Minds Worth Meeting

This season on Minds Worth Meeting, we talked to global experts including renowned thought leaders from Stern Strategy Group’s exclusive roster of speakers and advisors about everything from leading with purpose to digital exhaustion, protecting reputation and more.

Now, we’re taking a look back at our favorite moments to share the best of Minds Worth Meeting's fourth season.

In this episode:

• Harvard Business School...

It’s always been vital to stay on top of reputation management, both individually and organizationally. Today, though, bad actors can tarnish a reputation in the blink of an eye thanks to social media and artificial intelligence. On this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we sit down with the founding director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation and author of “The Reputation Game,” Rupert Younger.

In this...

From an employee standpoint, constant upheaval and the specter of having to sit down with the boss multiple times a year to be graded via performance review is a recipe for organizational disaster. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, former Cisco and Deloitte HR executive and author, Ashley Goodall joins Justin Louis to discuss his latest book, "The Problem with Change" and offers practical solutions to help your busi...

Speaking up – and empowering your employees to speak up – is a vital prerequisite for a company culture that supports innovation. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis and Meg Virag sit down with Oxford University Saïd Business School associate fellow, Megan Reitz. We discuss the importance of how leaders “show up” to work, why we all need safe environments to speak up and permission to pause, and how AI is starting ...

Successfully leading a business in the AI-heavy digital age requires a new mindset. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis sits down with University of California Santa Barbara professor and Technology Management department chair, Paul Leonardi. We talk about how to cultivate a digital mindset and why it’s so important to do so, he shares strategies for helping employees succeed with generative AI and tells us how to ...

The conventional wisdom in business is that friction is a bad thing that must be removed for processes to move forward smoothly. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings has a fascinating conversation with MIT researcher and head of the Human-First AI group at the school's Initiative on the Digital Economy, Renée Richardson Gosline. We discuss the benefits of the right kind of friction, particularly when creati...

How can leaders engage people both rationally and emotionally? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings and Justin Louis sit down with Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati. We talk about corporate purpose, artificial intelligence leadership and Ranjay shares the inspiring story of how his mother’s passion became a global success story.

In this episode:

• Ranjay, author of “Deep Purpose,” explains how to b...

What do the geek takeover, rethinking economies, unparalleled resilience, appreciating nostalgia while understanding our past and ensuring recognition and dignity for all have in common? 

They’re just a few of the memorable lessons we learned this past season on Minds Worth Meeting. Join us as our hosts Whitney Jennings and Justin Louis take a look back at our favorite moments of Season 3. 

In this episode:

• Renowned MIT ...

How can something seemingly as simple as recognition help to heal society's deep divides? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings has a conversation with sociologist and Harvard University professor Michèle Lamont. She tells us how taking the time to see others and give recognition and dignity to all can redefine the workplace, and even society, to be a more sustainable environment in which people can be their...

How can we become ‘good-ish’ people? For that matter, what is a ‘good-ish’ person? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings and Justin Louis speak with NYU Stern School of Business professor and social psychologist Dolly Chugh. She explains how being a ‘good-ish’ person allow us to better relate to others, become great leaders and understand a  past that hasn't always been one of beauty and honor. 

In this episo...

It is possible to spread a message of hope from the greatest adversity possible. In this inspirational episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis and guest host Meg Virag speak with Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman about how to find hope in times of darkness.

In this episode:

• Tova tells us about the emotional process of writing her memoir, “The Daughter of Auschwitz“
• We talk about how her story became a sensation thanks to TikTo...

Economics is inseparable from politics and philosophy, but we don’t have to be prisoners to what are assumed to be inevitable economic laws. As we kick off our third season of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis speaks with journalist and UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism lecturer Nick Romeo about his new book, "The Alternative: How to Build a Just Economy." 

In this episode: 

• Nick discusses how his background in ...

Companies that are run by geeks are some of the most innovative, agile and scalable organizations today. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis speaks with renowned MIT researcher Andrew McAfee, author of “The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results.”

In this episode:

• Andy explains what “geeky leadership” is and how geeks have become the most consequential leaders in modern business.
• We talk a...

Exponential technology, modern communication and failing well – those were the themes we touched on in the second season of Minds Worth Meeting. Today, we’re taking a look back at the fascinating conversations we had with our expert guests to bring you the best of the season. 

In this episode:

• We revisit our conversation with technology analyst, investor and author of “The Exponential Age”, Azeem Azhar. We chatted about the expon...

"Failure" doesn't have to be a bad word. In fact, failing well can lead to unexpected positive breakthroughs. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Whitney Jennings speaks with Harvard Business School's Amy Edmondson, author of the upcoming book "Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well". 

In this episode: 

• Amy discusses the origins of her interest in studying one of today's most impor...

Artificial intelligence is spreading fast, but are ethical safeguards spreading as quickly as they should be? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis speaks with the founder and CEO of Virtue Ethics Consultancy and author of “Ethical Machines” Reid Blackman.

In this episode:

• Reid explains why the issue of ethics in AI has become so much more urgent in the last few months
• We discuss the differences ...

Have you ever wished you could sit down and have a conversation with one of the top robotics and AI engineers in the world? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting we do exactly that when Whitney Jennings speaks with former NASA engineer and the current Dean of The Ohio State University's College of Engineering, Dr. Ayanna Howard. 

In this episode:

• Ayanna explains that, while buzzy at the moment, artificial intelligence isn’t...

Is AI on the path to sentience? This time on Minds Worth Meeting, Justin Louis speaks with the director of Columbia University’s Creative Machines Lab, Hod Lipson.

In this episode:

• Hod talks about the speed with which artificial intelligence is advancing right now and tells us that we shouldn’t think about AI as a “thing” but as a “journey”.
• Hod, who wrote the book “Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead,” says that it wi...

Public relations , marketing, and Gen-Z expert Mark Beal joins Stern PR's Kenny Conrade this episode of Minds Worth Meeting. Mark, a public relations professor at Rutgers University, has published several books for and about Gen-Z, including 101 Lessons They Never Taught You In College, 101 Lessons They Never Taught You In High School About Going To College, and most recently ZEO, a book outlining the leadership profiles of Ge...