Outthinkers

Episoder

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  #172 – Global by Design: How to Build Innovations That Work Everywhere: Vijay Govindarajan 11.08.2026 47min

  New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Vijay Govindarajan — VG — about why the next breakthrough American innovation may be discovered in a village in India before it ever reaches Silicon Valley. Fifteen years after introducing the world to reverse innovation, VG returns with a new book co-written with MIT mechanical engineer Amos Winter, Global by Design, and a sharper argument: the strategy is only half the story. Someone still has to engineer...
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  #171 – Everyone's Blaming AI for Layoffs. Here's What's Actually Happening: Philipp Muelbert 21.07.2026 40min

  New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Philipp Muelbert about the three loops every company falls into when their talent needs shift — and why the cheapest-looking option on paper is usually the most expensive one in practice. During the conversation they unpack why AI has become a convenient excuse for restructuring decisions that were coming anyway, and why almost no organisation has a head of redeployment or a budget for one. Philipp Muelber...
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  #170 – Why Most Mergers Fail After the Deal Closes: David Fubini 07.07.2026 40min

  David Fubini spent 34 years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a Senior Partner, Managing Director of the Boston office, and co-founder of the firm's Worldwide Merger Integration Practice — leading dozens of the world's largest M&A transactions. He's now a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, where he co-leads the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leading Professional Services Firm programmes. He's the author of Post-Merger Integration: Building the Mindset, Skills, and Disciplin...
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  #169 — AI Is Doing the Junior Work. Who Becomes Your Next Senior Leader? | Carrol Chang 16.06.2026 42min

  New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Carrol Chang about why the unit of work is shifting from the full-time employee to the task itself — and what that means for every leader rethinking their workforce in the age of AI. During the conversation they unpack what happens when AI handles all the junior work today, and who develops the senior judgment your organisation will depend on tomorrow. Carrol Chang reflects on watching two of the biggest s...
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  #168 — Why Good Companies Go Bad: Eric Ries 02.06.2026 40min

  New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Eric Ries — author of the landmark The Lean Startup — about his new book Incorruptible, and why the way we've run companies for the last fifty years may be fundamentally corrupt. Not in the dramatic, headline-grabbing sense, but in the older, quieter sense of the word: a slow corrosion of the bonds that make an organisation strong, trusted, and worth building in the first place. In this conversation...
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  #167 — Your Company's Biggest AI Advantage Is Already Sitting in Your Database: Scott Snyder 19.05.2026 45min

  New on the Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Scott Snyder about why most companies are failing to get real value from AI — and why the problem has nothing to do with the technology. During the conversation they unpack why incumbents keep repeating the same mistakes across every major technology wave, and what it actually takes to move an organisation from experimentation to genuine transformation. Scott Snyder reflects on the pattern he’s watched pl...
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  #166 — Your Business Model Has an Expiry Date: Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva 05.05.2026 38min

  Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva is a globally recognised reinvention strategist, four-time author, and founder of the Reinvention Academy. A former chaired professor at a business school in the Slovenian Alps, she coined the role of Chief Reinvention Officer — unifying strategy, innovation, and change management into a single connected discipline. She has worked with organisations across mining, telecom, financial services, and the public sector, including steering a London-listed mining and metals co...
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  #165 — How AI Is Killing Traditional Market Research: Peter Weinberg 21.04.2026 36min

  Peter Weinberg is the founder of Evidenza, an AI-powered synthetic research platform, and a former LinkedIn executive where he co-founded the B2B Institute. Over a decade at LinkedIn, Peter helped reframe how B2B brands think about growth — shifting the industry's focus from bottom-of-funnel conversion toward brand building, mental availability, and reaching buyers before they enter the market. His work draws heavily on the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute's frameworks, and he's collaborated with som...
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  #164 — How Coach Went From $6M to $5B Without Losing Its Soul 07.04.2026 37min

  New on Outthinkers Podcast, supported by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff speaks with Lew Frankfort about how Coach scaled while building trust, durability, and emotional connection with customers. During the conversation they unpack what scaling really requires when growth threatens to dilute what made you successful in the first place. Lew Frankfort reflects on spotting Coach’s early cult following, why direct-to-customer channels became a strategic turning point, and how bra...
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  #163 — Joseph Pine: Why Customers Don’t Care About What You Sell 17.03.2026 36min

  Joe Pine is the co-author of The Experience Economy—and one of the thinkers who gave leaders a language for why “services” weren’t the end of the story. In this episode, Joe returns with his next major thesis: we’ve entered the Transformation Economy, where the customer is no longer buying inputs (features, service hours, or even memorable moments), but paying for outcomes—lasting change. We unpack what makes a transformation fundamentally different from an experience, why experiences are in...
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  #162 — Linda Hill & Jason Wild: The Leadership Model Behind Innovation That Scales 03.03.2026 58min

  In a recent Outthinkers episode sponsored by LHH, host Kaihan Krippendorff is joined by Linda Hill (Havard Business School) and Jason Wild (WISE) to discuss what it takes to move innovation beyond isolated efforts and into something that can work across an entire organization They explore how strategy is shifting, from control to adaptability, what's actually driving advantage in 2026, and why progress depends on more than just advancing technology. The conversation covers: ...
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  #161 — Neil Hoyne: What Data Can’t Tell You About Strategy 24.02.2026 41min

  Neil Hoyne is Chief Strategist at Google and one of the sharpest voices on how companies actually make decisions when data, intuition, and organizational politics collide. He works at the intersection of strategy, analytics, and customer value, helping leaders think more clearly about what metrics mean, how to use them, and where they can quietly mislead. He is also the author of Converted and is currently working on a new book exploring how strategy frameworks can be applied to careers and l...
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  #160 —John Fallon: Leading Through a Decade-Long Disruption 17.02.2026 46min

  John Fallon is the former CEO of Pearson, where he led one of the most challenging digital transformations of any publicly traded company—shifting a legacy publishing giant from selling ~20 million US college textbooks per year to a subscription-driven, digital platform business. This episode was recorded live at LHH’s Executive Exchange Conference in London, and John joins us to share hard-won leadership lessons from the front lines of disruption. For years we’ve been told only nimble start...
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  #159 — Dr. Brent Ridge: The Kindness Operating System for Hiring, Culture, and Growth 03.02.2026 49min

  Dr. Brent Ridge is the co-founder of Beekman 1802, a skin health brand that began with goat milk soap made at a dining room table and scaled into a nationally recognized business with a devoted community. Brent trained in medicine (geriatrics), built his career in New York City, and even helped launch Martha Stewart’s Healthy Living division—before a recession, a rundown farm, and a herd of goats rewrote his path. He’s also the co-author of G.O.A.T. Wisdom, a new book that distills Beekman’s ...
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  #158 — Jana Werner & Phil Le-Brun: How to Build an Organization That Learns and Adapts Fast 20.01.2026 46min

  Jana Werner is a global executive advisor and Executive in Residence at Amazon Web Services, where she works with Fortune 500 leadership teams on organizational transformation and enterprise strategy. She holds a PhD in uncertainty dynamics in projects and has contributed to academic research and teaching at institutions including Oxford and the London School of Economics. Phil Le-Brun spent 31 years at McDonald’s, serving as International CIO and leading technology delivery across more than ...
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  #157 — Mark Thompson: What Boards Really Look for When Choosing a CEO 06.01.2026 45min

  Mark Thompson is a CEO coach and author of CEO Ready. Born and raised in Silicon Valley and now working across emerging tech hubs, Mark prepares leaders for the leap from elite operator to enterprise chief. He’s worked with CEOs ranging from Richard Branson and Evan Sharp (co-founder of Pinterest) to Dr. Jim Yong Kim (former president of the World Bank) and Dave Chang (founder of Momofuku). Most executives assume the CEO seat is the natural “next step” for the highest performer. But Mark arg...
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  #156 — Bill George: Authentic Leadership, Purpose & Performance 16.12.2025 41min

  Bill George is one of the most influential leadership thinkers of our time. A former CEO of Medtronic and long-time Harvard Business School professor, he’s served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, and the Mayo Clinic. His books including True North and True North: Emerging Leader Edition—have shaped how thousands of leaders approach purpose, values, and character. When performance pressure rises, it’s easy for leaders to drift from their values chasing quarterly metrics, ...
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  #155 — Jon Levy: Team Intelligence, Glue Players, and the Culture That Executes Strategy 02.12.2025 36min

  Meet Jon Levy — behavioral scientist and author of Team Intelligence: How Brilliant Leaders Unlock Collective Genius and the NYT/WSJ bestseller You’re Invited. Jon has spent years studying human behavior and leadership mechanics, advising companies on how to build teams that actually perform—beyond leadership myths and buzzwords. We often hire “A-players,” roll out values, and assume great leadership traits will carry us. Then reality hits: strategy doesn’t execute itself—teams do. Jon explai...
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  #154 — Christina Farr: The Storyteller’s Advantage for Strategy and Growth 20.11.2025 39min

  Christina Farr is an investor, startup advisor, and former health-tech journalist. She’s the author of The Storyteller’s Advantage: How Powerful Narratives Make Businesses Thrive and the creator of the Second Opinion newsletter, where she decodes healthcare and technology for leaders. Most leaders try to move markets with features, roadmaps, and metrics. But the winners often move them with narrative—stories that rally investors, customers, and teams to build the future with them. Christina u...
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  #153 – Malte Bernholz of Adobe (Part 1): AI & The Creative Future 17.11.2025 36min

  In this special in-person conversation recorded at Adobe’s global headquarters, host Kaihan Krippendorff sits down with Malte Bernholz, Vice President of Strategy and Incubation at Adobe. Malte brings a unique lens, combining years of experience in consulting and technology leadership, to unpack what might be the most significant technological shift of our lifetime. Together, Kaihan and Malte explore: The macro forces and creative trends redefining industries in the age of AIWhy this moment r...