Off The Shelf

In this episode of Off The Shelf John Metselaar talks with Bruce Vojak and Walter Herbst to review their recently published “No-Excuses Innovation: Strategies For Small- and Medium-Sized Mature Enterprises”.  The book’s premise starts with a quote by Andy Grove: “Success breeds complacency.  Complacency breeds failure.  Only the paranoid survive”.   This should be the wakeup call for business and innovation leaders from medium-sized mature enterprises, but frankly pretty much everyone.  And it provides the basis for Bruce and Walter to offer a tangible, actionable recipe - covering process, people, and strategy perspectives - that, together, sets you up to generate the new value your innovation should deliver.

In this episode of Off The Shelf John Metselaar invites Ron Adner to discuss his recent, acclaimed book “Winning the Right Game: How to Disrupt, Defend, and Deliver in a Changing World”.  The conversation uncovers insights on how to thrive in today’s reality of ecosystem innovation.  In this environment, “Winning” takes on a very different meaning.  It’s about taking an expansive view of your industry breaking through historical boundaries and then creating integrated solutions and value propositions for your customers, in partnership with others.  You win by building ecosystems (and not ego-systems) through alignment, relationships, collaboration, and trust.

In this new podcast, Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director of Economic Research at The Conference Board, sits down with John Guerard, Director of Quantitative Research at McKinley Capital, to discuss his new book, "The Leading Economic Indicators and Business Cycles in the United States: 100 Years of Empirical Evidence and the Opportunities for the Future." 

The past two decades have witnesses sluggish economic growth, mounting inequality, dysfunctional competition, and a host of other ills that have left people wondering what has happened to the future they were promised. Listen in as our guest Stian Westlake gives us some key insights from the book he co-authored with Jonathan Haskel, Restarting the Future-How to fix the intangible economy. In the podcast we discuss how these problems arise from a failure to develop the institutions demanded by an economy now reliant on intangible capital such as ideas, relationships, brands, and knowledge.

John Metselaar sits down with author, Hortense le Gentil for a conversation about her recently published book, Aligned: Connecting Your True Self with the Leader You’re Meant to Be.  Together, they explore why today’s leaders should above all cultivate the human touch, what’s holding them back, and how can they overcome this. An inspiring, human conversation on Leadership!

Listen in as they cover lessons from her life which she documented in her book. How she combined passion and purpose to develop a vision, turned into reality through commitment and perseverance.  How, in the process she faced her doubts and fears, confronted them (rather than run away), and rose above them.  And how her fundamental curiosity and keenness to learn had her break through every challenge.  Facing a problem, you don't give up, you dig in emphasizing "Well, what CAN we do".

Evert Bleijenberg joins John Metselaar from The Conference Board exploring a novel way to organize work in the future. Evert talks enthusiastically from his “Swarm Organization: Designing Work for a Resilient Future".  Listen to this podcast as we cover three main aspects: the concept of swarms, how to generate the mindshift required and how to learn to use "structure" as a verb (agile, situational) rather than a (rigid) noun. Inspiration for a more human culture and organization of happier, more fulfilled employees doing better work producing stronger results.

As anxiety about the crisis in the Ukraine and lingering burnout as a result of two years of the pandemic continue to increase, a lack of empathy is exacerbating tensions in the workplace.

In this podcast, Rob Volpe discusses his new book, Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time. His book demystifies empathy and presents five steps that anyone can use to get to empathy when they are interacting with others.

Ed Morrison introduces how to do strategy in today’s world turned upside down, and how to connect it to innovation.  He lays the foundation on why and how to design ecosystems supported by collaboration, conversations, and (double-loop) learning.  He then goes to introduce his 2x2 questioning approach to lead forward and the 10 skills to apply throughout the journey of discovery.   A real, and uniquely applicable gem in today’s complex, networked world!

Register Here for The Conference Board’s Women Lead 2032 Festival on September 29-30,2022| Westin New York at Times Square | New York, NY: https://www.conference-board.org/events/women

In this episode of Off the Shelf, Cindy Cisneros, Vice President, Education Programs, Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED), interviews Jennifer Barrett, Head of Content at Fidelity Investments on her latest book, Think Like a Breadwinner: A Wealth-Building Manifesto for Women Who Want to Earn More (and Worry Less). 

Nearly half of working women in the U.S. are their household’s main breadwinner. Yet most women still aren’t being brought up to think like breadwinners. In fact, women are discouraged by institutional bias and cultural conditioning–from building their own wealth, pursuing their full earning potential, and providing for themselves and others financially. In this podcast, financial expert Jennifer Barrett reframes what it means to be a breadwinner and will answer questions on how she got to where she is today. 

In this episode of Off the Shelf, John Metselaar, ESF Center Director at The Conference Board, interviews Dan Toma, Founding Partner at Outcome, on his latest book, Innovation Accounting.

Innovation accounting is a critical component of the corporate innovation process to manage its inherent uncertainty and risk. It complements the conventional financial accounting system.  It needs to be an integrated system of measures encompassing strategy, management, and tactics.

In other words, we can change what we measure so let’s measure what adds value!

In this podcast, Laura Sabattini, Principal Researcher at the Conference Board speaks with Dr. Rohini Anand, a strategic global business leader and trusted board member who has successfully transformed culture. Anand was the former SVP Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer for Sodexo and is currently Principal and CEO of Rohini Anand, LLC.

Her book, Leading Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Guide for Systemic Change in Multinational Organizations, offers several successful principles for companies to advance D&I across different regions. In this podcast, Dr. Anand shares her inspiration for the book and examples that can help organizations get a nuanced understanding of local context, culture, and language.

Overwhelmed by the volume and variety of HR software, apps, and platforms? In this podcast, HR research analyst, Stacey Harris discusses her new book, Introduction to HR Technologies: Understand How to Use Technology to Improve Performance and Processes. Writing in jargon-free language for non-technologists, Stacey also believes that C-Suite executives will also benefit by understanding how investments in HR technologies can be used to save time, streamline processes, and drive business performance. This book covers all the core areas of HR from administration and service delivery through talent management and analytics, as well as AI, machine learning, and the Internet of Things. With case studies from multiple organizations including Fedex and Macy’s, this book is an innovative and practical handbook.

Why was there so little progress over last decades in sustainability and what is a pragmatic plan, each of us can engage with to tackle the global climate crisis and all the other challenges facing us, like loss of biodiversity, abuse of human rights or inequality and discrimination. Listen-in as our guest Andrew Winston gives us some key insights from the book he co-authered with Paul Polman, Net Positive. They reveal, for the first time, key lessons from Unilever and other pioneering companies around the world about how you can profit by fixing the world’s problems instead of creating them.

Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways to Build a More Inclusive World presents insights from conversations with over 200 diversity, equity, and inclusion experts who attended the inaugural Non-Obvious Beyond Diversity Summit in early 2021. The goal of the summit was to go beyond speaking about diversity to identify ways to take real action.

The solutions from these discussions are compiled into one volume and organized into twelve important themes including: storytelling, technology, workplace, identity, retail, and more. The book offers an actionable blueprint for creating a more inclusive world.

In this episode of Off the Shelf, our guest Gabor George Burt introduces in his Slingshot book. An integrated, three-pronged approach to make the Blue Ocean principles more actionable: 1) Stretch the definition of the business you’re in and want to extract value from, 2) take consumer satisfaction into “infatuation” implying its transient and needs to be constantly re-invigorated, and 3) look for “innovation shortcuts” by creatively combining existing elements into new solutions.

Did you like what you heard in our podcast and want to learn more?

You can get an e-copy of Gabor's only privately available, critically-acclaimed book 'SLINGSHOT' here: https://gaborgeorgeburt.com/get-the-book

As a special treat to our podcast listeners, enter the coupon code 'SPECIAL' for a 30% discount.
You can also contact Gabor directly at https://gaborgeorgeburt.com, using the 'Contact' tab

Global population ageing will soon reach a point where saving for retirement tips over into increased spending and demand for labor. This will result in much higher inflation and interest rates than many of us are expecting currently. Join us to hear Manoj Pradhan, Chief Economist at the independent macroeconomic research firm Talking Heads, on his latest book ‘The Great Demographic Reversal’, which he co-authored with Charles Goodhart.

In times of chaos and uncertainty, steadfast and confident leadership is critical to the success of any organization. Yet, in our world of social unrest, sharp divisions, pandemic and fear, people seek leaders who are also sensitive to ethnic and cultural differences, listen to their concerns, and demonstrate empathy.

A seasoned executive and mentor with experienced insights on preparing future leaders, Dr. Andrew Temte, CFA, President and Global Head of Corporate Learning at Kaplan North America, firmly believes: “The most important attribute of strong leadership is balance.” In his new book, "Balancing Act: Teach Coach Mentor Inspire,” Dr. Temte shares candid insights and timely lessons about the balance needed to succeed as a leader. A thought leader on issues related to workforce reskilling and upskilling, Dr. Temte's 30+ year career includes teaching and executive leadership roles in both professional education and higher education institutions.

In his interview with Rebecca Ray, Dr. Temte introduces the concept of organizational entropy and dives deeper into the tools used to combat it. Specifically, Dr. Temte discusses the benefits of adopting a "Lifelong Learning Mindset," a unique view into the tenets of continuous improvement, the basic tools to identify and minimize waste in your business, the relationship between organizational health and business success, and the importance of having a laser-focus on your customer. More information on "Balancing Act" can be found here.

Craig Carroll, leader of The Conference Board's Communications Institute, sits down for an engaging talk with Eric Schwartzman about his new book, 'The Digital Pivot: Secrets of Online Marketing’.

Drawing on his experience leading online marketing programs for clients such as Toyota, UCLA, Marine Corps, and dozens of small and midsize companies, Eric gives us key insights on how companies can effectively participate in the ever-growing digital economy. Eric shares practical advice and easy to follow strategies while covering a wide range of digital marketing topics such as SEO, social media, digital literacy as it relates to today’s top business decision-makers.

Feeling anxious or stressed out? You’re not alone as over 40% of the US population has been officially diagnosed with anxiety or depression disorders--up from only 8% pre-COVID-19. To find out how to thrive amidst adversity, join Dr. Leo Flanagan as he discusses his new book: Thriving in Thin Air: Developing Resilience in Challenging Times.

Based on neuroscience, Dr. Flanagan shares tangible suggestions for how we can rewire our brains to reduce anxiety and improve our emotional health--including recommendations for focus, pragmatic optimism, and empathy.

For more information, you can read his blog here or an article he coauthored, COVID-19 Reset & Recovery: Developing Resilience to Move Through Uncertainty to New Beginnings. Dr. Flanagan is a Distinguished Principal Research Fellow here at The Conference Board and the founder and president of The Center For Resilience.