Private Innovation in the Public Interest

Anita McGahan

Artificial Intelligence

Entrepreneurship

Strategy

Venture Capital

Human Capital

Social Entrepreneurship

Non-Market Strategy

Public Policy

Innovation

Organizational Design

Disaster Management

Auditing

Migration In Science

Renewable Energy

Corruption

Brazil

Mobile Money

Social Capital

CSR

Minibus Taxi Industry

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	110	Founded	a year ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	ManagementBusiness

Listen to this Podcast

Guests Host Reviews Charts Talking Points

Latest Episodes

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

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

Professor Adam Clark of Chapman University is studying something that is notoriously difficult to assess: the authenticity of an organization’s commitment. In this powerful conversation, he talks with Anita about whether and how an organization’s aut... more

18 Jun 2026 • 28 min

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

Professor Herman Aguinis is a pre-eminent scholar, educator, and leader in the field of Management. With more citations, accolades, and leadership responsibilities than just about anyone else in our field, Herman remains lighthearted, optimistic, and... more

11 Jun 2026 • 29 min • Most popular

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

Professor Felipe Csaszar of the University of Michigan is an eminent scholar with extensive publications on managerialcognition, organizational decision-making, and the ways in which AI is reshaping the process of strategizing. In this conversation, ... more

4 Jun 2026 • 24 min

Key Facts

Accepts Guests

Contact Information

Podcast Host

Number of Listeners

Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Similar Podcasts

People also subscribe to these shows.

FT News BriefingFinancial Times

Recent Guests

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

Colleen Cunningham

Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Eccles School of Business, University of Utah

University of Utah, Eccles School of Business

Episode: 101: Colleen Cunningham. Guardrails + Incentives - Excessive Competition = Innovation

Barry Finette

Professor of pediatrics and microbiology; founder/former CEO of ThinkMD

University of Vermont; ThinkMD

Episode: 99: Barry Finette. It's always just about the patient

DK Kryscynski

Professor of strategy at Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Episode: 98: DK Kryscynski. AI can take over drudgework and free you up to do more meaningful work

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

Embed These Reviews on a Website

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	#56	Italy/Business/Management
Apple Podcasts	#107	Hong Kong/Business/Management

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

67: András Tilcsik. Great Companies Force A Reckoning On Unwanted Problems

Q: What tends to be the value of doing blameless postmortems after failures?

Blameless postmortems normalize learning from failure, encourage open discussion, and help identify weak signals before a tragedy occurs, thereby improving future decision-making and system design.

67: András Tilcsik. Great Companies Force A Reckoning On Unwanted Problems

Q: How would you describe the main channels through which discrimination manifests in hiring?

Discrimination arises at multiple points in the hiring pipeline—from who is attracted to apply, to who gets invited for interviews, to who advances through rounds and ultimately receives a job offer; the effects compound across these stages, making it a systemic issue rather than a single decision.

70: Julian Birkinshaw. The Resurgence of Large Incumbent Firms Is Not Just Possible, It’s Widespread.

Q: How do you view the impact of generative AI on education and employment, and what should schools do?

Generative AI can disrupt some roles and workflows, but the bigger opportunity lies in retooling education to emphasize critical thinking, uncertainty management, and higher-order skills. Schools should experiment with AI-enabled teaching, develop absorptive capacity, and design curricula that prepare graduates to work alongside AI, not just use it as a shortcut.

70: Julian Birkinshaw. The Resurgence of Large Incumbent Firms Is Not Just Possible, It’s Widespread.

Q: What are the two major routes for an incumbents roadmap you describe in the book?

One route focuses on leveraging existing assets and capabilities to survive, possibly adapting processes and channels. The other route involves offering fundamentally new kinds of innovation that are outside the core business, which may require independent units or a significant reorganization to avoid cannibalizing the core.

70: Julian Birkinshaw. The Resurgence of Large Incumbent Firms Is Not Just Possible, It’s Widespread.

Q: Can you summarize the Resurgent thesis and how incumbents can survive digital disruption at large scale?

Big established firms tend to be asset-rich and have powerful downstream capabilities; the challenge is to leverage those assets to adapt to disruption, not simply defend the status quo. The path includes exploiting current strengths, pursuing new opportunities through organic growth or acquisitions, and sometimes creating separate units to pursue disruptive bets without destabilizing the core business.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

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

Where can I find podcast stats for this podcast?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to this podcast and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does this podcast get?

Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for this podcast, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.

What are the audience demographics for this podcast?

Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for this podcast, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.

How many subscribers and views does this podcast have?

To see how many followers or subscribers this podcast has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to this podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with this podcast:

1. FT News Briefing

How many episodes of this podcast are there?

this podcast launched a year ago and published 110 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact this podcast?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for this podcast?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for this podcast from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for this podcast?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of this podcast. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on this podcast?

Recent guests on this podcast include:

1. Felipe Csaszar
2. Aparajita Agarwal
3. Hyunjin Kim
4. Mabel Abraham
5. Chris Yenkey
6. Deepak Somaya
7. Colleen Cunningham
8. Barry Finette

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

Find and pitch the right podcasts

We help savvy brands, marketers and PR professionals to find the right podcasts for any topic or niche. Get the data and contacts you need to pitch podcasts at scale and turn listeners into customers.

Try it free for 7 days