Thought Sparks

Rita McGrath joins KFNN

H.R. McMaster's new book "At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House" is an incisive account of his time as National Security Advisor during Trump's presidency. Be sure to tune in this Friday at 11:15 am EST to ask questions, and hear firsthand about the political experience of a lifetime.

Steven Brill is a veteran journalist and author whose previous books include "The Teamsters," "America's Bitter Pill," and "Tailspin." His new book is exactly as terrifying as it sounds. It's called "The Death of Truth: How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World - and What We Can Do About It." Brill outli...

Frederik Pferdt was Google's Chief Innovation Evangelist, building a world-class organization that trained tens of thousands to face the world in a future-ready way. He is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, where he teaches courses called things like "Hacking Your Innovation Mindset." His brand-new book, "Next is Now: How to Live Future Ready" was jus...

There was a time when there was a standard template for what kinds of people became leaders. They were confident. They had the answers. They led by example. They told people exactly what needed to be done. Oh, and they were usually tall, and nearly always, men. We've learned, though, that while that kind of leadership certainly has its place, in rapidly changing, uncertain situations, a differ...

This week's guest is Paul LeBlanc, who has just stepped down as President of Southern New Hampshire University. In his tenure, he took back online education from predatory for-profit institutions to give thousands of students access to higher education. He's also the author of a fascinating book called "Broken: How Our Social Systems are Failing Us and How We Can Fix Them". We&#3...

Today we are hosting Barron Witherspoon on my Friday Fireside Chat. He's the author of "The Black Exec: And the Seven Myths", which draws from his 38-year career at Procter & Gamble, where he retired as Senior Vice President for Global Industry Affairs & The Corporate Race Initiative. He now enjoys a second career as an ordained minister, out of Cincinnati.

The phrase "innovate or die" has never been more relevant, yet the track record of most companies for organic innovation is dismal. But, there are leaders who demonstrate that making innovation an actual proficiency can be accomplished. Steve Wunker, together with his co-authors Jennifer Luo Law and Hari Nair, de-mystify the process. Examples include Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Panera...

Here's my conversation with Anupam B. Jena! He's the Joseph P. Newhouse Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and a physician in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and if that weren't enough, he hosts the Freakonomics MD podcast, and has just written a fascinating book called "Random Acts of Medicine". We'll be talking about...

Chip Conley is on a mission to make mid-life a welcome and joyous part of life's journey! His new book "Learning to Love Mid-Life" is an invitation to explore the wisdom that comes with experience, to let go of baggage that doesn't serve you well and to transform toward a fulfilling future. He'll be joining me by the fireside on February 23 at noon EST to talk about lessons h...

Stanford's Bob Sutton is one of the smartest people on the planet with respect to what goes on in organizations and why (hint - he's the guy that helps you deal with organizational A**holes). He has a brand-new book coming out, "The Friction Project" with Huggy Rao on the subtle ways in which leaders can make the right things easier and the wrong things harder. Boy do we need tho...

Here's my first Friday Fireside Chat of 2024, I'll be talking to award-winning podcast host and communications expert Matt Abrahams. He'll share time-tested techniques for rocking that unexpected conversation in which you have a great opportunity to make an impression. Much better than flubbing it and wishing you got the chance for a do-over. Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, soug...

Forensic accounting and filmmaking? How does that go together? Well, join Kelly Richmond-Pope, a Professor at DePaul University in Chicago as we delve in what she's learned from years of studying fraudsters, scammers and backroom operators of all kinds. Her new book is "Fool Me Once" and it uncovers what makes perps tick, why victims are so gullible, and why whistleblowers are so mor...

Kai D. Wright is a scholar-practitioner who has taught at Columbia University for over 10 years while serving as a leader at global marketing agencies Ogilvy and Dentsu, advising Fortune 100 companies. He's a change expert that helps organizations and industries advance DEI, is a member of Ad Age’s diversity council, and host of the "System Overload" series on Ad Age, which is how I...

Here's my conversation by the fireside with Sheena Iyengar, one of Columbia's most popular professors and author of the new book "Think Bigger". The book is getting great acclaim and is a fun and practical read, just full of stories from Sheena's extensive experience. Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business Scho...

Have you ever wondered about the essence of an idea? According to Jeremy, there are no entirely new ideas, as our brains cannot create something from nothing. He explains that a new idea is simply a connection between two concepts that haven't been linked before. In other words, it's a novel synthesis of existing knowledge. Sharing with you our exhilarating conversation with Jeremy Utley,...

Join Tiffani Bova and I for actionable insights from her book "The Experience Mindset" and the respective research supporting how you can drive revenue growth by getting the balance between focus on customer experience and focus on employee experience right.

It is staggering how many truly awful jobs Americans hold. Low pay, unpredictable hours, no opportunity for advancement and no chances of development. Little surprise then is that what we get as a result is high turnover, poor customer service and even higher risks in our everyday lives. In this masterful and entirely readable book, Zeynep Ton systematically dismantles the argument that bad jobs a...

It's easy to despair at high levels of inequality and lack of access to capital and resources that still face entrepreneurs who aren't white, male or well-connected. @Freada Kapor Klein's career is a beacon of hope for those of us looking for real, practical solutions. The Fund, @Kapor Capital, which she co-founded puts its money into underrepresented founders with huge impact on the e...

Do you feel as though you are perennially chasing your tail? Look up from your screen and wonder where the morning went? Feel as though you accomplished nothing but are totally exhausted by it? The problem may not be one big thing, but an accumulation of lots of little things. On Friday, I'll be talking with Rob Cross and Karen Dillon about their highly anticipated new book "Micro-stresso...

Hiding in the Bathroom: How to Get Out There When You’d Rather Stay Home - Is this a great title, or what?? My Friday fireside chat guest is Morra Aarons-Mele, a globally recognized speaker, podcast host and author of the new book "The Anxious Achiever." She's on a mission to get people to understand that anxiety can actually be a superpower if you train yourself to manage it well. M...

If you haven't been keeping up with Bob Sutton's research-based but incredibly practical work, you are missing a treat.     Rita McGrath is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School.  As one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth, Rita’s work is regularly published in the Harvard Business Review. She is consiste...

Richard Rumelt has been described by no less than McKinsey as a "giant in the field of strategy."  He's also a dear friend and an enormously influential thought leader.  We're going to chat about his latest book, "The Crux" in which he illustrates the principles of challenge-based strategy.  The idea is that strategists need to identify the main obstacle to overcome, and do so again...

Rita Kakati-Shah, an award-winning gender inclusion strategist, is the author of "The Goddess of Go-Getting," a fun guide to making your way in the world when you are not in the majority group. Rita’s spin on diversity, equity and inclusion is that most people get it wrong and, as a result, the outcomes are causing people to segregate rather than unify. Rita attended Sandhurst, the British equival...

@Christian Stadler is a Professor of strategy at Warwick Business School in the UK (formerly at the Tuck School). He was short-listed for the @Thinkers50 strategy award in 2021. His new book "Open Strategy: Mastering Disruption from Outside the C-Suite" explores how interconnected and open strategies can challenge conventional wisdom about keeping things to yourself!   Rita McGrath is a...