Skydeck Voices: The Most Important Person I Met at HBS
Alumni reflect on the like-minded cofounders, life-changing professors, and lifelong partners they met on campus.
Sep 19, 2023•14 min
Skydeck
The Harvard Business School alumni podcast
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Episodes
Helping Consumers Decarbonize their Purchases
In this excerpt from the HBS podcast Climate Rising, Sanchali Pal (MBA 2018) discusses the business plan behind her sustainable spending app.
Aug 24, 2023•16 min
Striving for Imperfection
In a new book, Charles Conn (MBA 1990) offers problem-solving mindsets for uncertain times
Jul 27, 2023•17 min
Skydeck Live: Lessons from Major League Baseball’s Game-Changing Innovations
Chris Marinak (MBA 2008), Chief Operations and Strategy Officer at Major League Baseball, on building and nurturing an organizational culture of innovation—and what his experience at MLB can teach any business leader. (Recorded live at Spring Reunions.)
Jun 30, 2023•17 min
Balancing Acts
Recipients of the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award offer their take on the tricky topic of managing personal and professional responsibilities
May 22, 2023•14 min
Fail Better
Recipients of the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award describe when things didn’t go according to plan—and how those painful experiences were ultimately a good thing
May 05, 2023•19 min
Step Change
From the Bulletin: When she came back to Egypt five years ago, investor Amal Enan (MBA 2014) embraced the chaos—and found a path to impact her country’s future
Apr 12, 2023•26 min
How Can We Solve the Teacher Shortage Crisis?
In this excerpt from HBS's Managing the Future of Work podcast, Mallory Dwinal-Palisch (MBA 2015) offers a lesson plan for the American education system
Mar 24, 2023•13 min
Clearing the Air - Episode 3: Carbon’s Second Act
This is the third and final episode of Clearing the Air, our mini-series on carbon capture. In this episode, we look at some of the potential uses for captured carbon—including a startup employing nature’s C02 recycling model—and the necessity of sweeping, speedy scaling.
Feb 24, 2023•10 min
Clearing the Air - Episode 2: Grand Ambitions in the Great Plains
This is the second episode of our Skydeck mini-series on carbon capture. In the first episode, we explored the scope of the problem—and the potential size of the business opportunity at this moment. In this episode we’re headed to the Carbon Capture Inc.'s headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles, where the company's first prototype was built. And to Southwest Wyoming where the company is planning the first large-scale direct-air capture facility in the United States.
Feb 14, 2023•9 min
Clearing the Air: Episode 1 - Can We Really Engineer a Climate Fix?
This is the first episode of "Clearing the Air", a three-part series focused on the business of carbon capture, a technology that could help address the climate change crisis by removing excess carbon dioxide right out of the atmosphere. The promise of this approach has launched a raft of companies that not only capture but also store and even reuse the carbon—creating an industry that has attracted several billion dollars of government and investor capital in just the last few years. But the sc...
Jan 30, 2023•11 min
Forged in Fire
HBS Executive Fellow Bill George and Chad Foster (PLDA 21, 2016), an author and motivational speaker, on the transformational power of crucibles
Jan 13, 2023•20 min
Singing to the Corn
From the HBS Alumni Bulletin: Taylor Keen’s Sacred Seed project shows how a Native American approach to agriculture can protect the planet’s soil—one garden at a time.
Dec 16, 2022•21 min
If I Were You
Alumni offer their advice to current HBS students
Oct 17, 2022•9 min
Your Family, Your Work, Your Way
Daisy Dowling (MBA 2002) helps working parents hit the reset button, post-COVID—and offers practical advice for moving forward on an even keel at home and in the office
Aug 30, 2022•19 min
Skydeck Live: Stage Not Age
Susan Wilner Golden (PMD 59, 1990) on the promise of the new longevity economy
Aug 09, 2022•21 min
Wired to be Inspired
Professor Ranjay Gulati on the messy but transformational pursuit of purpose
Jul 14, 2022•16 min
Bidding Up
2022 Alumni Achievement Award recipient Bob Wilson (MBA 1961, DBA 1963) on his journey from Depression-era Nebraska to a 2020 Nobel Prize
May 25, 2022•22 min
Leading to Salvation
2022 Alumni Achievement Award recipient Bob Ryan (MBA 1970) had just stepped off his last board when he was called on for a different sort of service: revitalizing the oldest African American-owned business in north Minneapolis.
May 19, 2022•22 min
Onboarding
2022 Alumni Achievement Award recipient Tosh Barron (MBA 1972) describes her experience as a pioneering woman in the board room, the elements of effective corporate governance, and what to look for when seeking a board role
May 11, 2022•19 min
Lesson Plans
Sal Khan’s ambition for Khan Academy: Empower billions of learners and provide a safety net for education systems around the world
May 05, 2022•15 min
Clean Slate
In the first of a weekly series of Skydeck episodes honoring recipients of the 2022 Alumni Achievement Award, finance veteran Naina Lal Kidwai (MBA 1982) talks about her second act as chairman and founder of the India Sanitation Coalition, an organization coordinating business, government, and nonprofit efforts to improve India’s water quality and health outcomes.
Apr 28, 2022•16 min
Home Grown
Naveen Tewari, founder of InMobi and now Glance, is at the forefront of a growing trend of global consumer technology companies created in Asia—not just powered by it
Apr 20, 2022•11 min
Well Said
Anada Lakra’s startup helps non-native speakers master the art of the English language
Mar 23, 2022•14 min
Making Peace with Anger
How Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker’s experience with anger management therapy transformed his life and career
Jan 24, 2022•20 min
Higher Returns
Parsec Ventures CEO Richard Steel (OPM 45, 2014) has had a wide range of professional experiences, including everything from running both private and public companies to serving on nonprofit boards to advising the White House Business Council. Which means that he has spent a lot of time speaking with leaders in both business and government about the factors that are driving their organizations’ strategy. Over the last several years, there has been a dominant theme in those conversations: ESG. En...
Dec 03, 2021•17 min
Jeff Immelt in the Hot Seat: Episode 2
In 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis, with ratings agencies weighing whether or not to downgrade its stock, GE CEO Jeff Immelt made the decision to cut the company's annual dividend for the first time since 1938. It was gutting for Immelt. He knew the financial impact such a move would have not just on the company, but also on its retirees—a group that notably included his own parents. In this second part of our Skydeck conversation with Immelt, we talk about the trials of the financial ...
Sep 03, 2021•20 min
Jeff Immelt in the Hot Seat: Episode 1
When Jeff Immelt graduated from HBS in 1982, he had job offers from Morgan Stanley and Boston Consulting Group. But Immelt had spent his second year at HBS reflecting on his career path, and he decided that he was more interested in being an operator than an investor, accepting a position with a lower salary at GE. His initial plan was to spend five years or so at GE learning how to manage. Ultimately though, he would go on to spend 35 years at the company, becoming CEO in 2001. He was so dedica...
Aug 30, 2021•16 min
A Letter to My White Friends and Colleagues
On May 31st, 2020, six days after the murder of George Floyd, Stephen Roger's daughter, Ariel sent him a text. In it, she told her dad that the Black community was suffering and that he needed to talk to them-- that he needed to address the community as if he were the President of the United States. His daughter's plea led him to record a podcast that did just that, urging the Black community to both keep up the fight and take care of themselves. But Rogers also recorded a second podcast, this o...
Aug 18, 2021•17 min
Skydeck Voices: For My Next Act
This is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. At the HBS reunions in 2019, the Skydeck team set up shop on Spangler lawn and asked alumni to share their secrets to a successful retirement. John Teeling, DBA 1979, who has started a number of Irish whiskey distilleries, hadn’t intended to sit and offer his advice, but his companion had other ideas. JOHN TEELING: The reason you have me here is because my wife was listening to the request to come on and she says I’m not allowed to retire until I’m 94. You s...
Aug 04, 2021•9 min
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