Thinkers & Ideas

In AI Snake Oil: What AI Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference, Sayash Kapoor and his co-author Arvind Narayanan provide an essential understanding of how AI works and why some applications remain fundamentally beyond its capabilities.Kapoor was included in TIME’s inaugural list of the 100 most influential people in AI. As a researcher at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy, he examines the societal impacts of AI, with a focus on reproducibility, transparency, and accountability in AI systems. In his new book, he cuts through the hype to help readers discriminate between legitimate and bogus claims for AI technologies and applications.In his conversation with Martin Reeves, chair of the BCG Henderson Institute, Kapoor discusses historical patterns of technology hype, differentiates between the powers and limitations of predictive versus generative AI, and outlines how managers can balance healthy skepticism with embracing the potential of new technologies.Key topics discussed: 01:05 | Examples of AI “snake oil”04:42 | Historical patterns of technology hypeand how AI is different07:26 | Capabilities and exaggerations of predictive AI11:42 | Powers and limitations of generative AI17:11 | Drivers of inflated expectations20:18 | Implications for regulation23:26 | How managers can balance scepticism and embracing new tech24:58 | Future of AI researchAdditional inspirations from Sayash Kapoor:AI Snake Oil (Substack)A Checklist of Eighteen Pitfalls in AI Journalism (UNESCO article, 2022)

In The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World, Karthik Ramanna provides a framework for leaders to navigate outrage—the intense, polarized reactions to perceived social injustices, political stances, and misaligned corporate actions—by addressing root causes, engaging stakeholders, and building resilience.Ramanna, a professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, specializes in business-government relations and corporate accountability.In conversation with Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Ramanna discusses the three causes of outrage (fear of the future, past injustices, and ideologies of othering), common instincts that mislead leaders, and his five-step framework for navigating the age of outrage.Key topics discussed: 01:08 | Managing in the age of outrage4:21 | Three causes of outrage: fear of the future, past injustices, and ideologies of othering5:48 | The five-step framework for navigating the age of outrage19:04 | Instincts which mislead companies into taking the wrong stance or making the wrong analysis20:45 | The impact of “temperate leadership” and leadership attributes25:22 | Key factors impacting the age of outrageAdditional inspirations from Karthik Ramanna:Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy (The University of Chicago Press, 2015)

In The Corporate Life Cycle: Business, Investment, and Management Implications, Aswath Damodaran presents the corporate life cycle as a universal key for demystifying business finance, strategy and company valuation.Damodaran is a professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. Known as “the Dean of Valuation,” he has published extensively in academic journals, written many books for students and practitioners, and remains the world’s foremost expert on the subject of corporate valuation. In his latest book, he outlines how corporations age, describes the characteristics of each stage of their life cycle, and discusses implications for managers and investors.In his conversation with Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Damodaran outlines how to determine where in the life cycle your company is at, what leadership skills and behaviors are required at each stage, and how the distribution of life cycle stages has changed over recent decades.Key topics discussed: 00:56 | The stages of the corporate life cycle02:21 | How to determine your stage in the life cycle03:36 | The importance of acting your age10:06 | Balancing capital allocation across the portfolio11:27 | Leadership skills for different stages in the life cycle16:56 | Creating value at any stage of the life cycle20:21 | How the distribution of life cycle “shapes” is changing22:58 | The art of communicating complex ideas in simple waysAdditional inspirations from Aswath Damodaran:Applied Corporate Finance (Wiley, 2014)Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset (Wiley, 2012)Musings on Markets  (Blog)

In Big Bet Leadership: Your Transformation Playbook for Winning in the Hyper-Digital Era, John Rossman provides a playbook for becoming an innovation and transformation winner.Rossman was previously an executive at Amazon, responsible for launching their Marketplace business. Now, he is the managing partner of Rossman Partners, advising leading enterprises on large-scale change, and author of the best-selling books The Amazon Way and Think Like Amazon. In his latest book, he examines why high-stakes change efforts fail and how to frame and manage them more effectively. Companies need to think in terms of “big bets,” which will require executives to adopt the right mindset, tactical steps, and leadership habits.In his conversation with Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Rossman explains why we need to work in prose, not in PowerPoint; how to think big, while betting small; and how to make the critical decisions to “continue, pivot, or kill” a project.Key topics discussed: 01:19 | What makes a “big bet”04:10 | Thinking in outcomes06:49 | Prose over PowerPoint12:51 | Thinking big, but betting small16:21 | Thinking in systems19:21 | How to decide to “continue, pivot, or kill” – and avoid confusion22:45 | Where “big bet” thinking can be appliedAdditional inspirations from John Rossman:The Amazon Way: Amazon's 14 Leadership Principles (Clyde Hill Publishing, 2021)Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader (McGraw Hill, 2019)