Episode Summary: Shelley Zalis is an entrepreneur, provocateur, connector, CEO, champion of women and equality, and (as some have called her) “chief troublemaker.” What makes Shelley so fascinating is that she simply refuses to accept the status quo when it’s broken, and what’s broken is the experience – both on the job and at home – of so many working women. The platform she has created and continues to nurture and innovate is The Female Quotient: “We Are in the Business of Equality.” On this e...
Jun 06, 2022•56 min•Ep. 124
Episode Summary: Recently, Syd launched a set of four online courses on the Coursera platform – the Strategic Leadership “specialization” – getting a first-hand view of how education has shifted from traditional classroom to digital media. Since the Sydcast is all about learning, it seems appropriate for the first episode of Season 4 to kick off with the CEO of that digital education company, Jeff Maggioncalda. Not only is Coursera the biggest online education start-up with over 100 million lear...
May 30, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 123
Episode Summary: Sarah Apgar – Princeton and Dartmouth alum, Iraqi war vet, volunteer fire fighter and EMT, and startup founder – wants to create a fitness and wellness movement based on the FitFighter steelhose product. In three conversations over the last year, we learn about Sarah and her company, her life as a Mom, her aspirations for her business, and how the relentless move toward growth requires constant adjustment and deep resilience. Sydney Finkelstein: Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Rot...
Jan 03, 2022•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 122
Episode Summary: Italy. Food. Artisans. Culture. That is the life Professor Danielle Callegari is immersed in, and when you hear about it you’ll probably say, why didn’t I think of it! Except then you’ll need to spend years writing a book on Dante, then start the next book, cloistered in Italian libraries with no air conditioning during Roman summer. Danielle’s story is a story of the professor building a career, a brand, and a platform, an inside look at what it really takes to make it in acade...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 121
Episode Summary: Did you ever feel like you didn’t deserve the job you had? That you were faking it, and would soon be found out? That’s impostor syndrome in action, and my former MBA student Catharine Keene has been dealing with it for years. In this episode she tells her story, including how she’s figured out how to keep it under wraps as she starts her post-MBA career at one of the world’s leading consulting firms. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management ...
Dec 20, 2021•45 min•Ep. 120
Episode Summary: Successful MBA leaves high-paying Wall Street job to build a start-up dedicated to helping women manage their careers and families. Joyce Cadesca tells us why she made this move, and in this As It Happens series, visits with us three times over the last year to talk about the challenges and wins she’s racked up. The truth: it hasn’t been easy, but for this single mom of color the path she’s on is a true life passion, replete with reinvention and re-learning, but no regret. Sydne...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 119
Episode Summary: At It Happens: MBA student Lia Parker-Belfer re-enters the workforce with her summer internship at Uber. Dedicated to a career of impact, joining legendary bro-culture Uber is a purposeful challenge, akin to many Gen Z’ers and Millennials who must come to terms with aspirational values in the corporate world. In this episode, we follow Lia, before and after, comparing expectations and reality, to see what she learned about Uber, and about herself. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelst...
Dec 06, 2021•52 min•Ep. 118
Episode Summary: As It Happens: Follow puzzle-maker Kaylin Marcotte as she builds her startup JIGGY during Covid – growing, pivoting, and getting her first big break. In two conversations over four months, we get an inside look at how Kaylin and her startup manage early growth while learning both what she needs to do next and who she is as an entrepreneur and a person. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Colleg...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 117
Episode Summary: Starting a job as a new CEO is not easy. Starting at the same time as a global pandemic is tougher. Now add in that the CEO – my guest, Lucy Lieberman – is running the travel company Tablet Hotels and you get the picture. With a career that went from digital startups in the early days of the Internet to managing global brands, Lucy has experience with pretty much every aspect of marketing, and she brings it all to her role as CEO. On this episode of The Sydcast, Lucy walks us th...
Nov 21, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 116
Episode Summary: Sometimes you know what you want to do with your life, and for Bianca Smith, that was baseball. Professional baseball. Her path to becoming the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball is a story of grit, single-minded focus, and force of personality. Still only 30 and a coach at a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, Bianca tells us how she got there and what life is like when you’re a 5-foot-tall woman teaching professional male athletes how they could be b...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 115
Episode Summary: Imagine carrying a burden of self-doubt and insecurity while everyone else only sees a smart young woman taking on the world of business. At some point something has to give, and for my guest on this episode of The Sydcast it did, via a nervous breakdown and an epiphany that has led to a new career of helping fellow Latinas come to terms with a culturally-derived inferiority complex that holds back an immense talent pool from fulfilling their potential. This is the inspirational...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 114
Episode Summary: Imagine taking a career break for 11 years and then returning to face an entirely different world of work, technology, and even culture. Carol Fishman Cohen did it, and quickly came to realize that there are many thousands of others – mostly women – who are looking to make the same transition. They had high-powered jobs, and now they want to get back in the game. As it turns out, hundreds of companies are thinking the same thing – how do we tap into this experienced talent pool?...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 113
Episode Summary: Episode 112. Julie Quenneville is a path-breaking CEO whose personal journey reads like a greatest hits of modern challenges for women who want to make an impact. From being married to a partner that wanted her at home, to navigating multiple male-dominated professional settings, to bringing up children as a single Mom with a high-powered career, Julie has, and is, living her own life. Add in a dedication to mentoring other women, the ability to communicate her message in powerf...
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 112
Episode Summary: He is addicted to prescription opioids, he attempts suicide, he’s found guilty of white-collar crime and serves 13 months in prison. Now he’s out, free, and has a chance to do something good for others, and himself, with the rest of his life. This was, and is, Jeff Grant, and on this episode of The Sydcast we hear his story. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s degre...
Oct 18, 2021•57 min•Ep. 111
Episode Summary: Wendin Smith wanted Russia to stop polluting its largest lake and ended up becoming one of America’s leading thinkers on weapons of mass destruction. Her vantage point at the Department of Defense and now in consulting gives her access and insight to some of the most intractable challenges we face, from biological weapons to global cybercrime. In this episode of The Sydcast, an inside look and master class you wish you didn’t need. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steve...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 110
Episode Summary: Imagine an investing strategy that takes advantage of biases and imperfections in the marketplace. Sounds good? Now imagine that these investments are in startups founded by women and people of color, groups that have not had access to the same funding opportunities as others have. Sounds even better, doesn’t it? And that’s what my guest on this episode of The Sydcast, Jacques-Philippe Piverger, is all about, as he tells his story of entrepreneurship, investment, and impact. Syd...
Oct 04, 2021•59 min•Ep. 109
Episode Summary: Why do humans walk on two feet? Every other animal motors on four legs (paws), and they do it way faster than we do, but we humans walk upright. If you thought evolution is supposed to select for attributes that enhance survival, then we have a real puzzle, among the most fundamental in human evolution. And that’s the puzzle Jerry DeSilva sets out to explain in his highly accessible book “First Steps,” and in this episode of The Sydcast. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the...
Sep 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 108
Episode Summary: How did the dancing Jikaria Sisters – a JD, MBA and Engineer – become TikTok sensations in their spare time? And what should they do next? The three sisters talk about their upbringing, their new brand, and how they’re juggling their “real” careers with another one in the heart of social media. Lots of fascinating questions, from how to scale the brand to what to say to clients about something they see as much more than a side hustle. This is post-millennial Gen Z in action. Syd...
Sep 20, 2021•52 min•Ep. 107
Episode Summary: What would happen if you took Silicon Valley smarts and talent and applied it to helping social impact entrepreneurs scale their enterprises? Doug Galen decided to find out. Motivated by his daughter's drive to make the world a better place, Doug founded RippleWorks, an organization that has now helped social ventures in 59 countries and counting. This is his story. Sydney Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Da...
Sep 13, 2021•59 min•Ep. 106
Episode Summary: “If you don’t start with reality, you can’t fix it.” Simple yet deeply meaningful. Alex Liu – one of the world’s top management consultants – has an interesting take on lots of things, including diversity and how to make it work better, racism and how to make it stop working, and joy at work, the secret sauce of successful organizations. All on this episode of The Sydcast. Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business a...
Sep 06, 2021•58 min•Ep. 105
Episode Summary: It is now a common phrase: fake news. Are you getting tired of it? I wanted to talk to someone who doesn’t have a horse in the race and who has studied media, polling, political polarization, and the psychology of how people think about political media so I can get handle on the Trumpian bon mot that is lasting a lot longer than he did. Dr. Jennifer Jerit is that person, and this is our conversation. Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at t...
Aug 30, 2021•58 min•Ep. 104
Episode Summary: In the age of Amazon, it’s important for a start-up e-commerce company to be able to offer something different. This is why exclusivity is such an important element. When offering an exclusive partnership with vendors or suppliers, it’s also important to establish mutual benefits within that partnership. Dave states that the secret to make all of this happen effectively is determination, motivation, and inspiration among the team. In this episode, Dave Bolotsky describes giving ...
Aug 23, 2021•59 min•Ep. 103
Episode Summary Bruno Viniciguerra - Bain, Sotheby's, Dell, Disney, Bonham's - he's worked in senior leadership roles at cool companies in cool industries. What did he learn? What does he know, and what doesn't he know? How did he learn to adapt to different industries, companies, and cultures? Bruno - one of Syd's favorite business thinkers - shares his wisdom, advice, and stories, on this episode of The Sydcast. Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the ...
Aug 16, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 102
Episode Summary In this riveting episode of The Sydcast , Syd sits down with Doug Conant to talk about life, leadership, and the pursuit of improving business from the top down. No matter where you may be positioned in your current work situation, the lessons Doug shares will bring your attention to how important a brilliant leader is for a business and how you can take concrete steps towards being one yourself. These aren’t lessons pulled from a vacuum either, this is Doug’s lived experience, a...
Aug 09, 2021•55 min•Ep. 101
Episode Summary: In this episode of The Sydcast, serial entrepreneur Adrian Johnson sits down and gives us the details of his fantastic life from childhood to where he is now. He has a curiosity and an entrepreneurial mindset that is, to put it lightly, extraordinary, and a heart that seeks to help wherever he can. This episode has it all, from the ways technology can assist in education to what it was like starting a business in Eastern Germany after the Berlin Wall came down. Syd Finkelstein S...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 100
Episode Summary: In this episode of The Sydcast , Syd sits down with American businessman Michael Ainslie to discuss how the former President and CEO of Sotheby’s fits into the complex stories of the 2008 financial crash, the ever-fluctuating prices of art, and the nature of educating underprivileged youth. It seems unbelievable that one man can be a focal point for three topics as diverse as these, but it’s all true, and you can hear it all on this episode of The Sydcast. Syd Finkelstein Syd Fi...
Jul 26, 2021•57 min•Ep. 99
Episode Summary When it comes to entrepreneurship and investment, underrepresented communities face many challenges. As a female investor in a male-dominated field, Marjorie Radlo-Zandi, has overcome her own set of challenges and helped others to do the same. In conversation with Marjorie, Syd explores how successful entrepreneurs and investors operate and the tools they need to make it to the top of their field. Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the T...
Jul 19, 2021•58 min•Ep. 98
Episode Summary Throughout Dr. Rowland Hazard’s career, listening and human connection have been at the core of his success in both medicine and business. Through asking simple questions such as “who are you?” and “where are you from?” Rowley has been able to help people through the toughest period of their lives. Syd and Rowley discuss Rowley's journey from dishwasher to world-renowned MD and back pain specialist. Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the...
Jul 12, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 97
TSC 96: The Wisdom of Philippe Bourguignon Episode Summary Vice Chairman of Revolution Places and Executive Co-Chairman of Exclusive Resorts Philippe Bourguignon shares his zigzag journey that led him to the top of the travel industry. Once the CEO of Euro Disney, Philippe gives advice on having fun, being a dreamer, and taking time for yourself. Hear Philippe Bourguignon’s stories, business strategies, and wisdom in this episode of The Sydcast . Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Rot...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 96
TSC 95: Professor Emily Finn: How Our Brain Activity is as Unique as our Fingerprint Episode Summary New Dartmouth professor and brain scientist Emily Finn talks about how our brains are wired and how we have something akin to a neural connection fingerprint. In addition to discussing the implications of this headline discovery, Dr. Finn shares her own motivations in her research and her personal journey in arriving where she is now in this episode of The Sydcast . Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstei...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 95
