
Meet The Leader
In these one-on-one conversations, host Linda Lacina interviews the world's top leaders, change-makers and experts on the solutions they're building to tackle the world's biggest challenges, the habits they can’t work without, and their lessons learned, all from the World Economic Forum
Latest episodes

Aug 24, 2023 • 23min
How a space CEO and explorer approaches risk and navigates the unexpected
Dylan E. Taylor is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Space, a space infrastructure company and one of the firms helping with efforts to replace the aging International Space Station. He and his team are working hard to ensure there’s no ‘space station gap’, all while getting the infrastructure in place so as many people as possible could one day live and work in space. In this episode, he talks about why expanding access to space motivates him, how his own visit to space changed him, and his experience travelling to one of the deepest parts of the ocean. In this conversation, recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos, he also shares his approach to risk taking and how he prepares for big challenges - and how that strategy helps him make decisions quickly and navigate the unexpected. Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yvr4zxbt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 17, 2023 • 20min
This founder climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro after a big pivot - and learned a key lesson about patience and innovation
Trust time, make one thing better everyday and keep upgrading yourself. CEO Yuxiang Zhou shares the lessons he has learned in co-founding Black Lake Technologies and his journey to help digitise factories -- a too-often analog world where too many still depend on paper and pencil. It’s a trip through big ideas, big disappointments (including a failed startup), and the slow process of building back from the ground up. The World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer talked to Forum video producer Kateryna Gordiychuk at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in China this summer, sharing the potential he sees for manufacturing and for cloud computing to connect factories in new ways. He also shares how taking a job on a factory shop floor and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro helped him pivot and get the perspective he needed to focus on the right solutions and priorities. Episode Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/yuxiang-zhou-black-lake-technologies-startup World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers Program: https://initiatives.weforum.org/technology-pioneers/home Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 10, 2023 • 17min
How innovation can tackle the food crisis: A biotech leader explains
How can something as simple as a seed help the world begin to make progress across big challenges such as protecting water, tackling climate change and even strengthening food security and opportunity? Ponsi Trivisvavet, the CEO of seed design company Inari, shares the innovations that are helping to protect the earth while tackling stubborn problems like hunger. She also shares her leadership journey, the question she feels is key to strengthening any leader's resilience and the unique approaches to biotech innovation that help this company drive cutting-edge solutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 3, 2023 • 19min
7 top innovators share strategies that drive cutting edge solutions
Is your team solving the right problems and building the right solutions? Are they truly pushing the envelope - in the short- and long-term? This compilation episode shares the questions top innovators ask themselves and their teams, across engineering, biotech, healthcare and more. It also highlights the practical tactics and strategies they use to keep teams challenged, focused and engaged so they are poised to develop the leading ideas that will truly reshape the future. This episode features: Cristiano Amon, CEO, Qualcomm; Shez Partovi, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer, Royal Philips; Geraldine Matchett, co-CEO, DSM-Firmenich; Ponsi Trivisvavet, CEO, Inari; Rodrigo Santos, president, Crop Science Division, Bayer Crop Science; Lars Stenqvist, Volvo Group; Alex Liu, Managing Partner, Kearney. Transcript available here: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/top-innovator-strategies-tactics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 27, 2023 • 40min
Manage risk more effectively. A risk expert shares what's needed most
Chief Risk Officers (CROs) are firefighters, investigators, counselors and -- critically -- the people trained to ensure companies have the systems, frameworks and culture in place to identify, assess and monitor big challenges ahead. They also help teams take meaningful action and chart a path forward. On the launch of the World Economic Forum's Chief Risk Officers Outlook, Bahare Heywood, the first ever CRO at global law firm Clifford Chance, shares her take on the report's highlights as well as the real-world approaches she believes are critical to make risk management effective in any business. She discusses strategies she used to help build a risk management culture, her personal lessons learned and the one thing all risk management plans must consider right now. Report: Chief Risk Officers Outlook Release: Macroeconomic and Geopolitical Conditions Pose Severe Risks to Organizations, say Chief Risk Officers Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/clifford-chance-bahare-heywood-risk Podcast highlights: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/07/chief-risk-officer-management-culture/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 13, 2023 • 18min
This simple framework can drive disruptive innovation: Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon
Qualcomm has long served as a tech pioneer, driving innovations in cellular connectivity, AI, autonomous driving and more. CEO Cristiano Amon shares how digitalization will further transform our lives -- from health and retail to energy and the future of work. He also shares how Qualcomm drives innovative thinking in its teams and the simple framework any leader can use to decide which disruptive ideas to take forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 6, 2023 • 20min
Solve the problems you want to solve most: Bezos Earth Fund’s Andrew Steer
Hard-fought battles by leaders around the world have helped better protect nature in recent years but more work is needed to secure everything from future economic resilience to progress on climate action. Dr. Andrew Steer of the Bezos Earth Fund shares what transitions must happen this decade and the new approaches to philanthropy, policy, technology and more that can bring those transitions past the tipping point for true change. In this episode recorded at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Davos, he also shares how he's changed as a leader over his long career: from earning his Economics Ph.D., to roles at the World Bank and the World Resources Institute and other organizations, developing the approach he takes today that helps him better balance a range of competing challenges to solve the problems he wants to solve most. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 28, 2023 • 22min
10 women leaders share how they work and thrive
The global gender gap isn't budging, new research shows, and in this week's episode, women leaders share some of the unique policies and programs that can help build a pipeline for women in leadership and get closer to bridging that divide. Women also share the strategies that they have personally used to get their ideas heard and lead in only the way they can. This episode features: Ashley Dartnell, Global Senior Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Boston Consulting Group; Jane Sun, CEO, Trip.com; Peggy Johnson, CEO, Magic Leap; Anna Katrina Shedletsky, founder, Instrumental, Nela Richardson, Chief Economist, ADP; Ashleigh Streeter-Jones, CEO and Founder, Raise Our Voice Australia; Lynn Martin, President, NYSE Group; Cristina Gamboa, CEO, World Green Building Council; Geraldine Matchett, co-CEO and CFO, Royal DSM; Becky Frankiewicz, Chief Commercial Officer, Manpower Group. Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/how-top-women-leaders-work-and-thrive Global Gender Gap report: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 snips
Jun 15, 2023 • 24min
How experts can speak clearly without jargon. An epidemiologist turned comms expert explains
Prativa Baral, an epidemiologist and founder of Let Science Connect, shares her insights on the importance of clear communication in science, particularly during public health crises. She discusses her experiences during COVID-19, emphasizing the detrimental effects of jargon. Prativa offers practical tips and frameworks to help scientists communicate more effectively with the public. She also highlights how simplifying complex concepts can enhance engagement and build trust, ultimately making science more accessible to everyone.

Jun 6, 2023 • 25min
Royal DSM's Geraldine Matchett: These key mindsets drive groundbreaking innovation
This Co-CEO and CFO explains how biotech leader Royal DSM invests in innovation that propels the company in the short term while putting in place the solutions that will be critical for the future. She'll share key mindsets, such as the frameworks critical for balancing present and future needs, the key role purpose plays, and more. She also shares the skillset that must be built in the next 3 years that not every leader might be considering and the surprising advice that shapes how she looks at leadership - and that helped convince her to take her current role. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.