Thinkers & Ideas

B. Joseph Pine II, author and management thinker who coined the term experience economy, outlines why transformations become the highest form of value. He describes the five stages of economic value and what real transformation journeys look like. He explains how to design, scale, and guarantee outcomes, and how businesses can shift from selling products to guiding identity change.

Eswar Prasad, Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy and Economics at Cornell and Brookings senior fellow, discusses his book about a destructive feedback loop between economics, politics, and geopolitics. He unpacks globalization’s paradoxes, China's rise and middle powers' dilemmas, Europe's policy challenges, the weakening of global rules, and how AI and digital tech amplify instability.

Mehran Gul, a technology thinker and author who led digital transformation work at the World Economic Forum, walks through how countries build breakthrough-tech ecosystems. He discusses what makes ecosystems succeed. He contrasts US invention with China’s scaling strengths. He digs into why Europe lags, how statecraft can shape innovation, and where new hotspots may emerge.

Daniel Coyle, author and researcher on group culture and performance, shares his take on flourishing as joyful, community-rooted growth. He discusses finding stillness and teaming rituals. Crisis as a clarifying force, productive messiness that sparks creativity, and how leaders can balance disorder with efficiency are key themes.

Dani Rodrik, Harvard political economist and author focused on globalization and development. He tackles the trilemma of democracy, prosperity, and sustainability. He critiques hyper-globalization, explains why manufacturing no longer guarantees development, and spotlights services, national climate action, and experimental productivist policies.

Join Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and author of The Seven Rules of Trust, as he shares insights from two decades of building one of the world’s most trusted platforms. He discusses how scaling interpersonal trust is essential for collaboration and addresses whether Wikipedia could thrive today amid online toxicity. Wales emphasizes the importance of assuming good faith and how organizations can reclaim lost trust. He also examines AI's impact on trust, advocating for transparency and human oversight while remaining optimistic about society's ability to rebuild trust.

In a dynamic conversation, Ranjay Gulati, a Harvard Business School professor and author of How to Be Bold, discusses the learnability of courage. He emphasizes that courage isn't the absence of fear but mastering it, sharing insights on building a culture of boldness in organizations. Gulati dives into the importance of narratives and self-efficacy, illustrating how personal and corporate stories shape action. He also contrasts risky decisions with corporate caution, advocating for calculated risks to drive innovation and purpose in leadership.

Mike Bird, Wall Street editor at The Economist and author of The Land Trap, discusses the complex dynamics of land as the ultimate asset. He explains why land is unique and poses a 'trap,' linking it to systemic economic risks and inequality. The conversation explores the historical evolution of land ownership and its ties to major financial crises, such as the 2008 subprime collapse. Bird examines the rise of superstar cities and innovative governance models, shedding light on how businesses leverage land value in today's economy.

In SuperAdaptability: How to Transcend in an Age of Overwhelm, Max McKeown argues that the key to thriving under uncertainty is adaptability—being able to change with your environment, again and again, getting better each time.McKeown is a leading strategy thinker, coach to Fortune 100 companies, and an award-winning author. In his new book, he reveals how figures as different as Frida Kahlo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Simone Biles all relied on the same pattern of thinking to adapt to radically changing circumstances.In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, he discusses the difference between adaptability and resilience, and how to scale adaptability from one person to a team to an entire organization.Key topics discussed: 01:14 | The power of adaptive intelligence03:03 | Adaptability vs. resilience05:15 | The RUN loop: Recognize, understand, necessary action09:08 | How to help others become more adaptable11:57 | How to make your company more adaptable16:19 | Applying the loop logic to innovation23:56 | Real life stories of adaptability29:23 | Bringing adaptability to life with illustrationsAdditional inspirations from Max McKeown:The Strategy Book: How to Think and Act Strategically to Deliver Outstanding Results (FT Publishing International, 2024)

John Cassidy, a staff writer at The New Yorker and Pulitzer Prize finalist, engages in a thought-provoking discussion about his book on capitalism's critics. He explores the enduring critiques of capitalism, such as inequality and instability, while highlighting its surprising adaptability. Cassidy reframes the Luddites as protesters against misuse, rather than technology itself. He addresses the impact of unpaid domestic labor, and shares surprising insights from his research, suggesting capitalism may be facing a political crisis amid rising tensions.