Thought Sparks

Rita Gunther-McGrath

Thought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other Tuesday at 11am Eastern.

  1. 2h ago

    The Science of Better Leadership with Rita McGrath and Caroline Webb

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Caroline Webb, former McKinsey partner, leadership coach, and economist. Her new book, Leadership Intelligence, which is available on September 8, gives practical strategies for leaders facing 21 everyday management challenges.       0:00 Welcome to Thought Sparks  0:24 Meet Caroline Webb  1:21 Experiential vs. Deliberate Wisdom  3:04 How the Book Came to Be  10:27 The Three-Part Structure: How We Think  12:57 The Brain's Reward System: Competence & Connection  17:23 The Brain's Threat System & Resilience  19:58 Absorbing Uncertainty: Know, Be, Do  26:00 Staying Calm Under Pressure: The ABC Routine  27:57 The Readiness Reframe: Channeling Anxiety  29:59 Preparing Before Key Moments  31:00 The Positive No  36:51 Fix Flex: The Art of Delegation  40:17 The Leadership Pipeline & Managing AI Agents  41:48 Difficult Conversations: Layoffs & Underperformance  45:08 Compassionate Clarity  45:36 The Arc of a Coaching Engagement  50:21 Common Themes in Senior Leaders  53:56 Loneliness at the Top & Building Networks  56:09 Wrap-Up & Where to Learn More     Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

  2. Sep 1

    Leadership in an Age of Polycrisis with Rita McGrath and Caroline Stokes

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Caroline Stokes, author of AfterShock to 2030: A CEO’s Guide to Reinvention in the Age of AI, Climate, and Societal Collapse, and member of the Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2026.     0:00 — Cold Open: The Trust Crisis in CEO Leadership  0:26 — Welcome to Thought Sparks & Introducing Caroline Stokes  2:10 — The Brian Thompson Assassination: Why It Opens the Book  6:21 — Why the Book Is Digital-Only & CEO Reading Habits  8:10 — The Trust Gap: Organizations Making People Sick  12:20 — LSE Research: Doughnut Economics & Post-Growth Practices  15:15 — Why "Aftershock": Polyvagal Theory & CEO Behaviors  19:11 — Carlota Perez: Turning Points in Capitalism  22:03 — NVIDIA's Fluid, Mission-First Organization Model  25:55 — Mea Culpa & Tabula Rasa: Reinventing Yourself as a Leader  31:07 — Radical Listening: The Human-to-Human Approach  34:39 — The PlayStation Backward Compatibility Story  36:30 — AI-Enabled Radical Listening & the DOGE Example  38:21 — NVIDIA's Top Five Things & Stochastic Sampling  41:01 — Getting Started: Finding Your Mission & Purpose  45:43 — Corruption, Shareholder Theory & the Need for a Reset  48:12 — Caroline's Personal Shocks & Living Abroad  49:53 — Advice for Younger People  54:26 — Where to Find the Book & Closing Remarks        Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

    Leadership in an Age of Polycrisis with Rita McGrath and Caroline Stokes

  3. Aug 25

    Designing Meetings that Matter with Rita McGrath and Rebecca Hinds

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Rebecca Hinds, Head of the Work AI Institute & Director of Thought Leadership  at Glean to discuss her new book Your Best Meeting Ever.     0:00 Intro & Welcome  0:13, Meet Rebecca Hinds  0:58, Rebecca's Journey Into Meeting Research  3:45, Meetings as Status Symbols & Power Dynamics  6:36, Meetings as a Product: Design Principles  7:33, Cutting Meeting Debt: The Meeting Doomsday  9:52, Return on Time Invested (ROTI)  13:42, The Four D CEO Test for Meetings  15:02, Bezos One-Way Door Decisions & Law of Triviality  18:13, Decision Fatigue & The Importance of Breaks  20:13, Amazon's Six-Page Memo Practice  26:05, Using Verbs in Agenda Items  27:11, Alan Mulally at Ford: Meetings That Drive Action  31:08, In-Person vs. Hybrid Meetings  38:51, Ensuring Diverse Perspectives Are Heard  45:48, AI's Role in Improving Meetings  47:27, Surprises Since the Book's Publication  50:14, Meeting Budget & Optimal Meeting Hours  53:43 Where to Learn More & Closing      Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

  4. Aug 18

    Developing a Marketing Mindset with Rita McGrath and Rory Sutherland

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of the Ogilvy & Mather group of companies and expert in behavioral science and creativity.   Their conversation took place in person at the Ogilvy offices in London.     0:00 The Marketing Mindset  0:29 Welcome & Introducing Rory Sutherland  1:10 Rory's Path into Advertising  2:11 Direct Marketing & A/B Testing Origins  3:01 Edwardian Era Newspaper Experiments  4:18 Testing Creative vs. Price  7:23 Discovering Behavioral Science  10:08 Marketing as a Way of Thinking  11:05 Uber & the Psychology of Innovation  12:23 Marketing & Innovation: Two Sides of a Coin  13:45 The Austrian School of Economics  14:46 The Swiss Watch Industry  17:21 Public vs. Private Advertising  18:50 What Are You Really Competing With? (Zippo)  22:16 Quarter-Inch Holes & Hidden Value  24:10 Trade-offs in Innovation  27:27 Austrian Economics & Value Creation  28:47 Baumol's Cost Disease & Non-Transactional Value  31:23 Universities as Luxury Goods  34:32 Ogilvy Adapting to Digital Change  37:48 The Marketing Mindset for All Businesses  40:02 Symbolism Matters: NASCAR Tickets & Corporate Perks  41:47 Risk & Reward in Organizations  42:54 The BT A/B Test: Channels Affect Purchases  47:33 Marketing Genius: James Watt's Horsepower  50:11 Marketing as Value Creation  51:18 The Citibank Demo: Finding the Real Sell  53:50 Kano Theory: Delighters & the DoubleTree Cookie  55:48 Reverse Benchmarking  58:05 The State of Advertising Today  59:27 Book Recommendations & Risk Aversion  1:03:45 Marketing Metrics & Digital Platforms      Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

    Developing a Marketing Mindset with Rita McGrath and Rory Sutherland

  5. Aug 11

    Leading with Humanity with Rita McGrath and Kevin Nolan

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, hosts Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances, who talks through Haier’s acquisition of GE Appliances, and his advice for leaders facing massive transformations.     0:00 - Intro: Can you choose between growth and profitability? 0:27 - Meet Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances 1:40 - GE's long history of wanting to divest the appliances division 2:47 - The Haier acquisition — and the surprise of who bought them 5:55 - First meetings with Haier: "salad management" and philosophy over business 8:37 - "We don't plan to learn. We plan to win." — The GE mindset 10:14 - Culture shock: Haier kept asking, "What do YOU want to do?" 16:55 - The concept of "leading goals" — goals you don't know how to achieve 19:25 - Kevin becomes CEO: setting the bold goal of #1 in 5 years (from #5) 25:12 - Introducing FirstBuild: GE's open, consumer-driven innovation engine 34:06 - The nugget ice story — and why engineers don't understand customer needs 39:37 - FirstBuild's secret sauce: it must be self-funding (zero-cost innovation) 44:40 - From #5 to #1 in 5 years — with no acquisitions and no new people 48:51 - CEO humility: going to the factory floor unannounced 59:15 - Final advice: rely on the people closest to the work      Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

    Leading with Humanity with Rita McGrath and Kevin Nolan

  6. Aug 4

    Lessons from Three Decades at Columbia Business School

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Bill Klepper, Academic Director in Executive Education at Columbia Business School, to celebrate Bill’s retirement and reflect on his expertise in executive learning, strategic leadership and corporate governance. Their conversation took place at Columbia Business School, following a session of Rita McGrath's Executive Education course Leading Strategic Growth and Change.     00:00 Introduction 01:03 Meet Bill Klepper 02:03 The Origin of The CEO's Boss 06:25 Why Board Governance Matters 06:58 The Lifeline Exercise 08:06 Bill's Lifeline: Early Values 12:29 Path to Public Office 15:06 The 9/11 Story 18:31 Learning Styles Framework 24:08 The Integrative Leadership Model 30:39 Legacy and Wisdom 32:38 Strategic Centering 33:15 Audience Q&A 38:18 Closing      Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

    Lessons from Three Decades at Columbia Business School

  7. Jul 28

    How Organizations Can Win with AI with Rita McGrath and Charlene Li

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Charlene Li, author of author of Groundswell, Open Leadership, and The Disruption Mindset, and a new book, written with Katia Walsh: Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success.    0:00 - Introduction & Meet Charlene Li   1:35 - Charlene's Upbringing in Detroit   4:14 - Introducing Winning with AI   7:34 - Strategy First, Not "What Do We Do About AI"   8:56 - Three Ways AI Creates Value   12:43 - The AI Hesitancy Gap: FOMO vs. FOGI   13:40 - Why a 90-Day Blueprint   18:53 - The Grief and Rage Behind AI Disruption   24:52 - Why AI Pilots Fail   28:43 - Building an AI Investment Portfolio   31:46 - Trust, Honesty, and Fairness in Leadership   39:04 - How AI Gave Charlene Her Voice   41:24 - Speed as the New Competitive Moat   44:22 - Goldilocks Governance   49:01 - Lessons from Burning Man's Mudpocalypse   53:04 - Becoming Superhuman with AI      Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

    How Organizations Can Win with AI with Rita McGrath and Charlene Li

  8. Jul 21

    Achieving Real Business Growth with Rita McGrath and Victor Grizzle

    In this week’s Thought Sparks Podcast episode, Rita McGrath, a Columbia University Business School Professor, C-Suite strategist, business founder and best-selling author, sits down with Victor Grizzle, CEO and Executive Chairman of Armstrong Industries, to speak candidly about the massive transformation he led at Armstrong, inspired by McGrath’s work on growth outliers.        0:00 Introduction  0:46 Victor Grizzle's Career Journey to Armstrong  5:31 The Growth Outliers Research  7:23 Separating the Flooring and Ceilings Businesses  10:42 Finding a Burning Platform for Growth  14:37 Divesting the International Business  17:03 Driving a Growth Mindset Shift  25:46 Building an Innovation Engine  30:46 Embracing Intelligent Failure  35:07 Balancing Stability with Entrepreneurial Acquisitions  42:41 Advice for the Next Generation  48:39 Culture, Teamwork, and Consistency  50:42 Looking Ahead: AI and the Future of Armstrong      Listen to more Thought Sparks Podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts  and Spotify.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719  https://open.spotify.com/show/0xmTsYXMgTeielwZ0dGTSU    Watch Thought Sparks episodes on YouTube.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyXT8iJkTSciUMe0me3L7Q    Follow Rita on LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Blue Sky.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritamcgrath/  https://x.com/rgmcgrath  https://bsky.app/profile/rgmcgrath.bsky.social    Connect with Rita on TikTok and Instagram.  https://www.tiktok.com/@rgmcgrath  https://www.instagram.com/ritamcgrath.hub/    Sign up for her Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack.    https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/    Learn more about Rita, her books, and ideas at RitaMcGrath.com.

    Achieving Real Business Growth with Rita McGrath and Victor Grizzle
See All (158)

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Thought Sparks are the brainchild of Rita McGrath. They are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other Tuesday at 11am Eastern.

Information

  • Creator
    Rita Gunther-McGrath
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    158
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Rita Gunther-McGrath
  • Show Website
    Thought Sparks

You Might Also Like