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 Neri Karra Sillaman, founder of Moda Métiers, expert in sustainable fashion, strategy, and entrepreneurship, and winner of the Thinkers50 2025 Radar Award. She’s also the author of Pioneers: 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs.1:32: Introductions, and Why Study Immigrant Entrepreneurship3:23: Neri’s Journey: From a Refugee Camp to Luxury Entrepreneurship10:19: Starting a Family Leather Goods Business 15:04: The 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs 15:28: Being a Bridge Across Cultures15:47: Vision: Believing in Your Crazy Idea, and Yourself17:45: Homophilic Ties: Forging Connections Based on Your Identity20:46: The Chobani Story, and the Power of Co-Building A Business22:00: What Immigrant Entrepreneurs Understand About Instability and Unequal Access25:08: “Frying In Your Own Oil”: Lessons in Self-Sufficiency  from Neri’s Grandfather26:56: What American Entrepreneurship Curricula Leave Out28:19: “What Have You Done With Your One Precious Life?”: Rethinking Business Longevity32:09: Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Borne out of Necessity 34:34: The Role of Luck: Recognizing It and Turning it into an Advantage39:05: Chobani’s IPO, and What Hamdi Ulukaya Got Right40:13: What We Lose When We Demonize Immigrants44:35: Immigrants’ Role in Creating New Wealth50:36: How We Misunderstand Failure: Lessons from Amy EdmondsonThought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other 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 YouTubeFollow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.Connect with Rita on TikTokSign 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 Michael Gervais, a leading performance psychologist and author of the book “The First Rule of Mastery”.1:14: Free Surfing and Competitive Surfing as an Introduction to Performance Psychology 4:52: The 3 Components of Performance - Training Your Body, Your Technical Skills, and Your Mind6:03: Allodoxphobia and The Real Fear of Others’ Opinions7:15: Going from Theory to Applicable Advice8:17: Unmask, Assess, Redefine - The Book’s 3 Steps to Improving Performance10:21: Practicing Self-Discovery Through Mindfulness, Journaling, and Conversations12:20: Mental Systems: Your Brain as the Hardware, Your Mind as the Software13:42: “Putting Your Own Life Vest On First”, and Supporting Yourself to Support Others15:33: How the Lack of Social Belonging Impacts Performance17:40: “Listening Hard” and Practicing Simple Curiosity as Tools for Connection22:05: Honest Relationships, in Board Rooms and Locker Rooms25:43: Bringing Coaching Mindsets Into Organizations26:56: The Importance of Timeliness in Feedback30:08: Psychological Safety as a Foreground for Improving Performance32:16: Coaches’ Role as the “Chief Repeating Officer"34:33: Michael’s Superbowl Experience with the Seattle Seahawks42:58: The Epidemic of Disengagement, and How Modern Stressors Affect Us46:44: The Trap of Mechanistic Models of Organizations48:32: Going Beyond Mental Health to Training Mental Skills50:08: Taking Courageous DecisionsThought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other 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 YouTubeFollow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.Connect with Rita on TikTokSign 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 Chesney Snow, Lecturer of Music Theater & Theater at Princeton University, Drama Desk winner, beatboxing pioneer, composer, lyricist, and more. He's created community engaged arts performances centering anti-violence and community building throughout the country, and in this conversation, shares his insights on how art changes lives and forges connections. Thought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other Tuesday at 11am Eastern. 00:11: Introductions and “Performing the Peace” at Princeton University’s Keller Center3:47: Chesney’s Early Life 6:52: “This Sandwich Isn’t Sexy” and Focusing on the Stories YOU Want To Tell9:54: “Honor and Heal”, and How to Create Work That Improves Lives11:29: Art and Technology’s Roles in Nurturing Human Connection15:20: Data-Led Approaches to Supporting First Responders’ Mental Health 21:58: Renting an Apartment from Richard Bright: Coming Up on Broadway26:46: The Power of Creative Economy, and Williamsburg’s Transformation28:11: Beatboxing as a Fine Art and as Speech Therapy32:02: MTV Unplugged in Poland, and the Value of Ownership of Music38:05: Improving Wellbeing with Technology40:05: McCarter Theatre and Teaching at Princeton University46:54: A Typical Engagement: Connecting Teaching Artists and Drama Therapists with Law Enforcement Officers, People in Foster Care, and Veterans49:29: The Impact of Art Therapies on De-Escalation41:49: Emphasizing the “Human” in Humanities 55:33: The Value of “Real” Theater in the AI Age59:32: Conclusions, and What’s Coming NextWant to learn more about Rita’s ideas and hear more of her conversations with business leaders and innovators?

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 Jaye Fenderson, an award-winning filmmaker and cofounder of Three Frame Media, about the power of storytelling to forge human connection. 1:08 Jaye’s Journey to Becoming a Documentary Filmmaker3:18 Storytelling, Human Connection, and the Liberal Arts5:42 What Job Prospects for STEM and Humanities Graduates Tell Us About Soft Skills7:14 Laying the Foundation of Trust: Stewarding Someone Else’s Story9:42 The Technical Constraints of Shooting Documentary Film14:01 “The Admissions Arms Race”: What We Get Wrong About Higher Ed Admissions19:49 The Class: Producing a TV Show and College Advising During a Pandemic25:31 COVID Guidelines as Creative Confines30:50 Storytelling for Impact 34:40 The Power of Resources, from Doctors to College Counselors38:31 Resilience and Perseverance From the Class of 202040:12 Growth Mindset and Having a Plan A, B, and C 42:47 Renovating Hope, and Jaye’s Upcoming Projects46:37 Building an Audience and “Chasing the World” in Book Writing and Film Making51:39 The Benefits of Pandemic Delays56:21 Building Students’ Futures When College Counselors are the First to be Cut58:25 “Flooding the System with Humans”, and Lessons on Scaling from Paul LeBlancThought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other 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 YouTubeFollow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.Connect with Rita on TikTokSign 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 Ben Nelson, Chairman and CEO of the Minerva Project, and Founder of Minerva University. They discuss the mission behind the Minerva Project: a university that prioritizes active learning, global perspectives, and impactful application of knowledge, and what it means to rethink what higher education could look like. 0:27: Introduction - Building the Intentional University2:34: The 23-Year-Old CEO - Managing Stakeholders and Loneliness3:43: The 29-Year-Old CEO - When Command-and-Control Leadership Thrives6:40: Succession and Setting Up Your Future Organization for Success8:38: Why “Socializing” A Decision is Ineffective9:59: Ben Nelson’s Critiques of Education11:22: The Retention Issue: How Would Present-Day You do on an Exam from your Undergraduate Days?12:34: Minerva University’s Mission: Enabling Authentic Learning and Systems Thinking16:24: The Qualities of Educational Systems Designed for a Different Era19:27: Breaking Structures and Flipping Classrooms20:46: Building Deep Processing Skills to Retain Knowledge21:40: Measuring How Broadly Students can Apply What They’ve Learned23:18: Living in Six Countries in Three Years of Study27:52: Using AI Effectively to Inform Human Decision-Making33:11: The Role of the University in Disseminating (and Interrogating) Knowledge35:17: The Gaps in Project-Based Learning: When Do You Really Know How to Build a Bike?38:08: Blockbuster, and Why the Case Method Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story41:56: 1,000 Graduates, and Growing: Minerva Methodology in Universities and High Schools49:59: The Chicken-and-Egg Conundrum of Founding a New University52:40: When Do Some Universities Run the Risk of Becoming “Diploma Mills”?56:44: “Read a Hundred Opinion Columns, and Disagree with Ninety-Five of Them”Thought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other 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 YouTubeFollow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.Connect with Rita on TikTokSign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack. Learn more about Rita, her books and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com