Thinkers & Ideas BCG Henderson Institute

In How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be, Cass Sunstein reveals why some individuals become celebrities—and others don’t.
Sunstein has long been at the forefront of behavioral economics. He is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School and served as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration. He has authored numerous best sellers, such as Nudge and The World According to Star Wars. In his new book, he explores the roles played by skill, luck, and social processes in the achievement of fame and success—based on recent research on informational cascades, reputation cascades, network effects, and group polarization.
Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Sunstein discusses how a better understanding of these mechanisms can help businesses make better decisions in marketing, talent management, and innovation - and why the greatest composer of all time may not be J S Bach, but rather Taylor Swift.
Key topics discussed: 
03:18 | How to prove whether or not fame is driven by merit
06:08 | The importance of quality and skill to fame
09:33 | Enduring vs. transient fame
11:36 | The greatest composers of all time: Bach vs. Taylor Swift
14:44 | Social factors driving fame
19:54 | The role of group polarization and network effects
28:48 | Implications for businesses: Marketing, talent, innovation
33:19 | The art of manipulating information cascades
Additional inspirations from Cass Sunstein:
Thinkers & Ideas: Look Again with Cass SunsteinLook Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There; with Tali Sharot (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2024)Nudge; with Richard Thaler (Penguin Books,...

In The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions, Michael Norton explores how the little things we do can create big impact.
Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he also leads the unit for negotiation, organization, and markets. A well known and respected researcher on behavioral economics and well-being, his new book demonstrates the power of small acts—and how a subtle shift of turning habits into rituals can add purpose and pleasure to life.
Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Norton discusses how we can use rituals deliberately and effectively in our life and work, why it is important that rituals evolve over time, and how COVID changed our rituals as individuals and as teams.
Key topics discussed: 
00:52 | Ritual vs. habit
03:39 | The power (and pitfalls) of rituals
07:08 | Deliberately using rituals (in private life and the workplace)
13:41 | The importance of evolving rituals
18:22 | How COVID changed our rituals
21:20 | How CEOs can harness the power of rituals
Additional inspirations from Michael Norton: 
Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending co-authored by Elizabeth Dunn (Simon & Schuster, 2013)How to Buy Happiness (TED Talk, 2012)


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In Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times, Rebecca Homkes guides leaders on how to turn uncertainty into opportunity.
Homkes teaches business strategy at the London Business School, is on the faculty of Duke Corporate Education, and consults major companies on strategy. She has developed a framework for leading through uncertainty based on three principles: setting up the firm for continuity through shocks (survive), making strategic choices for growth as the situation changes (reset), and ensuring implementation of the new business model (thrive).
Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Homkes discusses how to thrive under uncertainty and how her framework applies in the context of the AI revolution.
Key topics discussed: 
02:11 | How uncertainty affects strategy
03:40 | The survive, reset, thrive framework
05:20 | How to survive a shock
09:20 | How to reset for a new environment
14:42 | How to execute so you can thrive in the long term
19:12 | The creative vs. competitive aspects of strategy
24:11 | How algorithms and AI will affect strategy and the strategy process
27:49 | Applying this framework in your personal life


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At the BCG Henderson Institute, we aim to bring forward-looking leaders the ideas and inspirations that will shape their next game. To honor this mission—and celebrate the 100th episode of our Thinkers & Ideas podcast—we welcomed three leading futurists to discuss the evolution of business and society.
Rita McGrath is a professor of management at Columbia Business School, and has been ranked among the top 10 management thinkers globally by Thinkers50 for years. Gary Shteyngart, a professor of writing at Columbia University is also a New York Times bestselling author of science fiction novels. Esther Dyson, founder of Wellville, is an investor, writer, and expert on all things tech, space, and health.
Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, they discuss their complementary perspectives on the future. They also divulge their methods for making predictions, providing valuable hints for how business leaders can use similar approaches to shape their perspectives and strategies.
Key topics discussed: 
02:06 | Revisiting past predictions about the future
05:08 | The digital age
08:16 | Social media and a technology-centred society
12:47 | Methods for sensing the future”
17:23 | Harnessing the power of science fiction
22:31 | Using metaphors
24:41 | Bringing together these future-sensing methods
31:07 | Predictions about what is coming next
Additional inspirations from Rita McGrath, Gary Shteyngart, and Esther Dyson:
Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen By Rita McGrath(Harper Business, 2019)Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel By Gary Shteyngart (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2011)Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age By Esther Dyson (Broadway, 1997)


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In Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, Cass Sunstein, together with his co-author Tali Sharot, discusses the importance of reevaluating the familiar to discover new insights.
Sunstein has long been at the forefront of behavioral economics. He is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School and served as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration. He has authored numerous best sellers, such as Nudge and The World According to Star Wars., In his new book, he explores the effects of habituation—ceasing to notice the familiar.
Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Sunstein discusses the perils of habituation and how to see the unseen. He also identifies ways that company leaders can strategically avoid habituation to ensure their organizations do not get stuck in mental models that limit adaptability to new trends and challenges.
Key topics discussed: 
01:09 | How habituation works
04:25 | What dishabituation is
08:18 | How to see the unseen
13:51 | How corporations should think about (dis-)habituation
22:08 | Breaking free from a mental model
24:21 | Personal strategies for dishabituation
Additional inspirations from Cass Sunstein:
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment; co-authored by Daniel Kahneman and Olivier Sibony (Little Brown Spark, 2021)The World According to Star Wars (Dey Street Books, 2016)Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness; co-authored by Richard Thaler (Penguin Books, 2009)


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In Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Immortality, Venki Ramakrishnan explores the current research on and prospects for human longevity.
Ramakrishnan leads a group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. For his research on the structure and function of ribosomes, he won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. From 2015 to 2020, he served as president of the Royal Society. In his new book, Ramakrishnan explains the mechanisms of aging and their potential impacts on life expectancy, health span, and lifespan.
Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Ramakrishnan discusses the likely social, economic, and ethical implications of increasing longevity as well as the specific efforts researchers are making to prolong healthy life—and how close they are to achieving a breakthrough. He shines a light on a set of technologies which could be every bit as impactful as artificial intelligence, which therefore also deserve our attention.
Key topics discussed: 
02:28 | Life expectancy vs. health span vs. maximum lifespan
08:21 | Mechanisms of aging
13:25 | Potential interventions for promoting longevity
18:27 | How close are we to a longevity breakthrough?
24:02 | Societal and ethical implications
28:48 | The art of communicating complex idea
Additional inspirations from Venki Ramakrishnan:
The Most Promising Ways to Stop Ageing (New Scientist Interview, 2024)The Story of Deciphering the Ribosome (The Royal Society Talk, 2020)Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome (Basic Books, 2018)


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