unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

We often think of the self as something that exists independent of social relations, but without society, there would be no need for a self or any of the concepts that relate to the self, including morality, duties, belonging, or reputation.  Roy F. Baumeister is a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland and is known for his work on several areas such as the self, self-control, sel...

Is poetry only for the elite? There are some who would reserve poems only for a specialized audience, but poetry can be found everywhere. Poetry is the language of heightened experience. Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet and writer. Dana is a former California Poet laureate and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Stanford and an M.A...

Every business wants to become a platform business, believing that network effects and first mover advantages will lead to market power and competitive advantage. Indeed, some investors think that the advantages that come from being a platform are the only ones that matter in the digital economy. But not every great business is a platform, and not every platform is a great business. Jonathan Knee...

As humans, we have undoubtedly dominated our planet like no other species before us. However, facing the sobering reality that our own actions could lead to our extinction demands the question: have the very traits that set us apart from other species also paved the way for our self-destruction? Justin Gregg is an Adjunct Professor at St. Francis Xavier University, a Senior Research Associate with...

The fear of algorithmic decision-making and surveillance capitalism dominate today's tech policy discussions. But instead of simply criticizing big data and automation, we can harness technology to correct discrimination, historical exclusions, and subvert long-standing stereotypes. Orly Lobel is the author of “The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Futu...

What is art, and who gets to define it? Museums have long staked a claim on knowing what to show, but there has always been a wide range of how viewers engage with art. There is also a wide range of artists and what is considered art, from classical masters like Titian to modern conceptual artists like Marcel Duchamp. Lance Esplund is an art critic, journalist, educator, and author. His book, titl...

How does magical thinking help or hurt us in our everyday lives?? What would we lose if we removed the enchantment that it provides? Magical thinking is inherent in the human experience and persists even in an era dominated by the scientific worldview. Matthew Hutson is a journalist who writes for The New Yorker and other publications. Matt is also the author of the book The 7 Laws of Magical Thin...

Organizational leaders can use the power of behavioral economics to not only make better decisions themselves, but by leading their employees, their customers, and their stakeholders to make wiser decisions, make the company more effective, and also make society better off as a result. Max H. Bazerman is Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the Co-Director of the...

Everyone loves a good story, but more than that, we as humans are programmed on a genetic level to share and learn all kinds of information through stories. When you tap into the power of that response you can use it to engage people on all levels, from customers to audiences to investors, and achieve a connection with them on a fundamental level. David Riemer is a lecturer at the University of Ca...

Corporations are engines of progress and prosperity, directly influencing the quality of life of the general public while sometimes recklessly pursuing profit at the expense of us all. William joins Greg for a nuanced examination of the modern economy’s central institution, its origins in the Roman Republic, where corporations were designed to promote the common good, their role in mediating influ...

Is our behavior truly our own? Or do our choices grow out of our environment? There are influences all around each of us, and often the walking talking version of influencers ends up shaping the behavior of the people around them in ways that are not always visible. Jon Levy is a behavior scientist and the founder of the Influencers Dinner. He is also an author. His latest book is called You're In...

Live every day like it’s your last, or like it's the beginning of the rest of your life? The way we answer this question is closely tied to views on mortality, and how humans deal with the concept of their own impending demise. Death is the inevitable great leveler, and yet there are many different ways that humans think and live with the topic. Andrew Stark is a professor of Strategic Management...

Emotions play a pivotal role in shaping our lives. They contribute crucially to the rationality of life, making us unique in our ability to reason and make sense of the world. Ronnie de Sousa is a Swiss-born Canadian philosopher, renowned for his outstanding contributions to the philosophy of emotion and biology, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and author of such books as  The Ra...

In the last decade, disruptive innovation has come primarily from startups like Uber, AirBnB, or not legacy companies. But Linda Yates argues that large companies can and should compete with start-ups by creating an internal innovation pipeline. Linda joins Greg to discuss her new book, The Unicorn Within: How Companies Can Create Game-Changing Ventures at Startup Spee d, which is a step-by-step g...

Food is much better and more interesting when it combines many cuisines. So too is economics more fruitful when it sources from different schools. While many countries have seen their diets expand, the profession of economics increasingly relies on “monocropping”, drawing only from the neo-classical school.  In his latest book, Edible Economics , economist Ha Joon Chang uses the ever changing food...

No matter what industry we all work in, productivity is key. Not only is managing our time properly good for getting all of our tasks done but also spending time doing things we love. In this episode of unSILOed, Robert Pozen shares methods to creating priorities for your time, ways to protect your time, and making sure you’re spending each day addressing your priorities. Robert Pozen is the autho...

Sometime in the 18th century, the world began to grow at much faster rate. Economic Historians have debated the reasons for this Industrial Revolution, but it almost certainly has to do with the growth of technology and a culture of scientific inquiry.  Joel Mokyr is both an economist and a historian. He is also a professor of both Economic and History at Northwestern University. In addition, Joel...

When most historians set out to write a book, they choose a particular point in history to dive deep into. But Ian Morris prefers to write about history from the 10,000-foot view- or in some cases, the 10,000-year view.  He calls it big history, and on this episode of unSILOed, Greg and Ian talk about some of the Big History topics Ian has tackled in his writing career such as: the evolution of hu...

Humans respond to incentives just like any other animal, but it’s important to make sure to use the right incentive to get the results that you desire because sometimes incentives can lead to unintended outcomes.  Uri Gneey holds a chair in Behavioral Economics and is Professor of Economics and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. He is also an author and his latest book, Mixed Sig...

When we think about the greatest innovators of our time (Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, Frank Lloyd Wright) we often hear about their work ethic. But one thing that all of these innovators have in common is their ability to walk away from the work. They nap, they garden, and they go shopping to give themselves a break from the problem they are working on and look for inspiration in the real world....

Can ordinary symbolic human behavior be analyzed through the lens of game theory the same way that the economic behavior can?? What similarities show up in both economics and culture?? Moshe Hoffman and Erez Yoeli are both research scientists at MIT, lecturers at Harvard, and authors of the book Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior. In the book, Mo...

The evolution of Networks has been characterized by periodic technological revolutions that result in accelerated dispersion of information and new ideas. By examining these moments and the conditions that caused them we can learn new things about the nature of networks. Tom Wheeler is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Center and also an author. He has an upcoming book called Techlash: Who Makes...

Psychiatry has been called the stepchild of medicine, experiencing far less progress than care of the body. Andrew Scull, a sociology professor at the University of California at San Diego, chronicles the history of Psychiatry in America in his latest book, Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s turbulent quest to cure mental illness. In this episode of unSILOed, Greg and Andrew discuss this history inc...

Competition drives down prices, makes it hard to collude on prices, and keeps any one company from taking excessive profits, but the fewer players there are in the game of free markets, the more power and control each one has, and consumers are ultimately the ones who lose.  Thomas Philippon is an economist, a professor at New York University in the Stern School of Business, and the author of the...

The classic image of evolution everyone knows is the man who goes from apelike body to tool using biped. But the bigger, story would include families, groups of humans who worked together, including women, children, and people of all ages, which means division of labor and culture. Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson are a Research Associate and Professor Emeritus, respectively, in the Department of...