Meet Ginni: Fifty years ago, Ginni Rometty’s father walked out of her life, leaving behind her mother and her younger siblings to fend for themselves. As Ginni watched her mom slowly move up in the workforce, she learned the difference between access and aptitude - a lesson she has taken with her through her incredible career. Three years ago, Ginni retired as IBM's president, chairman, and CEO. Today, she co-chairs OneTen foundation, an organization that aims to close the opportunity gap for Bl...
Dec 05, 2023•19 min
It once wasn’t uncommon to hear a boss tell their employees “just get it done. I don’t care how.” However, in the last decade, organizations have evolved. Now, we often hear leaders priding themselves on encouraging their employees to speak up. But, what if leaders created environments and cultures in which it didn’t take an act of courage for employees to speak their minds? In this episode, we explore how leaders can create a framework and playbook for moral leadership at their organizations th...
Nov 21, 2023•18 min
Meet Bozoma: Bozoma Saint John is no stranger to loss. In college, she lost her boyfriend; later in life she dealt with the loss of a premature baby and most recently, she lost her husband to cancer. Through these experiences, Bozoma has learned the importance of actively looking for joy, whether that be in the workplace or in life. She is a Hall of Fame-inducted marketer, entrepreneur, and author of The Urgent Life and has held leadership roles at some of the most defining companies of our gene...
Nov 07, 2023•20 min
Mentor-mentee relationships can be extremely beneficial. For a mentee, having someone more senior advocating on your behalf can accelerate your career forward. For a mentor, building a connection with someone junior can ensure your stamp on the company doesn’t retire when you do. While figuring out how to build this relationship can be tricky, Integral Ad Sciences CEO Lisa Utzschneider has become an expert in the craft. Meet Lisa: Lisa Utzschneider has held high leadership positions across the t...
Oct 24, 2023•16 min
Choice is the foundation of self-determination. But, what if too much choice leads to the inability to act or move forward? The most successful leaders are the ones who prioritize their time, minimizing the number of choices they make on a daily basis. Meet Sheena: After losing her vision as a teenager, Sheena Iyengar became very accustomed to hearing the phrase “it’s not possible.” Due to her own circumstances, she became fascinated with the concept of choice. In this episode, host Gautam Mukun...
Oct 10, 2023•20 min
Meet Yusra Mardini: When the Syrian civil war broke out, Yusra Mardini and her sister fled. Eventually finding refuge in Germany, Yusra reignited her passion for swimming, joining the newly formed Olympic Refugee Team. Now, she’s at the helm of the Yusra Mardini Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing access to sports and education for refugee communities around the world. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Yusra about how she navigates challenges, leads by example and b...
Sep 26, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Innovation always requires some level of risk. For leaders, this means taking the right risks and knowing when to walk away. How do leaders make decisions when the outcome is uncertain? How do they create a culture that promotes innovation and enables risk taking? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Annie Duke, Cognitive Scientist, Decision Strategist, and Author of Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, and Paul Misener, the VP of Global Innovation Policy and Communication a...
Dec 13, 2022•34 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Great leaders recognize that it takes more than talent to build a winning team. The culture and cohesion of a team can make or break it. It’s up to leaders to cultivate an environment that empowers people and promotes growth and opportunity. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Daniel Coyle, Award-Winning New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code, The Culture Code and more and Vlatko Andonovski, Head Coach of the U.S. women’s national team, about the secrets of creating a ...
Nov 29, 2022•32 min•Season 4Ep. 6
In this bonus feature, World Reimagined is turning the table on its host, Gautam Mukunda. Interviewed by his good friend, General Stan McChrystal, Gautam discusses the inspiration behind his newest book, Picking Presidents , shares what leadership means to him, and reveals who his ultimate hero is. Gautam also gets a second chance at answering the presidential history question that ended his reign on the TV show Jeopardy! many years ago. Resources: The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Water...
Nov 25, 2022•18 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Today’s changing world faces continuous social, economic, and environmental challenges—from disease to natural disaster to war. The leaders stepping up to solve these issues possess deep ambition, vision, and skills to bring their ideas to life. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley and Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry and Esther Duflo, Ph.D., Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Ec...
Nov 15, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 4
While technology is a key driver of advancement and disruption, technology itself does not produce innovation. It’s the people that make it possible—and the leaders who aren’t afraid to take risks, admit when they’re wrong, and face failure head on. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Josh Wolfe, Founding Partner and Managing Director of Lux Capital and Mike Pell, Envisioneer and Director at the Microsoft Garage in NYC about how leaders should approach and encourage innovation, and ...
Nov 01, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Research shows that strong comradery and collaboration among coworkers is essential for building successful organizations. And in today’s world of hybrid work, it’s perhaps more important than ever. It’s up to leaders to create a culture that prioritizes these positive co-working relationships and fosters employee engagement. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Ben Michealis, Co-founder and CEO of the group.io, and Kevin Delaney, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Charter, about how leaders...
Oct 18, 2022•34 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Laughter not only feels good, but it’s good for your mental and physical health. It reduces stress, promotes creativity, and helps people feel more connected. It can also help make you a more effective leader. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, co-authors of Humor, Seriously, and Joey Zwillinger, Co-founder and CEO of Allbirds about why and how leaders should use humor to unite and motivate employees and improve their work culture. “You often hear...
Sep 20, 2022•35 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Whether you’re looking to climb a mountain in sub-zero temperatures or reverse decades of economic hardship, leading in impossible situations requires stepping outside your comfort zone. How can leaders create a culture that encourages people to bring all their strengths to the table? How can authentic and vulnerable leadership inspire a team to work together to achieve the impossible? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Vivian James Rigney, President of Executive Coaching firm Insi...
Jul 26, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Effective communication and meaningful candor are the backbone of success for most teams, but they don’t come naturally – these skills have to be learned. In order to drive this success, leaders must create a culture of learning within their organizations. What are the tactics leaders can implement to achieve that learning culture? How can you become a leader that cultivates an environment of open feedback? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School’s...
Jul 12, 2022•33 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Disrupting an industry takes more than just new ideas and a desire to shake things up. It takes vision, passion, and relentless innovation. And sometimes it means more than just changing the business landscape; it means changing people’s minds. How can leaders harness disruption to build a business that creates change? How can they convince customers to come along for the ride? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Airbnb Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Nate Blecharczyk and Foun...
Jun 28, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 6
As a leader, transparency can be a tricky topic to navigate. It’s often framed as an end-goal -- an inherent good that all leaders should aspire to -- but full transparency just isn't possible in most industries. So, how should leaders think about transparency in the workplace? How can they use it to motivate and inspire their teams? When should they share, and why? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with GitLab’s co-founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij and the Deputy Managing Editor of the N...
Jun 14, 2022•32 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In our increasingly complex world, leaders have to manage more challenges, stakeholders, and scenarios than ever before. To grow an organization amidst all of this, how can leaders create a proactive profile that enables them to manage in a constructive way? How can they put people first, without sacrificing growth, and still be remembered as an impactful leader? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with founder of ConantLeadership and former CEO of Campbell Soup Company, Doug Conant, and...
May 31, 2022•36 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Our regrets influence the way we engage and interact with the world. Having the ability to reflect and learn from these moments gives us the perspective to better lead while understanding the context, experiences and feelings of others. How can leaders reflect on these defining experiences and moments of regret to make them more empathetic leaders? How can empathy help leaders become more effective? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Daniel Pink, author of five New York Times bests...
May 17, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In today’s era of uncertainty, trust has never been more important. This presents an opportunity for organizations and leaders to step up on important topics to drive change and foster meaningful connections with customers, employees, and communities. In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda is joined by Jeremy Skule, Chief Strategy Officer at Nasdaq and Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist at Canva and former Chief Evangelist at Apple to discuss how to build brand trust through authenticity, transparency...
May 03, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Good leaders change their organizations. Great leaders change the world. But even the best leaders, committed to making the world a better place, can face an uphill battle with constant, expected tradeoffs between purpose and profit. How can leaders navigate purpose, profit, and impact? How can they drive change in the world while also unlocking long-term, sustainable value for stakeholders? In this episode, host Gautam Mukunda speaks with purpose-driven leaders Nate Mook and Vincent Stanley on ...
Apr 19, 2022•36 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Today’s increasingly digital world brings with it possibilities to create a more inclusive and accessible global economy. But, unless action is taken to enhance digital inclusion, the world may become more divided than ever before. In this episode, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks with two leaders dedicated to digital inclusion who explain how to earn people’s trust and create a more inclusive world. Ajay Banja is the Executive Chairman of Mastercard, after serving as President and CEO for almost 10 y...
Aug 31, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 12
While the benefits of AI are undeniable, it’s not yet clear exactly how it will define the role of tomorrow’s leaders. In this episode, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks with two industry leaders with unique vantage points on how AI is transforming the world around us and redefining the future of leadership. Shawn Bice is the president of Products and Technology at Splunk, the world’s first Data-to-Everything platform designed to remove the barriers between data and action. And, Nick Beim, partner at V...
Aug 24, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 11
The healthcare industry is one of the largest and most consequential sectors in the United States—but it’s also one of the most complicated. This unique complexity makes it challenging for the operational change and innovation the industry desperately needs in order to better serve citizens. In contrast, the inherently innovative tech sector is not only a huge component of the U.S. economy, but it also plays a pivotal role in accelerating change across all other industries. In this episode, Host...
Aug 17, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Leaders can’t surpass the achievements of the past by sticking to the ways of the past. They must continuously challenge the status quo to inspire teams to break new ground and achieve new possibilities. Few organizations embody this approach to leadership as well as NASA. In this episode, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks with NASA’s Chief Flight Director, Holly Ridings about how to build a diverse culture of collaboration, innovation, and disruption. She also discusses how to lead through insurmounta...
Aug 10, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 9
We don’t often think about common ground as a forum for disagreement. But the most productive discourse often requires first identifying a shared set of goals, facts, or ideas. How can today’s leaders help build an environment of mutual understanding, respect, and productive disagreement in an increasingly divisive world? What role do technology and the internet play in helping people find and create common ground? In this episode, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks with two digital strategists about th...
Aug 03, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 8
For most leaders, failure is not a matter of life or death. But for some, making life-or-death decisions is part of the job. What can high-risk decision-making teach us about the more ordinary and conventional risk leaders assume every day? What roles do preparation and instinct play in this process? How can leaders become better at conquering a fear of failure in order to make hard decisions? In this episode, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks about risk and high-stake decision-making with two remarkab...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Today’s shifting economic and political landscape is reshaping the American labor market. But amid all of the change is an opportunity to create a better workforce for the future. What are the forces at play in our current labor market? How will these changes impact employees in the long term? What role should leaders play in creating a workforce that puts its people first? This week, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks with two experts about the new administration’s economic policy agenda. Noah Smith ha...
Jul 20, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In a world of specialists, a generalist’s broad range of knowledge and expertise can actually make his or her team much better. But, being a generalist requires grit and courage. The courage to raise your hand, to take chances, and to be confident in your ability to tackle any subject. However, in a world that most often rewards specialists, where and how can generalists shine? What benefits and learnings can leaders draw from focusing on generalization, versus specialization? This week, Host Ga...
Jul 13, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Today, business leaders have the power to create positive change. Not just within their organizations, but in society and in the world more broadly. In this episode, Host Gautam Mukunda speaks with Reverend Cornell William Brooks, former head of the NAACP and the Professor of Practice and Public Leadership and Social Justice at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Mohamad Ali, CEO of International Data Group, about the challenges and opportunities of corporations in the wake of COVID-19, profound soc...
Jun 29, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 4
