On this special episode of Bizcast, we’re presenting a conversation between Bernstein Center Faculty Director Modupe Akinola and former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, who is now the senior advisor to the Obama Foundation. Ms. Jarrett shares some of the formative experiences in her life: her childhood in Iran, England, and Chicago; her calling to public service; and her time in the Obama White House. She also provides her perspective on the role the business community ...
Oct 08, 2020•39 min
As one of the world’s leading experts on diversity in business environments, the late Professor Katherine Phillips left a remarkable legacy of scholarship and inspiration. For Mariah Celestine ’20 and Camira Powell ’20, the most meaningful way to honor Professor Phillips was to continue the important work of making CBS a more inclusive institution that will empower future leaders to advocate for diversity and equity in their workplaces. As part of a collaboration with Vice Dean for Diversity, Eq...
Sep 17, 2020•26 min
On June 26, Gita Johar, Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion spoke with Erika Irish Brown ‘98, the Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs, about the firm’s internal response to the global protest and reckoning on anti-Black racism in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. In their conversation, Brown shared some of the practical, actionable steps she’s put into place at Goldman Sachs that address racial injustice and help move the organization toward a place of equity. Brown disc...
Aug 27, 2020•31 min
Bizcast is continuing our conversation with Management Professor Dan Wang about the connections between protests and business. Part one examined the skills and leadership abilities protest organizers have in common with CEOs. In this part, Wang explains the relationship that exists between businesses and consumers is analogous to protest movements responding to emerging societal trends. Wang discusses his research on how demonstrations affect the public perception of companies and internal cultu...
Aug 05, 2020•13 min
In light of the conversation started by the Black Lives Matter movement, we’re starting a series of special edition podcasts focusing on how pro-equity social changes are affecting industries. For the first episode, we’re going to look at the nature of protest itself. On the surface, it might seem that planning an effective protest and running a successful business might not have much in common. But according to Associate Professor Dan Wang, demonstration organizers often have the same skills se...
Jul 23, 2020•15 min
The COVID-19 pandemic presented the already volatile world of brands with a tough new challenge: How does a brand stay viable, but ensure that it is sensitive to the new financial and societal realities of the “new normal?” On this episode of Bizcast, marketing Professor Elizabeth Friedman and Matthew Quint, the director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership, offer insights on ways companies communicate both that they are open for business, and that they care about the well-being of their cus...
May 22, 2020•16 min
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business world and the daily lives of millions have undergone massive disruptions in a short amount of time. The reality of this new normal is what Professor Rita McGrath would define as an inflection point – an external change that causes the underlying assumptions of a business to adjust dramatically in response. On this episode of Bizcast, McGrath, the author of Seeing Around Corners: How To Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen , e...
May 18, 2020•29 min
Overall, Dean Emeritus Glenn Hubbard has been pleased with the government response to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the speed with which Congress and the administration passed the CARES Act. On this episode of Bizcast, however, Hubbard, the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics and faculty director of the Chazen Institute for Global Business, offers a critique of the implementation of relief efforts by the Small Business Administration and Department ...
May 08, 2020•16 min
According to a recent Department of Commerce report, retail sales slumped by 8.7 percent in March, as states issued stay-at-home orders and stores closed throughout the nation. Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies, explains on the latest episode of Bizcast that the retail sector should be prepared for even more dismal numbers in the coming months. “There’s an enormous amount of business being done on food and supplies, but for the most part retail is shut down,” he says. Cohen provides his...
May 01, 2020•27 min
Like many of his classmates, Dr. Faheem Ahmed started the spring semester, primed to put the finishing touches on his MBA. But after COVID-19 began to spread, he relocated to his home in London to complete his degree remotely and work on the frontline of the crisis. In this special episode of Bizcast, Ahmed -- who has a medical degree from King’s College London and a master’s degree in health systems management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine -- gives us his perspective o...
Apr 24, 2020•20 min
Jacquie Henderson '17 works in strategy and operations for a seven hospital health system that serves communities in New York's Hudson Valley and in Western Connecticut. When the virus hit, her responsibilities quickly shifted. In this episode, Henderson talks about how her CBS experience helped her set up freestanding testing sites and “uptrain” the staff to take on new tasks and assignments. She also describes the precautions she takes to keep her family safe. Is there anything you would like ...
Apr 16, 2020•9 min
We’re pivoting Bizcast. Starting with this episode, we’ll be covering the business impacts of COVID-19 from multiple perspectives. Our first guest is Tommy Hendrix ‘17, who discusses his current work searching gray markets for personal protective equipment to redistribute to healthcare workers. He details how his military and business school backgrounds inform his task, and offers his thoughts on the most important way to combat this virus. Is there anything you would like to tell us about your ...
Apr 10, 2020•10 min
This month, the School welcomed its inaugural group of undergraduate seniors and non-professional Master’s students into the new Deferred Enrollment Program. The program allows accepted students to defer their MBA or EMBA start date for between two to five years, while they are gaining experience in the workforce. On this episode of Bizcast, we visit with CBS Admissions officers Emily French Thomas and Michael Robinson. They explain not only how the DEP works, but also how its students will play...
Mar 19, 2020•13 min
In our second episode featuring the School’s UK-based graduates, we visit with Lee Georgs ’03, the Chief Operating Officer of Corporate for the investment consultancy Redington and co-President of the London alumni club. Georgs has held positions with some of the world’s most prestigious investment banks, including Citibank, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse. Her career path has not been a straight line. Since graduating from Columbia, Georgs moved from New York to Hong Kong to London, while taking so...
Mar 12, 2020•22 min
For the next few months, Bizcast will be bringing you stories and interviews from our recent UK visit, where we met with members of the CBS Alumni Club of London. We start our journey across the pond with Shai Weiss ’97, who was named CEO of Virgin Atlantic in January 2019. Weiss offers a behind-the-scenes look at the brand’s unique mission to make Virgin the world’s most loved travel company. He also talks about Virgin’s commitment to diversity and the challenge that climate change poses for th...
Feb 27, 2020•20 min
In 2018, at the urging of students and faculty, the Business School formed two committees to study issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the CBS community. In this episode, Gita Johar, Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, tells us about the positive results of the committees’ work: a renewed and keener focus on DEI at the School. Johar explains what diversity, equity, and inclusion means for faculty and students, an...
Feb 13, 2020•11 min
On this episode of Bizcast we’re back in the classroom to learn about Analytics in Action, an innovative masterclass that brings together MBA and engineering students with representatives from companies such as Viacom and Citigroup to solve real business problems in real time. Now in its third year, Analytics in Action reflects Dean Costis Maglaras’s initiative to bring together a diverse set of thought leaders from across Columbia’s campus. Following a visit to class, we talked with professors ...
Jan 30, 2020•23 min
Listen in to some revelations about secrets with Michael Slepian, the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Associate Professor of Leadership and Ethics. Professor Slepian researches the effect of secret-keeping on our personal and professional lives. According to his findings, being the lone bearer of a secret not only heightens emotions such as inauthenticity and loneliness, but can also feel physically burdensome. Fortunately, Slepian’s research hints at a solution: talking to others about your secr...
Jan 16, 2020•15 min
In which we kick back and chat with former Rockette and current CBS student, Kristin Jantzie, ’21. Jantzie opens up about the discipline it took to sustain her 13-year run as a member of the world-famous dance troupe. She details lessons from her time with the troupe that are serving her here at CBS, and tells us how business school is preparing her for the next stage of her career.
Dec 12, 2019•7 min
First, we speak with Eat Offbeat, the New York-based catering company founded by Wissam Kahi ’04 and his sister Manal Kahi, SIPA ’15. Eat Offbeat hires refugees and trains them to prepare cuisine from their native countries. Next, we check in with April Tam Smith ’10 who, in addition to her day job on Wall Street, opened P.S. Kitchen. This Times Square vegan restaurant donates 100 percent of its profits to organizations that support sustainability, and provides jobs to recent immigrants and the ...
Nov 22, 2019•16 min
In honor of Veterans Day, Bizcast is revisiting conversations we had with three CBS alumni, all former service members. All three are working to support veterans in their transition to civilian life. EMBA graduate Brooke Jones-Chinetti ’18 served in the Army for nearly ten years, which included a tour of duty in Iraq. After her commitment, Jones-Chinetti worked for JPMorgan Chase’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs. This inspired her to found Your Sequel, a networking organization designed to help fem...
Nov 11, 2019•20 min
On this edition of Bizcast, we welcome the new dean of Columbia Business School, Costis Maglaras, to the podcast. In our conversation, Dean Maglaras shares his vision for the School, the opportunity to innovate the curriculum, and the transformational potential of the School’s move to Manhattanville in two years. Maglaras also talks about his plans for enrichment and other learning opportunities for alumni to help them keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving work environment. Join us on Maglaras...
Oct 29, 2019•18 min
On this episode of Bizcast, we revisit our conversation with Impact America Fund founder Kesha Cash ’10. Named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People for 2018, Kesha told us about a point in her career when she needed to reconcile that she was “living two lives.” Cash grew up in a low-income family, first in rural South Carolina, then in Orange County, California. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in applied mathematics, Cash embarked on a career in financial services that ...
Oct 17, 2019•17 min
On this episode of Columbia Bizcast, we’re invited to dine with the Polarization Project. Recent EMBA graduates Brianna O’Brien Lowndes ’19, Charlie Kreitler ’19, and Emmett Lamb ’19 founded this discussion series, in which a faculty expert lectures on a global issue and students engage in a lively debate afterwards. At the dinner we attended, the group hosted Professor of Professional Practice Bruce Usher who spoke about the intersection of climate change and business.
Oct 03, 2019•15 min
Leadership lessons from Jon Snow, Ned Stark, and Professor Bruce Craven. Professor Craven's book, Win or Die: Leadership Secrets from Game of Thrones, offers a trove of leadership lessons for managing groups and implementing change. In this episode of Columbia Bizcast, Bruce Craven, a professor in the Business School’s Executive Education program and director of the School’s Advanced Management Program, addresses the leadership takeaways from this mega-hit series.
Apr 12, 2019•24 min
“Whatever the big social problem is, I’d like to believe that business people are leading that charge and not just waiting for politics,” Hubbard says in his second appearance on the podcast. With the US government recently emerging from a record-long shutdown, Dean Glenn Hubbard can sound as exasperated as the next person with what he describes as a “feckless” political system. Which is why resilient business leaders are all the more necessary in today’s economic environment, Hubbard says in th...
Feb 18, 2019•21 min
What makes an idea go viral, a song become a hit, or a startup turn into a stock-listed powerhouse? It often happens, according to Assistant Professor Michael Mauskapf, because of an optimal mix of oldness and newness. Be it a Billboard No. 1 or a blockbuster business idea, the concept catches on because it’s similar enough to be recognizable but different enough to be edgy. “If your goal is commercial success and widespread adoption, you don’t want to be radically different,” Mauskapf says in t...
Feb 04, 2019•24 min
Developing a successful organizational strategy isn’t easy, especially in an unpredictable business climate. Navigating a shifting landscape requires leaders to abandon pre-conceived notions and think differently, according to Rita Gunther McGrath, a professor in the Business School’s Executive Education program. A globally recognized expert on innovation and growth strategy, McGrath argues that to maintain a competitive advantage in times of change, organizations must protect their key resource...
Jan 14, 2019•29 min
“Engage,” says the president and CEO of education nonprofit organization Children’s Aid. “Don't sit on the sidelines.” Child homelessness is at a record high in New York City, with one in 10 students in public schools living in temporary housing. Phoebe Boyer ’93 is on the front-line working to prevent these children from falling through society’s cracks. As president and CEO of Children’s Aid, one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofits serving children, Boyer is responsible for leading a...
Dec 17, 2018•25 min
Any hospital patient basically wants two things: to get well and to get out. Jing Dong is helping that happen faster. An assistant professor in the division of Decision, Risk, and Operations, Dong is at the forefront of research into improving hospitals’ operational and procedural efficiencies, from lowering admittance wait-times to speeding up discharges. “I still see a lot of exciting things to do in the healthcare domain,” Dong tells Columbia Bizcast. “I’m helping hospitals identify the costs...
Dec 10, 2018•22 min
