Thought Sparks

In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, speaks with Vivienne Ming, theoretical neuroscientist and artificial intelligence expert, named one of “10 Women to Watch in Tech” by Inc. Magazine and one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2017, and author of the new book “Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People”. 
 
00:45: Introductions 
3:44: Vivienne's Personal Background – From the Farm to the Academy 
13:45: Vivienne's Work Today – From Hiring Science to the Human Trust 
18:30: What Actually Predicts Long-Term Life Success 
23:04: How AI Is Changing Teams, Trust, and Cognition 
28:01: The Core Distinction Between Well-Posed vs. Ill-Posed Problems  
32:38: Deprofessionalization and the "Right" Questions About AI and Jobs 
36:52: Three Types of Human-AI Collaborators : Automators, Validators, and Cyborgs 
43:59: The Utopia/Dystopia Debate and What's Actually Worth Worrying About 
51:29: Teaching in the Age of AI and The Case for Productive Friction 
1:00:13: What You Still Need to Learn And Why Human Qualities Are Developable 
1:05:44: Closing and Where to Learn More 
 
 
 
 
Want to learn more about Rita’s ideas and hear more of her conversations with business leaders and innovators?  
Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify. 
Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube. 
Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky. 
Connect with Rita on TikTok. 
Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.  
Learn more about Rita, her books and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com

In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, speaks with Dave Whorton, Founder & CEO at Tugboat Institute, and co-author of Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last alongside Bo Burlingham, which gives practical advice and explanations of Evergreen companies: focused on long-term stability and steady growth, and leadership beyond personal wealth generation. 
 
00:56: The HP Origin Story and Learning to See a Different Way 
3:58: From Reluctant Venture Capitalist to the Evergreen Discovery 
9:59: The Tugboat Metaphor 
10:51: The Book's Approach to Learning in Real Time 
14:44: Financial Transparency, Jack Stack, and the Great Game of Silicon Valley Business 
18:01: The Wealth Trap and What Evergreen Leaders Model Instead 
22:15: How Evergreen Leaders Approach Boards 
25:30: People First: The First of the Seven P's 
30:22: Perseverance and the Debt Question 
30:45: Customer Intimacy Over Competition-Watching 
37:10: Why Aren’t More Companies Like This?  
40:02: The Scale and Diversity of the Evergreen World 
49:00: Weighing up Venture and Evergreen 
52:45: AI, Careers, and the Changing Unit of Value Creation 
 
Want to learn more about Rita’s ideas and hear more of her conversations with business leaders and innovators?  
Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify. 
Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube. 
Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky. 
Connect with Rita on TikTok. 
Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.  
Learn more about Rita, her books and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com

In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Johan Roos, Global Chief Academic Officer at Hult International Business School, co-creator of LEGO Serious Play, and author of Human Magic: Leading with Wisdom in an Age of Algorithms. 
 
00:30: Introductions — A Long Friendship and a New  Book 
6:00: The Genesis of Human Magic — The Central Question 
10:34: The History Behind the Idea, From 2012 to ChatGPT 
17:58: The Five Cs: The Core of Human Magic 
22:42: Algorithmic Citizenship vs. Professional Citizenship 
28:24: The Junior Talent Problem and Unintended  Consequences 
35:50: AI in Business Schools and Lessons from Hult Business School 
40:04: The Future of Business Schools and the MBA 
44:08: Rethinking the Role of the Professor 
50:35: What Human Magic Hopes to Accomplish 
53:45: Science Fiction, Warning Signs, and "Your Choice" 
55:06:What's Next for Johan Roos 
 
 
 
Want to learn more about Rita’s ideas and hear more of her conversations with business leaders and innovators?  
Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify. 
Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube. 
Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky. 
Connect with Rita on TikTok. 
Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.  
Learn more about Rita, her books and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com

In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Deborah Perry Piscione, co-author of the book “EMPLOYMENT IS DEAD: How Disruptive Technologies are Revolutionizing the Way we Work” and co-founder and Chief Future Officer of the Work3 Institute. 
 
0:22: Welcome and Introduction to “Employment is Dead” 
1:39: The Core Thesis: Why Employment as We Know It Is Ending 
6:18 The Destruction of Jobs: AI, Humanoids, and Physical Work 
14:18: Carlota Perez’s Theory of Economic Transitions 
17:54: The Work3 Institute: Advising Organizations Through the Shift 
20:32: Education: What K–12 and Universities Must Become 
27:23 Alpha Schools and New Models for Learning 
31:00 Economics, Purpose, and the Meaning Crisis 
37:40 Humanoids, AI Relationships, and Human Identity 
42:49 Optimism, Pessimism, and Where We Stand 
50:11 What Leaders and Organizations Should Do Now 
52:15 Where to Learn More 
 
 
Want to learn more about Rita’s ideas and hear more of her conversations with business leaders and innovators?  
Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify. 
Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube. 
Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky. 
Connect with Rita on TikTok. 
Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.  
Learn more about Rita, her books and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com

In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, welcomes Sangeet Paul Choudary– expert on platform economics and network effects, and the recipient of the 2025 Thinkers50 Strategy Award – to discuss his new book Reshuffle. 

0:00 - Intro & Teaser  
0:31 - Welcome & Guest Introduction (Sangeet Choudary, author of "Reshuffle")  
1:49 - The Maginot Line Analogy: Why We're Solving the Wrong Problem with AI  
4:07 - AI's Automation Lens vs. the Coordination Lens  
5:02 - AI's Real Impact: Changing How the Economy Connects  
7:15 - What Inspired the Book "Reshuffle"  
9:40 - The Shipping Container Analogy: Lessons for AI  
11:21 - From Port Automation to Systemic Transformation  
13:04 - How AI Makes Tacit & Unstructured Knowledge Usable  
15:35 - AI's Impact on Jobs & Roles: What Really Disappears  
17:51 - Coordination as AI's Magical Property  
18:27 - What AI Means for Strategy  
19:08 - From Operational Uncertainty to Structural Uncertainty  
19:51 - Industry Boundaries Are Collapsing  
21:46 - The New Way to Win: Reshaping the Playing Field  
26:51 - The TikTok Example: Intelligence-First vs. Social Graph  
29:34 - Shein & AI-Driven Fast Fashion  
33:45 - Sephora: AI as a Consumer Decision-Making Assistant  
36:13 - Solution Providers vs. Tool Providers (Two Strategic Roles)  
41:55 - What Will Happen to Consulting?  
44:22 - New Business Models: Rentable, Recombinable & Scalable (Mr. Beast Burgers)  
48:30 - Sangeet's Next Book: "Unfair Advantage"  
51:01 - The Dynamics of Transition: From Petroleum Age to Digital  
53:00 - Apple's Masterclass in Value Migration (iPod → iPhone)  
57:37 - Closing Remarks & Farewell 

New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every Tuesday at 11am Eastern.  
 
Want to learn more about Rita’s ideas and hear more of her conversations with business leaders and innovators?  
Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify. 
Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube. 
Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky. 
Connect with Rita on TikTok. 
Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.  
Learn more about Rita, her books and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com