The So What from BCG

Over the past two years, the world has seen what happens when supply and procurement chains seize up and shortages in such staples as infant formula and sunflower oil become commonplace. Daniel Weise, leader of BCG’s global procurement business, explains how companies can move beyond a cost-cutting mentality to treat their supply chain as a strategic imperative—the way that Apple did when it promoted Tim Cook, an operations and supply chain executive, to CEO. Unfortunately, most CEOs spend only minutes a day on their supply chain and procurement issues, and these topics are far too important to be relegated to corporate Siberia, Weise is a coauthor of Profit from the Source, published by Harvard Business Review Press.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

A Pride@BCG leader talks about how a supportive culture unlocks creativity. For Dakota Santana-Grace, being out at work is a professional necessity as much as a personal choice. When Santana-Grace once hid his queer identity from a client, he was stressed and exhausted, and his work suffered. The weight of his secret lifted after Santana-Grace, BCG’s Northeast lead for Pride@BCG, casually mentioned his boyfriend. Santana-Grace also talks about the time a straight ally called him out for deepening his voice in meetings--and why he invited a drag queen to the Boston office.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Corporate leaders often view sustainable products as a series of technical challenges—how to decarbonize the supply chain, reduce waste in manufacturing, eliminate plastic packaging, and so on. But what about the human dimensions? Shalini Unnikrishnan, a leader on social impact at BCG, discusses the importance of designing, marketing, and pricing products through the lens of the consumer. She also discussed the need to create ecosystems of like-minded companies and institutions and to connect sustainability to a company’s core purpose.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Nan DasGupta played soccer in her youth and worked as an engineer at GE early in her career, so she has firsthand experience breaking into male-dominated realms. DasGupta, BCG people and organization expert and Women@BCG leader, talks about the difficulties in breaking down bias at work, how bias prevents men from assuming more caregiving responsibilities, the importance of role models, and why nobody wants to talk about menopause.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Businesses that lead on climate and sustainability will have tailwinds at their back, says Rich Lesser, BCG’s global chair. Reaching net zero will require investments of $3 trillion to $5 trillion per year for the next 30 years—and it is much smarter to participate in this massive industrial transformation than to fight it. To succeed, businesses will need to engage deeply with other businesses, their customers, and governments. The challenge is too large to go it alone or to view government as an impediment. For businesses that want to do the right thing, Lesser says, “getting government policies that raise the standard for everyone is in their interest.” Lesser also talks about his own evolution in understanding the climate crisis, how purpose can drive performance, and why the job of CEO today is harder but more rewarding than it was a decade ago. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Pay, promotion, and benefits have been the traditional carrots for hiring and retaining employees. But what happens when they are not enough? During the Great Resignation, companies have watched well-paid, decorated employees walk out the door. They have watched front-line workers who had just received raises walk. Why? The emotional needs of employees are as critical as their functional needs, says Gabi Novacek, a BCG Henderson Institute fellow researching diversity, equity, and inclusion. Feeling safe, challenged, and valued at work can be even more important as a paycheck. Novacek, an archeologist by training, also discusses how a family medical emergency shaped her thinking about what really matters at work.   This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

As the travel industry slowly awakens from the pandemic-induced slumber, airlines, hotel chains, and cruise lines face a highly uncertain and volatile future in which the past is unlikely prologue. Jason Guggenheim, BCG’s global leader of travel and tourism, explains that these companies can sharpen their ability to sense subtle shifts in demand. Will business travel, for example, ever fully return? Leaders in the industry, especially airline and cruise line executives, are facing mounting calls to forcefully address climate change.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Neveen Awad, the daughter of an engineer, learned early in life “how fun it was to make machines do something.” As the only computer science major in her graduating class at college and later a PhD, she eventually realized that she did not want to spend her days coding. Awad became a professor and now runs BCG’s Detroit office. She’s spent the past few years researching gender diversity in technology. She talks about why the first and second promotion for women are so critical, how paternity leave can be for a boon for women in leadership—and more.   This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Why do CEOs struggle with the act of imagination when it comes naturally to 5-year-olds? And what happens when people and organizations seemingly lose their ability to imagine? Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, argues that imagination is an untapped and essential resource for organizations. This is particularly true in an error when competitive advantages that once lasted a decade can disappear in as quickly as a year--and as companies see their growth potential decays as they grow and age. Reeves, coauthor of The Imagination Machine, explains how organizations can regain the art of imagination. Hint: it takes practice.  This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Organizations often view inclusion, along with its cousins diversity and equity, as a goal. But what if they start viewing it as a practice, an active commitment, and a way of doing business? Kedra Newsom Reeves, a BCG partner and co-lead of BCG’s North America Center for Inclusion and Equity who works for financial and social sector clients alike, argues that organizations must deeply embed inclusivity into their business practices. Otherwise banks and other financial institutions will not meaningfully play their part in closing the racial wealth gap. And other organizations will also fall short of whatever aspirations they set. Inclusion must be treated as an innovation—as a break from the past—because “for hundreds of years, we were not making decisions to be inclusive.”   This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacyThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp