Claim OwnershipCorner Office from Marketplace
Subscribed: 1,995Played: 18,922
Subscribe
© Copyright 2024 American Public Media
Description
Kai Ryssdal’s Conversations From the Corner Office brings you inside the room with the business and cultural leaders transforming our economy. In this business leadership podcast, Ryssdal interviews experts and entrepreneurs on a wide range of topics from the news of the day, successes, failures and what’s next.
51 Episodes
Reverse
What do a small town doctor, a hair stylist, and the executive director of an independent movie theater have in common? They all run businesses that play key roles in their local economies, however small those businesses might be. These three people are part of a series we’re doing on Marketplace, “United States of Work,” that re-imagines the the U.S. labor force as 10 individuals. Find all the interviews at Marketplace.org/Work.
Joanne Heyler, founding director of the Los Angeles contemporary art museum The Broad, takes Kai on a tour of the vaults where the collection that’s not on display is kept. They discuss both how art can reflect the economy and the business of running a museum.
Despite unprecedented economic expansion in the U.S., the global economy is slowing down. On today’s episode, a wide-ranging conversation on what’s standing in the way of economic growth with Janet Yellen, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, and David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group. Recorded live on stage at the George Washington University, sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, they touched on how everything from consumer debt, to the U.S./China trade war and the new coronavirus could affect the global economy.
This season, you have a record 532 scripted TV shows to choose from. Netflix, Apple and cable networks are spending billions on marquee talent, intellectual property and reboots, some of them with the help of big data. AMC, however, is trying something different. Sarah Barnett took over as president the legacy network in late 2018, as the streaming war was heating up and cord cutters threatened cable’s dominance. She spoke with us about her plan to counter the streaming giants, AMC’s legacy of big hits like “Breaking Bad” and why investing in new voices is crucial to making good TV.
About one in nine Americans lacked access to affordable nutrition last year, according to the USDA. Enter Feeding America, a network of tens of thousands of food banks, meals programs and more. CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot talked with us about how she uses her corporate background to run one of the nation’s largest charities, and how she stays positive in the face of such a big problem.
Since Jonathan Reckford became the CEO for Habitat for Humanity in 2005, the nonprofit housing organization has grown to help nearly 30 million people improve their housing conditions. “An interesting hybrid between a global corporation and a denomination,” he said. But as the world faces a growing affordable housing crisis, his work faces the same barriers as many people trying to find shelter. He spoke with us about some of the challenges to building affordable housing in a for-profit world.
Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein knew they wanted their nonprofit, Baby2Baby, to do big things to help kids living in poverty. But they didn’t realize that a photo featuring Jessica Alba and Nicole Richie at one of their first events would lead to a donation of 100,000 diapers and a totally new strategy for growth. They talked with us about running their nonprofit as a business, working together as co-presidents and why their work is nowhere near done.
Not long after Lisa Kaz graduated college with a computer science degree, she joined her grandfather in the auto show business. Today she’s the CEO of the LA Auto Show and the conference that happens immediately before, AutoMobility LA. She talked with us from the show floor about the challenges of running an auto show today and the technology she’s most excited to see in the cars of the (near) future.
David Nussbaum knows whatever he’s doing with “America’s Test Kitchen” is working when he attends events with hosts Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison. “You’d think I was with Michelle Obama and the ex-president,” he said. America’s Test Kitchen continues to grow, expanding from TV and magazines into podcasting, and attracting more than 400,000 paying subscribers to its website. Nussbaum spoke to host Kai Ryssdal about why the $10,000 spent developing each recipe on average is totally worth it; how he’s attracting a new and younger audience; and why he took the job at America’s Test Kitchen in the first place.
When Jim Hackett became CEO of Ford Motor Co. in 2017, he pledged to make the automaker leaner and invest more in electrics and hybrids. The Mach-E, an electric Mustang SUV, is the first look at that investment and Ford’s strategy to take their best-selling brands and electrify them. An electric version of the F-150 is expected in 2021. Will it be enough to overcome other challenges for the auto industry today, like tariffs, climate change and changing consumer preferences? Kai Ryssdal spoke with Hackett at the launch of the Mach-E Sunday night in Los Angeles to find out.
Scott Gimple was the showrunner for five seasons of “The Walking Dead” before becoming chief content officer for the entire franchise. And in that time, the series has become a content universe, with a spinoff series, video games and both a movie and another spinoff in the works. Kai Ryssdal interviewed Gimple in his Burbank office, not too far from a life-sized statue of Han Solo frozen in carbonite. They talked horror what it’s like to direct the storyline for an entire franchise. And Gimple made a passionate pitch for Ryssdal to give the series a shot.
Eva Price quit her job at ABC News at 26 to chase her dream of becoming a theater producer. Fifteen years later, with three Tony Awards, more than 18 Broadway credits and a place on the Broadway League’s board of governors, she’s a theater powerhouse. She took home a Tony this year for an edgy new version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and she’s leading production of a new musical, “Jagged Little Pill,” inspired by the Alanis Morissette album. Kai Ryssdal sat down with Price inside Sardi’s restaurant in New York City, a place as synonymous with Broadway as the Tonys themselves. They talked about what a producer does, how the industry is changing and why Broadway matters.
When Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack took over the family business, it was only two stores. Now the company has over 700 stores, making it one of the biggest sports retailers in the country. Stack recounts all this, as well as the company’s decision to cut back on gun sales following the Parkland, Florida, shooting, in his new book “It’s How We Play the Game.” Stack and Kai Ryssdal talk about the book, the gun sale controversy and corporate responsibility.
Competitive bodybuilding, The Rock, and how you build an enterprise around a person: a conversation with Dany Garcia, CEO of The Garcia Companies.
Coursera is one of the largest companies offering “MOOCs” — that is, massive open online courses. Launched in 2012 by two Stanford professors, Coursera partnered with universities to offer college courses for free. In the years since, Coursera has grown to offer certificates and even full college degrees for a fraction of the cost of on-campus degrees offered by its partner universities. It has also expanded into offering employee training for businesses. Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda says he thinks online learning could just be the future of higher education.
Slack is a workplace messaging platform that allows users to communicate with co-workers across the country, share files instantaneously and react to news about free doughnuts with the perfect GIF. Since its launch in 2013, it’s been popularized in workplaces around the country and around the world. Slack boasts 10 million users and went public in a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this summer. Things get philosophical as we talked with Stewart Butterfield, Slack’s co-founder and CEO, about what his company does, the future of email and how technology changes human behavior.
Pabst Brewing company is perhaps best known for Pabst Blue Ribbon or PBR, a beer the 175-year-old company has sold for over a century. But while the beer name and its signature blue ribbon label may have stayed pretty much the same for decades, the company itself hasn’t. Nearly two decades ago, the company nearly disappeared…then hipsters picked PBR as their signature drink and the company came roaring back. Today, general manager Matt Bruhn has been tasked with transforming Pabst from a beer company to a beverage company. And he’s starting with hard coffee and clear whiskey. Check out the taste test he did with Kai Ryssdal over at Marketplace.org.
Hearst was founded in 1887 by William Randolph Hearst, it started out as a single newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner. Now, Hearst is one of the largest media companies in the world, with holdings in dozens of magazines, newspapers, and television networks. Some might be surprised to know that Hearst also has its hand in healthcare and business information, as well. Hearst President and CEO Steve Swartz talked with us at the Hearst Tower in New York City.
Poshmark is an app where you can either buy items from other users or try to sell unwanted items like clothes, handbags, shoes, or home decor. Think of eBay, but with more social aspects where people could follow each other’s “closets,” and comment or share the listings they like. It started bak in 2011, and has grown to 50 million users and paid out more than a billion dollars to sellers. We talked with CEO Manish Chandra about his fashion magazine background, this year’s decluttering trend and how he kept the company from growing too fast.
The word “streetwear” might summon a few images in your head — Kanye West and his high-end Yeezy sneakers, stylish Supreme T-shirts and more. But once upon a time, streetwear was less a mainstream fashion statement and more of an expression of smaller, alternative subcultures like skateboarding, punk rock and surfing. That’s the world into which Bobby Kim, a.k.a Bobby Hundreds, launched a T-shirt business that eventually became the Los Angeles streetwear company The Hundreds. He spoke with Kai Ryssdal about how he kept his streetwear brand successful without “selling out” and his new book, “This Is Not a T-Shirt.”
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States