Latest Episodes
Global by Design with Vijay Govindarajan
Vijay Govindarajan argues that the most powerful innovations are designed from the ground up for emerging markets like rural China or India, and then travel back to disrupt wealthy ones. In his conversation with Nikolaus Lang, he discusses how GE built a $15,000 ultrasound machine for rural China; why most multinationals chase only the thin top slice of emerging markets; the three phases of his innovation framework; the difference between serial and parallel reverse innovation; and why globalization behaves like gravity even in a fragmented, multipolar world.
Global by Design with Vijay Govindarajan
Vijay Govindarajan argues that the most powerful innovations are designed from the ground up for emerging markets like rural China or India, and then travel back to disrupt wealthy ones. In his conversation with Nikolaus Lang, he discusses how GE built a $15,000 ultrasound machine for rural China; why most multinationals chase only the thin top slice of emerging markets; the three phases of his innovation framework; the difference between serial and parallel reverse innovation; and why globalization behaves like gravity even in a fragmented, multipolar world.
Blue Ocean Strategy with Renée Mauborgne
Renée Mauborgne argues that lasting growth does not come from winning market share in crowded existing industries, but from creating entirely new market space that no one is competing in yet. In her conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Institute, Mauborgne discusses when a company should stop competing and start creating, why the search for new demand begins with non-customers rather than customers, how NVIDIA chases “zero-billion-dollar markets,” why differentiation and low cost need not be a trade-off, whether AI’s commoditizing effect makes advantage harder to defend, and how to reconcile bold commitment with the case for keeping options open.
Blue Ocean Strategy with Renée Mauborgne
Renée Mauborgne argues that lasting growth does not come from winning market share in crowded existing industries, but from creating entirely new market space that no one is competing in yet. In her conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Institute, Mauborgne discusses when a company should stop competing and start creating, why the search for new demand begins with non-customers rather than customers, how NVIDIA chases “zero-billion-dollar markets,” why differentiation and low cost need not be a trade-off, whether AI’s commoditizing effect makes advantage harder to defend, and how to reconcile bold commitment with the case for keeping options open.
Crisis Engineering with Matthew Weaver and Mikey Dickerson
Matthew Weaver and Mikey Dickerson argue that organizational crises are not problems to be survived but are rare windows in which rapid, directed transformation becomes possible within days rather than years. In their conversation with Nikolaus Lang they discuss why breakdowns in sensemaking cause well-trained operators to make situations worse, what the healthcare.gov rescue reveals about co-location and shared urgency, how crisis disrupts normal incentive structures to surface the organization’s real map, the concept of bracketing as a tool for directing team attention, and how AI integrations are creating the conditions for larger and harder-to-manage crises ahead.
Crisis Engineering with Matthew Weaver and Mikey Dickerson
Matthew Weaver and Mikey Dickerson argue that organizational crises are not problems to be survived but are rare windows in which rapid, directed transformation becomes possible within days rather than years. In their conversation with Nikolaus Lang they discuss why breakdowns in sensemaking cause well-trained operators to make situations worse, what the healthcare.gov rescue reveals about co-location and shared urgency, how crisis disrupts normal incentive structures to surface the organization’s real map, the concept of bracketing as a tool for directing team attention, and how AI integrations are creating the conditions for larger and harder-to-manage crises ahead.
The Irrational Decision with Ben Recht
In The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us, Benjamin Recht argues that the optimization and mathematical rationality we apply to every corner of modern life—from dieting to hiring to strategy—often fails when encountering the messy realities of life.
The Irrational Decision with Ben Recht
In The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us, Benjamin Recht argues that the optimization and mathematical rationality we apply to every corner of modern life—from dieting to hiring to strategy—often fails when encountering the messy realities of life.
AI Needs You with Verity Harding
In AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI’s Future and Save Our Own, Verity Harding argues that AI governance is too important to be left to technologists alone—and that the rest of us need to join the conversation to shape this technology’s future.
AI Needs You with Verity Harding
In AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI’s Future and Save Our Own, Verity Harding argues that AI governance is too important to be left to technologists alone—and that the rest of us need to join the conversation to shape this technology’s future.
Incorruptible with Eric Ries
In Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, Eric Ries argues that mission-driven companies face an invisible pressure that pushes them toward short-termism and conformity, no matter the intentions of their stakeholders.
Incorruptible with Eric Ries
In Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, Eric Ries argues that mission-driven companies face an invisible pressure that pushes them toward short-termism and conformity, no matter the intentions of their stakeholders.
Inside the Box with David Epstein
In Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, David Epstein argues that constraints—not freedom—are what drive creativity, clarity, and focus.
Inside the Box with David Epstein
In Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, David Epstein argues that constraints—not freedom—are what drive creativity, clarity, and focus.
Genius at Scale with Linda A. Hill
In Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation, Linda A. Hill argues that innovation fails not because companies lack ideas, but because they struggle to scale those ideas across the enterprise—and that the solution lies not in structure or processes, but in leadership.
Genius at Scale with Linda A. Hill
In Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation, Linda A. Hill argues that innovation fails not because companies lack ideas, but because they struggle to scale those ideas across the enterprise—and that the solution lies not in structure or processes, but in leadership.
Design Love In, with Marcus Buckingham
In Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business, Marcus Buckingham argues that love—not engagement, satisfaction, or motivation—is the only feeling that reliably changes the behavior of employees and customers, and that it can be deliberately designed into business.
Design Love In, with Marcus Buckingham
In Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business, Marcus Buckingham argues that love—not engagement, satisfaction, or motivation—is the only feeling that reliably changes the behavior of employees and customers, and that it can be deliberately designed into business.
The Transformation Economy with B. Joseph Pine II
In The Transformation Economy: Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations, B. Joseph Pine II argues that an economic shift is underway, in which transformations—not commodities, goods, services, or experiences—will become the highest form of value creation.
The Transformation Economy with B. Joseph Pine II
In The Transformation Economy: Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations, B. Joseph Pine II argues that an economic shift is underway, in which transformations—not commodities, goods, services, or experiences—will become the highest form of value creation.
The Doom Loop with Eswar Prasad
In The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling into Disorder, Eswar Prasad argues that we are caught in a destructive feedback loop between economics, domestic politics, and geopolitics.
The Doom Loop with Eswar Prasad
In The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling into Disorder, Eswar Prasad argues that we are caught in a destructive feedback loop between economics, domestic politics, and geopolitics.
The New Geography of Innovation with Mehran Gul
In The New Geography of Innovation: The Global Contest for Breakthrough Technologies, Mehran Gul examines how innovation works in different countries around the globe—diving deep into the ecosystems that produce great technology companies.
The New Geography of Innovation with Mehran Gul
In The New Geography of Innovation: The Global Contest for Breakthrough Technologies, Mehran Gul examines how innovation works in different countries around the globe—diving deep into the ecosystems that produce great technology companies.
Flourish with Daniel Coyle
In Flourish: The Transformative Power of Creating Community, Daniel Coyle investigates the ecosystems in which humans do their best work—from sports teams, to the boardroom, and our daily lives.
Flourish with Daniel Coyle
In Flourish: The Transformative Power of Creating Community, Daniel Coyle investigates the ecosystems in which humans do their best work—from sports teams, to the boardroom, and our daily lives.
Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World with Dani Rodrik
In Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate, Dani Rodrik proposes new modes of cooperation and policy experimentation to address our greatest global challenges.
Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World with Dani Rodrik
In Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate, Dani Rodrik proposes new modes of cooperation and policy experimentation to address our greatest global challenges.
BCG has a full suite of podcasts covering a wide range of topics in business, technology, economics, and society. Take your pick: artificial intelligence, women in technology, the latest trends in business strategy, the future of the metaverse, and more.
Meet Our Hosts
Nikolaus Lang is Global Leader of the BCG Institute and a leading voice on geopolitics, global trade, and the shifting dynamics of the world economy. Over the past 25 years, he has advised business leaders and policymakers across more than 50 countries on navigating geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain transformation, and the evolving landscape of globalization. He is a frequent author and commentator on the forces reshaping business and society, and coauthor of Beyond Great.
Adam Job is Senior Director at the BCG Institute, where he leads research on strategy and the forces shaping the future of business. A frequent contributor to leading publications including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, he explores how organizations can navigate disruption and create lasting competitive advantage.
Adam Job is Senior Director at the BCG Institute, where he leads research on strategy and the forces shaping the future of business. A frequent contributor to leading publications including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, he explores how organizations can navigate disruption and create lasting competitive advantage.
