, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Each month, the Club meets to review new offerings for investment consideration and to conduct due diligence on previously screened deals. To join the Impact Cherub Club, become an Impact Member of the SuperCrowd.SuperCrowdHour, March 19, 2025, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Devin Thorpe will be leading a session on "How to Build a VC-Style Impact Crowdfunding Portfolio." He'll share expert insights on diversifying investments, identifying high-potential impact ventures, and leveraging crowdfunding for both financial and social returns. Whether you're an experienced investor or just getting started, this is a must-attend! Don't miss it!SuperCrowdLA: we're going to be live in Santa Monica, California, May 1-3. Plan to join us for a major, in-person event focused on scaling impact. Sponsored by Digital Niche Agency, ProActive Real Estate and others. This will be a can't-miss event. Has your business been impacted by the recent fires? Apply now for a chance to receive one of 10 free tickets to SuperCrowdLA on May 2nd and 3rd and gain the tools to rebuild and grow! SuperCrowd25, August 21st and 22nd: This two-day virtual event is an annual tradition but with big upgrades for 2025! We'll be streaming live across the web and on TV via e360tv. Soon, we'll open a process for nominating speakers. Check back!Community Event CalendarSuccessful Funding with Karl Dakin, Tuesdays at 10:00 AM ET - Click on Events.Igniting Community Capital to Build Outdoor Recreation Communities, Crowdfund Better, Thursdays, March 20 & 27, April 3 & 10, 2025, at 1:00 PM ET.Asheville Neighborhood Economics, April 1-2, 2-25.Regulated Investment Crowdfunding Summit 2025, Crowdfunding Professional Association, Washington DC, October 21-22, 2025.Call for community action:Please show your support for a tax credit for investments made via Regulation Crowdfunding, benefiting both the investors and the small businesses that receive the investments. Learn more here.If you would like to submit an event for us to share with the 9,000+ changemakers, investors and entrepreneurs who are members of the SuperCrowd, click here. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at www.superpowers4good.com/subscribe
Are you struggling to align your marketing strategy with your business model? Do you feel overwhelmed by the conflicting advice about social media, content, and traffic strategies? In today's episode, we break down how to create a sustainable marketing plan that matches your business goals with Jessica Lackey—a strategy and operations advisor who blends business strategy, practical application, and a human-centric approach to create sustainable businesses. With a background in corporate leadership, McKinsey & Company consulting, and a Harvard Business degree, Jessica knows a thing or two about hustle culture and what it feels like to judge success by the bottom line…at all costs. Now, she combines her deep experience in consulting, Fortune 500 operations leadership, and coaching to help businesses grow without sacrificing the well-being of their clients, team, and community. Learn how to leverage relationship marketing, collaborations, and content strategies that actually work for your business model. This episode is packed with practical strategies for coaches, consultants, and small business owners who want to build a profitable and aligned business without burning out. Key Takeaways: Sustainable Business Foundations: The six core systems every business needs to thrive. Choosing the Right Marketing Stack: Why your business model should dictate your marketing plan. Beyond Social Media: How relationship marketing and collaborations can drive more qualified leads. Creating Content with Purpose: Why long-form, evergreen content builds authority and trust. Low-Traffic vs. High-Traffic Models: How to decide if you need high volume or high ticket sales. Aligning Offers and Messaging: Why your offer suite needs to match your audience and pricing. Resources & Action Steps: Weekly Newsletter: Get business strategy tips delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe Now Work With Jessica: Learn more about Jessica's coaching and strategy services. Explore Services Follow & Connect with Jessica: Website: www.jessicalackey.com LinkedIn: Jessica Lackey Marketing doesn't have to be overwhelming—align your strategy with your business model for sustainable growth.
In this episode, Avanish and Lara discuss:The four distinct phases of software company growth and what each requires - from finding product-market fit ($0-100M) to demonstrating platform vision ($100M-1B) to scaling enterprise deals ($1B-5B)The critical importance of not neglecting your core business while scaling - how ServiceNow used tiered pricing models to continue monetizing their core productsWhy platform and ecosystem strategies are "two sides of the coin" but must be tailored to each company's specific situation - there is no one-size-fits-all approachThe "win-win-win equation" that must exist for successful partnerships - creating value for customers, partners, and your companyCreating cultural alignment around ecosystem strategy - including Dave Schneider's innovative approach of inviting partners to ServiceNow's sales kickoffHow to avoid "throwing money against the wall" with partnerships that lack strategic foundationBuilding unfair advantages at scale through customer relationships, installed base data, and continuous innovation to stay ahead of imitatorsHost: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Lara CaimiLara Caimi is the President of Worldwide Field Operations at Samsara. Lara brings nearly 25 years of experience to Samsara, where she is responsible for leading Sales and Customer Outcomes. Before Samsara, Lara was Chief Customer and Partner Officer for ServiceNow, overseeing nearly 2,500 global employees across organizations including customer success, professional services, and channel ecosystem. Previously, she served as ServiceNow's Chief Strategy Officer. Before joining ServiceNow, Lara was a partner at Bain & Company, where she advised technology companies on growth and go-to-market strategy.Lara holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and English Literature from St. Olaf College, a MIB from the University of Sydney as a Fulbright Scholar, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Lara CaimiFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
This week, we're joined by McKinsey & Company's Kevin Goering to dive into the insights from their fifth annual Global Supply Chain Leader Survey, revealing how executives are responding to persistent disruptions and shifting priorities. Together, we dive into the delicate balance between cost management and risk mitigation, the challenges of digital adoption, and the growing focus on nearshoring and dual sourcing, discovering why some companies may be taking their eye off the ball when it comes to supply chain resilience, and what strategies are proving most effective in today's dynamic business environment. Come join us as we discuss the Future of Supply Chain.
Volvemos una vez más con el coche eléctrico, según algunos el coche del futuro… pues no. Personalmente pienso que es más el coche del presente que el coche del futuro… y no, no me he vuelto loco, pero es que el coche eléctrico tiene muchos enemigos, técnicos, comerciales y ahora, además, geopolíticos. Para los que me consideráis un “petrolhead” siento deciros que os equivocáis de medio a medio. Como aficionado confieso que el sonido de un buen motor térmico y las sensaciones que ofrece me resultan muy placenteras… pero como periodistas, tengo que tener la mente más abierta y por eso digo que el coche eléctrico es más el coche del presente que el coche del futuro… ¿por qué? Muy sencillo: Porque como coche urbano, hoy por hoy, no tiene rival. Y no solo es el silencio, la falta de emisiones allí donde se usa y la comodidad de conducción, es que el tipo de uso urbano la va como anillo al dedo a un coche eléctrico. Os aseguro que por muchas razones, el futuro del automóvil no es el coche eléctrico… os pido vuestra opinión, pero antes os pido que escuchéis mis argumentos… ¡que son muchos! Aparte de los citados hay más motivos que hacen de los coches eléctricos ideales para ciudad. Primero: no necesitas gran autonomía, porque por ciudad es imposible hacer muchos kilómetros: Según “Mundotaxi” en Madrid recorren algo más de 200 km. Un dato clave.Segundo: No necesitas mucha potencia, pues la mayor parte de la potencia se emplea en vencer la resistencia al aire y si no pasas de 50 km/h, limite habitual en una ciudad, no vas a requerir muchos caballos. Aunque vayas a la ciudad desde las afueras, tampoco podrás correr mucho en las vías de circunvalación. Tercero: el tipo de uso. Porque en un coche térmico lo que gatas para poner el coche a 50 km/h no lo recuperas cuando paras en el siguiente semáforo. En un eléctrico, o en un híbrido, sí. Pero es que además el rendimiento energético de un motor, es decir, la parte de la energía que se emplea en mover el coche, se acerca al 90 por ciento y con un motor térmico no supera el 25 por ciento. Y cuarto: Suma de todo ello, un coche eléctrico urbano puede llevar baterías ligeras y pequeñas. Como consecuencia, puede ser un coche relativamente ligero, verdadero “Talón de Aquiles” de los eléctricos. No os descubro nada si os digo que vivimos en un Mundo global. Así que si eres de los que piensa que no te importa nada la victoria de “Tramp”, o “Trump” como decís muchos Hispanoamericanos… pues es que no te enteras. Soy un ecologista convencido y para mí el calentamiento global es un hecho… pero Europa no lo puede hacer frente por su cuenta. Os doy datos de la propia UE: La Unión Europea emite en su conjunto 3.222 millones de toneladas de C02… una barbaridad. Pero es que nos supera India, los USA casi la duplican y China emite… agarraos… 15.944 millones de toneladas de CO2, cerca de 5 veces más que nosotros. Europa debe liderar la protección al medio ambiente, pero liderarla no es ponerse una soga al cuello. La estrategia de la movilidad eléctrica perjudica a Europa y beneficia, justamente, al mayor emisor de C02… ¡tócate las narices! Por no decir otra cosa. Y “Tramp” o Trump ha decidido perforar… se podría traducir “pinchar”, más en los USA, aunque sea con el peligroso método del “Fracking” para bajar el precio del petróleo, lo que hará más competitivo a los modelos tradicionales de motor térmico y a los híbridos. Seguimos con la geopolítica y vamos a hablar de materias primas. Y con datos provenientes de una fuente fiable, la Agencia Internacional de la Energía o AIE, que nos cuenta que no hay materias primas para tanto coche eléctrico. El coche eléctrico es un consumidor brutal de recursos, como las famosas tierras raras. Según la AIE para conseguir el objetivo de emisiones fijado para 2050 tendríamos que tener la bonita cifra de 2.000 millones de coches eléctricos… sencillamente, hoy por hoy, las materias primas no paran de subir… lo que hará que los eléctricos, a medio plazo suban de precio y no bajen. He metido este asunto en geopolítica porque a lo mejor esto te abre los ojos sobre el repentino interés de Trump en Groenlandia. Hablemos ahora de motivos comerciales para que los coches eléctricos no sean el futuro. Hablemos de subvenciones. Noruega ya eliminó las ayudas a la compra de coches eléctricos, ahora lo harán previsiblemente los USA y otros muchos vendrán detrás. Sin ayudas, los coches eléctricos se venderán menos… en realidad menos aún. En España según los propios fabricantes, apenas llegan el 5 por ciento del total. Pero hay algo más grave: Según un estudio elaborado por la consultora McKinsey & Company uno de cada tres compradores de coche eléctricos lo cambiaría por uno híbrido o térmico en su próxima compra. Dato que contrasta con que alrededor de un 25 por ciento de usuarios de coches térmicos cambiaria su coche por un eléctrico… Y esto con ayudas… ¿Y sin ayudas? En realidad, dejo para el final la mejor noticia y es que los coches con la llamada “pila de combustible” son ya una realidad. Primero, os explico cómo son. La reacción del hidrogeno con el oxígeno tiene como resultado energía eléctrica y vapor de agua. Con esa electricidad mueves el motor y tienes una batería relativamente pequeña para el coche funcione como un hibrido, recuperando energía en las frenadas y retenciones y para guardar la energía que te pueda sobrar, como hace ahora mismo ya los híbridos de Renault cuando le sobre potencia a su motor térmico y carga las baterías. El resultado es que el coche solo emite vapor de agua, es decir, emisiones contaminantes cero. Como un eléctrico. Pero con una diferencia: Si utilizas el llamado “Hidrogeno Verde” que se consigue con energías renovables o se extrae directamente, el coche de hidrogeno no contamina nada. BMW, Hyundai y Toyota tienen muy adelantados estos trabajos y de hecho te puedes comprar mañana mismo un Toyota Mirai o un Hyundai Nexo movidos por hidrogeno. Así las cosas, el presente son los coches urbanos eléctricos y los híbridos, a ser posible enchufables, para todo uso. Alucino los consumos que en ciudad consigue mi pareja con un simple Renault Clio Híbrido, en torno a los 4 litros a los 100 km… Los grandes y caros coches eléctricos no son hoy por hoy una opción que seduzca. Y por mucho que avance la infraestructura y la técnica, el tema de la recarga no tiene fácil solución. El futuro está claro: Eléctricos en ciudad o cortos recorridos, combustible sintético para determinados modelos deportivos o clásicos, algún hibrido de gasolina o gas e hidrogeno para el resto.
In this episode, Avanish and Jim discuss:Jim's 46-year journey from IBM to Salesforce, including his role in scaling Salesforce from $22M to $5B in revenueHow customer demands, particularly from companies like Cisco and Merrill Lynch, shaped Salesforce's platform strategyThe strategic decision to separate the application layer from the platformCreating a successful customer success organization to drive adoption and showcase customer storiesThe evolution of Salesforce's partner strategy and metrics for measuring ecosystem successHow the "tactics dictate strategy" philosophy helped Salesforce respond to market needsAbout Our GuestJim Steele is the President of Global Strategic Customers and Partners at Salesforce. Previously, Jim served as Salesforce's President of Worldwide Sales and Chief Customer Officer for over 12 years, from 2002 through 2014 where he led the growth of the company from $22 million to more than $5 billion in revenue. Jim rejoined Salesforce in 2020 as President of Global Strategic Sales with his primary focus to bring the full power of Salesforce to its largest and most strategic customers. Most recently, Jim has also assumed responsibility for Salesforce's Alliances & Channels organization, the Emerging Business operating unit, and Private Equity practice. Previously Jim served as Chief Revenue Officer and President of Yext, President and Chief Revenue Officer of InsideSales.com and President of Worldwide Sales at Ariba. Jim started his career at IBM where he spent over 22 years in executive leadership and senior sales roles including VP and GM of Sales in Asia, based in Tokyo.About our HostAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the AppExchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Jim SteeleFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
“One of the markers of a leading procurement function is when you see suppliers as more than just a source of supply but also as a source of value and innovation.” - Samir Khushalani, Partner at McKinsey & Company Procurement is in a unique position right now. They have to balance immediate priorities and meet the needs of the business today while also navigating new realities and an uncertain future shaped by generative AI, geopolitical turmoil, shifting macroeconomic pressures, and an increasingly volatile global supply chain. Procurement must reinvent themselves to find their footing in this rapidly changing environment, but they can't stop generating value in the here and now. In this episode, Philip Ideson talks about the nature of all this change and how procurement should respond to it with Samir Khushalani, Partner at McKinsey & Company. Samir explores how perceptions about procurement have changed and the ways their reputation has shifted from “bargain hunter” to strategic business partner. But, there's still significant opportunity for procurement to evolve and mature in response to all of the changes afoot. In this episode, Philip and Samir discuss: How the combination of post-COVID supply chain stabilization, geopolitical changes, and trends in generative AI requires us to rethink procurement operating models and skill sets Why being agile and flexible are critical for procurement's ability to demonstrate their value and secure their future Why innovative approaches to supply chain collaboration and relationship building will be just as valuable markers of procurement success as cost savings or risk management Links: Samir Khushalani on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube
Are you interested becoming a McKinsey/Bain/BCG (MBB) consultant after business school? Or are you a pre-MBA consultant interested in applying to a top business school? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, this is the podcast is for you. Today we welcome Will Bachman back to the pod. Will is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Umbrex, a firm providing rapid access to independent management consultants with experience at top-tier consulting firms. Today, Will and his team manage more than 1,000 independent consultants, over 90% of these consultants are alums of McKinsey, Bain, or BCG. Prior to founding Umbrex, Will spent four years as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company eight years as a Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy. Will also graduated from Harvard and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School. In the second part of this two-part segment, Will and host Chandler share advice for MBA students hoping to land a top-tier consulting internship or full time job during or after B school. In this wide-ranging discussion Will and Chandler discuss: Specific pieces of advice for MBAs wanting to land a MBB internship or full time offer, Several things Will and Chandler know today that they wish they'd known when applying for their first consulting positions, Suggestions for those from non-consulting backgrounds, and Other tips from Will, who currently works with thousands of MBB alums In addition to all kinds of great tips and suggestions in the podcast, Will has also been kind enough to share a free Consulting Skills Self-Assessment module with podcast listeners. Will developed this module with other Umbrex consultants, which helps you rate your consulting skills across more than 50 areas: https://umbrex.com/resources/consulting-skills-self-assessment/
What went wrong when McKinsey paid bribes to secure consulting contracts with South Africa's state-owned enterprises? In this episode, Michael Volkov dives into the December 2024 DOJ settlement with McKinsey & Company, which paid $122 million after being found guilty of paying bribes to officials at Transnet and Eskom to secure valuable consulting contracts. The case involved significant violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and highlights the risks companies face when failing to implement effective compliance programs.You'll hear him discuss:The details of McKinsey's settlement with the DOJ for $122 million, including the 35% discount and the cooperation credits granted by the government.The role of Vikas Sagar, McKinsey's former senior partner, and his guilty plea in 2022 for orchestrating bribery payments.How McKinsey Africa used sensitive, non-public information obtained through bribes to secure multi-million dollar contracts with Transnet and Eskom.The ongoing issue of engaging third-party intermediaries and the importance of conducting thorough due diligence before entering into business relationships.The lessons learned from McKinsey's lack of proper oversight and controls that allowed a small group of corrupt executives to facilitate bribery schemes.The broader impact of local content requirements in international business and the associated risks of partnering with unqualified entities that have ties to corrupt government officials.ResourcesMichael Volkov on LinkedIn | TwitterThe Volkov Law Group
Are you interested becoming a McKinsey/Bain/BCG (MBB) consultant after business school? Or are you a pre-MBA consultant interested in applying to a top business school? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, this is the podcast is for you. Today we sit down with Will Bachman. Will is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Umbrex, a firm providing rapid access to independent management consultants with experience at top-tier consulting firms. Today, Will and his team manage more than 1,000 independent consultants, over 90% of these consultants are alums of McKinsey, Bain, or BCG. Prior to founding Umbrex, Will spent four years as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company eight years as a Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy. Will also graduated from Harvard and earned his MBA from Columbia Business School. In the first part of this two part segment, Will and host Chandler share advice for pre-MBA consultants interested crafting applications that stand out when applying to top-tier MBA programs. In our next podcast, Will shares advice for MBA students hoping to land a top-tier consulting internship or full time job during or after B school. In this wide-ranging discussion Will and Chandler discuss: Advice for pre-MBA consultants applying to B school, Ways to make applications from consultants stand out from the crowd, Suggestions about how to make your MBA application stand out from other consultants, Ways to complement the traditional consultant skillset, Suggestions for those wanting to explore their passions—and expand their business acumen—prior to business school, Tips for how to combat self-doubt during the MBA application process, In addition to all kinds of great tips and suggestions, Will has also been kind enough to share a free Consulting Skills Self-Assessment module with podcast listeners. Will developed this module with other Umbrex consultants, which helps you rate your consulting skills across more than 50 areas: https://umbrex.com/resources/consulting-skills-self-assessment/
He emphasizes the importance of developing user-friendly technology and the critical need for upskilling both the workforce and management at MWC Barcelona. To stay ahead in the fast-evolving tech landscape, simplicity and continuous learning are key to driving success and innovation.
McKinsey's Marvin Bower: Father of Management Consulting | 19 Rules That Shaped McKinsey In this video, we dive deep into the legacy of Marvin Bower, the man who turned McKinsey & Company into the gold standard of management consulting. Known as the "father of management consulting," Marvin Bower's vision, integrity, and groundbreaking leadership set McKinsey apart and established consulting as a respected profession. Discover the 19 rules that Marvin Bower enforced at McKinsey to ensure consultants upheld the highest standards, from wearing specific attire to prioritizing client interests above all else. Learn why these principles helped build McKinsey into a preeminent global firm and what they can teach us about leadership, values, and success.
AI is everywhere! From delivering the tacos you crave to the car you drive to the clinical trial you might need -- it's reshaping our world and our work. AI-based technologies are helping solve complex problems in nearly every discipline, industry, and human endeavor. And in healthcare, artificial intelligence is a game-changer. AI-based technologies do many things faster and better than humans can alone, with the promise of so much more ahead. And with that, comes a lot of questions, possibilities and well-founded concerns. In this first episode – of many to come exploring AI's role in transforming healthcare – we're starting with the basics and the big picture: What is artificial intelligence? How can we ensure AI is safe, equitable, and beneficial for all? How should healthcare professionals think about and integrate AI into clinical settings? We reached out to veteran researcher and leading expert in computer science, machine learning, and AI, Peter Stone PhD, and nurse attorney and bioethicist Liz Stokes JD, MA, RN to explore these questions and dive into ANA's position statement ‘The Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence in Nursing Practice,' as well as McKinsey & Company's report ‘The pulse of nurses' perspectives on AI in healthcare delivery.' Together, they explore the transformative potential of AI in healthcare and how to ensure it serves everyone safely and equitably. Find this episode's resources at www.seeyounowpodcast.com and more information on the podcast bundles visit ANA's Innovation Website at www.nursingworld.org/innovation. Have questions for the SEE YOU NOW team? Feedback? Future episode ideas? Contact us at hello@seeyounowpodcast.com.
He emphasizes the critical need for engineers to upskill in AI, robotics, and IoT to stay ahead in the ever-evolving tech landscape at MWC Barcelona. He advocates for focusing on applying these innovations effectively and highlights the importance of research to drive user adoption and create more intuitive user interfaces. Watch the full episode here
This season will feature conversations with key decision-makers who have to support the journey to a platform or any ecosystem. We will talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be bought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Kevin discuss:Kevin's career journey and his experiences shaping ServiceNow's growth.What it means to authentically be a platform company and how ServiceNow approached platform-first scaling.How customer feedback drove ServiceNow's expansion into new domains like HR and customer workflows.The key factors for entering new markets, including market fit, size, and differentiation.The importance of hiring domain-specific experts and adapting go-to-market strategies.Building and leveraging ecosystem partnerships to drive growth and scale.Balancing core revenue innovation with new domain expansion to ensure sustainable growth.Guest: Kevin HavertyKevin Haverty was formerly the Vice Chairman, Global Public Sector at ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW). In this role, he worked directly with CEO Bill McDermott on expanding ServiceNow's strategic footprint in the public sector and mentoring the company's next generation of early-in-career professionals.During the past decade, Kevin successfully led and grew ServiceNow's world-class go-to-market organization. He most recently served as the company's Chief Revenue Officer, and also held the roles of EVP and SVP of Worldwide Sales and VP of Americas Sales.Earlier in his career, Kevin held several senior sales leadership roles at EMC, Data Domain, Thomsen Financial, and Brocade. He also served 10 years in the U.S. Army National Guard, attaining the rank of Captain.Kevin holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Providence College, where he was a distinguished military graduate of the Army ROTC program. He currently serves on the Board of Sprinklr. Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Kevin HavertyFollow our host, Avanish Sahai
View the Show Notes Page for This Episode Become a Member to Receive Exclusive Content Sign Up to Receive Peter's Weekly Newsletter Dr. Saum Sutaria is the Chairman and CEO of Tenet Healthcare and a former leader in McKinsey & Company's Healthcare and Private Equity Practices, where he spent almost two decades shaping the field. In this episode, Saum unpacks the complexities of the U.S. healthcare system, providing a detailed overview of its structure, financial flows, and historical evolution. They delve into topics such as private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored coverage, drug pricing, PBMs and the administrative burdens impacting the system. Saum's insights help connect healthcare spending to broader economic issues while exploring potential reforms and the role of technology in improving efficiency. Saum highlights how choice and innovation distinguish the U.S. healthcare system, explores the reasons behind exorbitant drug prices, and examines the potential solutions, challenges, and trade-offs involved in lowering costs while striving to improve access, quality, and affordability. The opinions expressed by Saum in this episode are his own and do not represent the views of his employer. We discuss: The US healthcare system: financial scale, integration with economy, and unique challenges [5:00]; Overview of how the US healthcare system currently works and how we got here [9:45]; The huge growth and price impact due to the transition from out-of-pocket payments in the 1950s to the modern, third-party payer model [18:30]; The unique structure and challenges of the US healthcare system compared to other developed nations [22:00]; Overview of Medicare and Medicaid: who they cover, purpose, and impact on healthcare spending [27:45]; Why the US kept a employer-sponsored insurance system rather than pursue universal healthcare [32:00]; The evolution of healthcare insurance: from catastrophic coverage to chronic disease management [36:00]; The challenge of managing healthcare costs while expanding access and meeting increased demand for chronic illness care [44:15]; Balancing cost, choice, and access: how the US healthcare system compares to Canada [48:45]; The role of the US in pharmaceutical innovation, it's impact on drug pricing, and the potential effects of price controls on innovation and healthcare costs [56:15]; How misaligned incentives have driven up drug prices in the US [1:05:00]; The cost of innovation and choice, and the sustainability of the current healthcare cost expenditures in the US in the face of a shrinking workforce and aging population [1:11:30]; Health outcomes: why life expectancy is lower in the US despite excelling at extending lifespan beyond 70 [1:18:45]; Potential solutions and challenges to controlling drugs costs in the US while balancing choice and access and preserving innovation [1:26:15]; Balancing GLP-1 drug innovation with affordability and healthcare spending sustainability [1:40:00]; Reducing healthcare spending: complexities, trade offs, and implications of making needed cuts to healthcare expenditures [1:46:45]; The role of government regulation, opportunities for cost savings, and more [1:56:15]; Hospital billing: costs, charges, complexities, and paths to simplification [2:01:15]; How prioritizing access and choice increased expenditures: reviewing the impact of healthcare exchanges and the Affordable Care Act [2:08:00]; Feasibility of a universal Medicare program, and what a real path to sustainable healthcare looks like [2:15:45]; The challenge of long-term care and the potential of innovation, like device-based therapies and AI, to improve health [2:23:15]; and More. Connect With Peter on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
My guest for this episode, is Russell Eisenstat, an inspirational leader whose mission has been to develop leaders and organizations that put people at the center together with profit. We explored so many critical leadership topics like how to balance leadership focus between people and bottom line, how to engage the whole organization, how to earn trust, and how to develop a shared emotional resonant purpose.In his very humble voice, Russ shared his reflections on his own successful leadership journey and offered advice to organizational leaders including young aspiring ones.Russ is, Emeritus Executive Director and co-founder of the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership and Former President and co-Founder of TruePoint, a management consultancy firm. He served on the faculty of the Harvard Business School and spent five years at McKinsey & Company. He is a co-author of the Higher Ambition, a book that shows how great CEOs around the world create superior long term economic and social value and many articles in Harvard Business Review.Like always, I would appreciate any feedback you have about this episode or the podcast overall. Feel free to reach out to me on fouadmalame@gmail.com. Also, whether you are a leaders of 5 or 5000 people, if you have any challenges driving the development of the capabilities, culture, alignment, engagement or collaboration of your people or simply have challenges implementing strategy or driving change at scale, I am offering a free 30 minutes strategy session. In this session you would get insights which you can apply right away to take your people and organization to the next level.Until the next episode, stay INSPIRED and make the biggest difference in your area of responsibility and beyond. For any inquiries, please contact fouad@alame.ch
Professor Amar Bhidé of Columbia University discusses his new book “Uncertainty and Enterprise”, published by Oxford University Press. It emphasizes the limitations of standard economic models that rely on probability distributions. He argues that entrepreneurship involves dealing with unique, non-quantifiable uncertainties, which require imagination and narrative skills. Bhide critiques the over-reliance on incentives and statistical analysis, advocating for a more imaginative and contextual approach. He highlights the importance of routines and the need for accountability in expert decision-making, particularly in areas like public health and monetary policy. Bhide also discusses the role of narratives in business success and the challenges posed by tech monopolies.If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for Gene, please email him at contact@economicsexplored.com.About this episode's guest Professor Amar BhidéProfessor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University Irving Medical CenterBhidé has researched and taught about innovation, entrepreneurship, and finance for over three decades. He now focuses on teaching, developing, and disseminating case histories of transformational technological advances.A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a founding member of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia – and a founding editor of Capitalism and Society, Bhide is the author of the forthcoming book Uncertainty, Judgment, and Enterprise (Oxford). His earlier books include A Call for Judgment: Sensible Finance for a Dynamic Economy (Oxford, 2010), The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World (Princeton, 2008), The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses (Oxford, 2000) and Of Politics and Economic Reality (Basic Books, 1984). Starting in the early 1980s, he has written numerous articles for the Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and The Financial Times. He has periodically appeared on Bloomberg TV and CNBC.Bhidé was previously the Lawrence Glaubinger Professor of Business at Columbia University and the Thomas Schmidheiny Professor of Business at Tufts University. He has also taught at Harvard Business School (as an Assistant, Associate, and Visiting Professor)and at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.His professional experience includes directorship of a FTSE 100 company. In the 1980s, Bhidé was a Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, a Proprietary Trader at E.F. Hutton, and served on the Brady Commission staff, investigating the 1987 stock market crash.Bhidé earned a DBA and MBA from Harvard Business School with High Distinction and a B. Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay).LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amar-bhide-8202ba10/Timestamps for EP264Uncertainty in Economic Theory and Practice (0:00)The Role of Imagination in Economic Decision-Making (6:44)Narrative and Storytelling in Entrepreneurship (15:01)The Impact of Narratives on Markets and Investment (25:29)Challenges of Regulating Tech Monopolies (32:34)Accountability and Expertise in Governance (41:04)Building Narrative Skills for Entrepreneurs (48:31)Final Thoughts (52:14)TakeawaysThe Distinction Between Risk and Uncertainty: Frank Knight's distinction highlights that risk is quantifiable, but uncertainty involves unknowns, requiring judgment and imagination.The Importance of Narrative in Business: Entrepreneurs use storytelling to make ventures plausible to investors and stakeholders, even when data is incomplete or speculative.Imagination is Key to Profit: Success in entrepreneurship often depends on the ability to imagine scenarios, adapt to setbacks, and create compelling business models.Challenges of Accountability in Modern Institutions: Bhide critiques the lack of accountability among experts in fields like public health and monetary policy, advocating for more robust governance structures.The Role of Plausibility in Decision-Making: Investors and entrepreneurs alike rely on plausible, if not always precise, projections to guide business choices.Links relevant to the conversationAmar's new book Uncertainty and Enterprise:https://www.amazon.com.au/Uncertainty-Enterprise-Venturing-Beyond-Known/dp/0197688357/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Corralling the Info-Monopolists (Project Syndicate Op-ed):https://sites.tufts.edu/amarbhide/2018/05/14/corralling-the-info-monopolists-project-syndicate-op-ed/Lumo Coffee promotion10% of Lumo Coffee's Seriously Healthy Organic Coffee.Website: https://www.lumocoffee.com/10EXPLOREDPromo code: 10EXPLORED Full transcripts are available a few days after the episode is first published at www.economicsexplored.com.
You've heard of the Great Wealth Transfer taking place as Baby Boomers pass away, but did you know that women will inherit the majority of those assets?It's true. The Great Wealth Transfer is really horizontal, with widows inheriting most private wealth before it's passed on to the next generation. Sharon Epps joins us today to talk about how women should prepare.Sharon Epps is the president of Kingdom Advisors, our parent organization. Kingdom Advisors is a group dedicated to training financial professionals to guide and advise you according to biblical principles.Women as the Primary InheritorsOne surprising fact is that women will inherit the majority of this wealth. Since women typically outlive men by about six to seven years, nearly 70% will experience widowhood and manage their spouse's share of assets. In addition to inheriting from their husbands, many women will also receive an inheritance from their parents, and, increasingly, they are generating their own income through employment. This convergence of income streams will place an estimated two-thirds of U.S. assets—around $30 trillion—under women's control by 2030, according to McKinsey & Company.The Heart of Generosity: Purpose, Passion, and PlanThe wealth transfer isn't just about financial assets; it's a significant opportunity for generosity. Three key factors inspire generosity: purpose, passion, and planning.Purpose: A strong sense of purpose can motivate people to give more. Research from Women Doing Well revealed that women who score high on purpose tend to donate around 14% of their income, compared to 9% for those with lower purpose scores.Passion: Passion for a cause often stems from personal experiences of pain or suffering. This deeply held belief leads people to make sacrificial giving decisions. When people align their hearts with God's, they are inspired to give courageously and with conviction, connecting their generosity to meaningful experiences.Planning: Effective financial planning is essential for generosity, especially for women who aspire to give more but may lack the structure to manage their finances for greater impact. Financial planning and passion must work hand-in-hand to create a lasting legacy of giving.Building a Generous Legacy: Preparing for Wealth ResponsibilityWith the responsibility of managing inherited wealth, women must be equipped with spiritual foundations and financial wisdom. Three main influences support women's generosity:Understanding that God owns it all.Personal spiritual disciplines like Bible study and prayer.Receiving teaching on stewardship.When women embrace these principles, they can approach wealth with a mindset of stewardship rather than ownership, seeing it as a resource to bless others.Women and Collaborative GivingWomen often approach giving differently than men, preferring collaboration and community. Studies from the National Christian Foundation show that women are twice as likely to participate in collaborative giving, pooling resources with others to maximize their impact. Women seek transformational experiences rather than merely transactional ones, often using giving as a means to disciple their families and build stronger connections within their communities.For women looking to embrace generosity and connect with like-minded individuals, we recommend organizations such as Women Doing Well, Generous Giving, and the National Christian Foundation (NCF). These groups offer opportunities for women to strategize, collaborate, and grow in their giving journey.Embracing Generosity as a Lasting LegacyAs the wealth transfer unfolds, the unique generosity of women presents an unparalleled chance to impact future generations. For those who steward this opportunity with purpose, passion, and a solid plan, the legacy of giving can become not only a financial blessing but a tool for discipleship and transformation.Connecting with organizations and communities that support women's giving can help women maximize this historic moment and courageously and convictionally live out the principles of generosity.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I'm 75, and my husband is 78. If he passes away, I'll lose about $4,000 per month in income. I have $2,800 from teacher retirement, $662 in social security, and $2,000 from a 403(b). I've saved $80,000 and can save an extra $4,000 monthly. I'm concerned about managing the $4,000 income drop and what to do with the $80,000 I've saved.My wife and I own two homes—one is a rental property I moved out of in 2022. We're trying to determine the best time to sell both properties and how to maximize the capital gains exclusion, especially since we both had primary residences prior to getting married in 2022.Resources Mentioned:Generous GivingNational Christian Foundation (NCF)Women Doing WellLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.
In association with our friends at Digital-Life-Design (DLD), Europe's iconic annual tech conference which next January celebrates its twentieth anniversary, we are starting a series of conversations with DLD speakers looking back over the last twenty years. First up is Silicon Valley entrepreneur, speaker and author John Hagel, who talked, quite openly, about his lifelong fear of fear and how he's cured himself of this affliction over the last two decades.John Hagel III has more than 40 years' experience as a management consultant, author, speaker and entrepreneur. After recently retiring as a partner from Deloitte, McGraw Hill published in May 2021 his latest book, The Journey Beyond Fear, that addresses the psychology of change and he is developing a series of programs to help people navigate through change at many levels. John has founded a new company, Beyond Our Edge, LLC, that works with companies and people who are seeking to anticipate the future and achieve much greater impact. While at Deloitte, John was the founder and chairman of the Silicon Valley-based Deloitte Center for the Edge, focusing on identifying emerging business opportunities that are not yet on the CEO's agenda. Before joining Deloitte, John was an independent consultant and writer and prior to that was a principal at McKinsey & Company and a leader of their Strategy Practice as well as the founder of their E-Commerce Practice. John has served as senior vice president of strategy at Atari, Inc., and is the founder of two Silicon Valley startups. John is also a faculty member at Singularity University where he gives frequent talks on the mounting performance pressure created by digital technology and promising approaches to help traditional companies make the transition from a linear to an exponential world. He is also on the Board of Trustees at the Santa Fe Institute, an organization that conducts leading edge research on complex adaptive systems. He has also led a number of initiatives regarding business transformation with the World Economic Forum. John is the author of The Power of Pull, published by Basic Books in April 2010. He is also the author of a series of best-selling business books, Net Gain, Net Worth, Out of the Box, and The Only Sustainable Edge. He is widely published and quoted in major business publications including The Economist, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal, as well as general media like the New York Times, NBC and BBC. He has won two awards from Harvard Business Review for best articles in that publication and has been recognized as an industry thought leader by a variety of publications and institutions, including the World Economic Forum and Business Week. John has his own website at www.johnhagel.com, and for many years wrote personal blogs at www.edgeperspectives.typepad.com as well as contributing postings on the Harvard Business Review, Fortune and Techonomy websites. He is active in social media and can be followed on Twitter at @jhagel and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhagel/ John holds a BA from Wesleyan University, a B.Phil. from Oxford University, and a JD and MBA from Harvard University. John Hagel has spent over 40 years in Silicon Valley and has experience as a management consultant, entrepreneur, speaker and author. He is driven by a desire to help individuals and institutions around the world to increase their impact in a rapidly changing world. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. TRANSCRIPTKEEN: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the show. We're going to do things a little differently today. We're starting a new series on KEEN ON in association with my dear friends at the DLD conference. It's an annual conference held each year in Munich. My view? Certainly the best tech conference in Europe, if not in the world. And in January 2025, they're celebrating their 20th anniversary. And in association with DLD, we're talking to some of their most notable speakers about their experiences over the last 20 years. We're beginning with an old friend of mine, John Hagel, a very distinguished author, futurist. His last book was called The Journey Beyond Fear, and John spoke at DLD '16 about narratives and business. And I began our DLD KEEN ON conversation with John Hagel by asking him to cast his mind back to January 2005.HAGEL: In January 2005, I was working as an independent consultant in Silicon Valley. I'd been there for 25 years already. I was fascinated with the degree to which digital technology was exponentially improving, and I was being aggressively recruited, at the time, by a large consulting firm, Deloitte, that wanted me to join. I was a bit resistant. I turned them down four times because I didn't want to go work for another large consulting firm. I'd been a partner with McKinsey before that, but ultimately they prevailed. They persuaded me that they would help me create a new research center that would be autonomous, even though it was part of Deloitte and it was really focused on trying to understand the long-term trends that are reshaping the global economy and what the implications are for people. And that was my passion, and I'm very grateful that I was able to pursue that.KEEN: What was the global economy, John, like in 2005?HAGEL: It was definitely becoming more and more connected. It was going through fundamental change even at that stage. I've come to call it "the big shift," but basically, some long-term trends that were playing out were creating mounting performance pressure on all of us. One form of pressure was intensifying competition on a global scale. Companies were competing with companies from around the world. Workers were competing with workers from around the world. So there was a lot of intensifying competition. The pace of change was accelerating. Things you thought you could count on were no longer there. And then, as if that weren't enough, all the connectivity we were creating...a small event in a faraway place in the world quickly cascades into an extreme, disruptive event. So it creates a lot of performance pressure on all people. And we were just in the early stages of that. I think we're actually still in the early stages of "the big shift." A lot more to come.KEEN: What was it, John, about "the big shift?" It was your term, is still, I think, one of the best terms to describe the first quarter of the 21st century. What both most worried and excited you about "the big shift" in 2005? Back then, not today.HAGEL: Well, at the time, I was starting to realize that fundamental change was going to be required in all companies, all organizations, governments, universities. And I was worried that that would be a challenge, that not many people really embrace that kind of change, and so how do you get people to make that transition? But on the other side, I was excited about the fact that the changes that we were seeing—I love paradox. And one of the paradoxes of the big shift is, I mentioned the mounting performance pressure as one of the trends and the big shift. Another trend was exponentially expanding opportunity. We can create far more value with far less resource, far more quickly, given all the connectivity that's been created. So the excitement was that if we understood the changes that were happening and were willing to make the changes, we could create value that would have never been imagined before.KEEN: Back in 2005, John, what were the lessons of the past that we were trying to correct? History obviously always changes. Today, in 2025, we seem to be wanting to learn from, perhaps, 2005. But what were we reacting against in 2005?HAGEL: Well, frankly, I think we're still reacting against it. But in 2005, the way I describe it is all new large institutions around the world, not just companies, but again, governments and universities and foundations, all the large organizations around the world were built on a model that I call scalable efficiency. The key to success is becoming more and more efficient and scale. Do things faster and cheaper. And hard to argue, because for over a century that model of scalable efficiency gave us all the global, large institutions we know around the world today. So, a huge success with that model. The challenge is that in a rapidly changing world, scalable efficiency becomes more and more inefficient. We're not able to respond to the changes that are going on. We're just focused on doing what we've always done faster and cheaper. So I think that's an interesting dilemma that we were confronting in 2005 and frankly still confronting.KEEN: Were there organizations in particular back in 2005 that captured what you call this paradox of the great shift?HAGEL: Yes. I think that one of the things that I was focused on—I wrote a number of books in the past 20 years, three books. And one of them was called The Only Sustainable Edge. And it was a notion that in a world of more rapid change, we need to focus on what I call scalable learning. And learning not in the form of sharing existing knowledge, not in the form of training programs, but learning in the form of creating new knowledge as we confront entirely new situations and figure out how to create value in those situations, and do that throughout the organization, not just in the research department or the product development group, but every department needs to be focused on scalable learning. And part of that, it's how do you reach out and connect with broader networks of third parties, rather than just try to do it all yourself inside your organization? And in that context, I was looking at companies in a very large part of the developing world, China, for example. There were companies that were pursuing really innovative approaches to scalable learning in global networks, where they were connecting in global networks and focusing on driving innovation and learning throughout the network. So that really inspired me with the notion that this is not only possible but necessary.KEEN: John, one of the words that I always associate with your name is is "the edge." You popularized it, you were part of a group that focused on researching the impact of edge technologies in organizations. Why is this word "the edge" so important to making sense of the last 20 years?HAGEL: Well, I actually founded the Center for the Edge, and it took me a while to get Deloitte to approve the title because they said, wait a minute, you're either the center or you're the edge. How can you be both? And again, I love paradox, but in the context of the question about what do we mean by edge, it was the belief that if you're looking for change that's coming into the world, start by looking at edges. It could be geographic edges, developing economies. It could be demographic edges, younger generations coming into the workforce or into the marketplace. It could be edges across disciplines and academic world, many different kinds of edges. But it's venture out into those edges and look for emerging things that have the potential to scale and become really significant as change agents. And I think that that's what drove us to really do our research, was to find those edges and learn from the edge.KEEN: What did you believe in, John, in 2005, or is that an inappropriate question?HAGEL: What did I believe in? Well, I believe that again, digital technology is a key catalyst, changing the world. As was mentioned, I've been in Silicon Valley for many decades, but I've also, while I've been based here in Silicon Valley, I've been working with large organizations around the world, so I've got a global perspective as well as focusing on the digital technology and how it's driving change. But I think it was a notion that, again, we are seeing some significant change that's happening. But I think that one of the things that I came to realize over time, because I was so focused on these opportunities and things that were emerging around the world and the need for change and the need for transformation. And I was encountering significant resistance from leaders of organizations and from people within the organization. When I talked about the need for change and transformation. And the thing that I learned, and has become a real focus for my work now, is rather than just focusing on strategy and business, focus on emotions. Focus on the emotions that are shaping our choices and actions. And one of the things I came to realize was that in a world of rapid change, the emotion of fear becomes more and more prevalent. And fear? Well, it's understandable. I think there are reasons for fear in a rapidly changing world. It's also very limiting. It holds you back. You become much more risk averse. You erode trust in other people. You don't want to look out into the future. You just want to focus on today. You need to find ways to move beyond the fear and cultivate other emotions that will help you to have much more impact that's meaningful to you and others. And that's become a real focus for me, is how do we make that journey beyond the fear? It was my most recent book is The Journey Beyond Fear, because I've come to believe that psychology and emotions are really the key that's going to determine how we move forward.KEEN: That was very personable, John. And I know that you've had a lot of experience of fear in your own personal life as well as in a professional context. Do you think one of the narratives, perhaps the central story for you over the last 20 years, has been overcoming fear?HAGEL: Yes. Well, I think that it certainly was a period of change for me and helped me to really reflect on how much the emotion of fear had been driving my life. But at the same time, I began to see that there were things that had really excited me throughout my life. And while they were quite different, you know, my first book was in 1976, and it was on alternative energy technologies. A little bit early, but throughout my life I had been excited about certain things, like alternative energy technologies, and when I stepped back and reflected, well, was I just shifting all over the place to different things, or was there a common element in all of these? I began to realize that what really excited me, and where my passion was, was in looking into the future and seeing emerging opportunities and helping to make people aware of those opportunities and ultimately motivate them to address those opportunities. And that was my passion and really helped me to overcome my fear, even though there's still fear there, it's never fully eliminated. But it's what really kept me going and keeps me going today.KEEN: Your 20-year narrative, John seems to have been pretty successful. You've learned a lot. You've published a lot. You succeeded in many ways. But that personal narrative, is that reflected in the world itself? It seems in some ways, certainly according to the pessimists who seem to be dominant these days in our zeitgeist, the world is taking a step back. If John Hagel took a step forward between 2005 and 2025, the world has taken a step back. Is that fair?HAGEL: No, I think it's very fair. I think that if I had to generalize, and obviously generalizations need some qualification, but generalizing, I would say that over the past 20 years, the emotion of fear has become more and more prevalent around the world. At the highest levels of organizations, lowest levels out in the communities. And again, while I think it's understandable, I think it's a very limiting emotion, and it's creating more and more challenge for us in terms of: how do we really embrace the change that's going to be required and capture the opportunities that are available to us? So I think that it's become a real focus for me and again, was the motivation for me to write the book The Journey Beyond Fear. I'm wanting to help people, first of all, acknowledge the fear, because I think many people don't even want to admit that they're afraid. And we live in cultures where if you say you're afraid, you're a weakling. But acknowledge the fear, recognize its limits, and find ways to move forward beyond it. And that's what I'm focused on now.KEEN: Is that fear, John, has it been most clearly manifested over the last 20 years in politics, particularly in the growth of liberal populism, which, in many people's views, you may or may not agree with it, is the way in which politicians take advantage of the culture of fear?HAGEL: It's complicated. I think there are factors that are helping to intensify the fear. A bit controversial or provocative. But I actually, in the United States, I believe both sides of our political spectrum are equally guilty in the sense that they have both focused on what I call "threat-based narratives," the enemies coming together. So, we're all going to die. We need to mobilize now and resist, or we're going to die. The enemy differs depending on which side you're on, but it's all about the threat. The enemy feeds the fear. And you look at our news media and challenge people to say, Tell me, when was the last time you heard a good news story? It's all about the latest catastrophe. Somewhere in the world where people have died and more are going to die. And so I think that there are factors that are feeding the fear, unfortunately, and making it an even more challenging emotion to overcome.KEEN: John, you spoke at DLD in 2016, and the focus of your talk was on storytelling, on the narrative of fear, on telling a good story. Is that the key to addressing so much of the fear in the world today, is telling a different story?HAGEL: Well, I have to be careful because I use words with different meanings than most people do. When I when I say narrative, most people say, you're talking about stories. Yeah, we know about stories. No, I believe there's an important distinction between stories and narratives. So for me, stories are self-contained. They have a beginning, a middle and an end to them. The end, the stories over. And the story is about me, the storyteller, or it's about some other people, real or imagined. It's not about you. In contrast, for me, a narrative is open ended. There's some big threat or opportunity out in the future. Not clear whether it's going to be achieved or not. And the resolution of the narrative hinges on you. It's a call to action to say, your choices, your actions are going to help determine how this narrative plays out. And again, I believe we've become increasingly dominated around the world by threat-based narratives. When we look into the future, there are huge threats, big challenges. Who's focused on the really big opportunities, inspiring opportunities, that could bring us all together? And what amazing things we could accomplish. So, I have become a strong believer that what I call opportunity-based narratives can become a powerful catalyst to help us move beyond the fear and start to cultivate an emotion that I call the passion of the explorer, that will help people to really have much more impact in a rapidly changing world.KEEN: In thinking about this alternative narrative, I'm thinking about it perhaps in architectural terms. Might we imagine this to be storytelling from the edge, or at least an architecture, a narrative architecture, which is built around the edge rather than some imaginary center?HAGEL: Well, again, I want to make the distinction between stories and narratives. I'm talking about narratives.KEEN: Right. Your idea of a narrative is more profound. It's deeper than the way most of us think about narratives. I take your point.HAGEL: Yes, I want to be explicit about that because—and not to dismiss the power of stories, I think stories can be very useful as well. But in making The Journey Beyond Fear—one of the things I should mention is, I've studied, throughout history, movements for social change in different parts of the world, different periods of history. And one of the things that I think is interesting is, the most successful movements for social change around the world throughout history, have been driven by what I describe as an opportunity-based narrative. The leaders were focused on a really inspiring opportunity that could bring people together and excite them. Just one small example that many people here in the U.S., at least, are familiar with is Martin Luther King's speech in Washington, D.C., "I Have a Dream." Amazing things we could accomplish. And yes, there are obstacles and barriers, absolutely. But the focus was on the opportunity of coming together and achieving amazing things.KEEN: John, you and I have talked about this before. Perhaps the most influential modern philosopher is Thomas Hobbes, 17th-century author of Leviathan. He made fear, and I think in many ways his theory of the world was built around his life, he was a very fearful man, and he didn't think fear was a bad thing. He actually thought it was a good thing for humans to recognize the value of fear. I don't want to revisit Hobbes. I know you're not a political philosopher, but at the same time, is there value to fear? Does it have any value at all, or your view, do we really need to simply overcome it and move beyond it?HAGEL: No. No. I am not in any way suggesting we will eliminate it. I believe fear is something that's intrinsic. And an example I give—and this ties to another emotion I mentioned briefly, passion of the explorer. I've come to believe that if we're really going to achieve significant impact in a rapidly changing world, we need to cultivate a very specific form of passion, the passion of the explorer. And I've studied this in many different domains, but one interesting domain is extreme sports. I've spent a lot of time with big wave surfers. Interesting thing, if you talk to a big wave surfer as they're paddling out to ride the next big wave, they're afraid. They know that people have not only fallen off their board, but have died riding those waves. So they're afraid, and they're using the fear to focus on what are the risks, how can I manage the risks? But they are paddling with Excitement. To get out, to ride that wave. They're not letting the fear dominate them. And so I think that's the interesting dynamic and relationship that needs to be established, to use the fear to focus on the risks. But don't let it stop you from making significant change.KEEN: You've clearly learned a great deal over the last 20 years, John. Do you have any regrets, though? Have you made mistakes? Are there things you wish you'd done that you haven't?HAGEL: You know, I think that it's complicated. I do believe that the big mistake in the early days was really focusing so much on the opportunities that were being, created and not recognizing the role of emotions in preventing us from addressing those opportunities. And so it's led to a significant shift in my life and my thinking and my work around...and I'm not ignoring the opportunities, I'm continuing to explore the opportunities. But at the same time, I'm really focused on how we address the obstacles and barriers that are preventing us from getting to those opportunities. And that's where I'm spending more and more of my time.KEEN: When we think back to 2005, most of the same big tech companies were around. Amazon, Google, Microsoft. Facebook was just beginning. There was a very positive, broadly, outlook on tech those days. Today, in 2025, things have changed dramatically. Is that fair, do you think?HAGEL: Well, again, it's complicated. I think that this is one of the areas where fear is really demonstrating itself, anything large and big. One of the big issues that I see, it's not just tech, by the way, I mean, there are surveys around the world that...our trust in large institutions around the world is eroding at a very rapid rate. And when I say this to people that they nod their heads. They've all seen the surveys. Very few people that I know of have asked the question, why? What's driving that erosion of trust? And I believe I've come to believe, based on the research I've done, that a big factor is fear, the emotion of fear, which leads to erosion of trust. And so we need to really understand, why are we so fearful and what can we do to address it? And I don't want to dismiss, I think there are issues, too, in terms of, and I'll just mention quickly, in technology, one of the big issues with the large tech companies is they tend to be supported by advertising models and commission-based models, where they're being paid by the advertiser and the vendors, and the user of the technology, you're the product. And so I think more and more people are beginning to realize that a tech company's primary loyalty is not to you as the user, it's to the people who are paying all the bills. So, I think there are reasons for erosion of trust. But I do think that we need to recognize that fear is a significant factor as well.KEEN: Have you changed your own view of the potential of technology over the last 20 years? You've been in Silicon Valley for a long time, John. You're one of the most distinguished, respected people. You're not a billionaire type, so you're not just a drum beater. But at the same time, you're a man who's not just naturally negative and skeptical. Do you think you're more or less optimistic and positive about the impact of tech, particularly big tech, on the world today in 2025 than you were in 2005?HAGEL: Good question. I think that I'm by nature an optimist, so I'm always looking at opportunities in the future. And I think that technology can still produce amazing new opportunities. One of the interesting things to me—it's not getting as much attention as I think it should is the role of technology innovation in biology and health and wellness. Helping us to live longer, healthier, better lives. And I think we're just in the earliest stages of that technology being developed. But rather than technology being outside us, technology is increasingly going to be inside us and helping us to lead much fuller lives. And so I'm very optimistic about that. And I do believe that the world is changing at a rapid rate, and I'm a believer that we're going to see major new technology companies emerge. And a lot of the current technology leaders will be disrupted and cast to the side. So, more change to come.KEEN: Are there individuals over the last 20 years who have, in your mind, captured the spirit of the age? When one thinks of Elon Musk, for example, he seems to be someone immune from fear. For better or worse—he's not always the most popular man in the world, certainly the richest man in the world. But are there men—and they tend to be men, perhaps women—over the last 20 years, who, for you, have captured all the best and, perhaps some of the worst, of world history in this first quarter of the 21st century?HAGEL: Wow. Well, in that context, I want to answer the question I get from a lot of people since I've been in Silicon Valley for so long is: how do you explain the continued success of Silicon Valley for so many decades? And most people, when confronted with that question, will say, well, it's the venture capitalists, it's the universities, it's the infrastructure. No, I believe that the success of Silicon Valley is being driven by an opportunity-base narrative, which is fundamentally—we have exponentially expanding digital technology that can enable us to change the world for the better. But it's not going to happen automatically. You need to come to Silicon Valley. Will you come? It's the reason why the majority of successful entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley—most people don't know this—the majority of successful entrepreneurs were not born in the United States, much less in Silicon Valley. They were drawn here from all over the world. And it's because they were driven by, again, a very specific passion that I call the passion of the explorer. And that's where they're excited about new territory and are excited about venturing out on the edges, excited about finding ways to have more and more impact that's meaningful to people. And I think that's really been a continuing driver of success in the Valley. KEEN: John, you live in the North Bay, just north of San Francisco, over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. This part of the world was discovered by one of the great explorers in world history, Francis Drake. And there's a wonderful bay not too far from where you live called the Drake Bay. I've walked around there. Is this concept that you introduced called the "explorer," is it a feature of Western civilization? Is Sir Francis Drake, or was Sir Francis Drake, an early example of this?HAGEL: You know, I wouldn't say Western civilization. I would say of humanity in general. I mean, again, I think that one of the things that I continually hear from people is fear is what helped us stay alive and made us human. And my response to that is, well, if we were completely driven by fear, we would still be living in the jungle, hiding from the tigers and the lions. What happened? We had a desire to explore and to see new things and to try new things. And it led to the emergence of agriculture civilizations around the world. And it was a process of exploration, but it really motivated a number of people so that they would move out and make progress. And I think we're just still exploring.KEEN: I mentioned, John, you talked about DLD in 2016. I know you're a big fan of the event, Europe's top innovation—I wouldn't call it a summit, it's a gathering of influencers like yourself. Over this last 20 years, the American economy has, for better or worse, marched ahead, and Europe has become increasingly stagnant. The German economy, the EU's economy, the United Kingdom's economy...In your view, is an important development over the last 20 years...has Europe—broadly, I know you can't talk about all individuals—but has Europe lost the inspiration of exploring that you're such a believer in?HAGEL: You know, I'm not sure I would generalize about Europe as a region in that regard. I think there are interesting parts of Europe that are doing some very interesting and innovative things. And so I think the challenge is that, again, we live in a world, a global economy, where competition is intensifying on a global scale. And Europe in general has failed to really respond effectively to that and maintain ways of of creating more and more value in that kind of world. So again, I'm an optimist, and I'm hopeful that people will see that potential. But right now, what I'm seeing in Europe and the rest of the world is the emotion of fear holding people back and saying, no, no, let's just hold on to what we have and find ways to make it through. And unfortunately, I think that's the wrong the wrong response.KEEN: I know it's easy to return to 2005, and it's impossible in practice. But had you gone back to John Hagel in 2005, do you think you'd be surprised by the power of the American innovation economy and the relative weakness of the European one?HAGEL: That's a good question. I'm not sure. I wasn't really forecasting particular geographies as areas that would grow and areas that wouldn't grow. I did see, again, an expanding global economy wherein there is increasing competition from other parts of the world, non-European, non-U.S., and so the challenge was how do we respond to that? And that's the issue that we're facing.KEEN: That's the issue indeed, we are facing, John. You and I are talking in November of 2024 in anticipation of the DLD 20-year anniversary of their event in January 2025. Where are we in late 2024 in the world? How would you summarize our situation?HAGEL: Well, again, I think it's a paradox. I think at one level, the situation is very unfortunate in the sense that the emotion of fear is dominating every country in the world. I don't see any countries where it's really the excitement and passion that's driving people. But on the other side, I also see the technology and trends in the world are creating more and more opportunity to to create value at exponential levels. And so I'm, again, an optimist and I'm hopeful that we can find ways to move beyond the fear and see the opportunities and pursue them and create the value that's there to be created.KEEN: I didn't see that fear, certainly in Silicon Valley, John, with the billions of dollars now going into the AI economy, to the booming biotech sector and the other technology sectors that you've talked about. Is there fear, in Silicon Valley, do you see it?HAGEL: Well, again, I think Silicon Valley stands out because many, if not all, the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley were drawn here by passion and excitement to create more and more value. And yes, they have fear. If you talk to them, they're afraid the startup could collapse next month. Their customers could go away. But they're driven by that excitement of having that kind of impact. And I think that's what explains the continued success of Silicon Valley. But it stands out as one of those few areas where passion, and specifically, again, the passion of the explorer—and I haven't gone into detailed definition of what I mean by that, but it's based on research—that passion of the explorer that will help people to move beyond the fear and achieve impact that's much more meaningful to them.KEEN: John if we'd been talking in 2005, I don't suppose you, or most analysts of the Future of the Edge, whatever you want to describe it, would have brought up AI as being central. Today, of course, it's all anyone talks about in late 2024, early 2025. If you put your futurist on, and you've mentioned biotech...there are other technologies which have the potential to take off, quantum, for example. What technology do you think is most underrated in terms of imagining the next 20 years?HAGEL: Well, again, I would probably go to biotech as the area that is not getting as much attention as it should, because I believe it has the potential. There is an expression in Silicon Valley, "the longevity escape velocity." It's this notion that with this technology, we will be able, ultimately, to basically live forever. We won't have to worry about dying. And not just living forever, but being healthy and more vibrant and flourishing more than we've ever flourished in the past. And I think that's being underestimated as a potential driver of significant change in our lives and in our society.KEEN: Some people will hear that, John, and be very fearful of that. And lots of novels and stories and music have been made suggesting that if we live forever, life will become a nightmare. We'll be bored by everything and everyone. Should we, in any way, be fearful of that world you're describing?HAGEL: And again, you know, sure, if we're going to live our lives in fear for an eternity, yes, we should be afraid of living our lives in fear. But I believe as human beings, we all have within us the potential for that passion that I described, the passion of the explorer, which is never ending. No matter how much impact you achieve, if you're pursuing that passion, you're driven to have even more impact. What can I do to have even more impact? And excited about it and fulfilled by it. This is nourishing. I think people who have this passion will want to live forever. They will be excited to live forever. And we all have the potential to find that passion within us. By the way, I would just say we I get a lot of pushback. Yes, John, come on. Some of us are capable of this passion, but most of us just want to be told what to do and have the security of an income. My response is, let's go to a playground and look at children 5 or 6 years old. Show me one that doesn't have that kind of excitement about exploring and coming together and trying new things, seeing the things. We all had it as children. What happened to us? We went to school and we were taught by the teacher, "Just listen to the teacher. Memorize what the teacher has to say and show on the exam. So you've memorized it." I've studied the US public school system. It was explicitly designed to prepare us for work environments where the key was just to read the manual, follow the manual, do what's assigned. Passion is suspect, passionate people ask too many questions. Passionate people deviate from the script, they take too many risks. Why would you want passionate people? Just get people who will do their job. And so I think, back to your question about AI, again, I think there is obviously a lot of fear about AI. And one of the reasons for the fear is when I talk to executives, senior executives, about AI, I get two questions. First, how quickly can I automate with AI? And secondly, how many jobs can I eliminate with AI? It's all about scalable efficiency, faster and cheaper. I believe the role of AI is to help us become human again. To take away all of that work, the routine tasks, highly standardized, routine tasks that most of us do on a daily basis, and free us up to actually explore and find ways to create new value and have impact that's meaningful to us. That's exciting.KEEN: If you're right, John, if the next 20 years are ones where there is a profound biotech revolution—and we may not live forever, but certainly will live longer and longer lives—what do we need to address? Seems to me as if one area would be inequality, given that already in America, the difference between how long people live in on the coasts, in California or New York, are quite different from the hinterland. Does this concern you, if indeed you're right? What are the the biggest threats and challenges in a world where longevity is the central reality?HAGEL: Now, again, you talk about threats and challenges. I would talk about opportunities. The opportunities are to help everyone achieve more, to help them all find their passion, help them all find ways to earn income from their passion and achieve more impact that's meaningful to them and to others. And yes, there are issues like inequality, climate change, all the rest, limited resources in the world. But I believe with technology and innovation, we can overcome all those obstacles and achieve amazing results for everyone.KEEN: Finally, John, you're naturally an optimist. So, for me to ask you to put on your rose-tinted glasses might be slightly inappropriate, but if you were to think most positively about the future, in 20 years' time in 2045, if DLD celebrates its 40th anniversary, what kind of world could this be? Imagine the best kind of world. Would it be like a giant kindergarten? Like people are running around and excited all the time before the teachers got their hands on it?HAGEL: You know, my belief is that if we can really unleash this passion and excitement about driving change and creating more value, that we can create a world where every living thing flourishes. Not just human beings, not just animals, plants, every living being flourishing in ways that would have been unimaginable 20 years earlier, because we're all creating an environment that helps us to flourish. And to me, that's what's really the potential and exciting.KEEN: Do you think the next 20 years will bring more change than the previous 20 years?HAGEL: It's going to bring a lot of change. I suspect it's going to be even more change, because we're talking about exponential change and change exponentially increases over time.KEEN: Well, John Hagel, who spoke at DLD in 2016, a great friend of the conference, a real honor, John, and a pleasure. And I hope we will meet again in 2045 to see whether or not you were right. Thank you so much.HAGEL: Excellent. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
This season will feature conversations with key decision-makers who have to support the journey to a platform or any ecosystem. We will talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be bought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Dave discuss: Dave's background and what led him to start TidemarkTidemark's VSKP framework on how a Vertical SaaS company can win their category, expand their offerings, and then, for a select few, extend through the value chainWhat it really means to be a control point and why it mattersThe mindset (and perhaps mindset shift) that is required to build a strong ecosystemThe wedges you need to be mindful of and the problems they can cause on your journeyThinking about the varying horizons of your product roadmap and how to synthesize them in actionable paths forwardHow to determine if your team is ready for the platform journeyAnd much more! Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Dave YuanFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
As new technologies like AI, are disrupting the way we work, there is an increasing need for effective ways to integrate these innovations into workflows. Learning to use new technologies effectively is a primary focus of learning teams around the world. But how can we quickly and proactively adapt to new technologies? McKinsey & Company's Research & Innovation Learning Lab values developing capabilities that enable teams to stay current with their ever-changing landscape of emerging tech and lead through changes in the future. In this episode, I speak with two learning design experts who have developed a dynamic approach to fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation with emerging tech, all within existing constraints. Sam Lee is a Learning Design Expert at McKinsey & Company at the New York City office, with over a decade of experience in workplace learning domains. She has served in learning design and product leadership roles to design, scale, and innovate learning journeys for a global audience, focusing on future-ready digital leadership and tech skills. Sam is passionate about merging learning science and emerging technologies like AI to enable hyper-personalized learning experiences at scale. Veronica Gomez is a learning design expert passionate about learning science and co-creating joyful learning experiences. She leads global design projects for some of McKinsey's large learning initiatives and programs. Gomez has a master's degree in educational technology and complements that with her psychology and web design background to build human-centered experiences that strive for equitable access to learning. Sam Lee's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/junghwasamleeny/ Veronica Gomez's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronicagomezatencio/ Future-proof L&D's capabilities: three questions can guide your team toward fluency in emerging technologies (ATD Magazine): https://www.td.org/content/td-magazine/future-proof-lampdrsquos-capabilities
In this special live audience episode of Elevate Care, Kerry Perez is joined by Meredith LaPointe and Pat McCall to tackle the pressing workforce challenges in healthcare. Recorded live at the Rethink Client Summit in October 2024, this discussion explores how technology can create a seamless experience for both healthcare providers and patients. They also dive into the concept of vendor neutrality in staffing solutions and examine workforce trends shaping the future of healthcare. Learn more about the show: https://www.amnhealthcare.com/campaign/elevate-care-podcast/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Workforce Challenges in Healthcare 02:25 Understanding a Balanced Workforce 04:42 Key Enablers for Workforce Balance 06:39 Technology's Role in Workforce Management 09:28 Vendor Neutrality in Staffing Solutions 12:15 Trends in Healthcare Workforce Management 15:01 Future of Workforce Solutions in Healthcare About Meredith Meredith Lapointe is the Chief Business Officer for AMN Healthcare and is responsible for the organization's corporate growth strategy, enterprise client management including MSP accounts, marketing, communications, clinical support, and workforce analytics business. Previously, Ms. Lapointe worked as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she served healthcare companies for nearly two decades – ranging from national and regional health systems, academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, healthcare service organizations, and smaller provider networks – in transforming capabilities and operational performance. She helped organizations create dynamic, high performing workforces to meet the needs of patients and healthcare systems. Ms. Lapointe holds a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering and Studio Art from Dartmouth College, a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business. Ms. Lapointe is passionate about STEAM education and has served on the board of a children's theater organization. She enjoys volunteering at her county's food bank and in the local school district. About Patrick Patrick McCall is the Chief Growth Officer of AMN Healthcare and is responsible for leading enterprise sales and implementation functions, ensuring alignment across the business. Mr. McCall is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in sales and operations and has held senior executive roles in several Fortune 500 organizations. He has a proven track record in growth acceleration and has been recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) as one of the industry's most influential leaders. Mr. McCall most recently served as Chief Revenue Officer at People2.0, where he utilized his extensive experience leading sales organizations on an international level. Before his time with People2.0, Mr. McCall worked as Global Chief Sales Officer at Randstad, a leading global talent organization and valued strategic partner to AMN Healthcare. Mr. McCall holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from North Carolina State University, and he fundraises for the American Cancer Society and the Alzheimer's Association through cycling events. About Kerry Kerry Perez leads the design and development of enterprise strategy in addition to overseeing Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Creative Services. Ms. Perez joined AMN Healthcare in 2007 and has held various roles during her tenure, including recruitment, marketing, innovation, strategy, and M&A. She most recently served as the company's Vice President of Enterprise Strategy. She also stood up AMN Healthcare's Diligence and Integration Management Office, which led the strategic and functional integration of new acquisitions to drive synergy. She was named among Staffing Industry Analyst's Top 40 Under 40 in 2021, and she hosts the AMN Healthcare podcast, Elevate Care. Ms. Perez maintains the guiding principles of being customer obsessed, thinking big and delivering results. She has a passion for mentoring emerging leaders and building effective teams. Ms. Perez holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of California at Santa Barbara. For more than four years, she has served on the board of Dallas-based nonprofit, CitySquare, which focuses on fighting the causes and effects of poverty. Connect with Kerry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerrycperez/ FIND US ONWebsite – https://www.amnhealthcare.com/podcast/elevate-care-podcast/YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@ElevateCarePodcastSpotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5R2oWLZXYfjtPGW7o5KpuoApple – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elevate-care/id1710406359Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amnhealthcare/LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/amn-healthcare/X – https://twitter.com/amnhealthcare/Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/amnhealthcare/ Powered by AMN Healthcare
He highlights the importance of focusing on applying current innovations rather than constantly creating new ones at MWC Barcelona. He emphasizes the need for more research to drive user adoption and simplify user interfaces for a smoother experience. Watch the full episode here
“The biggest advice I have for CEOs is to ask, what are you trying to solve? What's your strategy? What's your business problem? And then we can think about how AI can support that.” That's the message of Delphine Zurkiya, a senior partner at the strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey & Company who works with clients while also leading her division's AI initiatives. In this episode, we discuss AI adoption, reskilling teams for this new era of work, and the value of being completely transparent about when and how you use AI. WorkLab Subscribe to the WorkLab newsletter Microsoft Podcasts – Stay connected, informed, and entertained with original podcasts from Microsoft
"Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way." — Daniele VareAre we underestimating the role cannabis could play in shaping global influence? U.S. brands have historically had global appeal, but could cannabis open the door to new trade opportunities and strategic value on an international scale? Who will lead these global negotiations when the U.S. is still struggling with a state-by-state approach?Can state-level influence accelerate global change, and what would the timeline for such a shift look like?This week, we sit down with Hirsh Jain to explore these critical questions and more.Cannabis Shifting Global PoliciesKey Red States to Watch The Role of Soft Power in Shaping International Cannabis Policy Key Topics Discussed:Hirsh's background and journey into the cannabis industry (00:02:06 - 00:06:05)The United States' potential to influence global cannabis policy and legalization (00:06:41 - 00:14:32)The importance of state-level legalization progress in the U.S. and its impact on federal action (00:14:44 - 00:18:28)Predictions on key states to watch for future legalization efforts (00:18:29 - 00:20:01)The role of hemp products and their impact on the cannabis industry (00:38:22 - 00:45:04)The responsibility of the cannabis industry and public health authorities to educate on cannabis (00:45:19 - 00:49:10)Hirsh's "dream smoking session" with three historical figures (00:49:18 - 00:50:31)Hirsh's contrarian view that regulators need to be held more accountable (00:50:37 - 00:51:20)The potential for the U.S. to leverage cannabis legalization for strategic international alliances (00:51:48 - 00:53:26)About Hirsh Jain Hirsh Jain is the Founder of Ananda Strategy, a strategy consultancy which advises leading cannabis brands, retailers, ancillary technology businesses and venture capital funds in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. Hirsh also serves as Vice Chair of the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, which aims to promote the common interests of cannabis businesses by advocating for sound public policy and facilitating collaborations between cannabis operators. In addition, Hirsh is on the Board of Directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in California, which for fifty years has been working to reform California's cannabis laws. Prior to working in cannabis, Hirsh was the Global Policy Lead at Airbnb in San Francisco. Before that, he worked as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in New York City. Hirsh has a B.A. in Philosophy from UC Berkeley, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.Guest Links Hirsh Jain (@anandastrategy) on Xhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hirsh-jain/Instagram (@anandastrategy)Link about Bayard Rustin Our LinksBryan Fields on Twitter Kellan Finney on Twitter The Dime on Twitter At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev), we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in the cannabinoid industry.8th Revolution Cannabinoid Playbook is an Industry-leading report covering the entire cannabis supply chain The Dime is a top 5% most shared global podcast The Dime has a New Website. Shhhh its not finished. The Dime is a top 50 Cannabis Podcast Sign up for our playbook here:
La equidad de género es algo que siempre hemos abordado en Cuentos Corporativos, el que las empresas apoyen a sus equipos femeninos a desarrollarse es crucial, ya que las mujeres representan más de la mitad de la población y mantener esta diferencia es algo que no tiene sentido, además de que nos afecta a todos…Totalmente… y es que además, está comprobado que incluir La diversidad de género en la toma de decisiones de las empresas conlleva un mejor desempeño financiero de hasta un 25% y esto no lo digo yo… lo dice la consultora McKinsey & Company, quienes llevan ya muchos estudios realizados sobre el rol tan importante que tienen las mujeres en las empresas y sobre todo, el potencial de crecimiento si estas brechas de género se atacan.Vamos a hablar con una persona que es experta en el tema y ha desarrollado una alternativa para disminuir esta brecha… Había una vez una niña colombiana que desde pequeña vio las diferencias que se hacían entre niños y niñas. Rompiendo estereotipos, decide estudiar Ingeniería Industrial en la Universidad Bolivariana de Bucaramanga, para después hacer una Maestría en Administración de Empresas en la Universidad Externado de Colombia.Apasionada por la educación y la tecnología, sus inicios profesionales se dan en empresas como Ecopetrol, Next U y Ubits, donde adquiere gran experiencia liderando estrategias y procesos de educación online y aprendizaje corporativo.María Paula Quicasán decide en 2020 fundar, junto con su amiga del colegio, Michelle Bilodeau, Igrow Academy y hoy se desempeña como COO. Igrow se enfoca en apoyar el crecimiento profesional de las mujeres en Latinoamérica, atacando la brecha de género que se vive.A la fecha, tienen ya más de 2000 estudiantes en 28 países del mundo y siguen en franco crecimiento.A continuación los 3 puntos más importantes de la conversación con María Paula: * El origen de iGrow Academy: María Paula relata cómo su experiencia personal y profesional, sumada a los desafíos que enfrentan muchas mujeres en el ámbito laboral, la llevó a fundar iGrow Academy. La academia tiene como misión empoderar a mujeres para que alcancen posiciones de liderazgo y emprendan sus propios proyectos.* El desafío del empoderamiento femenino: Durante la conversación, se destaca cómo muchas mujeres se enfrentan a barreras culturales y familiares que limitan su crecimiento. María Paula subraya la importancia de romper con esos paradigmas para que las mujeres se sientan capaces de perseguir sus metas.* Impacto y expansión de iGrow Academy: A la fecha, iGrow ha formado a más de 2.000 mujeres en 28 países, logrando un cambio significativo en la mentalidad de muchas de ellas. Sin embargo, el siguiente reto es fomentar la acción, para que más mujeres tomen decisiones audaces en sus carreras y emprendimientos.Te invitamos a estar pendientes de nuestros canales y a suscribirte para que no te pierdes ningún episodio:* Blog / Newsletter: www.cuentoscorporativos.substack.com* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cuentoscorporativos* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuentos_corporativos/* X (Twitter): https://x.com/CuentosCorpEmail: adolfo@cuentoscorporativos.com#EmpoderamientoFemenino #CuentosCorporativos #iGrowAcademy #LiderazgoFemenino #MujeresEmprendedoras #MujeresLideres #PodcastDeNegocios #Innovación #HistoriasDeÉxito #RompiendoParadigmas #EducaciónOnline #Sororidad #MentoríaFemenina #TransformaciónDigital #InteligenciaEmocional #DesarrolloProfesional #Inspiración #Emprendimiento #Startups #LiderazgoTransformador This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cuentoscorporativos.substack.com
Ready to build your email list without becoming glued to Instagram? (Yes, it's possible!) In this episode, I chat with business strategist and systems guru Jessica Lackey about how she grew her newsletter without the social media hustle. Yep, you heard that right—no reels, no hashtags, just a beautifully crafted newsletter that people actually want to read.
In this episode of The Beat Podcast, host Sandy Vance sits down with Sam Dorison, Co-Founder and CEO of ReflexAI, to explore the transformative role of AI technology in healthcare. From its origins at the Trevor Project to its groundbreaking applications today, ReflexAI is revolutionizing patient care through advanced AI-driven simulations. Join us as Sam delves into how ReflexAI's innovative solutions are addressing critical challenges in the healthcare industry, enhancing patient support, and improving training environments. Discover the impact of ReflexAI's technology and get an insider's look at how it's shaping the future of healthcare.ReflexAI helps maximize training and quality assurance platforms using AI in order to help cut costs and increase efficiency. You can email questions and reach out to Sam at contact@reflexai.com. In this episode, they talk about:The evolution of ReflexAI from its inception at the Trevor Project.How ReflexAI leverages AI technology to tackle challenges in the healthcare industry.Creating Healthcare Flight Simulator for front line cliniciansSpecific use cases where ReflexAI's AI-driven simulations have been particularly impactful in healthcare settings.How ReflexAI's AI-driven simulations enhance patient support and training across various healthcare environments.An overview of the mechanics behind ReflexAI and its impact on improving patient care.A Little About Sam:Sam Dorison is the Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer at ReflexAI. An expert in artificial intelligence strategy and product deployment, Dorison has been involved with AI-powered products in industries ranging from mental health to cybersecurity to smart cities.Before launching ReflexAI, he served as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at The Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. There, he published five peer-reviewed articles on mental health and oversaw teams including crisis services, training, research, technology, and finance. Dorison previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Harvard Kennedy School. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. He also holds an LL.M. from Cambridge University and a master's degree from University College London, both as a Marshall Scholar. Beyond ReflexAI, Dorison is heavily involved in causes that support families impacted by cancer. Dorison lives in New York City with his husband.
Mark Lotman is the Co-founder and COO of Monocle, which creates AI-powered customer incentives for businesses. After developing product strategies and pricing and fostering customer engagement at Stripe and McKinsey & Company, Mark founded Monocle to optimize incentives. Noam Szpiro is the Co-founder and CEO of Monocle, where he leverages his experience as an engineering manager and director at Lyft and Instacart. Noam is also the former Co-founder of Interviews.tech, a marketplace for mock interviews with tech companies that he sold in 2022. In this episode… Customer incentives are gaining significant traction in the eCommerce space, with brands offering exclusive deals to drive conversions. Yet with customer acquisition costs rising, discounts have become costly, so brands must be strategic with their offerings to maintain profitability. How can you optimize your incentive programs? Customer engagement experts Mark Lotman and Noam Szpiro leverage causal AI to personalize customer discounts and incentives. This analyzes key customer behaviors, preferences, and engagement rates to determine ideal offerings. Personalizing incentives based on how customers interact with your brand allows you to identify the offers' incremental value so you can drive conversions and increase lifetime value. You can also utilize A/B testing to establish ideal discounts that boost profitability and ROI. In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant chats with Mark Lotman and Noam Szpiro of Monocle about how to leverage customer incentives to drive conversions while maintaining profitability. Together, they discuss how to integrate Monocle into email, SMS, and direct mail campaigns, customer personalization trends, and their recommended software platforms.
After working from home gained widespread adoption out of necessity, organizations must now optimize their remote work strategies for the long term. Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom joins the Talent Angle to explain the implications of return-to-office mandates for organizations and their workforce. Drawing upon data on employee sentiment, workforce productivity and organizational performance, Bloom shares how organizations can set the right strategy for their context. He argues that, in many cases, remote work enables enough profitability to outweigh leaders' concerns about productivity, and shares how to approach collaboration in a hybrid world. Nicholas Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Nick's research focuses on working from home, management practices and uncertainty. He previously worked at the U.K. Treasury, McKinsey & Company and the IFS. He has a BA from Cambridge, an MPhil from Oxford, and a PhD from University College London. Nick is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of the Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships, the Frisch Medal and a National Science Foundation Career Award. He was elected to Bloomberg50 for his advice on working from home. Caroline Walsh is a vice president in Gartner's HR practice.Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University.
Alexandria DeVito, MS, CNS, is a functional nutritionist who specializes in fertility and preconception health. She is the founder and CEO of Poplin, the first pre-pregnancy wellness company. Prior to founding Poplin, Alexandria worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company. She holds a MBA from Harvard Business School. She also has a master's degree in nutrition; extensive training as a doula, yoga teacher, and personal trainer; and is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner, all of which inform her approach to pre-pregnancy wellness. Alexandria's info: Website: https://9monthsisnotenough.com/ Website: https://getpoplin.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getpoplin/ Please click the button to subscribe so you don't miss any episodes and leave a review if your favorite podcast app has that ability. Thank you! Visit http://drlaurabrayton.com/podcasts/ for show notes and available downloads. © 2014 - 2024 Dr. Laura Brayton
We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige points. In the first episode of a special series originally published in 2022, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”) SOURCES:Peter Blair, faculty research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and professor of education at Harvard University.Catharine Hill, former president of Vassar College; trustee at Yale University; and managing director at Ithaka S+R.Morton Schapiro, professor of economics and former president of Northwestern University.Ruth Simmons, former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M University.Miguel Urquiola, professor of economics at Columbia University. RESOURCES:"Progressivity of Pricing at U.S. Public Universities," by Emily E. Cook and Sarah Turner (NBER Working Paper, 2022)."Community Colleges and Upward Mobility," by Jack Mountjoy (NBER Working Paper, 2021)."How HBCUs Can Accelerate Black Economic Mobility," (McKinsey & Company, 2021).Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research, by Miguel Urquiola (2021)."Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility," by Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner, and Danny Yagan (NBER Working Paper, 2017). EXTRAS:"'If We're All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024)."'A Low Moment in Higher Education,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2024)."The $1.5 Trillion Question: How to Fix Student-Loan Debt?" by Freakonomics Radio (2019)."Why Larry Summers Is the Economist Everyone Hates to Love," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).
Vanessa Liu, CEO and co-founder of Sugarwork, serial founder, business builder, digital media entrepreneur and technology innovator, and investor joins me on this episode. Vanessa was an aspiring astronaut in her youth, and at age 14 was chosen as part of a NASA delegation to go to the former USSR. She holds degrees in psychology and law from Harvard University. Vanessa began her career working for management consultancy McKinsey & Company, then was COO of start-up incubator Trigger Media, where she co-founded InsideHook and Fevo. Prior to co-founding Sugarwork, she was vice president of SAP.iO North America. Topics we cover include Vanessa's origin story, her early interest in being an astronaut, innovation, entrepreneurship, social impact, venture capital, the mission of Sugarwork, generative AI, and more. Get connected with Vanessa Website: https://www.sugarwork.com/about LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessawliu/ Twitter: https://x.com/vanessawliu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.w.liu Leave a 5-star review with a comment on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-minds-coffee-chat/id1539014324 Subscribe to my Business Builder Newsletter: https://bit.ly/32y0YxJ Want to learn how you can work with me to gain more clarity, build a rock-solid foundation for your business, and achieve the results and success you deserve? Visit http://jayscherrbusinessconsulting.com/ and schedule a 1:1 discovery coaching call. Enjoy, thanks for listening, and please share with a friend!
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Welcome to an interview with the coauthor of Business on the Edge: How to Turn a Profit and Improve Lives in the World's Toughest Places, Viva Ona Bartkus. In this book, they argue that by entering markets in the world's frontline regions—areas stuck in cycles of violence and extreme poverty—businesses can actually create stability and expand opportunity for communities and corporations alike. Business on the Edge shows how businesses can reduce risks, cut costs, and increase profits, all while creating economic opportunities that transform communities. Viva Ona Bartkus is Paul E. Purcell Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. She is a former partner at McKinsey & Company and the founder of the revolutionary course Business on the Frontlines. Get Business on the Edge here: https://rb.gy/a505d2 Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo
Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion, which makes angel investments, provides advisory services, and produces television, films, and video games. He's also a Venture Partner at Makers Fund, Senior Advisor to KKR, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, and sits on the board of numerous start-ups. Matthew is one of the sharpest and most original thinkers on the future of media and the Internet (i.e. The Metaverse). The fully revised and updated edition of his bestselling book "The Metaverse: Building the Spatial Internet" releases next week. Important Links: Matthew's website Matthew's Twitter Show Notes: Into The Metaverse AI and The Metaverse ‘AI Can Bend the Laws of Physics' Human Engineering and the Human Brain Screens and Education The Reflexivity of AI Doomerism The Salvation of the ‘TV Species' From Passive Media to Active Media ‘What's An Appropriate Simulation?' ‘We Don't Outlaw Fire, We Train Firemen' Applying the Precautionary Principle Media and the Metaverse: Three Stages of Competition The Enduring Value of Taste Hardware and AI: The Vergence-Accommodation Conflict The Emperor of the Metaverse MORE! Books Mentioned: The Metaverse: Building the Spatial Internet; by Matthew Ball The Streaming Book; by Matthew Ball The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich
Every American who has a mortgage is required by their bank to have homeowners insurance, but getting it and keeping it is becoming a challenge. In this episode, hear the highlights of a Senate hearing examining the problems in the homeowners insurance market and why they might lead to much bigger problems next time disaster strikes. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via Support Congressional Dish via (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Effects of Climate on Insurance Christopher Flavelle and Mira Rojanasakul. May 13, 2024. The New York Times. Chris Van Hollen et al. September 7, 2023. Chris Van Hollen, U.S. Senator for Maryland. Alice C. Hill. August 17, 2023. Council on Foreign Relations. Insurance Information Institute. Antonio Grimaldi et al. November 19, 2020. McKinsey & Company. Lobbying OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets. Heritage Foundation SourceWatch. Demotech William Rabb. April 15, 2024. Insurance Journal. Parinitha Sastry et al. December 2023. Fannie Mae Adam Hayes. May 17, 2023. Investopedia. Hurricanes National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Audio Sources Senate Committee on the Budget June 5, 2024 Witnesses: Glen Mulready, Insurance Commissioner, State of Oklahoma Rade Musulin, Principal, Finity Consulting Dr. Ishita Sen, Assistant Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School Deborah Wood, Florida Resident , Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation's Grover Hermann Center for the Federal Budget Clips 23:05 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): In 2022 and 2023, more than a dozen insurance companies left the Florida residential market, including national insurers like Farmers. Residents fled to Citizens Property Insurance, the state backed insurer of last resort, which ballooned from a 4% market share in 2019 to as much as 17% last year. If it has to pay out claims that exceed its reserves, citizens can levy a surcharge on Florida insurance policy holders across the state. Good luck with that. Particularly if the surcharge grows to hundreds or even thousands of dollars to depopulate its books. Citizens has let private insurers cherry pick out its least risk policies. Those private insurers may have problems of their own, as we will hear today. 25:10 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): The federal budget takes a hit because these insurers and their policies are accepted by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, who either own or guarantee a large part of our $12 trillion mortgage market. This all sounds eerily reminiscent of the run-up to the mortgage meltdown of 2008, including a role of potentially captive or not fully responsible rating agencies. 25:45 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Florida is far from alone. A New York Times investigation found that the insurance industry lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states last year, and the states may surprise you. The list includes Illinois, Michigan, Utah, Washington, and Iowa. Insurers in Iowa lost money each of the last four years. This is a signal that hurricanes and earthquakes, once the most prevalent perils, are being rivaled by hail, windstorms, and wildfires. 28:00 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): This isn't all that complicated. Climate risk makes things uninsurable. No insurance makes things unmortgageable. No mortgages crashes the property markets. Crashed property markets trash the economy. It all begins with climate risk, and a major party pretending that climate risk isn't real imperils our federal budget and millions of Americans all across the country. 33:45 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Insurance premiums are far too high across the board and may increase after the recent storms, including those very storms in my state of Iowa. Climate change isn't the primary driver of insurance rate hikes and collapse of the insurance industry isn't imminent. Although I'll have to say, Iowa had six property and casualty companies pull out of insuring Iowans. Climate change doesn't explain why auto insurance premiums in 2024 have increased by a whopping 20% year over year. It also doesn't account for the consistent failure of liberal cities to fight crime, which has raised insurance risk and even caused insurers to deny coverage. Expensive liberal policies, not climate change, are much to blame for these market dynamics. 39:00 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): The first witness is Rade Musulin. Rade is an actuary with 45 years of experience in insurance, specializing in property pricing, natural perils, reinsurance, agriculture, catastrophe, risk modeling, public policy development, and climate risk. Specifically, he spent many years working in Florida, including as chair of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Advisory Council during the time in which Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was established. 39:35 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Our second witness is Dr. Ishida Sen. Dr. Sen is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School. Her recent research examines the pricing of property insurance and the interactions between insurance and mortgage markets. This includes the role that institutions and the regulatory landscape play and the broader consequences for real estate markets, climate adaptation, and our overall financial stability. 40:00 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Our third witness is Deb Wood. Ms. Wood and her husband Dan McGrath are both retired Floridians. They moved to South Florida in 1979 and lived in Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale for 43 years until skyrocketing insurance premiums became too much. They now reside in Tallahassee, Florida. 40:35 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Dr. EJ Antoni is a Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget. His research focuses on fiscal and monetary policy, and he previously was an economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Antoni earned his Master's degree and Doctor's degree in Economics from Northern Illinois University. 41:10 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Commissioner Glen Mulready has served as Oklahoma's 13th Insurance Commissioner and was first elected to this position in 2019. Commissioner Mulready started his insurance career as a broker in 1984, and also served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives. 42:15 Rade Musulin: Okay. My name is Ray Muslin. I'm an actuary who has extensive experience in natural hazard risks and funding arrangements for the damage and loss they cause. I've worked with many public sector entities on policy responses to the challenges of affordability, availability of insurance, and community resilience. This work included participating in Florida's response to Hurricane Andrew, which included the creation of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The Cat Fund and Citizens can access different forms of funding than traditional insurance companies. Instead of holding sufficient capital or reinsurance before an event to cover the cost of potential losses, both entities use public sources of capital to reduce upfront costs by partially funding losses post-event through bonding and assessments. All property casualty insurance policy holders, whether in Citizens or not, are subject to its assessments. While the Cat Fund can also assess almost all policies, including automobile, this approach exposes Floridians to debt and repayment if large losses occur, and it subsidizes high risk policies from the entire population. These pools, others like them in other states, and the NFIP have contributed to rapid development in high risk areas driving higher costs in the long run. In Florida, national insurers have reduced their exposure as a significant proportion of the insurance market has moved to Citizens or smaller insurers with limited capital that are heavily dependent on external reinsurance. To date, Florida's system has been successful in meeting its claims obligations, while improvements in building codes have reduced loss exposure. However, for a variety of reasons, including exposure to hurricanes, claims cost inflation, and litigation, Florida's insurance premiums are the highest in the nation, causing significant affordability stress for consumers. According to market research from Bankrate, the average premium for a $300,000 home in Florida is three times the national average, with some areas five times the national average. A major hurricane hitting a densely populated area like Miami could trigger large and long lasting post-event assessments or even exceed the system's funding capacity. Continued rapid exposure growth and more extreme hurricane losses amplified by climate change will cause increasing stress on the nation's insurance system, which may be felt through solvency issues, non-renewals, growth of government pools, and affordability pressure. 44:55 Rade Musulin: Evidence of increasing risk abounds, including Hurricane Otis in 2023, which rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a cat. five hurricane and devastated Acapulco in Mexico last summer. Water temperatures off Florida exceeded a hundred degrees Fahrenheit last week. As was alluded to earlier, NOAA forecast an extremely active hurricane season for '24. We've seen losses in the Mid-Atlantic from Sandy, record flooding from Harvey, and extreme devastation from Maria, among others. In coming decades, we must prepare for the possibility of more extreme hurricanes and coastal flooding from Texas to New England. 46:50 Dr. Ishita Sen: Good morning Senators. I am Ishita Sen, Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School and my research studies insurance markets. In recent work with co-authors at Columbia University and the Federal Reserve Board, I examine how climate risk creates fiscal and potentially financial instability because of miscalibrated insurer screening standards and repercussions to mortgage markets. 47:15 Dr. Ishita Sen: Insurance is critical to the housing market. Property insurers help households rebuild after disasters by preserving collateral values and reducing the likelihood that a borrower defaults. Insurance directly reduces the risks for mortgage lenders and the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mortgage Lenders therefore require property insurance and the GSEs only purchase mortgages backed by insurers who meet minimum financial strength ratings, which measure insurer solvency and ability to pay claims. The GSEs accept three main rating agencies AM Best, S & P and, more recently, Demotech. And to provide an example, Fannie Mae requires insurers to have at least a B rating from AM Best, or at least an A rating from Demo Tech to accept a mortgage. Now, despite having this policy in place, we find a dramatic rise in mortgages backed by fragile insurers and show that the GSEs and therefore the taxpayers ultimately shoulder a large part of the financial burden. Our research focuses on Florida because of availability of granular insurance market data, and we show that traditional insurers are exiting and the gap is rapidly being filled by insurers, rated by Demotech, which has about 60% market share in Florida today. These insurers are low quality across a range of different financial and operational metrics, and are at a very high risk of becoming insolvent. But despite their risk, these insurers secure high enough ratings to meet the minimum rating requirements set by the GSEs. Our analysis shows that many actually would not be eligible under the methodologies of other rating agencies, implying that in many cases these ratings are inflated and that the GSEs insurer requirements are miscalibrated. 49:20 Dr. Ishita Sen: We next look at how fragile insurers create mortgage market risks. So in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, homeowners with a policy from one of the insolvent Demotech insurers were significantly more likely to default on their mortgage relative to similar borrowers with policies from stable insurers. This is because insurers that are in financial trouble typically are slower to pay claims or may not pay the full amounts. But this implies severe economic hardships for many, many Floridians despite having expensive insurance coverage in place. However, the pain doesn't just stop there. The financial costs of fragile insurers go well beyond the borders of Florida because lenders often sell mortgages, for example, to the GSEs, and therefore, the risks created by fragile insurers spread from one state to the rest of the financial system through the actions of lenders and rating agencies. In fact, we show two reasons why the GSEs bear a large share of insurance fragility risk. First is that lenders strategically securitize mortgages, offloading loans backed by Demotech insurers to the GSEs in order to limit their counterparty risk exposures. And second, that lenders do not consider insurer risk during mortgage origination for loans that they can sell to the GSEs, even though they do so for loans that they end up retaining, indicating lax insurer screening standards for loans that can be offloaded to the GSEs. 50:55 Dr. Ishita Sen: Before I end, I want to leave you with two numbers. Over 90%. That's our estimate of Demotech's market share among loans that are sold to the GSEs. And 25 times more. That's Demotech's insolvency rate relative to AM Best, among the GSE eligible insurers. 57:15 Glen Mulready: As natural disasters continue to rise, understanding the dynamics of insurance pricing is crucial for both homeowners and policymakers. Homeowners insurance is a fundamental safeguard for what is for many Americans their single largest asset. This important coverage protects against financial loss due to damage or destruction of a home and its contents. However, recent years have seen a notable increase in insurance premiums. One significant driver of this rise is convective storms and other severe weather events. Convective storms, which include phenomena like thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hail, have caused substantial damage in various regions. The cost to repair homes and replace belongings after such events has skyrocketed leading insurance companies to adjust their premiums to cover that increased risk. Beyond convective storms, we've witnessed hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding. These events have not only caused damage, but have also increased the long-term risk profile of many areas. Insurance companies are tasked with managing that risk and have responded by raising premiums to ensure they can cover those potential claims. 58:30 Glen Mulready: Another major factor influencing homeowner's insurance premiums is inflation. Inflation affects the cost of building materials, labor, and other expenses related to home repair and reconstruction. As the cost of living increases, so does the cost of claims for insurers. When the price of lumber, steel, and other essential materials goes up, the expense of repairing or rebuilding homes also rises. Insurance companies must reflect these higher costs in their premiums to maintain financial stability and ensure they can meet those contractual obligations to policyholders. 59:35 Glen Mulready: I believe the most essential aspect of managing insurance premiums is fostering a robust, competitive free market. Competition among insurance companies encourages innovation and efficiency, leading to better pricing and services for consumers. When insurers can properly underwrite and price for risk, they create a more balanced and fair market. This involves using advanced data analytics and modeling techniques to accurately assess the risk levels of different properties. By doing so, insurance companies can offer premiums that reflect the true risk, avoiding excessive charges for low risk homeowners, and ensuring high risk properties are adequately covered. Regulation also plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy insurance market. Policyholders must strike a balance between consumer protection and allowing insurers the freedom and flexibility to adjust their pricing based on the risk. Overly stringent regulations can stifle competition and lead to market exits, reducing choices for consumers. We've seen this play out most recently in another state where there were artificial caps put in place on premium increases that worked well for consumers in the short term, but then one by one, all of the major insurers began announcing they would cease to write any new homeowners insurance in that state. These are all private companies, and if there's not the freedom and flexibility to price their products properly, they may have to take drastic steps as we've seen. Conversely, a well-regulated market encourages transparency and fairness, ensuring that homeowners have access to the most affordable and adequate coverage options. 1:02:00 Dr. EJ Antoni: I'm a public finance economist and the Richard F. Aster fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where I research fiscal and monetary policy with a particular focus on the Federal Reserve. I am also a senior fellow at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. 1:02:15 Dr. EJ Antoni: Since January 2021, prices have risen a cumulative 19.3% on average in the American economy. Construction prices for single family homes have risen much faster, up 30.5% during the same time. 1:03:20 Dr. EJ Antoni: Actuarial tables used in underwriting to estimate risk and future losses, as well as calculate premiums, rely heavily on those input costs. When prices increase radically, precisely as has happened over the last several years, old actuarial tables are of significantly less use when pricing premiums because they will grossly understate the future cost to the insurer. The sharp increase in total claim costs since 2019 has resulted in billions of dollars of losses for both insurers and reinsurers prompting large premium increases to stop those losses. This has put significant financial stress on consumers who are already struggling with a cost of living crisis and are now faced with much higher insurance premiums, especially for homeowners insurance. 1:05:10 Dr. EJ Antoni: The increase in claims related to weather events has undoubtedly increased, but it is not due to the climate changing. This is why the insurance and reinsurance markets do not rely heavily on climate modeling when pricing premiums. Furthermore, climate models are inherently subjective, not merely in how the models are constructed, but also by way of the inputs that the modeler uses. In other words, because insufficient data exists to create a predictive model, a human being must make wide ranging assumptions and add those to the model in place of real world data. Thus, those models have no predictive value for insurers. 1:07:40 Sen. Sheldon Whitehoue (D-RI): You say that this combination of demographics, development, and disasters poses a significant risk to our financial system. What do you mean by risk to our financial system Rade Musulin: Well, Senator, if you look at the combination, as has been pointed out, of high growth and wealth accumulation in coastal areas, and you look at just what we've observed in the climate, much less what's predicted in the future, there is significant exposure along the coastline from Maine to Texas. In fact, my family's from New Jersey and there is enormous development on the coast of New Jersey. And if we start to get major hurricanes coming through those areas, the building codes are probably not up to the same standards they are in Florida. And we could be seeing some significant losses, as I believe was pointed out in the recent Federal Reserve study. Sen. Sheldon Whitehoue (D-RI): And how does that create risk to the financial system? Rade Musulin: Well, because it's sort of a set of dominoes, you start with potentially claims issues with the insurers being stressed and not able to pay claims. You have post-event rate increases as we've seen in Florida, you could have situations where people cannot secure insurance because they can't afford it, then that affects their mortgage security and so on and so forth. So there are a number of ways that this could affect the financial system, sir. Sen. Sheldon Whitehoue (D-RI): Cascading beyond the immediate insurer and becoming a national problem. Rade Musulin: Well, I would just note Senator, that in Florida, the real problems started years after we got past Andrew. We got past paying the claims on Andrew, and then the big problems occurred later when we tried to renew the policies. 1:10:50 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): And you see in this, and I'm quoting you here, parallels in the 2008 financial crisis. What parallels do you see? Dr. Ishita Sen: So just like what happened during the financial crisis, there were rating agencies that gave out high ratings to pools of mortgages backed by subprime loans. Here we have a situation where rating agencies like Demotech are giving out inflated ratings to insurance companies. The end result is sort of the same. There is just too much risk and too many risky mortgages being originated, in this case backed by really low quality insurers that are then entering the financial system. And the consequences of that has to be born by, of course the homeowners, but also the mortgage owners, GSCs (Government Sponsored Enterprises), the lenders, and ultimately the federal and state governments. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): You say, this will be my last question. The fragility of property insurers is an important channel through which climate risk might threaten the stability of mortgage markets and possibly the financial system. What do you mean when you refer to a risk to the financial system? Dr. Ishita Sen: Well, as I was explaining the GSEs, if there are large losses that the GSEs face, then those losses have to be plugged by somebody. So the taxpayers, that's one channel through which you've got risk to the financial system and the GSE's serve as a backstop in the mortgage market. They may not have the ability or capacity to do so in such a scenario, which affects mortgage backed security prices, which are held by all sorts of financial institutions. So that starts affecting all of these institutions. On the other hand, if you've got a bunch of insurers failing, another channel is these insurers are one of the largest investors in many asset classes like corporate bonds, equities, and so on. And they may have to dump these securities at inopportune times, and that affects the prices of these securities as well. 1:12:45 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-AI): Dr. Antoni, is there any evidence to support the notion that climate change is the greatest threat to the insurance market? Dr. EJ Antoni: No. Senator, there is not. And part of that has to do again, with the fact that when we look at the models that are used to predict climate change, we simply don't have enough empirical data with which we can input into those models. And so as a result of that, we have to have human assumptions on what we think is going to happen based essentially on a guess. And as a result of that, these models really are not of any predictive value, and that's why these models for the last 50 years have been predicting catastrophic outcomes, none of which have come true. 1:14:45 Glen Mulready: This focus on the rating agencies, I would agree with that if that were the be all end all. But the state insurance commissioners in each 50 states is tasked with the financial solvency of the insurance companies. We do not depend on rating agencies for that. We are doing financial exams on them. We are doing financial analysis every quarter on each one of them. So I would agree if that was the sort of be all end all, forgive that phrase, but it's not at all. And we don't depend very much at all on those rating agencies from our standpoint. 1:22:15 Dr. Ishita Sen: On the point about regulators looking at -- rating agencies is not something that we need to look at. I would just point out that in Florida, if you look at the number of exams that the Demotech rated insurers, that by the way have a 20% insolvency rate relative to 0% for traditional insurers, they get examined at the same rate as the traditional insurers like Farmers and AllState get examined, which is not something that you would expect if you're more risky. You would expect regulators to come look at them much, much more frequently. And the risk-based capital requirements that we have currently, which were designed in the 1980s, they're just not sensitive enough to new risks like wildfire and hurricanes and so on. And also not as well designed for under-diversified insurance companies because if so, all of these insurers were meeting the risk-based capital requirements, however, at the same time going insolvent at the rate of 20%. So those two things don't really go hand in hand. 1:23:25 Dr. Ishita Sen: Ultimately what the solution is is something that is obviously the main question that we are here to answer, but I would say that it is extremely hard to really figure out what the solution is, in part because we are not in a position right now to even answer some basic facts about how big the problem is, what exactly the numbers look like. For instance, we do not know basic facts about how much coverage people have in different places, how much they're paying. And when I say we don't know, we don't know this at a granular enough level because the data does not exist. And the first step towards designing any policy would be for us to know exactly how bad the problem is. And then we come up with a solution for that and start to evaluate these different policy responses. Right now we are trying to make policy blindfolded. 1:23:50 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): So we've had testimony before this committee that we've already spent $5-6 trillion. That's 5,000 to 6,000 billion dollars trying to mitigate climate change. We haven't made a dent in it. Their estimates, it's going to cost tens of trillions of dollars every year to reach net zero. So again, this is not the solution for a real problem, which is the broken insurance market. I have enough Wisconsin residents who live on the Gulf Coast in Florida to know after Hurricane Ian, you got some real problems in Florida. But fixing climate change isn't the solution. 1:33:15 Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR): In looking at the materials I saw that Citizens Property Insurance Company, I gather that's Louisiana and Florida, that have a completely state backed program. Well, alright, so if the state becomes the insurer of last resort and they now suffer the same losses that a regular private insurance company is suffering, now the folks in the state are carrying massive debt. So that doesn't seem like a great solution. Dr. Ishita Sen: That's definitely a problem, right? The problem is of course, that whether the state then has the fiscal capacity to actually withstand a big loss, like a big hurricane season, which is a concern that was raised about Citizens. And in such a scenario then in a world where they do not have enough tax revenue, then they would have to go into financial markets, try to borrow money, which could be very costly and so on. So fiscally it's going to be very challenging for many cities and many municipalities and counties and so on. 1:36:40 Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): I wish there were something we could do that would reduce the climate change we're seeing and the warming of the planet. But I've seen absolutely nothing proposed by anyone that reduces CO2 emissions, methane gases and the heating of the planet. Climate change is going to happen because of the development in China and Indonesia and Brazil, and the only thing that actually makes any measurable impact at all is putting a price on carbon, and no one seems to be willing to consider doing that. Everything else that's being talked about on the climate — Democratic Senator: I got two bills. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): I know you and I are, but you guys had reconciliation. You could have done it all by yourselves and you didn't. So the idea that somehow we're going to fix climate and solve the insurance problem is pie in the sky. That's avoiding the reality that we can't fix climate because that's a global issue, not an American issue. Anyway, let me turn back to insurance. 1:38:30 Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): So the question is, what actions can we take? Fiscal reform? Yes, to try and deal with inflation. Except I want to note something, Mr. Antoni, because you're esteemed at the Heritage Foundation. 72% of federal spending is not part of the budget we vote on. So we talk about Biden wants to spend all this.... 72% we don't vote on; we only vote on 28%. Half of that is the military. We Republicans want more military spending, not less. So that means the other 14%, which the Democrats want to expand, there's no way we can reduce the 14% enough to have any impact on the massive deficits we're seeing. So there's going to have to be a broader analysis of what we have to do to reign in our fiscal challenges. I just want to underscore that. I would say a second thing we can do, besides fiscal reform and dealing with inflation, is stopping subsidizing high risk areas. Basically subsidizing people to build expensive places along the coast and in places that are at risk of wildfire. And we subsidize that and that creates huge financial risk to the system. And finally, mitigation of one kind or another. That's the other thing we can do is all sorts of mitigation: forestry management, having people move in places that are not high risk. But if you want to live in a big house on the coast, you're gonna have to spend a lot of money to insure it or take huge risk. That's just the reality. So those are the three I come up with. Stop the subsidy, mitigation, and fiscal reform. What else am I missing, Mr. Musulin? And I'm just going to go down the line for those that are sort of in this area to give me your perspectives. Rade Musulin: Well, thank you, Senator. And I'd agree with all those things. And I'd also add that we need to start thinking about future-proofing our building codes and land use policies. The sea levels are rising. If you're going to build a house that's supposed to last 75 years, you ought to be thinking about the climate in 75 years when you give somebody a permit to build there. So I'd say that's important. I'd also say that large disasters also drive inflation because it puts more pressure and demand on labor and materials. More disasters means supplies that could have been used to build new homes for Americans or diverted to rebuild homes in the past. So certainly doing things to reduce the vulnerability of properties and improve their resilience is important. And I do think, sir, that there are things we can do about climate change with respect over periods of decades that can make a difference in the long run. Thank you. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): Thank you. Yes. Dr. Ishita Sen: So before that, the one point about inflation that we are missing, which is without doubt it is a contributing factor, but the US has had inflation in the past without such an acute crisis in insurance markets. So whether that is the biggest cause or not is up for debate. I don't think we have reached a conclusion on inflation being the biggest contributor of rising insurance cost. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): It's just a big one. You'd agree It's a big one? Dr. Ishita Sen: I agree. It's a big one, but I wouldn't say it's the biggest one in terms of policy solutions. I completely agree with you on, we need to stop subsidizing building in high risk areas. That's definitely one of the things we need to do that. Mitigation, another point that you bring up. And on that, I would say not only do we need to harden our homes, but we also need to harden our financial institutions, our banks, and our insurance companies in order to make them withstand really large climate shocks that are for sure coming their way. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT): Thank You, Ms. Wood. I'm going to let you pass on this just because that's not your area of expertise. Your experience was something which focused our thinking today. Mr. Mulready. Glen Mulready: Thank you, Senator. I would say amen to your comments, but I'll give you three quick things. Number one, FEMA has a survey out that states that every $1 spent in mitigation saves $6 in lost claims. It pays off. Number two, unfortunately, a lot of communities have to have a disaster happen. In Moore, Oklahoma, back a dozen years ago, an EF5 (tornado) hit, it was just totally devastating. After that, the city of Moore changed their zoning, they changed their building zoning codes, and then third, the city of Tulsa, back in the eighties, had horrible flooding happened. So they invested over decades in infrastructure to prevent flooding. Now we're one of only two communities in the country that are Class one NFIP rated. 1:45:40 Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): One way to address this, and I think it was discussed in a different matter, is the need to get the data and to get consensus on where the risks lie, which is why last year Senator Whitehouse, Senator Warren and I sent a letter to the Treasury Department, to the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), urging them to collect information from different states. I'm a supporter of a state-based insurance system for property and casualty insurance, but I do think it would benefit all of us to have a sort of national yardstick against which we can measure what's happening. So Dr. Sen, could you talk a little bit about the benefit of having a common source of insurance data through the FIO and how that could benefit state regulators and benefit all of us? Dr. Ishita Sen: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for bringing that up. That's just the first order importance, I think, because we don't even know the basic facts about this problem at a granular enough level. The risks here are local, and so we need to know what's going zip code-by-zip code, census tract-by-census tract, and for regulators to be able to figure out exactly how much risk is sitting with each of these insurance companies they need to know how much policies they're writing, what's the type of coverage they're selling in, what are the cancellations looking like in different zip codes. Only then can they figure out exactly how exposed these different insurers are, and then they can start designing policy about whether the risk-based capital ratios look alright or not, or should we put a surcharge on wildfires or hurricanes and so on? And we do need a comprehensive picture. We just can't have a particular state regulator look at the risks in that state, because of course, the insurer is selling insurance all over the country and we need to get a comprehensive picture of all of that. 1:47:40 Sen. Chris Van Hollen: I appreciate that. I gather that the Treasury Department is getting some resistance from some state insurance regulators. I hope we can overcome that because I'm not sure why anyone would want to deny the American people the benefit of the facts here. 1:48:45 Rade Musulin: I will just note that sometimes climate change itself can contribute to the inflation we've been talking about. For example, there were beetle infestations and droughts and fires in Canada, which decimated some of the lumber crop and led to a fivefold increase in the cost of lumber a few years ago. So some of this claims inflation is actually related to climate change, and I think we need to address that. 1:49:35 Glen Mulready: If you didn't know, the NAIC, National Association of Insurance Commission is in the midst of a data collection right now that will collect that data for at least 80% of the homeowner's market. And we have an agreement with FIO (Federal Insurance Office) to be sharing that data with them. They originally came to us, I got a letter from FIO and they were requesting data that we did not actually collect at the zip code level, and they had a very stringent timeline for that. So my response, it wasn't, no, it was just, look, we can't meet that timeline. We don't collect that today. We can in the future. But from that is where this has grown the data called by the NEIC. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): So I appreciate, I saw that there had been now this effort on behalf of the....So has this now been worked out? Are there any states that are objecting, to your knowledge at this point in time, in terms of sharing data? Glen Mulready: I don't know about specific states. We will be collecting data that will represent at least 80% of the market share. Music by Editing Production Assistance
Jeffrey Pfeffer teaches the single most popular (and somewhat controversial) class at Stanford's Graduate School of Business: The Paths to Power. He's also the author of 16 books, including 7 Rules of Power: Surprising—But True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career. He has taught at Harvard, the London Business School, and IESE and has written for publications like Fortune and the Washington Post. Recognized by the Academy of Management and listed in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, Jeffrey also serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards, bringing his expertise to global audiences through seminars and executive education. In our conversation, we discuss:• Jeffrey's seven rules of power• How individuals can acquire and use power in business• Networking, and how to do it effectively• How to build a non-cringe personal brand• How to increase your influence to amplify your impact• Examples and stories of people building power• Tradeoffs and challenges that come with power—Brought to you by:• Uizard—AI-powered prototyping for visionary product leaders• Webflow—The web experience platform• Heap—Cross-platform product analytics that converts, engages, and retains customers—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer—Where to find Jeffrey Pfeffer:• X: https://x.com/JeffreyPfeffer• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-pfeffer-57a01b6/• Website: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/• Podcast: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/pfeffer-on-power/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Jeffrey's background (02:54) Understanding discomfort with power(04:56) Power skills for underrepresented groups(07:51) The popularity and challenges of Jeffrey's class at Stanford(12:21) The seven rules of power(13:03) Success stories from his course(15:43) Building a personal brand(21:11) Getting out of your own way(26:04) Breaking the rules to gain power(30:34) Networking relentlessly(40:10) Why Jeffrey says to “pursue weak ties”(42:00) Using your power to build more power(44:34) The importance of appearance and body language(47:15) Mastering the art of presentation(55:12) Examples of homework assignments that Jeffrey gives students(59:11) People will forget how you acquired power(01:03:58) More good people need to have power(01:10:49) The price of power and autonomy(01:17:13) A homework assignment for you—Referenced:• Gerald Ferris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerald-r-ferris-5816b1b5/• Political Skill at Work: https://tarjomefa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/4173-engilish.pdf• Laura Esserman, MD: https://cancer.ucsf.edu/people/esserman.laura• Taylor Swift's website: https://www.taylorswift.com/• Matthew 7: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207&version=NIV• Mother Teresa quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/2887-if-you-judge-people-you-have-no-time-to-love• Paths to Power course description: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Pfeffer-OB377-Course-Outline-2018.pdf• 7 Rules of Power: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/books/7-rules-of-power/• The Knowing-Doing Gap: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/books/the-knowing-doing-gap/• Derek Kan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekkan/• Mitt Romney on X: https://x.com/mittromney• Elaine Chao's website: https://www.elainechao.com/• Tony Hsieh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hsieh• Zappos: https://www.zappos.com/• How I Did It: Zappos's CEO on Going to Extremes for Customers: https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-i-did-it-zapposs-ceo-on-going-to-extremes-for-customers• McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/• Bain & Company: https://www.bain.com/• BCG: https://www.bcg.com/• Keith Ferrazzi's website: https://www.keithferrazzi.com/• Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/• Tristan Walker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanwalker/• Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/• Laura Chau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-chau/• Canaan Partners: https://www.canaan.com/• Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com/• Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacap.com/• Greylock: https://greylock.com/• The Women Who Venture (WoVen) Podcast: https://www.canaan.com/woven/podcasts• Imposter syndrome: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/imposter-syndrome• Gary Loveman and Harrah's Entertainment: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/gary-loveman-harrahs-entertainment• “If you need help, just ask”: Underestimating compliance with direct requests for help: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/if-you-need-help-just-ask-underestimating-compliance-direct-requests• Life story of Kathleen Frances Fowler: https://www.forevermissed.com/kathleenfowler/lifestory• Jason Calacanis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/• Jason Calacanis: A Case Study in Creating Resources: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/jason-calacanis-case-study-creating-resources• You're Invited: The Art and Science of Connection, Trust, and Belonging: https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Invited-Science-Cultivating-Influence/dp/0063030977• View from the Top: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/learning/guest-speakers/view-top• Omid Kordestani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omid-kordestani-46515151/• Netscape: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape• Esther Wojcicki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherwojcicki/• Leanne Williams: https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/leanne-williams• Precision Psychiatry: Using Neuroscience Insights to Inform Personally Tailored, Measurement-Based Care: https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Psychiatry-Neuroscience-Personally-Measurement-Based/dp/1615371583• Mark Granovetter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-granovetter-8161704/• The Strength of Weak Ties: https://snap.stanford.edu/class/cs224w-readings/granovetter73weakties.pdf• Getting a Job: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Job-Study-Contacts-Careers/dp/0226305813• Acting with Power: https://www.amazon.com/Acting-Power-More-Powerful-Believe/dp/110190397X• Articles by Herminia Ibarra: https://herminiaibarra.com/articles/• Kingdom of the Planet of the Ape: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11389872/• Jim Collins's website: https://www.jimcollins.com/• Dana Carney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danarosecarney/• Baba Shiv: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/baba-shiv• Tony Hayward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hayward• Lloyd Blankfein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Blankfein• Regis McKenna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regis_McKenna• Jack Valenti: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Valenti• Salman Rushdie quote: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/434175220328596286/• How to build deeper, more robust relationships | Carole Robin (Stanford GSB professor, “Touchy Feely”): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/build-robust-relationships-carole-robin• Carole Robin's 15% rule: https://pen-name.notion.site/Carole-Robin-on-Lenny-s-Podcast-dc7159208e4242428f4b11ebc92285eb• Karlie Kloss on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karliekloss• Lindsey Graham's website: https://www.lindseygraham.com/• Was Microsoft's Empire Built on Stolen Code? We May Never Know: https://www.wired.com/2012/08/ms-dos-examined-for-thef/• Who's who of Jeffrey Epstein's powerful friends, associates and possible co-conspirators: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/12/us/jeffrey-epstein-associates-possible-accomplices/index.html• Why Did Martha Stewart Go to Prison? A Look Back at Her 2004 Fraud Case: https://people.com/martha-stewart-fraud-case-prison-sentence-look-back-8550277• Dianne Feinstein: https://www.congress.gov/member/dianne-feinstein/F000062• Richard Blum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Blum• Athena Care Network: https://www.athenacarenetwork.org• James G. March: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._March• Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/• Trump Organization fined $1.6 million for tax fraud: https://apnews.com/article/politics-legal-proceedings-new-york-city-donald-trump-manhattan-e2f1d01525dafb64be8738c8b4f32085• Rudy Giuliani: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani• Harvard president resigns amid claims of plagiarism and antisemitism backlash: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/02/harvard-president-claudine-gay-resigns• Stanford president resigns after fallout from falsified data in his research: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188828810/stanford-university-president-resigns• Rudy Crew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Crew—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe