Columbia Bizcast

In this episode of Columbia Bizcast, the leader of the country’s oldest airline sat down with CBS Professor Modupe Akinola to explain how building an ethical company culture starts from the top. Since Delta CEO Ed Bastian assumed his role in 2016, he’s kept his email address public and unchanged — an uncommon practice for the leader of a Fortune 100 company. By doing so, Bastian invites both employees and customers alike to reach out with concerns, providing accessibility and visibility from the top down. In a conversation with Modupe Akinola, CBS’s Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of Business and faculty director of the Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics, Bastian explained how giving employees insight into company strategy is foundational to his values-based leadership approach — as well as Delta’ success. The conversation came as Bastian was awarded the 2024 Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics for exemplifying the highest standard of professional and ethical conduct throughout his career. The event was organized by the School's Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics. Read more about the 2024 Botwinick Prize here. Find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz.

The accomplished entrepreneur, executive and investor joined Columbia Business School Dean Costis Maglaras to share lessons from building many of today’s leading consumer businesses and to discuss the future of AI. The event was part of the school’s new Distinguished Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Digital Future Initiative.

At a recent live event hosted by the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business at Columbia Business School, Professors Abby Joseph Cohen and Pierre Yared discussed signs that the global economy and financial markets are moving toward a more “normal” state.

In this episode of Columbia Bizcast, listen to a recording of a recent CBS event featuring Chris Wiggins, professor of applied mathematics and systems biology at Columbia University. He speaks about his new book, How Data Happened, co-authored with Matthew Jones. Professor Wiggins explains that the technologies that now shape our daily realities didn’t just appear overnight. They have rich and detailed histories that go back centuries and span the globe. This event was facilitated by Professor Bruce Kogut, as part of the School’s Business, AI, and Democracy series.

In this episode of Bizcast we speak with Columbia Business School Professor Bruce Kogut, who shares insights and reflections on the impact of social and traditional media, government regulation, misinformation, and new and emerging technologies on democracy.

In this episode of Columbia Bizcast, listen to a recording of a recent CBS event featuring Brian Deese, MIT innovation fellow and former director of the National Economic Action Council at the White House. Deese discusses climate action and economic opportunities in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act.

In this episode of Columbia Bizcast, Jensen Huang, President and CEO of NVIDIA, joins Dean Costis Maglaras to discuss the future of the AI industry and share insights and lessons from building his tech company into a $1 trillion giant.

In this episode of Bizcast, Ciamac Moallemi, the William von Mueffling Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, takes us through the basics of the new technology, shares the opportunities and disadvantages it offers, and discusses how CBS is preparing students to be at the forefront of this emerging field.

Director of the Eugene M. Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School Lara Hejtmanek ’99 discusses how the School supports students and alumni in their entrepreneurial journeys: from startup idea to launch and beyond.

Listen to a fascinating discussion between Columbia Business School Professors Oded Netzer, Christopher Frank and Paul Magnone as they delve into the ideas and practical applications detailed in their new book Decisions Over Decimals.

Columbia Business School’s Bruce Usher discusses his new book, which outlines the risks and opportunities for investors from climate change, and how current students and alumni are addressing major environmental challenges.

Welcome to the first episode of a special season of Columbia Bizcast dedicated to Columbia Business School’s new home in Manhattanville! In this episode, we’ll take a private tour of the Manhattanville campus with Dean Costis Maglaras. Dean Maglaras shares with us why a new campus is essential for preparing the next generation of business leaders, how spaces within Henry R. Kravis Hall and David Geffen Hall are built to foster connectivity and collaboration among students, faculty, alumni, and the larger business community, as well as his vision for the future of business education. Find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can catch up on old episodes in the Bizcast archive.

Vasiliki Petrou founded and now leads the Unilever Prestige division; this last year has offered that division invaluable knowledge and expertise. In this week’s episode, she reviews some of what she’s learned about her already-strong commitment to running a mission-driven brand portfolio. She discusses the nature of prestige retail marketing; the future of brick and mortar; and her team’s unwavering commitment to purpose, for customers and employees alike. And intriguingly, she talks about the effect of having a creative in the C-suite. Petrou is a Columbia Business School graduate, class of 1993. Find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can catch up on old episodes in the Bizcast archive.

Like every other industry, the field of impact investing underwent significant change over the last year. This episode investigates some of the new possibilities that this change has opened. Maggie Loo, CBS class of ’05 and Bridges Fund Management partner, discusses how the definition of “returns” may need to be reevaluated, how environmental regulations will transform corporate decision making, and how larger businesses can leverage small changes to produce significant effect. Find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can catch up on old episodes in the Bizcast archive.

What happened? What went wrong? Those are simple questions to ask when a company experiences difficulty. In Professor Kathryn Harrigan’s Turnaround Management class, students examine case studies to uncover the often complex reasons why a firm got in trouble and to help plot a way back. On this episode of Bizcast, Harrigan, the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Business Leadership, tells us the story of the decisions made by two very different firms – J. Crew, the famous purveyors of preppy clothes, and Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor – as they coped with shifts in their fortunes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to discussing the strategies companies take to recover, Harrigan also explains how the class instills a sense of responsibility that future leaders should feel toward their companies. Find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can catch up on old episodes in the Bizcast archive.

We start our new season of Bizcast with a conversation about the challenges of entrepreneurship. Class of 2021 members Pritika Gupta, Gareth Pembroke, and Samuel Hong are co-presidents of the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO), a community of students who offer each other support on their entrepreneurial journeys and a network that will continue after graduation. CEO also plans a number of professional development opportunities and in the coming weeks the group will host a panel discussion on the future of healthcare startups. After explaining the benefits of the group, the students tell us what it’s like to study entrepreneurship at CBS as well as the lessons they’ve learned from previous successes and failures they encountered with their own entrepreneurial ventures before enrolling at the School. You can email us at bizcast@gsb.columbia.edu. Or find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast wherever you get your podcasts.

What is it like for a journalist to cover the final days of a political campaign, right before an election? Bizcast visits with two MBA students who have had this experience first-hand. Alexis Levinson ’21, a former reporter for Buzzfeed, and Knight-Bagehot Fellow Hannah Levintova ’21, who writes for Mother Jones, give us their perspective on the differences between covering local and national politics; trustworthy ways to stay informed; and whether voters should believe the latest polls. Levinson and Levintova also share their views on the future of the media business and why they felt pursuing a MBA would enhance and focus their respective career paths. Comments? Suggestions? Email us at bizcast@gsb.columbia.edu. Or find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast wherever you get your podcasts.

On this special episode of Bizcast, we’re presenting a conversation between Bernstein Center Faculty Director Modupe Akinola and former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, who is now the senior advisor to the Obama Foundation. Ms. Jarrett shares some of the formative experiences in her life: her childhood in Iran, England, and Chicago; her calling to public service; and her time in the Obama White House. She also provides her perspective on the role the business community can play in promoting social justice, and offers advice to future leaders. This conversation is part of the KPMG Peat Marwick/Stanley R. Klion Forum, hosted by the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics. The series features leaders who are committed to resolving the major ethical, social, political, and economic challenges of our time. It was established in memory of the late Stanley R. Klion, the executive vice chairman and chief operating partner of Peat Marwick International and a longtime executive-in-residence at CBS. This forum is reflective of Mr. Klion’s ethical leadership style, and its goal is to encourage greater awareness of the ethical dilemmas faced by today’s leaders. Comments? Suggestions? Email us at bizcast@gsb.columbia.edu. Find us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are @columbia_biz. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

As one of the world’s leading experts on diversity in business environments, the late Professor Katherine Phillips left a remarkable legacy of scholarship and inspiration. For Mariah Celestine ’20 and Camira Powell ’20, the most meaningful way to honor Professor Phillips was to continue the important work of making CBS a more inclusive institution that will empower future leaders to advocate for diversity and equity in their workplaces. As part of a collaboration with Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Gita Johar, the two recent graduates developed the Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership, a new mandatory program for CBS students scheduled to begin in the spring of 2021. In this episode, Celestine and Powell provide an overview of PPIL and share some of their personal experiences that informed the creation of the program. Is there anything you would like to tell us about your experience listening to Bizcast? Please fill out our audience survey at: bit.ly/BizcastSurvey. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On June 26, Gita Johar, Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion spoke with Erika Irish Brown ‘98, the Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs, about the firm’s internal response to the global protest and reckoning on anti-Black racism in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. In their conversation, Brown shared some of the practical, actionable steps she’s put into place at Goldman Sachs that address racial injustice and help move the organization toward a place of equity. Brown discussed why it’s crucial to focus on systemic anti-Black racism; she emphasized the importance of storytelling during diversity education, which she said helps create meaningful and impactful dialogue. Is there anything you would like to tell us about your experience listening to Bizcast? Please fill out our audience survey at: bit.ly/BizcastSurvey. Subscribe to Bizcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.