Ever wonder how the biggest brands in the world make it to the top? Here’s a hint: it’s more than just a well-placed billboard or a TV ad. According to Erik Huberman, the Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, there’s a common framework behind every successful marketing strategy. After helping over 3,000 brands find success through his holistic approach, Erik has distilled the art of marketing into three core elements: awareness, nurturing, and trust. Without all three, the system fails. Erik details this method in his new book, The Hawke Method. Erik Huberman launched Hawke Media in 2014. Now valued at over $100 million, Hawke Media is the fastest growing marketing consultancy agency in the United States. Prior to its launch, Erik successfully founded, grew, and sold two eCommerce companies by the age of 26.   In this interview, I speak to Erik Huberman about The Hawke Method, and how awareness, nurturing and trust come together to become the most powerful marketing tools you will ever use.

Thought Economics

Have you asked yourself how some young companies have become so successful in so little time? And why so many once big players like Nokia and Kodak seem to have vanished into nothing suddenly? What did they do wrong? And more importantly: what can you do to keep your business from failing like they did? Pepyn Dinandt has spent 30 years being parachuted into organisations in trouble. His job was to assess and understand the situation facing the business and devising effective ways forward towards recovery and success. In his new book, Business Leadership Under Fire, Dinandt draws on his own extensive business experience and, with the help of decorated army officer Colonel Richard Westley, marries this proven expertise with the leadership insights of military thinkers to develop an imaginative and practical nine-step plan for any leader who wishes not simply to survive but to inspire and thrive “under fire”. In this interview, I speak to Pepyn Dinandt about his learnings from dealing with businesses in crisis, and how great leaders and entrepreneurs build resilient businesses that are able to survive, and thrive through turbulent times.

Thought Economics

Bonnie Comley is a creative visionary. She is a three-time Tony award winning producer, has won an Olivier Award and two Drama Desk Awards for her stage productions. If that wasn’t enough, she is also the co-founder of BroadwayHD which is the only streaming platform in the world which offers premium full-length stage plays and musicals captured specifically for multi-platform viewing to theatre fans across the globe. The platform currently delivers over 300 premium live productions from the West End and Beyond. In this interview, I speak to Bonnie Comley about the magic of theatre, how technology is transforming this artform, and how to lead a successful business in the creative industries.

Thought Economics

Negotiation is stressful. It can bring out the worst in people. Wouldn’t it be better if there were a principled way to negotiate? Wouldn’t it be even better if there were a way to treat people fairly and get treated fairly in a negotiation? Barry Nalebuff is the Milton Steinbach Professor at the Yale School of Management. Nalebuff applies game theory to business strategy and is the co-founder of one of America’s fastest-growing companies, Honest Tea. In his new book, SPLIT THE PIE: A Radical New Way to Negotiate he outlines his tried and tested practical negotiation methods that reveal the true power of the players and what they bring to the table. From years of real-world negotiation, and deep research on game theory, Nalebuff identifies what’s really at stake in a negotiation: the “pie.” In his model, the negotiation pie is the additional value created through an agreement to work together. Seeing the relevant pie will change how you think about fairness and power in negotiation. You’ll learn how to get half the value you create, no matter your size.  In this interview I speak to Professor Barry Nalebuff about how we can apply his negotiation model to understand and reframe everything from every-day to high-stakes negotiations. We delve into the psychology of the negotiation and how deploying empathy can help reach great solutions.

Thought Economics

Originally composed of 20 street performers in 1984, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group completely reinvented circus arts and went on to become a world leader in live entertainment. Established in Montreal, the Canadian organization has brought wonder and delight to over 180 million spectators with productions presented in 450 cities in 60 countries. Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group currently employs 4,000 people, including 1,300 artists, who originate from nearly 80 countries. In this interview, I spoke to Daniel Lamarre, Cirque du Soleil’s Executive Vice Chairman on creative leadership, how creativity can transform business, and his learnings on entrepreneurship from leading one of the world’s most creative businesses.

Thought Economics

Every year, the world eats more meat than ever before. There is an increasing demand for animal protein and rising concerns about the serious, adverse environmental effects and impacts of the conventional meat industry. Prof. Yaakov “Koby” Nahmias is a bioengineer and innovator, whose breakthroughs ranged from the first 3D printing of cells to the first commercial human-on-chip technology. He is the President & Founder of Future Meat, the Israeli company who recently raised an incredible $347million funding round to scale-up their pioneering cultivated meat technology which uses lines of animal cells that grow forever without the need for genetic modifications. Future Meat creates real meat free of animal slaughter, and with 80% less greenhouse emissions, 99% less land use, 96% less freshwater use and 100% of the nutritional value of conventional meat. In this interview, I speak to Professor Yaakov Nahmias about the science and technology behind cultivated meats, the health, economic and environmental benefits and how Future Meat is transforming the global food system.

Thought Economics

Does power corrupt, or are corrupt people drawn to power? Are entrepreneurs who embezzle and cops who kill the result of poorly designed systems or are they just bad people? Are tyrants made or born? If you were suddenly thrust into a position of power, would you be able to resist the temptation to line your pockets or seek revenge against your enemies? To answer these questions, I spoke to Dr. Brian Klaas, who is Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London, a columnist for The Washington Post, and who has advised governments, US political campaigns, NATO, the European Union and multi-billion dollar NGOs. In his latest book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us, Brian combined decades of research with over 500 interviews with leaders including presidents, philanthropists, cult-leaders, dictators and entrepreneurs. In this interview, I speak to Dr. Brian Klaas about why our societies concentrate power into hierarchies and why our power systems attract certain types of leaders. We also talk about how we can design systems that can prevent corruption and abuses of power together with how we can attract, and empower, a better class of leader.

Thought Economics

Marc Randolph is a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. As co-founder and founding CEO of Netflix, he laid much of the groundwork for a service that’s grown to 210 million subscribers, a market capitalisation of over $240 billion and which fundamentally altered how the world experiences media. He also served on the Netflix board of directors until retiring from the company in 2003. In this interview, I speak to Marc Randolph about success, funding & building multi-billion-dollar businesses with brilliant culture and what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Thought Economics

Whitney Johnson is CEO of the tech-enabled talent development company Disruption Advisors, (an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company in America) and is of the top ten business thinkers in the world as named by Thinkers50, Whitney is an expert at smart growth leadership. Whitney was co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Clayton Christensen. Her role included fund formation, strategy, and capital raising. They invested and led the $8 million seed round for South Korea’s Coupang ecommerce platform, currently valued at $50 billion. In this interview, I speak to Whitney Johnson about her latest book, Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company. We discuss the realities of growth, disruption and development and discuss how we- as leaders- can grow ourselves and our teams.

Thought Economics

Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor and the former Unit Head of the Organisational Behaviour Unit at Harvard Business School. In his new book, Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies, he argues that companies must embed purpose more deeply than they currently do, treating it as a radically new operating system for enterprise. At a time when many have become cynical about purpose, Gulati documents the vast performance gains that purpose-driven companies achieve as well as the social benefits they deliver. In this interview, I speak to Professor Ranjay Gulati about deep purpose, leadership, and his field research in organisations including Etsy, Lego, Warby Parker, Mahindra, Microsoft and the Seattle Seahawks. Gulati discusses how long-term value and short-term performance need not conflict but rather, when leaders go deep on purpose, high-performance and durable profits typically follow, delighting all stakeholders. Deeper engagement with purpose holds the key, not merely to the well-being of individual companies, but to humanity’s future.

Thought Economics

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