EP 999 Help Wanted: Strong Business Leadership in These Fast- Changing Times
So many businesses are in flux struggling to keep pace with exponentially revolutionary technologies, like generative AI, and the people they employ are in the same spin cycle with them. How do they work through this cataclysmic period? According to Steve Reiner, author of “Business Changes Fast, People Change Slow: A Leadership Guide to Accelerating Organizational Change and Building a Competitive Advantage,” it all starts from the top. The leader of the company and upper- level executives have to effectively and consistently communicate the goals and objectives of the company and how all of this change will lead to better results which accrue to the benefit of all the people in the organization. It is not an easy thing to do,but must be done with a plan over a period of time, so as not to disrupt the cohesion of the organization. It’s a freewheeling conversation which will drive home the points Steve makes in his book.
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Laurence Kotlikoff, PhD. is considered one of the 25 leading economists in the world according to the respected magazine, ‘The Economist.’ And he’s been the clearest and most consistent voice as to the fiscal gap that America has accrued by way of its public debt, roughly $40 trillion, and its ‘off the books’ obligations to Americans by way of social insurance programs, particularly in an aging society with a below replacement birth rate. He will try to engage your thinking around what he deems the fiscal gap accounting which he developed so you get a picture of how bad our fiscal circumstance is. It is difficult to overstate the woeful picture we have built by increasing the debt year after year for more than fifty years, absent a few years when Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich worked to rein it in in the 90’s. The answers are by no means simple or without pain. It will require a new approach to both health care and Social Security. Unfortunately, no one is talking about it and no politicians have the courage to be associated with the fiscal medicine we will have to take. Let’s start with the reality which Professor Kotlikoff, of Boston University, lays out today on this podcast.
There may well be strong arguments for statutes of limitations, basically a deadline to file civil or criminal suits, in various areas of the law because evidence can be lost, memories fade, and witnesses may no longer be available. In the case of child sexual abuse, however, memories of what happened may be awakened many years, decades even, later when there is a triggering event or the adult self finally wants to come to terms with the trauma that has affected them throughout their lives. Yet, these statutes of limitations still exist in many states, and the federal statutes are very weak in this area. Clearly, the problems in the Catholic Church and the new attention drawn to the issue from the #MeToo movement and the Jeffery Epstein case are providing greater impetus to allowing victims to come forward when it’s right for them, in their circumstance, and not on an arbitrary timeline. To discuss this issue with us is Attorney Kelly Reardon of New London, Connecticut who has a remarkable background and much experience in this area of the law.
You’ve heard of an open and shut case. That’s what the fifty- year history of full- fledged female participation in the military has given us. So why now is there any question that they have, and are fully capable, of playing any role they have been given the opportunity to advance to, including major ranks and positions in all the Armed Forces? To answer these perplexing questions is Eileen Isola, an editor of the new book, “Necessary Turbulence.” She graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1985. Now retired from the service, she went on to become a decorated combat pilot and an international airline pilot. In this podcast she provides empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the women who make up 17 percent of the volunteer military. Yet, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is waging a protracted war against women in the military through a host of means which we explore. It’s shameful, demoralizing and self-defeating.
Many say that AI will keep you from working because your skills can be replaced by this technology in ways that make it faster and cheaper for companies to accomplish the work. Well, here’s another way AI may affect your job. Have you heard about the resume robots? Many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) that scan for hyper-specific keywords which are often pulled straight from the job description. These ATS systems can act as a digital filter replete with hidden biases that may silently purge candidates based on age, race, gender or disability before a human ever sees their name. Two recent lawsuits pulled back the curtain on how AI powered hiring tools are failing American workers and companies. To explain what is frustrating so many worthy applicants of their opportunity to obtain an interview, let alone a job, is Attorney Gary Phelan, a partner at Hurwitz Sagarin & Slossberg LLC in Milford, Connecticut. It opened my eyes as to why I hear young people say they have gotten immediate rejection or no response at all in their job search. Very interesting and disturbing.
There has been a lot of ink spilled trying to explain the climate weirdness which has spread all across the globe. And while some of the metrics may still be questioned, the near universal effects agreed upon by climate scientists and visible to the naked eye are upon us. So how well do we really understand what is happening and why? Pable Ribeiro Dias, Ph.D. in his new book “Climate Changed: The Science of Sustainability and How Each of Us Can Do Our Part,” is the primer and reference resource we’ve all been waiting for on this vital subject. He admits that given he is an engineer, not a climate scientist, he had to undertake a rigorous, scientific study of the subject and become knowledgeable about it so that he could provide us with a clear map of the environmental challenges of the 21st century, what really works (and the trade-offs) and practical steps we as individuals and the world community must take to tackle this existential threat. He’s done all of that. Give a listen.
The thirty-year history of the WNBA has been a raucous roller-coaster and controversy continues to swirl around the league, as it welcomes new teams, new revenue streams, greater audience interest and yet retains ongoing socio-political challenges based on sex, sexual orientation and color. It is fair to say that the league could not have achieved the status of the longest-running professional women’s sports league in US history without a certain cache that has been growing over the years. The league is trying to grow into the fact that players are key and that how you compensate them and build fan attachment to them is central to the growth of the sport. In tandem with the growing success of college women’s basketball, much of the mythmaking, say around Caitlin Clark, for example, was established before she came into the WNBA. There’s much concern that while she’s the driver of added appeal for many, it’s been difficult to fully capitalize on her popularity. We discuss the history of the league and those matters that have been in the news recently with Tamryn Spruill, a longtime writer about the sports and author of “The W: A History of the WNBA” on today’s podcast.
Many people who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 were hoping that he could restore the economy back to levels before the pandemic and somehow bring inflation down. That hasn’t happened and affordability is hanging around the neck of Republicans like an albatross going into the mid- term elections. Still others wanted a tougher immigration policy, but no one bargained for citizens getting swept up in ICE raids and others getting gunned down like in Minneapolis, Houston and Maine. Another group thought Donald Trump would keep us out of foreign adventurism and yet we are now bogged down in a conflict with Iran. So, what have we gotten? Personal retribution, personal enrichment and raw political power and extension of presidential authority to what end? That’s what a bipartisan group of former government officials, former military officers and academicians try to determine in the book, “Betrayed: America Didn’t Vote for This.” The founder of the group and co-editor of the book, Ira Shapiro, joins us to discuss.
Individually and collectively, the Beatles and Bob Dylan were the pulse, the heartbeat, and the cultural pacesetters of the 1960’s. They each influenced the course of popular music for generations, but until now, there hasn’t been a serious investigation into the ways their rivalry and collaboration affected the other. In his new book, “Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other–and the World,” Jim Windolf, features editor at the New York Times, does a deep dive into the personal and musical cross-pollination between the two. Would Dylan have gone electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 if he didn’t want to cross over from folk to rock and roll because of the wild success of the Beatles? Would the Beatles, particularly the edgy John have begun writing lyrics for songs like “Nowhere Man” and “Norwegian Wood” if not for the lyrical genius he aspired to in Dylan’s works? Windolf chases down every encounter, influence and collaboration between the two most dominant change agents of a rapidly transforming world. It’s a great read and a fun interview with Jim.
Carole King was always a great writer of pop melodies from the early days of Teen Pan Alley, at the Brill Building, in the heart of midtown Manhattan, when she and her then husband, Gerry Goffin, a lyricist, gave us classics like “Up on the Roof”, “Natural Woman,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “The Locomotion” and hundreds more. Her transformation in 1971 to a recording artist giving us one of the most successful albums in history, “Tapestry,” was something many who knew her might not have anticipated. She was shy and not confident about her vocal abilities and star power. And, yet, the authenticity of that album, as she found her voice, both in the lyrics and melodies, in many of the songs, made her name synonymous with the singer-songwriter era, of the early 1970’s. And her musical soulmate, James Taylor, is largely responsible for the confidence she gained in becoming an artist, as well as a writer. Jane Eisner captures her life and career in the book, “Carole King: She Made the Earth Move.” Her impact today? Well, Taylor Swift inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for the second time, first as a songwriter and then as an artist, and said she was the greatest pop songwriter of all time. High praise, indeed. Her legacy lives on.