“The way I think about trying to anticipate and shape the AI future requires us to take a step back and ask ourselves first, ‘What does this technology do? What does it enable?’” reflects Amir Goldberg, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “That’s very different from asking ourselves, ‘How is the technolog…

Neil Malhotra, the Edith M. Cornell professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, aims to identify the nature of our tumultuous political moment in his work. In this episode, Malhotra explores rising distrust, shifting political identities, and what these changes mean for individuals — and businesses. Plus, the billion-dol…

Sridhar Narayanan, a professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, studies how small businesses operate and why they’re so important, especially in the developing world. “Modernizing small businesses will have a profound impact on economies worldwide in many ways,” he says. In this episode of If/Then, Narayanan explains why so man…

Only a third of the global population is financially literate. Why? Because most of us don’t learn the basics of personal finance in school — or elsewhere. Treating financial literacy as an afterthought can have serious consequences, from personal calamities to economic crises, according to Annamaria Lusardi, a professor of finance and the director…

Susan Athey, the Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and founding director of the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, studies the impact of technological innovations on workers, businesses, and society. Will the world’s economies successfully adapt to a future defined by artificial intelligence? On this episode, A…

Brian Lowery, the Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of Selfless: The Social Creation of You, argues that identity is about much more than external characteristics, family history, or the collection of experiences that compose the chronology of our lives. In fact, Lo…

What’s one of the most powerful forces behind technological breakthroughs, business strategy, and job creation? The tax code. Rebecca Lester, an associate professor of accounting and one of three inaugural Botha-Chan Faculty Scholars at Stanford Graduate School of Business, studies how subtle tax incentives can trigger monumental business decisions…

The pen may be mightier than the sword — but the dollar beats them both. Economic leverage has long shaped the world order, and today global powers use financial networks, trade policies, and sanctions as tools of persuasion — or coercion. In this episode, Matteo Maggiori, the Moghadam Family Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Busi…

“The ultimate price of a bad system falls on the public,” says Anat Admati, the George G.C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of The Bankers’ New Clothes. “The Constitution did a lot to constrain the government, but the government has failed to constrain institutions in the private sector.”…

Is burnout simply the cost of doing business? What responsibility do employers have for the health and well-being of their workers? Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Dying for a Paycheck and 7 Rules of Power, says that the connection between workplace str…

Can the workplace be as harmful as smoking? Is it possible for governments and corporations to rebuild trust once they’ve lost it? How are nations wielding financial power to shape global politics? On Season Two of If/Then, Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty tackle big questions about business, leadership, and society, providing innovativ…

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, believes leadership is about more than making decisions—it’s about empowering others to reason through ambiguity and drive transformative change. In this bonus episode of If/Then, Huang sits down with Stanford GSB student Shantam Jain, MBA ’24, on Stanford GSB’s View From The Top podcast, to discuss his j…

Behind every lesson lies a journey of discovery. In this special episode of If/Then, we step into the classrooms of Stanford Graduate School of Business to uncover the human stories driving extraordinary insights. Christian Wheeler, professor of marketing at Stanford GSB, challenges our fear of failure, reframing it as the sharp edge where growth t…

As leaders rise and hierarchies shift, Stanford GSB organizational behavior professor Deborah Gruenfeld, guest in season one of If/Then, reminds us that power is not just about authority—it’s about presence. In this special feed drop from Pfeffer on Power, Gruenfeld, author of Acting With Power, revisits topics featured in her If/Then episode, expl…

In this episode of If/Then, we're diving into insights from three GSB experts featured on Think Fast, Talk Smart. Join us as professor of organizational behavior Michele Gelfand explains her "tight and loose" cultural framework, revealing how societal structures impact everything from crime rates to creativity. We also hear from marketing professor…

Artificial intelligence could fundamentally transform democracy for better or worse. In this bonus episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, Professor Andrew B. Hall of Stanford Graduate School of Business explores AI's potential to disrupt our electoral system. With the 2024 presidential election approaching, Hall warns that AI-generated …

One underappreciated fact about the explosion in genetic databases, like consumer sites that provide information about ancestry and health, is that they unlock valuable insights not only into an individual’s past and future, but also for that individual’s entire family. This raises serious concerns about privacy for people who have never submitted …

This special episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society explores the personal stories behind Stanford GSB faculty's groundbreaking research. Discover how individual experiences shape scholarly inquiry. Baba Shiv, professor of marketing, examines decision-making and the brain's liking and wanting systems. His self-proclaimed "irrational" natu…

Behavioral economist and Professor of Marketing Baba Shiv works with entrepreneurs on how to build a risk-tolerant mindset. A mindset, Shiv believes, that is crucial in times of crisis. While we take a break and prepare for season two of If/Then, we're sharing an episode of Grit & Growth, a podcast from our partners at Stanford Seed. Here, Baba exp…

It can be tempting to think one thing causes another because they happen in succession, but there’s a lot to unwrap in the idea of causality. This week, If/Then is featuring an episode from the podcast All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions. Listen as hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explain the difference betwee…

To wrap up the first season of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, we invited Senior Associate Dean Jesper B. Sørensen into the studio to talk about the importance of research at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He shares insights on what motivates faculty to study what they do and how it impacts practitioners across industries. “One of th…

Getting to elect our leaders is certainly a privilege. Yet, even in a representative democracy, the choice that citizens have is often only as good as the candidates they have to choose from. That’s why Professor Andrew B. Hall, The Davies Family Professor of Political Economy, wonders: How do we get society’s best and brightest to participate in p…

If we want to get fair outcomes, then we need to build fairness into algorithms. Whether you’re looking for a job, a house, or a romantic partner, there’s an app for that. But as people increasingly turn to digital platforms in search of opportunity, Daniela Saban says it’s time we took a critical look at the role of algorithms, the invisible match…

Unless you’re a CPA or own a large business, it might be hard to see the relevance of accounting. While it’s true that the average person doesn’t necessarily need to be able to read a corporate balance sheet, Professor Ed deHaan says a deeper understanding of accounting — a greater fluency in the “language of business” — can help everyone get a gri…

If we create good institutions, then we can live up to our good intentions. Knowing and articulating our values is essential. But when the metaphorical Siren’s song fills the air, is knowing our values enough to ensure that we live by them? According to Ken Shotts, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, having sta…

Whether or not robots can feel is a question that, at least for now, might be better left to the philosophers. But what’s becoming increasingly clear, says Associate Professor Szu-chi Huang, is that robots do have the capacity to make us feel. In this episode of If/Then: Business, Leadership, Society, Huang delves into the effect that robots can ha…

Digital currency — whether privately-developed or government-issued — seems like an inevitability to Stanford Graduate School of Business finance professor Darrell Duffie. “Virtually all countries are exploring a central bank digital currency for potential use,” he says. An expert on banking, financial market infrastructure, and fintech payments, D…

A dollar is a dollar, right? While most conventional economic theories view money as an objective store of value, Mohammad Akbarpour says this misses a subtle but important fact: different people value money differently. Many economists assume that the price someone is willing to pay for a good or service is equivalent to the utility they get from …

If we want to make better decisions, then we need to think more like an artist. Rationality is often seen as the gold standard when it comes to making decisions, but Professor Baba Shiv prompts us to consider: “Is a good decision based on reason? Or is it based on emotion?” Shiv is the Sanwa Bank, Limited, Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduat…

Immigrants’ contributions to America include culture, cuisine — and groundbreaking ideas. “No one is that surprised that immigrants play a disproportionate role in innovation,” says Rebecca Diamond, a professor of economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business. But, she notes, “Innovation in itself is an elusive thing to measure.” By studying pa…

If we want to seriously address the climate crisis, then we need to encourage foolish business ideas. When it comes to seemingly impossible problems like the climate crisis, Professor William Barnett says we need to reach for equally impossible solutions — ideas so crazy, they just might work. “Foolishness,” he says, “is the price of genius.” A pro…

If we can manage our emotions about AI, then it can be a powerful decision-making tool. Artificial intelligence’s surge in power and accessibility has inspired polarized reactions. Some people are flocking to the technology with feverish excitement. Others can’t stay far enough away. Yet according to Kuang Xu, both of these responses might be the w…

If we want to change power structures, then we need to understand the animal forces that drive our behavior. As Stanford Graduate School of Business professor of organizational behavior Deborah H. Gruenfeld observes, wherever there are humans, there are hierarchies. “People have a tendency to form hierarchies almost instantly in all kinds of organi…

If we want to generate better ideas, then we need to get people back to the office. Jonathan Levav, a professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, details his study of remote work and creativity. “Pairs that worked face-to-face generated 15 to 20% more ideas than pairs that worked on Zoom,” he notes. What’s more, in-person brains…

How do we get people back to the office? How and when can AI be a powerful decision-making tool? How will digital currencies transform payment systems? On If/Then, experts from Stanford Graduate School of Business share their research findings on a range of topics that intersect with business, leadership, and society. We’ll tackle practical, cuttin…