ManagementCast by IMD

IMD Senior Researcher Adrian Dellecker is joined in the latest I by IMD podcast by Mariana Sarmiento , Founder and CEO of Terrasos, a company developing innovative solutions for environmental conservation and restoration. In this episode, you will learn about the business opportunities in the new market for voluntary biodiversity credits and more. Find out more about IMD at imd.org

IMD Senior Researcher Adrian Dellecker is joined in the latest I by IMD podcast by Kristy Deiner , a well-respected academic and entrepreneurial figure in Environmental DNA (eDNA) science. She was a professor on the subject at ETH Zurich, and in 2021 she co-founded SimplexDNA, where she is now CEO. In this episode, you will learn some fundamentals of biodiversity, what eDNA is and what promises an...

Zhike Lei is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at IMD. She is an award-winning organizational scholar and an expert on psychological safety, team dynamics, organizational learning, error management, and patient safety. Lei studies how organizations, teams, and employees adapt and learn in complex, time-pressured, consequence-laden environments. As a global management educator, sh...

When disaster strikes, or when goals are simply missed, blame often lands on the bosses. From CEOs to team leaders the buck has to stop somewhere, and when it does, action needs to be taken.   But how should leaders approach failure? Zhike Lei says leaders in both civil society and corporations tend to try and tackle problems alone. But this is not the best approach.  Effective failure management...

Experimentation can bring many benefits in the workplace. New products, cost-saving efficiencies, and profits are often the result of new and progressive ways of thinking. But having the confidence to try new methods comes with risks. Often we must fail on our way to success, and that failure can give rise to fear. Many fear admitting mistakes, says Zhike Lei, due to shame, or the possibility of l...

World-beating organizations are always striving for success, but sometimes even the most dedicated teams fall short. Companies miss their sales goals, lose out on funding rounds, and have PR disasters. Failure, in short, is a natural part of life, and how firms cope with it is of vital importance. Zhike Lei says this may seem obvious, but in practice, many are unable to meet failure in productive...

Capital Conversations: Insights into the world of venture capital is the latest series podcast from IMD and its Venture Asset Management Initiative. Exploring the dynamic realm of venture capital, where innovation meets investment and ideas transform into thriving enterprises. Spotify | Apple | Google Podcasts To subscribe click on the links above, or search Capital Conversations: Insights into th...

During the last three episodes of ManagementCast, Alyson Meister has outlined some of the most pertinent topics in mental well-being today, including how to develop a positive stress mindset, what to do when designing a workplace, and why solving the recovery paradox is so important. This week, Meister is looking forward. Her research in the coming months will provide fresh new insights into the e...

Full-time employees will spend an estimated 90,000 hours working, or around one-third of their adult life. It is no surprise, then, that workplace stress shapes our mental well-being, but just how much of a toll is it taking?  The answer, it seems, is a lot. The latest Gallup polls show that nearly half of employees feel high levels of stress at work. In fact, workplace stress is at an all-time hi...

You would never want your pilot, your surgeon, or your favorite athlete to go to work depleted and exhausted, so why do we expect this in the office?    Somehow the business world has been won over by the assumption that you can just keep pushing; that you can drink a Red Bull and push harder or pull an all-nighter and stay at the office 24/7. For decades that has been the stamp of commitment and...

Stress is something most of us dread. Even the word itself can conjure up negative emotions, and evoke memories of long sleepless nights. But what if stress itself was something different? What if we could turn stress into a positive force? What if we could change our stress mindset? That, says Professor Alyson Meister, is the key to unlocking a happier, healthier, and perhaps even longer, life. M...

As long as the locus of power in an organization lies outside of the LGBTQ+ community, allyship will play a central part in creating inclusive workplaces. But in 2023, says IMD professor Misiek Piskorski, it's no longer enough to be a positive role model. True leadership, is about creating allies around you.  He argues that the privileged few need to advocate on behalf of others for equal recognit...

In 1992, Professor Robert Hooijberg caught a glimpse of what it means to be anything other than a white heterosexual male in the workplace. Since then, he has taught diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) programs across the globe.  Hooijberg, too, has a special insight into the importance of allyship. He does not identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but his son does. As a transgende...

ManagementCast is back for its second season, and to kick off the series IMD is proud to present the first of several special episodes to celebrate Pride Month.    The first is with Alexander Fleischmann, a research affiliate at IMD who has been writing about LGBTQ+ issues for more than 15 years. In that time, he has witnessed radical changes in how LGBTQ+ individuals are treated in the workplace...

Whether in the boardroom or the classroom, business strategies will continue to emerge and evolve. As long as there are commercial opportunities to chase, there will be an incentive to improve. Some ideas, though, aren't limited to commercial applications; and IMD Professor Cyril Bouquet says his mega dive approach is one of them. In the words of  the award-winning researcher, improvements in tech...

Training is central to long-term business success. But how can companies justify investing in the future when the present is so costly? The answer, says IMD Professor Cyril Bouquet, lies in the data: "All the empirical evidence suggests that companies that do invest in training and executive development, that invest in innovation, in general, come out of a crisis much stronger than those who just...

In his first appearance on ManagementCast, IMD Professor Cyril Bouquet described his mega dive approach; and the reasons why this is one the best ways to open up an inter-departmental collaboration within large organizations.  But what do businesses actually need to launch a "mega dive" themselves? Bouquet says that "there are a few key factors that need to be in place," but advises that "the firs...

At IMD, Professor Cyril Bouquet has pioneered the 'mega dive,' a management approach that brings together large groups of people as one united force. A force capable of embracing the future together. But what does that mean in practice? Bouquet says that 'mega dive' isn't just an event, it's a six-month journey that spans digital and in-person conversations. It can involve hundreds of people, in d...

Fifteen years ago, the concept of a social media influencer was in its infancy, but today these communicators shape global conversations on everything from retail to politics. Is that what evolution looks like? IMD professor Jennifer Jordan says "no". In her words, evolution implies a positive change, and power doesn't evolve, it transforms. To stay ahead of the curve, executives need to keep an e...

The proverbial saying, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” suggests that as a person’s influence increases, their moral sense diminishes. But how does that square with today’s business world? IMD Professor Jennifer Jordan says it’s more complex than that. Power is the engine that drives decision-making, but it also acts as a magnifying glass, exacerbating positive or negative...

Building your power base can be a tricky business. Do you pursue power alone, or look for allies to help you? And is there an approach that works in every business environment? Unfortunately, there isn't, says IMD professor Jennifer Jordan. Power is all about context. In Episode 14 of ManagementCast, Jordan describes how listeners can approach power strategically and describes the way a "power aud...

Some say power is what drives boardrooms. Or that it's what makes decisions, and shapes organizations. But what is power really? Is it control over social and physical resources? Or is it simply the ability to do what you want when you want? IMD professor, Jennifer Jordan, says it is all those things and more. In Episode 13 of ManagementCast, she calls it the "unspoken currency" in any group or or...

Phishing and ransomware are some of the biggest online threats of today; but what will businesses face tomorrow? IMD professor, Oyku Isik, says that in the future, the global digital security landscape may look very different. That means out with passwords, and in with biometrics. A future in which low-tech spam is replaced with AI-generated emails, meticulously crafted to glean your personal data...

What are the roadblocks to dealing with a ransomware attack? And how can you find a digital partner to help you deal with this? IMD professor, Oyku Isik, says the key is trust. In Episode 11 of ManagementCast, she discusses how to build resilience into a digital business strategy, and the way CEOs should grow their cyber-security team. As an IMD professor, Işık helps businesses tackle cybersecurit...

Öykü Işık, Professor of Digital Strategy and Cybersecurity at IMD, says the modern CEO needs to know how to protect their businesses on-and-offline. But how? In Episode 10 of Managementcast Isik discusses how to build digital resilience into business strategy, and why all executives should be concerned about data security. As an IMD professor, Işık helps businesses to tackle cybersecurity, data pr...