Thinkers & Ideas

In Crisis Engineering: Time-Tested Tools for Turning Chaos Into Clarity , Matthew Weaver and Mikey Dickerson argue that organizational crises are not problems to be survived but are rare windows in which rapid, directed transformation becomes possible within days rather than years. Weaver was a founding Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at Google and later established the Defense Digital Service at...

In The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us , Benjamin Recht argues that the optimization and mathematical rationality we apply to every corner of modern life—from dieting to hiring to strategy—often fails when encountering the messy realities of life. Recht is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley. In his new book, he traces how...

In AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI’s Future and Save Our Own , Verity Harding argues that AI governance is too important to be left to technologists alone—and that the rest of us need to join the conversation to shape this technology’s future. Harding is the director of the AI and Geopolitics Project at the Bennett School of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and the founder of Format...

In Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great , Eric Ries argues that mission-driven companies face an invisible pressure that pushes them toward short-termism and conformity, no matter the intentions of their stakeholders. Ries is the best-selling author of The Lean Startup , founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, and advisor to startups around the globe. In his...

In Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better , David Epstein argues that constraints—not freedom—are what drive creativity, clarity, and focus. Epstein is a number one New York Times –best-selling author, known for Range and The Sports Gene . In his new book, he draws on psychology, economics, and case studies from NASA to Pixar to Dr. Seuss to show that our brains default to the path of leas...

In Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation , Linda A. Hill argues that innovation fails not because companies lack ideas, but because they struggle to scale those ideas across the enterprise—and that the solution lies not in structure or processes, but in leadership. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, faculty chair of the L...

In Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business , Marcus Buckingham argues that love—not engagement, satisfaction, or motivation—is the only feeling that reliably changes the behavior of employees and customers, and that it can be deliberately designed into business. Buckingham is one of the world’s foremost researchers on human performance. He is a former senior vice preside...

In this special episode, Rich Lesser, BCG’s global chair, and Martin Reeves, former chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, reflect on the shocks and surprises that shaped the first half of the decade and what they reveal about the future. They explore the traits leaders need today: building trust, staying geopolitically aware, and adopting AI in a people-centered way.

In The Transformation Economy: Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations , B. Joseph Pine II argues that an economic shift is underway, in which transformations—not commodities, goods, services, or experiences—will become the highest form of value creation. Pine is an internationally acclaimed author, known for having coined the term “experience economy” in the 1990s. He works as a speaker an...

In The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling into Disorder , Eswar Prasad argues that we are caught in a destructive feedback loop between economics, domestic politics, and geopolitics. Prasad is a professor of Trade Policy and Economics at Cornell University, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In his new book, he explores how globalization, international insti...

In The New Geography of Innovation: The Global Contest for Breakthrough Technologies , Mehran Gul examines how innovation works in different countries around the globe—diving deep into the ecosystems that produce great technology companies. Gul is a writer and leading technology thinker, having served as the Lead for the Digital Transformation of Industries at the World Economic Forum. His book, w...

In Flourish: The Transformative Power of Creating Community , Daniel Coyle investigates the ecosystems in which humans do their best work—from sports teams, to the boardroom, and our daily lives. Daniel Coyle is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, in which he explores how people and groups grow, perform, and flourish. He combines immersive field reporting with behavioral science to...

In Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate , Dani Rodrik proposes new modes of cooperation and policy experimentation to address our greatest global challenges. Rodrik is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. He codirects both the Reimagining the Economy Program at Harvard a...

In The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things that Last , Jimmy Wales explains how he turned an impossible idea—creating an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit—into a global institution. Wales is the founder of Wikipedia. In his new book, he distills two decades of lessons from building one of the world’s most trusted collaborative projects. He argues that trust isn’t a soft vi...

In How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage , Ranjay Gulati argues that being bold is something you can learn—not a trait you have to be born with. Gulati, a professor at Harvard Business School, is a leading organizational sociologist and management scholar. In his new book, he explores the science and psychology of courage—showing that bravery is not the absence of fear, but th...

In The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset , Mike Bird shows why land remains the ultimate currency of power. Bird is the Wall Street editor at The Economist , where he leads coverage across the American financial industry and cohosts the magazine’s flagship podcast Money Talks . In his new book, he presents a bold new framework explaining how land exerts influence over the modern...

In SuperAdaptability: How to Transcend in an Age of Overwhelm , Max McKeown argues that the key to thriving under uncertainty is adaptability—being able to change with your environment, again and again, getting better each time. McKeown is a leading strategy thinker, coach to Fortune 100 companies, and an award-winning author. In his new book, he reveals how figures as different as Frida Kahlo, Le...

In Capitalism and Its Critics: A Battle of Ideas in the Modern World , John Cassidy offers a multi-century history of global capitalism, told through the eyes of its dissenters. Cassidy is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His new book blends biography, history, and economic analysis to reveal the roots of urgent debates the business world and society face today, as A...

In Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain , Nicholas Wright argues that war and competition are rooted in human biology—in our drives for survival, fairness, territory, and belonging. Wright is a neuroscientist who researches the brain, technology, and security at University College London; Georgetown University; and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washing...

In After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People , Dean Spears and Michael Geruso argue that the defining demographic risk of this century is global depopulation. Spears and Geruso are both professors at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on economic demography and development economics. In their new book, they explore the trend of falling birth rates, how it threatens hu...

In How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations , Carl Benedikt Frey argues that progress, throughout history, has not just depended on technological innovations but also on the flexibility of our institutions. Frey is the associate professor of AI & Work at the University of Oxford, where he directs the Future of Work program. In his new book, he explores how technologic...

In Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in A Winner-Take-Most World , Toby Stuart dives deeply into the power that social status holds over us. Stuart is the Leo Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. In his new book, he explores how social status shapes everything—from who we trust and what we value, to which ideas and innovations...

In Reshuffle: Who Wins When AI Restacks the Knowledge Economy , Sangeet Paul Choudary explores common misconceptions about how AI will change work, organizations, and business ecosystems. Choudary is the founder and CEO of Platformation Labs and a senior fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. An expert on AI, platforms, and the economics of big tech, he has sold more than half a million...

In The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World , Hal Brands illuminates the historical patterns we must understand in order to better navigate the geopolitical rivalries of the present. Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is also a senior fellow at t...

In The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters , Dame Diane Coyle argues that traditional measures like GDP no longer capture economic realities. Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is also the director of the Productivity Institute, a fellow of the Office for National Statistics, and a member of the UK’s Competition Commission. Drawing on...