Thinkers50 Podcast

Neri Karra Sillaman: From Refugee to Fashion Revolutionary At age 11, Neri Karra Sillaman’s world was turned upside down when her Bulgarian-Turkish family was forced to flee their home country. Driven by a hunger for education and a better life, Neri grabbed an opportunity to study business management at the University of Miami, where she became interested in how businesses – in particular, businesses founded by immigrants – are created and sustained. She has subsequently become an expert in international and ethnic entrepreneurship, researching how the unique capabilities and mindset of immigrants create businesses that last. She received her doctorate from the University of Cambridge and her own 25-year-old leather accessories company, staffed by a workforce largely made up of people from disadvantaged backgrounds, has been recognised by B Corp as a social innovator. In this Provocateurs podcast, Neri chats with fellow immigrant Kulleni Gebreyes, the US Consulting Life Sciences and Health Care Industry Leader and US Chief Health Equity Officer at Deloitte, and Thinkers50 co-founder, Stuart Crainer. She explains how she ended up in the fashion industry almost by accident and reveals the secrets behind sustainable companies, from building a resilient workforce to “frying in your own oil.” Neri is a member of the Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2024, a professor of practice and entrepreneurship expert at the University of Oxford, and author of Fashion Entrepreneurship. -- This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in these articles are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Marketer extraordinaire, Marcus Collins is a clinical professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. A former advertising executive who worked on iTunes + Nike sport music initiatives at Apple, Marcus contends that what we wear, what we eat, where we work, who we date, and just about every facet of our social living is informed by our underlying culture. And the primary goal of all industries is to “get people to move”, whether it is to buy, to click, to watch, vote, or subscribe. In this intriguing conversation with Steve Goldbach of Deloitte and Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50, Marcus discusses his latest book, For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, And Who We Want To Be, and explains that his work is really just about connections – “connecting things that are normally disparate, so they come together and create new and novel things.” He also describes how he came to lead digital strategy for Beyoncé, the influence of Émile Durkheim on his ideas, and the power of collective effervescence. Marcus is the recipient of the Thinkers50 2023 Radar Award and his book, For the Culture, features on Thinkers50 2023 Best New Management Booklist. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Amy Chang serves on the board of directors for The Walt Disney Company and Procter & Gamble, and has previously served on the boards of Cisco, Splunk, Marqeta, and Informatica. In 2018, Amy’s start-up business, Accompany, an AI/ML-based relationship intelligence platform serving Fortune 500 companies, was acquired by Cisco for $270 million. Post-acquisition, she led Cisco’s multi-billion-dollar 6000-person Collaboration business. Prior to Accompany, Amy was at Google, where she led the teams for Google Analytics for over seven years, growing Google Analytics to serve over 86% of the entire web. She also fulfilled roles at eBay and McKinsey, having started her career in hardware with Intel, AMD, and Motorola. In this Provocateurs podcast with Des Dearlove from Thinkers50 and Steve Goldbach of Deloitte, Amy reveals what provoked her to leave the comfort zone of Google to start her own company. She shares her insights on leadership – as the founder CEO of a startup you need to be “the everything,” from plumber to custodian to cleaner – and explains the importance of culture, transparency, and hiring the right people. She also offers tips on becoming a new member to a board of directors, and the vital role of cardio exercise in taking care of your brain as well as your heart. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

What did we learn from our provocateurs in 2023? Who provoked us to think again and act differently? Which stories remain with us? The Provocateurs podcast series gives you direct access to the ideas, experiences, and insights of remarkable leaders from around the world. In 2023, in collaboration with Deloitte, Thinkers50 hosted an inspiring mix of guests in thought-provoking conversations. The topics that were discussed and debated ranged from The Inside Track on Growth with Tiffani Bova to Radical Candor with Kim Scott. Along the way we unpicked branding and the metaverse with Martin Lindstrom, learned how to play our cards right with Annie Duke, and normalised anxiety with Morra Aarons-Mele. Chip Bergh told us his story of rescuing Levi’s, Shelley Zalis gave us the state of play on equality in the workplace, Jim Stengel dived into activating purpose, and we marched to a different drum with Sunny Bonnell and Rare Breeds. In this episode, Stuart Crainer, Des Dearlove, Steve Goldbach, and Geoff Tuff share some of their key take-aways from Provocateurs 2023 and introduce new co-host for 2024, Kulleni Gebreyes. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Rescuing Levi’s A self-declared ‘brand guy’, Chip Bergh was appointed president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. in 2011. During his tenure the company has experienced a dramatic turnaround marked by outstanding performance and reclaiming its cultural relevance. In short, Levi’s has become cool again! Along the way, Chip has shown himself to be a provocateur. In this podcast with Des Dearlove, co-founder of Thinkers50 and Geoff Tuff, Principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP, Chip explains why his own Levi’s have never seen the inside of a washing machine, how he galvanised the business community into pressing for gun violence prevention legislation, and the importance of continuing the legacy of Levi Strauss: for business to make a difference in society. Chip also shares his insights on how he made the Levi’s brand great again and kept it relevant for the fickle Gen Z market – without alienating the baby boomers like himself. -- This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Rare Breeds – Marching To A Different Drum Leadership and brand expert Sunny Bonnell is the bestselling co-author of Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different (with Ashleigh Hansberger, 2019). Sunny and Ashleigh are also the creators of the Rare Breed Leadership Platform, and the hit YouTube show, Rare Breed TV. In this Provocateurs podcast with Thinkers50 co-founder, Des Dearlove, and Geoff Tuff of Deloitte, Sunny outlines seven unconventional traits displayed by ‘rare breeds’ – traits that are traditionally seen as vices, such as being rebellious, audacious, emotional, and hot-blooded. However, she explains that if organisations can see these so-called weaknesses as strengths they can create the cultures that allow rare breeds to thrive – and unleash their potential powers for innovation. Sunny and Ashleigh founded their award-winning branding company Motto in 2005 with just $250, after dropping out of college together. Sunny is now the CEO and Chief Visionary of the company. – This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

The author of New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, Kim Scott joins Steve Goldbach of Deloitte and Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50 to talk through the politics, practicalities, and purpose of feedback in the workplace. In this discussion, part of The Provocateurs podcast series, Kim explains how her two-by-two framework for radical candor can help create productive feedback by avoiding the two extremes of obnoxious aggression and ruinous sympathy. She also shares her insights on bias, prejudice, and bullying and offers actionable responses for each one that can help eliminate workplace injustice, paving the way for greater engagement, collaboration, and growth. As well as Radical Candor, Kim is also the author of Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-Ass Culture of Inclusivity and three novels: Virtual Love, The Househusband, and The Measurement Problem. She was CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, and Twitter, and a member of the faculty at Apple University. Previously, she led AdSense, YouTube and DoubleClick teams at Google, managed a paediatric clinic in Kosovo, and started a diamond cutting factory in Moscow during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Kim is co-founder of executive education company, Radical Candor. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Author of The Anxious Achiever and Hiding in the Bathroom, Morra Aarons-Mele is also founder of the award-winning social impact agency Women Online. In this Provocateurs podcast episode, she joins Geoff Tuff of Deloitte and Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50 to set the record straight on normalising anxiety. Data shows that high achievers manage more anxiety and depression, and Morra explains how to rethink the relationship between mental health and success. She describes anxiety as a spectrum, where at one end it can be quite debilitating and at the other, it’s a nervous but motivating energy. Having learned how to manage her own mental health through a career in digital marketing, politics, consulting, and more recently running her own business, Morra set out to learn the stories of other leaders who manage anxiety and depression. Her own podcast, The Anxious Achiever, for LinkedIn Presents, won the 2023 Media Award from Mental Health America, was a 2020 Webby Awards Honoree, 2022 “Best Commute Podcast” Signal Award winner, and is frequently a top 10 management podcast and top 50 business podcast. This podcast episode discusses mental health conditions including anxiety and depression. If you experience any personal mental health concerns, please consult a doctor, mental health professional, or seek help from a recognised mental health organisation. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Former professional poker player Annie Duke is a master of decision making. In this Provocateurs podcast, hosted by Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50 and Steve Goldbach of Deloitte, she challenges us to examine our own biases and self-narratives to focus on the things we can control, in order to make better choices. By sharing practical insights and strategies for improving decision making and developing resilience, Annie emphasises the importance of analysing decisions objectively, rather than relying on the outcome to determine their quality. The author of Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, released in 2022, and national bestseller Thinking in Bets, Annie draws on her experience as a poker player to demonstrate that by re-evaluating our approaches to quitting we can re-think the way we make decisions in business and in life. Annie is a special partner focused on decision science at First Round Capital Partners, a seed stage venture fund. She is also the co-founder of the Alliance for Decision Education, a nonprofit whose mission is to improve lives by empowering students through decision skills education. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Self-confessed contrarian thinker and provocateur since childhood, Martin Lindstrom is an international branding expert and one of the world’s leading authorities on the metaverse. Here he joins Geoff Tuff of Deloitte and Des Dearlove of Thinkers50 in a fascinating conversation about branding as an emotional construct, the power of small data, and lying on a bed of Lego. In the 1990s, Lindstrom pioneered how to build brands on the internet and has since coined terms such as clicks & mortar, contextual marketing, and texting. He has published eight New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including Buyology (2008), Small Data (2017), and The Ministry of Common Sense (2021). In 2022, Lindstrom launched the “Engineering our Dreams” project – a $22,000,000 metaverse experiment, with the multi-pronged purposes of understanding human behavior, the role of businesses, brands, work environments, and ethical standards in virtual worlds. Co-founder of several multi-billion-dollar startups, including YellowPages.com and Hitwise, Lindstrom is a Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker, listed by TIME magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people, and named by LinkedIn as 2021’s most influential business thinker in the USA. He is the founder and chairman of Lindstrom Company. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Shelley Zalis is a pioneer for online research, becoming the first female chief executive ranked in the research industry’s top 25, and today she works with Fortune 500 companies, impact organizations, and conscious leaders to advance equality in the workplace. And she mentors women all over the world. Shelley is the CEO of The Female Quotient, an equality services company that creates platforms for women and solutions for organizations committed to closing the gender gap in the workplace. Its signature Equality Lounge is now a stand-out feature at key industry conferences around the globe. In this compelling conversation with Deloitte’s chief growth officer Stacy Janiak and Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50, Shelley Zalis talks about the origins of The Female Quotient and the state of play in achieving workplace equality. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Jim Stengel is the President and CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, which works to build brands and companies by activating their purpose. He has authored the books ‘Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies’ as well as ‘Unleashing the Innovators: How Mature Companies Find New Life with Startups.’ He is also a speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau, the host of The CMO Podcast, and serves as Dean of the Young Marketers Academy at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Jim is the former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble, the largest marketer in the world, and is known for having personally led the transformation that has firmly established P&G as one of the most admired brand-building companies in the world under the mantra that an activated purpose is what inspires, motivates, and retains employees and customers. In this conversation with Chief Growth Officer at Deloitte, Stacy Janiak, and Thinkers50 co-founder, Des Dearlove, Jim dives into activating purpose, staying curious, asking the right questions, and understanding implicit biases in the room. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Tiffani Bova: The Inside Track on Growth Tiffani Bova is the global growth evangelist at Salesforce and the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller GROWTH IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business. Tiffani is a true change maker whose thought-provoking and forward-thinking insights have brought her international attention. She also hosts her own excellent podcast What’s Next! Prior to working with Salesforce, she was a sales, marketing, and customer service executive for startups as well as Fortune 500 companies. After her success in the corporate world, she was also a Distinguished Analyst and Research Fellow with Gartner for many years. In this conversation with Steve Goldbach and Stuart Crainer, Tiffani tells the compelling story of the development of her insights, ranging all the way from running E. K. Fernandez Shows to her time at Salesforce. She also spills exclusive nuggets from her forthcoming book, always with a keen eye on weighing both consumer and employee satisfaction and experiences. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Stuart Crainer, Des Dearlove, Steve Goldbach, Stacy Janice and Geoff Tuff marshall their thoughts and make sense of our podcast episodes from the year. What have they learned? What has surprised them? Which guests really made them re-think and re-set? There are plenty of inspiring stories to choose from. We have had some amazing guests: Valerie Rainford, who has championed talent and diversity in the banking world and now for her own company; Debbie Bial, the founder and president of the Posse Foundation; the board member, author, and now member of the UK's House of Lords, Dambisa Moyo; the former CEO of Best Buy, and author of the Heart of Business, Hubert Joly; the trailblazer for Leading for Girls, Julie Carrier; Nobel Laureate, Bob Lefkowitz; astronaut, Charlie Camarda; the Dutch entrepreneur and pioneer of new ways of working, Tom van der Lubbe and the author of The Quit Alternative, Ben Fanning. In this special episode the Provocateurs hosts share their memories, insights and conclusions. And the results are as inspiring as the people who inspired them. Listen to learn more about flipping failure for learning, the virtues of transparency, humility’s role in leadership and how to really maximize diversity in teams. Be provoked! This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

What is peanut butter and jelly leadership? And why does every business leader need a podcast? Ben Fanning is the host of the top ranked Lead the Team podcast, where he interviews world-class CEOs about their everyday success strategies that can apply to businesses of 1 to 100,000. In this fascinating episode, Ben, who is also a professional speaker, #1 bestselling author, and corporate trainer, explains the unique power of podcasts to communicate a leader’s authentic self. By showing vulnerability and intent, podcasts allow the leader to get the ear of followers in a new and exciting way that is ideally suited to today’s challenges. Listen and learn. Check out Ben Fanning’s podcast Lead the Team: https://www.benfanning.com/blog/ This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Tom van der Lubbe is the visionary and inspirational co-founder of Viisi, a Dutch financial services company that offers customized mortgage solutions. Founded in 2010 at the height of the financial crisis, Viisi is a remarkable company. Its purpose is to change the world of finance, to make the industry better, more sustainable and more focused on the long term. Its open and transparent organization is part of Tom’s mission to leave the world a better place. Radical and disruptive, Viisi’s management and organization challenge the basics of how companies are traditionally run. In a captivating and challenging conversation with Stuart Crainer (Thinkers50) and Geoff Tuff (Deloitte), Tom van der Lubbe recounts his entrepreneurial adventure and his drive to re-think why things are done the way they are done in organizations. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

It isn’t every day you get to meet a real-life astronaut! Dr Charles Camarda – (Charlie to his friends) was selected as an Astronaut Candidate in 1996 and flew as a Mission Specialist on STS-114, NASA’s Return-to-Flight mission immediately following the Columbia disaster of 2003, which claimed the lives of its seven crew. He was responsible for initiating several teams to successfully diagnose the cause of the Columbia tragedy and developing an in-orbit repair capability, used on successive Shuttle missions until the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. As well as being an Astronaut, Charlie is a research engineer, inventor, author, educator, and internationally recognized expert and speaker on engineering design, safety, organizational behavior, and education. He has over 60 technical publications, holds 9 patents, and over 20 national and international awards. He was inducted into the Air and Space Cradle of Aviation Museum’s Hall of Fame in 2017. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Trained at Columbia, the National Institute of Health and Harvard before joining the faculty at Duke University in 1973, Bob Lefkowitz is a Nobel Prize winning scientist who is best known for showing how adrenaline works via stimulation of specific receptors. He is also a cardiologist and the author of the memoir, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist. In this wide ranging conversation with Deloitte’s Steve Goldbach and Stuart Crainer of Thinkers50, Bob Lefkowitz looks back on his amazing career and the lessons he has learned along the way. Filled with inspiring anecdotes, this episode travels far and wide featuring the inside take on mentoring, how to lead brilliant people, the power of enthusiasm and storytelling, the role of humour and how a refusal to be compartmentalized led eventually to a Nobel Prize for research which has touched the lives of tens of millions of people worldwide. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Julie Carrier is a trailblazer in the field of young women’s leadership. The CEO of Girls Lead Worldwide and founder of The Leadership Development Institute for Young Women, she researches and brings evidence-based, applied-neuroscience leadership coaching and development to girls and young women in high school through a set curriculum. Shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Coaching and Mentoring Award in 2021, Julie is recognised as the ‘World’s #1 Coach for Young Women’ by Marshall Goldsmith and is a former Pentagon Senior Management Consultant in Leadership. She is the author of the US national bestseller Girls Lead. In this episode, we hear about Julie’s provocative work – not only from herself, but also from special guests: president of St. Ursula Academy in Toledo, Ohio, Mary Werner, and student representative, Ella Stoll, who shed a light on the impact it has made. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.

Hubert Joly has been described as ‘a visionary’, and ‘one of the most gifted leaders of our time.’ As CEO of the electrical retailer Best Buy, Joly led a turnaround that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos described as ‘…remarkable – a case study that should be taught in business schools around the world.’ Now a lecturer at Harvard Business School and a member of the board of directors of Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren, Joly’s book The Heart of Business is a playbook for leaders who are ready to abandon old paradigms and lead with a noble purpose. In it, Joly agitates for business to commit to diversity and inclusion to ‘unleash human magic’. In 2021, it earned him the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award for Leadership. This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.