The Crux of the Story

In our sixty-eighth episode of The Crux, we welcome back the dean of Boston University’s College of Communication, Mariette DiChristina. Before coming to BU, she was editor-in-chief and executive vice president of the highly respected magazine, Scientific American, as well as executive vice president of magazine publisher, Springer Nature. Mariette was the first woman to lead Scientific American s...

In our sixty-seventh episode of The Crux, we welcome Aba Blankson, chief marketing and communications officer for the NAACP. Aba oversees and develops communications strategies, campaigns, and partnerships to elevate the NAACP brand’s products and services. She helped the NAACP launch “COVID Unmasked" virtual event series to raise awareness of pandemic impacts and the 2020 Davey Award-Winning camp...

In our sixty-sixth episode of The Crux, we welcome Russell Wilkerson, chief corporate affairs officer at Baker Hughes, one of the world’s leading oil and gas field services companies. Russell is one of the most respected voices in corporate communications. His remit at Baker Hughes is broad and includes global communications, external affairs, community relations, and brand marketing. Russell has...

In our sixty-fifth episode of The Crux, we welcome Mark Weiner, author of the new book, "Public Relations Technology, Data and Insights, Igniting a Positive Return on Your Communications Investment.” Mark is one of the leading and most respected experts in the world on public relations research, measurement, and evaluation. He has led research programs for scores of Fortune Global 1000 companies....

In our sixty-fourth episode of The Crux, we welcome Valerie DiMaria, founder and principal of the10company. Valerie has held CMO & CCO roles at Fortune 100 companies and developed comprehensive brand and reputation building programs working closely with CEOs at GE Capital, Motorola, and Willis. She has been honored with PRSA’s John W. Hill Award for leadership in the practice of public relations,...

In our sixty-third episode of The Crux, we welcome Chris Perry, chief innovation officer at Weber Shandwick, who is at the center of the discussion around how technology, data, and media are presenting new opportunities and challenges for business and communicators. Chris has been at Weber Shandwick for 18 years and previously did stints at GM and Edelman. His weekly Weber Shandwick newsletter, Me...

In our sixty-second episode of The Crux, we welcome Robert Brown, president of Boston University. He became BU’s president in 2005 and quickly set out on defining the long-term future of BU, culminating in BU joining the Association of American Universities (AAU), a prestigious organization of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.

In our sixty-first episode of The Crux, we welcome Andrew Winston, one of the most respected writers and thinkers in the world on the issue of business and sustainability. Andrew is a strategic advisor to many large global companies, was named to Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2020 as a “thinker to watch,” and is the author of the bestsellers Green to Gold and The Big Pivot. His latest book, co-authore...

In our sixtieth episode of The Crux, we welcome Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, U.S. business editor of the Financial Times. Andrew has been with the FT for 20 years and today is its U.S. business editor. He also writes and edits a twice-weekly newsletter, Moral Money. It features news and analysis about the socially responsible business, sustainable finance, ESG trends, and the UN’s Sustainable Develo...

In our fifty-ninth episode of The Crux, we welcome Reeves Wiedeman, a features writer for New York Magazine and author of “Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork.” We’ll discuss Reeves’ coverage of WeWork over the years and get his perspective of the new era of larger-than-life – and sometimes “fake it until you make it” entrepreneurs.

In our fifty-eighth episode of The Crux, we are honored to welcome the Chair of the Diversity Action Alliance, Professor Denise Hill of Elon University, and the President of the Diversity Action Alliance, Carmella Glover. The Diversity Action Alliance is a coalition of public relations and communications organizations that have joined forces to accelerate progress relative to diversity, equity and...

In our fifty-seventh episode of The Crux, we welcome Marjorie Benzkofer and Cherry Bayer. Marjorie is the Chief Strategy Officer of Fleishman Hillard and Cherry is the Director of Internal Communications at LabCorp. They are both members of Page Up. Marjorie and Cherry will talk with us about a report Page Up published last year, Resilience and Change in a Time of Change: Research Findings on the...

In our fifty-sixth episode of The Crux, we welcome author and CEO of Dezenhall Resources, Eric Dezenhall. We discuss Eric's point of view on the role of business in society and crisis communications in an era of turmoil, acrimony, and collapsing trust in the media.

In our fifty-fifth episode of The Crux, we welcome Kendra Butters, the communications director of the Boston Athletic Association. We discuss Kendra's role and responsibilities and how her team is handling the near-constant turmoil for the crises that were brought upon the association by the pandemic.

In our fifty-fourth episode of The Crux, we welcome Mark Schaefer, COO of B Squared Media. Mark is also a faculty member at Rutgers University and an author. We discuss with him his latest book, Cumulative Advantage: How to Build Momentum for your Ideas, Business and Life Against All Odds.

In our fifty-third episode of The Crux, we welcome Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of GE and today a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and instructor at the Stanford Global School of Business. Jeff has a new book, HOT SEAT: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company. We discuss the role communications and culture played in Jeff's tenure at GE and how leaders should be thinking about th...

In our fifty-second episode of The Crux, we welcome Jolie Hunt, CEO and founder of Hunt and Gather. We discuss her lessons learnt from holding senior titles at a young age, how the move to digitized relationships has changed influencer ideologies, and how companies should adapt to social movements such as showing their support against racism.

In our fifty-first episode of The Crux, we welcome David Murray, author of An Effort To Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half. We discuss communicating more honestly with ourselves, how Americans can focus more on what we have in common, rather than our differences, the medias contribution to the polarization that we see today in the U.S., and David shares the...

In our fiftieth episode of The Crux, we welcome Frank Figliuzzi, author of The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence. We discuss what led Frank to write his book, the values of the FBI and how they can be applied to other organizations, the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and how the FBI can continue to be effective in the current environment.

In our forty-ninth episode of The Crux, we welcome Eric Handler, Vice President of communications at the YES Network. We discuss what it is like to lead a communications team in the most competitive sports market in the world, how COVID changed his job over the last year, and how sports networks have handled the growing activism in nearly every aspect of life.

In our forty-eighth episode of The Crux, we welcome Dean Acosta, senior vice president and CCO of Lockheed Martin. We discuss NASA's Perseverance rover, which Lockheed Martin had a hand in, how being a journalist helped Dean both at NASA and with his role today, the digital-first approach, change management, and Dean's journey to becoming CCO of Lockheed Martin.

In our forty-seventh episode of The Crux, we welcome Judy Samuelson, the executive director and founder of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program. We discuss Judy's new book, The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World, the changing role of business in society, and why CEOs should be paid less.

In our forty-sixth episode of The Crux, we welcome Jen Prosek and Mark Kollar from Prosek Partners, one of the world's leading financial communications and strategic advisory firms. We discuss the role of purpose, ESG efforts, and areas of growth for the company. As we close out 2020, our team also names our own communicators of the year.

In our forty-fifth episode of The Crux, Gary and Mike speak with Alan Murray, the president and CEO of Fortune Media Group. We discuss the ways the 90-year-old media business has reinvented itself, trends in CEO activism, what business leaders can expect from the Biden Administration, and the future of journalism.

In our forty-forth episode of The Crux, we welcome Stefanie Johnson, professor of organizational leadership at the University of Colorado-Boulder and author of a new book, Inclusify. We discuss research-backed ways to create authentic diversity and inclusion, trends in unconscious biases and related training, and findings on women's tasks and trajectory in the workplace. TW: This episode discusses...