Thinkers & Ideas

BCG Henderson Institute
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Inspiring and thought-provoking conversations with leading thinkers about influential ideas on business, technology, economics, and science. Hosted by Nikolaus Lang and Adam Job. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BCG INSTITUTE INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn.

  1. 6월 23일

    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. Recht is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley. In his new book, he traces how a narrow conception of rationality, born from 1940s wartime computing, came to dominate decision-making across society—and shows that this approach works brilliantly in closed, controlled systems like microchip design but breaks down in the complex, unpredictable domains where most real decisions are made. In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, he discusses the origins of mathematical rationality, why optimization works for microchips but not for diets, why game theory fails to describe how humans actually behave, and how leaders should think about the boundary between human and machine intelligence in the age of AI. Key topics discussed: 01:02 | What is mathematical rationality and where do we encounter it? 02:49 | The origins of rational thinking in the 1940s 07:18 | Where optimization works: microchips, logistics, controlled systems 09:13 | Where it fails: Chernobyl, Waymo, and the limits of control 13:17 | When human “qualitative irrationality” is the right answer 14:59 | A framework for assigning decisions to machines vs. humans 17:45 | How the boundary between human and machine decision-making will evolve 19:14 | Why game theory fails to describe how humans actually behave 22:07 | Kahneman vs. Klein: two views on human decision-making 24:30 | What we risk losing as we outsource more decisions to AI

    27분

  2. 6월 9일

    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. Harding is the director of the AI and Geopolitics Project at the Bennett School of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and the founder of Formation Advisory. She spent more than a decade at Alphabet, first as head of Security Policy at Google, then as DeepMind’s first global head of Policy. In her book, she draws on historical case studies to show that democratic societies have successfully governed transformative technologies in the past. In her conversation with Nikolaus Lang, global leader of the BCG Henderson Institute, she discusses why the nuclear arms race is the wrong analogy for AI, what the 1967 Outer Space Treaty can teach us about cooperation between rivals, how Britain’s regulation of IVF became a gold standard by depoliticizing the technology, and what business leaders get wrong about their own role in shaping AI governance. Key topics discussed: 01:56 | Why the framing of AI as “too complex for nonexperts" is harmful 07:46 | Why the nuclear arms control analogy is counterproductive for AI 12:25 | The Space Race and the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as a model for cooperation 17:11 | IVF, the Warnock Committee, and why a philosopher led the regulation effort 20:38 | The internet: from open ideals to commercialization and surveillance 26:41 | What business leaders can do to shape AI governance 30:50 | Four principles for AI: peaceful intent, embrace limitations, purpose over profit, societal trust 35:25 | If you could mandate one thing for global AI governance, what would it be?

    38분

  3. 5월 26일

    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. Ries is the best-selling author of The Lean Startup, founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, and advisor to startups around the globe. In his new book, he traces a recurring pattern across two centuries of business: principled founders build something exceptional, only to watch it be corrupted—not by greedy individuals, but by systemic forces baked into how capitalism is structured. In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, Ries discusses how corporate corruption starts, why shareholder primacy became the norm, the concept of financial gravity, and the structural protections companies can put in place to defend their mission. Key topics discussed: 01:09 | How corporate corruption starts 03:50 | The rise of shareholder primacy 08:18 | Why mission-driven companies outperform but don’t dominate 11:06 | Are private equity and activist investors always destructive? 15:31 | Financial gravity: the invisible force that pulls companies off course 19:31 | Structural defenses: purpose, coherence, and integrity 27:06 | Can mature companies still be corrupted or still protect themselves? 31:14 | What Eric Ries would add to The Lean Startup if he could Additional inspirations from Eric Ries: The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (Crown Currency, 2011)

    36분

  4. 5월 13일

    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. Epstein is a number one New York Times–best-selling author, known for Range and The Sports Gene. In his new book, he draws on psychology, economics, and case studies from NASA to Pixar to Dr. Seuss to show that our brains default to the path of least resistance—and that blocking that path is the only reliable way to force genuinely new thinking. In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, he discusses why freedom is the enemy of creativity, how leaders can set constraints that unlock rather than stifle their teams, why creativity is not the same as originality, and how Herbert Simon’s idea of “satisficing” can improve both decisions and well-being. Key topics discussed: 01:03 | Why constraints drive creativity and freedom doesn’t 04:06 | What kinds of constraints to use and when they backfire 09:30 | Constraints in innovation vs. execution 13:08 | How to set constraints that maximize creativity without killing autonomy 16:34 | Why creativity is not the same as novelty or originality 19:29 | “Preregistering hypotheses” and how it applies to business 23:19 | Herbert Simon’s “satisficing”: choosing good enough over endless optimization 26:13 | How Epstein applies constraints in his own life and writing process Additional inspirations from David Epstein: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (Riverhead Books, 2019)The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (Portfolio, 2014)

    30분

  5. 4월 28일

    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. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, faculty chair of the Leadership Initiative, and one of the top ten management thinkers in the world as ranked by Thinkers50. In her new book, co-authored with Emily Tedards and Jason Wild, she draws on deep case studies of organizations from Mastercard to Pfizer to Pixar to show that scaling innovation requires three distinct but complementary leadership roles: architects, bridgers, and catalysts. In her conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, she discusses why innovation labs alone don’t work, the ABCs of innovation leadership, how to build a culture of creative abrasion, and why even senior leaders need coaching to get innovation right. Key topics discussed: 01:28 | Why innovation fails at the point of scaling, not ideation 03:59 | The ABCs of innovation leadership: architects, bridgers, catalysts 06:29 | Getting metrics and incentives right for innovation 10:42 | What bridgers do and why organizations don’t have enough of them 14:33 | Is innovation leadership a team sport or a solo act? 18:48 | How to know which role you’re best suited to and how to learn the others 24:04 | How incumbent leaders can create urgency without being the new CEO Additional inspirations from Linda A. Hill: Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation (Harvard Business Review Press, 2014)Article: Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale, co-authored by Emily Tedards and Jason Wild (March–April 2026 issue of Harvard Business Review)

    35분

  6. 4월 14일

    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. Buckingham is one of the world’s foremost researchers on human performance. He is a former senior vice president at Gallup turned New York Times–best-selling author, having written First, Break All the Rules. In his new book, he draws on decades of research to show that the relationship between experiences and outcomes is not linear—only experiences so positive that people describe them as “love” actually drive loyalty, productivity, and advocacy. In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, he discusses why love is categorically different from engagement, the five feelings that make up a loving experience, three disciplines leaders can use to design love into their organizations, and why common practices like outsourcing and large spans of control are fundamentally unloving. Key topics discussed: 01:16 | Why love is categorically different from engagement or satisfaction 04:43 | The nonlinear relationship between experiences and outcomes 08:24 | How experiences drive behaviors that drive outcomes 12:34 | Designing love in: the five feelings and three disciplines 16:00 | Can love be designed into products, not just experiences? 19:13 | The three disciplines: walk the stage, equip the people, sequence the scenes 27:39 | Spans of control and the one-to-12 rule 30:17 | The limits of artificial experience–making Additional inspirations from Marcus Buckingham: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (Gallup Press, 2016)

    36분

  7. 3월 31일

    BHI Presents: Winning the Rest of the 20s

    In this special episode, Rich Lesser, BCG’s global chair, and Martin Reeves, former chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, reflect on the shocks and surprises that shaped the first half of the decade and what they reveal about the future. They explore the traits leaders need today: building trust, staying geopolitically aware, and adopting AI in a people-centered way.

    27분

  8. 3월 17일

    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. Pine is an internationally acclaimed author, known for having coined the term “experience economy” in the 1990s. He works as a speaker and advisor to Fortune 500 companies. In his new book, he suggests that most companies compete by improving what they sell, while missing what customers actually want: to become different people. In his conversation with Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute, Pine discusses the evolution of economic value creation, the North Star for transformation businesses, and how to scale from one to many transformation journeys. Key topics discussed: 01:01 | The evolution of economic value creation 03:35 | How to get into the transformation business 10:35 | The North Star for transformation businesses 15:07 | Scaling beyond individual transformation journeys 16:46 | Different types of transformation journeys 20:37 | Making transformations last 24:12 | Taking the first step toward the transformation economy Additional inspirations from B. Joseph Pine II: The Experience Economy, With a New Preface by the Authors: Competing for Customer Time, Attention, and Money, co-authored by James H. Gilmore (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019)

    28분
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Inspiring and thought-provoking conversations with leading thinkers about influential ideas on business, technology, economics, and science. Hosted by Nikolaus Lang and Adam Job. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BCG INSTITUTE INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn.

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    BCG Henderson Institute
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    2019년 - 2026년
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