As leaders rise and hierarchies shift, Stanford GSB organizational behavior professor Deborah Gruenfeld , guest in season one of If/Then , reminds us that power is not just about authority—it’s about presence. In this special feed drop from Pfeffer on Power , Gruenfeld, author of Acting With Power , revisits topics featured in her If/Then episode, exploring how body language and mindset can shape perceptions of influence. “We’re all playing roles,” she explains, whether as CEOs, professors, or p...
Nov 20, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In this episode of If/Then , we're diving into insights from three GSB experts featured on Think Fast, Talk Smart . Join us as professor of organizational behavior Michele Gelfand explains her "tight and loose" cultural framework, revealing how societal structures impact everything from crime rates to creativity. We also hear from marketing professor Jonathan Levav, who explores decision fatigue in judicial settings, shedding light on how mental depletion influences choices. Finally, marketing p...
Nov 06, 2024•14 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Artificial intelligence could fundamentally transform democracy for better or worse. In this bonus episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society , Professor Andrew B. Hall of Stanford Graduate School of Business explores AI's potential to disrupt our electoral system. With the 2024 presidential election approaching, Hall warns that AI-generated misinformation could sway voters and erode trust in democratic processes. Yet he also sees AI's potential to solve political challenges. If we want t...
Oct 16, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 19
One underappreciated fact about the explosion in genetic databases, like consumer sites that provide information about ancestry and health, is that they unlock valuable insights not only into an individual’s past and future, but also for that individual’s entire family. This raises serious concerns about privacy for people who have never submitted their genetic information for analysis, yet share much the same code as one who did. This week on If/Then , we’re sharing an interview from The Future...
Oct 09, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 18
This special episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society explores the personal stories behind Stanford GSB faculty's groundbreaking research. Discover how individual experiences shape scholarly inquiry. Baba Shiv, professor of marketing, examines decision-making and the brain's liking and wanting systems. His self-proclaimed "irrational" nature led him to question whether good decisions are based on reason or emotion. Mohammad Akbarpour, professor of economics, found his passion in market ...
Sep 25, 2024•9 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Behavioral economist and Professor of Marketing Baba Shiv works with entrepreneurs on how to build a risk-tolerant mindset. A mindset, Shiv believes, that is crucial in times of crisis. While we take a break and prepare for season two of If/Then, we're sharing an episode of Grit & Growth , a podcast from our partners at Stanford Seed. Here, Baba explains two types of mindsets: a fear of failure or a risk-averse mindset (type one) and a fear of missing out on opportunities mindset (type two)....
Aug 30, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 16
It can be tempting to think one thing causes another because they happen in succession, but there’s a lot to unwrap in the idea of causality. This week, If/Then is featuring an episode from the podcast All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions. Listen as hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explain the difference between correlation and causality, and examine cases where it is tempting to assume one thing caused another. Their guest for this episode, Guido Imbens, is...
Aug 07, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 15
To wrap up the first season of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, we invited Senior Associate Dean Jesper B. Sørensen into the studio to talk about the importance of research at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He shares insights on what motivates faculty to study what they do and how it impacts practitioners across industries. “One of the challenges of being a great researcher is that you need to move away again from this kind of day-to-day reality.… I think a gift that a lot of our f...
Jul 25, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 14
While our team starts working on our second season, we'll still be sharing insights, bonus content, behind-the-scenes audio, and "class takeaways" from Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty throughout the summer. Stay Tuned! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Jul 10, 2024•30 sec•Season 1Ep. 14
Getting to elect our leaders is certainly a privilege. Yet, even in a representative democracy, the choice that citizens have is often only as good as the candidates they have to choose from. That’s why Professor Andrew B. Hall, The Davies Family Professor of Political Economy, wonders: How do we get society’s best and brightest to participate in politics? As a political economist at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, Hall has spent years stu...
Jun 26, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 13
If we want to get fair outcomes, then we need to build fairness into algorithms. Whether you’re looking for a job, a house, or a romantic partner, there’s an app for that. But as people increasingly turn to digital platforms in search of opportunity, Daniela Saban says it’s time we took a critical look at the role of algorithms, the invisible matchmakers operating behind our screens. Saban is an Associate Professor of Operations, Information & Technology at Stanford Graduate School of Busine...
Jun 12, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Unless you’re a CPA or own a large business, it might be hard to see the relevance of accounting. While it’s true that the average person doesn’t necessarily need to be able to read a corporate balance sheet, Professor Ed deHaan says a deeper understanding of accounting — a greater fluency in the “language of business” — can help everyone get a grip on their finances and make more empowered decisions for their lives. deHaan is a professor of accounting at Stanford Graduate School of Business . I...
May 29, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 11
If we create good institutions, then we can live up to our good intentions. Knowing and articulating our values is essential. But when the metaphorical Siren’s song fills the air, is knowing our values enough to ensure that we live by them? According to Ken Shotts, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, having stated values is just expressing aims not necessarily actualizing them through concrete policies and practices. “We need those binding institutions to he...
May 15, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Whether or not robots can feel is a question that, at least for now, might be better left to the philosophers. But what’s becoming increasingly clear, says Associate Professor Szu-chi Huang , is that robots do have the capacity to make us feel. In this episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society , Huang delves into the effect that robots can have not just on our emotions, but on our behavior. Huang’s research shows that when people witness people helping others, they’re inspired to do the ...
May 01, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Digital currency — whether privately-developed or government-issued — seems like an inevitability to Stanford Graduate School of Business finance professor Darrell Duffie. “Virtually all countries are exploring a central bank digital currency for potential use,” he says. An expert on banking, financial market infrastructure, and fintech payments, Duffie is interested in how central bank digital currencies (CBDC) could revolutionize economies around the world. The shift to a digital version of a ...
Apr 17, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 8
A dollar is a dollar, right? While most conventional economic theories view money as an objective store of value, Mohammad Akbarpour says this misses a subtle but important fact: different people value money differently. Many economists assume that the price someone is willing to pay for a good or service is equivalent to the utility they get from it. But Akbarpour, an associate professor of economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business, isn’t convinced. “Different people have different marg...
Apr 03, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 7
If we want to make better decisions, then we need to think more like an artist. Rationality is often seen as the gold standard when it comes to making decisions, but Professor Baba Shiv prompts us to consider: “Is a good decision based on reason? Or is it based on emotion?” Shiv is the Sanwa Bank, Limited, Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business . Throughout his career, he’s researched how brain structures related to emotion and motivation affect the choices we make. “Emot...
Mar 20, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Immigrants’ contributions to America include culture, cuisine — and groundbreaking ideas. “No one is that surprised that immigrants play a disproportionate role in innovation,” says Rebecca Diamond , a professor of economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business. But, she notes, “Innovation in itself is an elusive thing to measure.” By studying patents, Diamond has revealed new insights into the important role immigrants play in fueling innovation. Diamond explains more in this episode of If/T...
Mar 06, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 5
If we want to seriously address the climate crisis, then we need to encourage foolish business ideas. When it comes to seemingly impossible problems like the climate crisis, Professor William Barnett says we need to reach for equally impossible solutions — ideas so crazy, they just might work. “Foolishness,” he says, “is the price of genius.” A professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Barnett is e...
Feb 21, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 4
If we can manage our emotions about AI, then it can be a powerful decision-making tool. Artificial intelligence’s surge in power and accessibility has inspired polarized reactions. Some people are flocking to the technology with feverish excitement. Others can’t stay far enough away. Yet according to Kuang Xu, both of these responses might be the wrong ones. "When people hear ‘AI,’ their brain kind of shuts down,” says Kuang , an associate professor of operations, information, and technology at ...
Feb 07, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 3
If we want to generate better ideas, then we need to get people back to the office. Jonathan Levav , a professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, details his study of remote work and creativity. “Pairs that worked face-to-face generated 15 to 20% more ideas than pairs that worked on Zoom,” he notes. What’s more, in-person brainstorming helped people consider a wider and more diverse range of possibilities. “Working on Zoom was a double penalty. Fewer ideas — and a narrower s...
Jan 24, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1
If we want to change power structures, then we need to understand the animal forces that drive our behavior. As Stanford Graduate School of Business professor of organizational behavior Deborah H. Gruenfeld observes, wherever there are humans, there are hierarchies. “People have a tendency to form hierarchies almost instantly in all kinds of organizational settings, whether the task requires it or not,” she says. Gruenfeld says our actions are still very much steered by primal drives. She unpack...
Jan 24, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 2
How do we get people back to the office? How and when can AI be a powerful decision-making tool? How will digital currencies transform payment systems? On If/Then, experts from Stanford Graduate School of Business share their research findings on a range of topics that intersect with business, leadership, and society. We’ll tackle practical, cutting-edge insights that will help you manage better, lead more confidently, and understand pressing issues affecting our lives. Join GSB senior editor an...
Jan 05, 2024•2 min
