Thought Sparks

Jayshree Seth, Ph. D., is a corporate scientist and chief science advocate for 3M Company, where she has worked for over 27 years to advance science and develop new technologies and environmentally sustainable industrial products. She has over 70 patents to her name (with more on the way), received the incredibly prestigious Society for Women Engineers Achievement Award and is one of the few top p...

In the inflection point that is a public health crisis, an economic crisis, a crisis of social justice and an environmental crisis, few people have more smart things to say than Physicist, biotech entrepreneur, author and consultant Safi Bahcall. His most recent book "Loonshots," was an instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. He previously co-founded a company developing drugs for cancer which wen...

Judy Samuelson is the founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, a high-impact initiative to uproot some of the more damaging beliefs that have led to income inequality, the lack of consideration of all stakeholders in corporate governance and skyrocketing executive pay that has no basis in value creation. She’ll be joining me to discuss these ideas as well...

Gina O’Connor was figuring out how to help companies innovate long before it was a hot topic. In her many books and articles, she’s shown how we can get beyond what I call innovation theater by building proficiency in three distinct processes: Discovery, Incubation and Acceleration. It can be done, and she’s demystified the process. In our conversation, we’ll cover some of the biggest myths that g...

Tim Harford, the well known "Undercover Economist" columnist for the Financial Times was awarded an OBE in 2019 for his contribution to our economic understanding. I could not be more thrilled that he'll be joining me live and virtually to discuss, among other things, his new book. The US edition is called "The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics" and it's now available for...

I’ve been an unabashed fan of Rick Goings’ since we first met at a CEO Summit where one of the most memorable moments involved a real-time display of the creativity that goes into the Tupperware new product development process! Rick has a distinguished career in the military, as an entrepreneur and more recently as the long-time CEO of Tupperware, where he oversaw its successful global expansion,...

Did you know that in 1945, there were 4.5 million beehives in the United States, but that today there are only about 2 million? In what promises to be a fascinating new topic for a Friday Fireside Chat, I’ll be talking to Noah Wilson-Rich, a beekeeper, biologist, TED speaker and founder of the Best Bees Company, a premier beekeeping service. He’s a citizen-scientist who has created the world’s fir...

Procedures that defy logic. Requirements that no one can meet. Practices that are designed to frustrate and confuse. These are all crazy, says my Friday Fireside Chat guest Martin Lindstrom. Martin, who is a world renowned expert on branding and one of the most influential marketing experts in the world will be joining me to discuss, among other things, his brand-new book “The Ministry of Common S...

Chris Yeh and his partner in the Global Scaling Academy and I get together to discuss Blitzscaling, what it means to be entrepreneurial, the company they have just started and predictions for whatever happens after we're done with the pandemic.  Have a look at the replay!

One of the most exciting frontiers in medicine is the use of huge amounts of patient data to help design personalized and highly effective individual treatments which never would have been possible before. My Friday Fireside Chat guest, Glen de Vries, is the co-CEO and co-founder of Medidata, a company which provides an analytical platform that has completely transformed the way clinical trials ar...

My good friend Dorie Clark is a master of personal and professional reinvention. After starting out as a journalist and political operative (what careers could have brighter prospects?) she has transformed her career multiple times. She’s written three great books on how to be your own entrepreneur, is an accomplished and sought after speaker, and been at the leading edge of many career trends. Wh...

Some of the most magical things that happen at work aren't expensive, hard or risky. Simple human connections, treating each other with dignity and kindness and leveraging the power of appreciation are things anyone at any level can do. My Friday Fireside guests this week are Chester Elton, the "Apostle of Appreciation" and his co-author and co-conspirator Adrian Gostick. Author of several best-se...

One of the biggest barriers to growth and innovation is the overhang of the corporate budgeting process. Bjarte Bogsnes, Chairman of the Beyond Budgeting Institute and implementation head at Equinor, Scandinavia's largest company, has a better idea. Get beyond rote, mind-numbing budgeting processes and create flexible, changeable structures that allow your company to actually use the new strategy...

Carter Copeland is the President of Melius Research, where he is also the lead research analyst covering the global aerospace and defense sector. He is consistently ranked in Institutional Investor’s annual survey of top analysts, and was named the number one aerospace and defense analyst by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine. His recent co-authored book, "Lessons From the Titans" takes us on...

Harvard's Amy Edmondson pioneered the breakthrough concept of psychological safety at work, in which people feel that they can speak up without fear of retribution.  It's been shown to be crucial to innovation and growth.  Psychological safety has also been essential for improvements in hospital care.  I can't think of a more important topic for where we are right now.  In this...

Protests in the streets, against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic with political upheaval the world over. What kind of leadership should we look to under such complex and highly uncertain conditions? I'm grateful to be speaking with Chris Fussell of the McChrystal group, who together with Stan McChrystal, transformed the culture in the Joint Special Operations Command to distributed, not hierarch...

We are in the midst of several huge inflection points - a global pandemic, a recognition of structural inequities in American society and a looming economic crisis. How timely then to be talking to the founder of Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP) and a senior executive at Otsuka, with a unique perspective on all three and what needs to happen next.

Protests in the streets, against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic with political upheaval the world over. What kind of leadership should we look to under such complex and highly uncertain conditions? I'm grateful to be speaking with Chris Fussell of the McChrystal group, who together with Stan McChrystal, transformed the culture in the Joint Special Operations Command to distributed, not hierarch...

Clive Thompson's recent book "Coders" takes us into the minds and hearts of the people that are actually creating the digital world we all live in.  From the first piece of code many learned to love - "hello, world" to the sophisticated interactions behind artificial intelligence, Thompson gives us a fascinating fly on the wall perspective.  In this #FridayFiresideChat ​, he explains why...

It's pretty clear that we need a whole new playbook for strategy, and Erich Joachimsthaler has just published a thought-provoking new book on this very topic. While strategy used to be thought of as the property of a firm, the winners today are building what he calls "interaction fields" where value comes from the velocity of transactions partners can create between customers and suppliers and oth...

Gisbert Rühl, the CEO of German metals distributor Klöckner is one of my corporate heroes.  He and his company have digitized a very old legacy business, changed their business model and created new growth in an incredibly difficult traditional business.  In this recording of our Friday Fireside chat, we discuss why he felt digital transformation was an imperative, how Yammer became a to...

Jennefer Witter, public relations expert, CEO and one of the “10 most successful black CEOS and entrepreneurs” by Madame Noire Magazine enjoy a spirited conversation in this #FridayFiresideChat ​.   She describes her professional journey - from a financially strapped upbringing to a scholarship at Fordham to the challenging world of public relations to creating her own company.  We...

The original Gotham Girl herself, Joanne Wilson, and I get into a great conversation!  You can listen in while we talk about her varied interests, how NYC will come back, the insanity that has been venture capital in this past decade, how women can re-imagine their careers and so much more.  One of my favorite quips she reported was to her husband, well known venture capitalist Fred Wils...

Globally recognized leadership scholar Linda Hill is the author of well regarded business books "Being the Boss" and "Collective Genius." She's been interviewing leaders about how they are navigating the COVID-19 crisis and will share her insights with us.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, we have to be thoughtful about our next career moves, what kinds of support we'll need to take our next step and what being ambitious - especially for women - really means. Join me and Shellye Archambeau, author of the forthcoming book "Unapologetically Ambitious" in what I know will be an empowering and informative conversation.