The Many Futures of Work: Rethinking Expectations - Breaking Molds

Our guest is someone who works in Africa and across the Caribbean, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship through business studios and incubators. Chrystèle Sanon is a serial entrepreneur in her own right, supporting innovation and business incubation globally, with a concentration in Africa and the Afro-Caribbean. She is a founding member of United Afro Experts for Innovation, as well as the f...

Today’s podcast is another in a series of first-person stories about how artificial intelligence is used in daily life. The adoption of AI differs from other new technologies. In the past, new technologies demanded substantial investment. Organizations carefully identified their needs and potential applications before taking action. Organizations are still making decisions about the use of expensi...

Beginning in 2025, our podcasts will feature first-person stories about how work and opportunities are shifting due to technological, business, and social upheavals. You will hear from people who are finding ways to make sense of these chaotic times and the lessons they learn along the way. The podcasts will be organized into separate series that reflect the Institute's interests and activiti...

Today's guest, Karen Maguire, is a Head of Division managing the Local Employment and Economic Development Program at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Some occupations are more vulnerable to automation than others; the concentration of these occupations in a region will have a material consequence on the possible effects for the overall economy. We discuss t...

This episode addresses the futures of work through the eyes and experiences of two leaders in economic justice, human rights, and Latin American immigration to the U.S. Our two guests are with Alianza Americas, a Chicago-based national network of Latin American immigrant-led and serving organizations in the U.S. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of Latin American immigrant communities...

Susanne M. Bruyère is Professor of Disability Studies and Director, K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, Cornell University’s premier research, training, and technical assistance resource focusing on disability inclusion in employment, education, and community. Dr. Bruyère is currently focused on workplace neurodiversity-inclusive policies and practices, working wit...

Ruth Milkman is a sociologist of labor and labor movements who has written on a variety of topics involving work and organized labor in the United States, past and present. Her most recent books are:  Immigration Matters, Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat, and On Gender, Labor and Inequality. Her early research focused on the impact on U.S. women workers of economic crisis and war in the 1930s...

In our conversation with Dr. Patrick Mason,  professor of economics, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, and Director, African American Studies Program at Florida State University, we explore the social forces embedded in institutions and ideologies that normalize and reproduce inequality. Stratification economics takes seriously...

Professor William Lazonick, Founder and President of the Academic-Industry Research Network, discusses the investment triad of households - the prime investors in the education of the young, government agencies investing in education as well as in basic research, and business firms that make use of the knowledge of workers and basic capabilities funded by business. He further explores the adverse...

Peter Georgescu, Chair Emeritus of Young & Rubicam, is an outspoken proponent of stakeholder value as the guiding principle for21st Century corporate governance. In the 1980s, free enterprise capitalism was hijacked by the theory and practice of shareholder primacy. Georgescu walks us through how this happened and the consequences from the perspective of someone who served at the helm of the p...

Bau Graves, former Executive Director of Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, and Reggio "the Hoofer" McLaughlin, a 2021 National Heritage Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, discuss the life and times of musicians and other performing artists as gig workers.

Martin Kenney from UC-Davis and John Zysman, Professor Emeritus from UC-Berkeley share their thoughts and research about the era of the platform economy.  What is the platform economy and how is it manifested?  What are some of the common business strategies? What are the consequences for workers? For Mainstreet businesses? What are possible policy actions that can level the playing field for work...