Thinkers & Ideas

Adi Ignatius is the Editor in Chief of Harvard Business Review (HBR). Prior to joining HBR, Adi worked for many years at Wall Street Journal as the Moscow and Beijing bureau chief, and subsequently served as deputy managing director of Time. He has authored several books, including Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang and President Obama, the Path to the White House.In this special episode of Thinkers & Ideas, Adi discusses Harvard Business Review at 100, which highlights the 30 articles that helped popularize some of the best and most enduring business ideas.Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Adi shares his unique perspective on the origin of big ideas, as well as the trends and technologies that underlie them. They also discuss the evolution of HBR’s content curation, accessibility, market exposure, and commitment to its mission over time.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Stefan Larsson, MD, Ph.D. is a pioneer in the field of value-based health care. Dr. Larsson is an independent advisor to healthcare organizations, a BCG senior advisor, a co-founder and board member of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), a non-profit that works to create global standards for measuring health outcomes, and a distinguished fellow on the Health and Healthcare team of the World Economic Forum.Jennifer Clawson is a Partner and Director in BCG’s Madrid office and a global head of the firm’s Center for Value in Health Care. She has worked in both private- and public-sector organizations to create new value-based business models to improve health outcomes.In their new book, Patient Priority: Solve Health Care's Value Crisis by Measuring and Delivering Outcomes That Matter to Patients co-authored with Josh Kellar, Managing Director and Partner in BCG’s Chicago office, Stefan and Jennifer discuss based on their decades of experience in the healthcare industry some of the bright spots of progress and innovation in our journey towards value-based healthcare, while laying out an ambitious and compelling path for the journey still ahead.In conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, they discuss a value and outcome-based approach to healthcare, explaining how value in healthcare needs to include both the outcomes that matter to patient groups and the resources needed to deliver those outcomes. They also opine on the approach as a template for addressing other complex organizational challenges.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Will Guidara made his name in the hospitality industry as the co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, transforming it from a "good" New York restaurant to a 3 Michelin star establishment that was ranked number one on "The World's 50 Best Restaurants" list in 2017.In his new book, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, Will shares his personal memoir and manifesto, outlining his business management philosophy on the art of service.Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Will discusses how to be intentional in the pursuit of relationships with both the people you work with and those you serve, and the impact of digging deeper to explore new creative approaches that turn ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Brian Elliott is an Executive Leader at Future Forum. He has spent the last three decades leading teams and building companies as a startup CEO, a product leader at Google, and Senior Vice President at Slack.In his book How the Future Works. Leading Flexible Teams to do the Best Work of Their Lives, co-authored by Sheela Subramanian and Helen Kupp, he points out that the way we worked in pre-pandemic times is no longer effective and the concept of nine-to-five, five-days-a-week, in-office work environments does not resonate with most employees today, or with the requirements of our knowledge-based economy.In conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Brian discusses ways leaders can optimize for better outcomes by extending the more flexible approach we take towards different customers and applying this model to individual employees within their company. By doing so, leaders can make work more productive, fairer, more attractive to employees, and even a source of competitive advantage.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is one of the leading academics and voices on corporate purpose, sustainability, and the integration of ESG concerns into business strategy and investing. George is the co-founder of KKS Advisors, a leading sustainability strategy consulting firm, an academic partner at State Street Associates, a board member of Liberty Mutual, and has served on the inaugural Standards Council of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.In his new book, Purpose and Profit: How Business Can Lift up The World, George describes how incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues into business have come from being seen as a trade-off to a compliment, with some companies now viewing it as a key driver of economic value.In discussion with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, George describes key trends that have contributed to this shift in perception and behavior, outlining how companies, investors, and employees can use these societal trends to drive impactful change in their businesses, their investments, and their lives.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Joshua Gans is a Professor of Strategic Management and the holder of the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He is also the Chief Economist of the University’s Creative Destruction Lab.In 2018, together with Ajay Agrawal and Avi Goldfarb, he published Prediction Machines, an exploration of how basic tools from economics provide clarity about the AI revolution and a basis for action by leaders.The trio’s latest book, “Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence” explains the economics of A.I. through the lens of decision systems.In conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Joshua discusses how the transformational potential of A.I. is only unlocked if decision systems are reconsidered holistically, mirroring the pattern observed in previous technological revolutions like the application of steam power, electricity, or digital communication.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Mike Evans made his name as the founder of GrubHub, which he co-founded back in 2004, guiding it to a successful IPO in 2014. Since then, he has bicycled across the United States, founded Fixer.com, a handyperson service and B-Corp focused on social impact, and written a memoir titled HANGRY: A Startup Journey focused on how to start and grow a business.In conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Mike discusses a central theme in his new book, the art of starting something from nothing. The conversation touches on the importance of iterative experimentation, treating financial performance as an oblique goal, and knowing when to let go and abandon ideas when they are no longer working. They also discuss the necessity and challenges of cultivating entrepreneurialism within large established companies.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Jeremy Utley is a Director of Executive Education at Stanford’s d.school and an adjunct professor at Stanford’s School of Engineering. He is the host of the d.school’s widely known program, “Stanford’s Masters of Creativity.”Perry Klebahn is an adjunct professor and Director of Executive Education at Stanford’s d.school. Previously he served as COO for Patagonia and CEO of Timbuk2.In their new book, IDEAFLOW: The Only Business Metric That Matters, Jeremy and Perry explain that creativity is not reserved for a select few, but can be developed like any other skill and applied to any problem.Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Jeremy and Perry discuss the concept of “ideaflow”, which can be described as the rate at which one is able to generate ideas. They share various techniques for leaders to master and implement a culture of ideaflow, such as setting up metrics that communicate to their teams that they value creativity, creating evaluation and selection techniques to move ideas forward, and deploying diversity.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Dr. Mohan Subramaniam is a Professor of Strategy and Digital Transformation at the IMD Business School. His research is focused on the digital transformation of incumbent industrial firms, specifically, new sources of competitive advantage in the digital age.In his latest book, The Future of Competitive Strategy: Unleashing the Power of Data and Digital Ecosystems, Mohan discusses how companies must adapt their competitive strategies to capture the value from data, suggesting that the context of competitive strategy has shifted from industries to digital ecosystems.In conversation with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Mohan explains the concept of digital myopia, referring to the inability of modern-day firms to envision the full scope of value that digital technologies can offer. Together, they evaluate the success factors of famous tech giants and how legacy companies can effectively compete with them.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

In this special episode of the Thinkers & Ideas podcast, Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, is joined by two of the leading minds in strategy to discuss the nature of competitive advantage.Join Rita McGrath and Roger L. Martin as they debate whether competitive advantage is more or less sustainable today, whether it has shifted in nature and whether it will shift prospectively. In addition to defending their own positions, they discuss how two very different views of competition can be reconciled. They also offer thoughts for open questions in strategy which merit further consideration.Rita McGrath is a Professor of Strategy at Columbia Business School and the Founder of Valize, a company focused on helping organizations to build lasting innovation capabilities and long-term growth. She has been consistently named one of the world’s top 10 management thinkers in the Thinkers 50 ranking. Rita’s latest book, Seeing Around Corners is a guide to anticipating and capitalizing on disruptive inflection points shaping the marketplace — you can listen to our conversation with her about the book here.Roger L. Martin is a Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a trusted strategy advisor to CEOs of worldwide companies including Procter & Gamble, Lego, and Ford. In 2017, Roger was named the number one management thinker by Thinkers 50. His most recent book, A New Way to Think — which he discussed with us on the show earlier this year — challenges leaders to rethink dominant mental models by revisiting misconceptions and pitfalls in the application of common frameworks and ideas.***About the BCG Henderson InstituteThe BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.