Private Innovation in the Public Interest

Anita McGahan

Artificial Intelligence

Entrepreneurship

Strategy

Venture Capital

Non-Market Strategy

Climate Change

Global Health

Human Capital

Social Entrepreneurship

Public Policy

Innovation

Microfinance

Academic Publishing

Public Health

Organizational Design

Disaster Management

Auditing

Migration In Science

Renewable Energy

Corporate Social Responsibility

Tune in with Professor Anita McGahan as she speaks with leading thinkers to understand and reinvent corporate social responsibility in service of the public good. Presented by Pi Squared, a project of the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University, this series explores new ways for companies, NGOs, and even government itself to collaborate and drive meaningful change.

13 ratings

Publishes	Weekly	Episodes	113	Founded	a year ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	ManagementBusiness

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Guests Host Reviews Charts Talking Points

Latest Episodes

113: Audra Wormald. How David overshadowed Goliath to create a new way of banking in low-income settings

Professor Audra Wormald of the University of North Carolina’s Keenan-Flagler Business School left a promising career in intellectual-property analysis and consulting to study innovation in the business of banking. She wrote her PhD thesis on the ways... more

16 Jul 2026 • 24 min

112: Rachelle Sampson. How can executives overcome short-term pressures to invest for the long term?

Professor Rachelle Sampson has long studied the challenges that executives face to increase short-term earnings by cutting investments with longer-term investments. After decades of research on technology adoption, alliances, corporate social respons... more

9 Jul 2026 • 28 min • Most popular

111: Shaz Ansari. Don’t surrender your cognition to AI

Professor Shaz Ansari of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University is renowned for his work on institutional logics, cultural frames, and the effects of ArtificialIntelligence on how we think about what’s important. In this conversation with ... more

2 Jul 2026 • 23 min

110: Brent Goldfarb. Great scientists think big, think long-term, and have integrity

Professor Brent Goldfarb studies big ideas, arguing that short-term investor pressures can cause firms to innovate less than they might otherwise. Brent also studies how well-intentioned corporate innovators may pull the plug on their work once they ... more

25 Jun 2026 • 30 min

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The Journal.The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

Recent Guests

Brent Goldfarb

Dean's Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Dingman Center at the University of Maryland, Smith School of Business

University of Maryland

Episode: 110: Brent Goldfarb. Great scientists think big, think long-term, and have integrity

Adam Clark

Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at Chapman University

Chapman University

Episode: 109: Adam Clark. Authentic organizational commitment is a long game with a big payoff

Herman Aguinis

Abram Tucker Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Management at George Washington University

George Washington University School of Business

Episode: 108: Herman Aguinis. Know your tools. And use them for impact.

Felipe Csaszar

Alexander M. Nick Professor and Chair of the Strategy Area, University of Michigan

University of Michigan, Ross School of Business

Episode: 107: Felipe Csaszar. Just as computers replaced human elevator operators, AI may replace Strategy executives.

Aparajita Agarwal

Assistant Professor of Strategy at INSEAD

INSEAD

Episode: 106: Aparajita Agarwal. The local agents delivering mobile money in low-income communities aren’t in it to maximize their incomes

Hyunjin Kim

Assistant Professor in the Strategy Area at INSEAD

INSEAD

Episode: 105: Hyunjin Kim. Sure, AI is widely available, but organizations vary a lot in their capabilities for using it

Mabel Abraham

Barbara and Meyer Feldberg Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School; faculty affiliate at Sanford C. Bernstein Company Center for Leadership and Ethics

Columbia Business School

Episode: 104: Mabel Abraham. Let’s talk about how inequality gets produced inadvertently by unbiased people

Chris Yenkey

Associate professor in the Sunoco International Business Department; core faculty member of the Rule of Law Collaborative

University of South Carolina

Episode: 103: Chris Yenkey. You cooperate as a driver in profoundly complex ways, yet if you sometimes speed, you’re engaging episodically in corruption.

Deepak Somaya

Diane and Stephen Miller Professor in Business Administration, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Episode: 102: Deepak Somaya. Tech firms get advantage by attracting and retaining committed people – both as employees and as customers

Host

Anita McGahan

Host of Pi Squared / Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University

Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars from 13 ratings

Anita is Absolute Best!!!
I love Anita and her content. I can’t wait for the next episode to hear what she talks about next!!!
Apple Podcasts
5
Baf Bf
United States4 months ago
Great!
Love Anita!
Apple Podcasts
5
kWest 1228
United States4 months ago

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Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

The show earns praise for thoughtful, practical insights into policy and corporate accountability.

Listeners appreciate the rigorous yet approachable treatment of CSR and public-interest topics.

Audience notes the host's depth and clarity in connecting research to real-world impact.

Guests are consistently world-class experts, contributing credible, evidence-based perspectives.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts	#147	Hong Kong/Business/Management
Apple Podcasts	#160	Denmark/Business/Management
Apple Podcasts	#192	Taiwan/Business/Management
Apple Podcasts	#199	Saudi Arabia/Business/Management

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

45: Laura Doering. Repeated Interactions Between Microfinance Lenders And Borrowers Can Elevate Outcomes

Q: What are some ways institutions can redesign routine interactions to improve desired outcomes in microfinance?

Designing interactions with careful attention, observing what actually happens in meetings, and tracking outcomes over time enables iterative adjustments and supports co-creation between designers and participants.

45: Laura Doering. Repeated Interactions Between Microfinance Lenders And Borrowers Can Elevate Outcomes

Q: Can you tell us how repetition of interactions between loan officers and clients translates into tangible outcomes like loan repayment or saving behavior?

Repeated interactions allow relationships to deepen, building trust and mutual understanding, which in turn increases a client's attachment to the financial institution and improves their likelihood of repaying loans and contributing to savings groups.

48: Jiao Luo. Why is CSR So Unprofitable Despite The Best Efforts of Companies To Shape Public Policy To Support It?

Q: And how do you measure the impact of corporate philanthropy versus other CSR activities, and what have you found about the effectiveness of donations in achieving social goals?

Philanthropy provides a clear behavioral metric—dollar donations—unlike some rating-based CSR, but even then the link to social outcomes is mixed; reputational gains are common, but there is concern about efficiency and geographic targeting of donations.

48: Jiao Luo. Why is CSR So Unprofitable Despite The Best Efforts of Companies To Shape Public Policy To Support It?

Q: So in your work, you describe yourself as studying non-market strategy. Can you explain what that means and maybe give an example of the kinds of ways that firms can try to influence the public environment in which they operate?

Non-market strategy covers activities outside traditional market transactions, including CSR and corporate political activity, used to shape both social and political environments in ways that can benefit firms, though the social payoff is not always clear and can be contested.

47: Robert Eberhart. “Entrepreneurship ” Is An Ideology About How We Relate To Each Other That Rarely Delivers On What We Are Reaching For

Q: What do we need to do differently in entrepreneurship education to avoid viewing it as the sole engine of progress?

Education should integrate humanities and broad social understanding to ground entrepreneurship as a social act, not just an economic path, ensuring people understand governance, ethics, and human impact.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About This Podcast

What is This Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show focuses on corporate social responsibility, public-interest innovation, and cross-sector collaboration to drive societal impact. Conversations feature academics and practitioners exploring how businesses can act more effectively in the public good, through policy design, governance, and responsible innovation. Episodes often examine how organizational design, incentives, and non-market strategies shape outcomes for communities, with a mix of theory, empirical research, and real‑world case studies. Notable strengths include a rigorous academic lens paired with practical implications, and a clear emphasis on cross-sector partnerships and scalable, equitable solutions. Potential listeners who care about social impact, policy-informed ... more

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1. The Journal.

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this podcast launched a year ago and published 113 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on this podcast?

Recent guests on this podcast include:

1. Brent Goldfarb
2. Adam Clark
3. Herman Aguinis
4. Felipe Csaszar
5. Aparajita Agarwal
6. Hyunjin Kim
7. Mabel Abraham
8. Chris Yenkey

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