Stern Strategy Group

11/25/2025

As the "command and control style" of leadership becomes outdated, the need for empathetic leadership has risen.

In this Minds Worth Meeting Quick Clip, Ruchika T. Malhotra encourages women leaders to "find a leadership style that feels very true to who they are."

👀 Watch now for more on why this is the time for leaders who are empathetic, kind and fair to succeed.

11/19/2025

🤔 Is competing really the only way to succeed, where someone has to win and someone else has to lose?

In this Minds Worth Meeting Quick Clip, Ruchika T. Malhotra explains that scrutinizing this long-held belief will require a challenging investigation of the norms we've come to take for granted, but can lead to endless possibilities.

👀 Watch now for more on how the concept of Uncompete can create vast business opportunities.

11/18/2025

🎉 Congratulations to our client Vasant Dhar on the launch of his new book "Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI"!

In it, Dhar, an NYU Stern School of Business professor and machine learning pioneer, distills decades of research into an accessible guide for business leaders, policymakers and everyday citizens. The book is an ultra-timely read that explores how AI systems “think,” when we should rely on their predictions and how to design a future where humans and machines work together safely and effectively.

📕 Get your copy of "Thinking With Machines" here - https://amzn.to/47NVYUI

11/17/2025

Governments around the world are racing to understand how AI will reshape society.
Beth Simone Noveck is showing them how to lead that change.

As Northeastern University’s Professor of Experiential AI and the former U.S. Deputy CTO under President Obama, Noveck helps organizations harness agentic AI, or systems capable of autonomous, goal-directed action, to make policymaking faster, fairer and more inclusive.

Her hands-on work with leaders from New Jersey to Brazil to the U.K. demonstrates how AI can amplify human intelligence, accelerate innovation and rebuild trust in institutions.

At a time when AI’s risks dominate the headlines, Noveck is charting a more hopeful path where technology ultimately serves democracy.

Learn more about Beth Simone Noveck at her speaking and advisory profile: https://bit.ly/446pd2A

11/17/2025

👏 Congratulations to our client Julie Battilana for being awarded a 2025 Progress Medal by the Society for Progress!

A Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School professor, she helps leaders encourage innovative thinking and drive change by creating more balanced organizational dynamics for teams pursuing multiple objectives

📣 In a press release, Battilana was lauded for "pioneering research on hybrid organizing as a social technology integrating economic and moral logics, and for underscoring the intentional construction of a corresponding organizational identity."

Check out the full list of 2025 Progress Medal honorees here - https://bit.ly/3M46L4q

11/14/2025

Our paths rarely move in straight lines. They twist, tangle and double back, full of false starts, pivots, and what feel like dead ends. But what if those detours are the point?

In her new essay for the University of Notre Dame’s Virtues & Vocations magazine, Michelle R. Weise, Ph.D. explores what she calls our “Spaghetti Pathways,” or the nonlinear routes that shape our work and our souls.

A lifelong learning expert and the Chief Impact Officer of the Kern Family Foundation, Weise writes, “The scraps and failures we often seek to discard are precisely what enriches and sustains new life.”

Drawing from her groundbreaking work on lifelong learning and purpose, Weise shows how wonder, release, and renewal help us find meaning, even when our careers feel uncertain.

💡 A must-read for anyone navigating transition, purpose or the search for “a life worth working.”

👉 Read “The Soul of Work” here: https://bit.ly/4nWACt6

11/12/2025

📣 The latest episode of Minds Worth Meeting is live!

We sit down with award-winning inclusion strategy consultant and bestselling author Ruchika T. Malhotra to discuss her new book, "Uncompete."

In this episode, "Redefine Success by Uncompeting"

✔️ Ruchika describes the concept of “uncompete” and why collaboration, not competition, is what really drives innovation.

✔️ She outlines the vital need for empathetic leadership and psychological safety, revealing how radical generosity transforms team dynamics.

✔️ We discuss how social media has turned into a high-stress competitive landscape and the implications on mental health.

✔️ Ruchika provides strategies for how women can amplify each other’s voices in leadership.

Check the episode out now on your favorite podcast platform!

Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/4oFb7O7

Spotify - https://bit.ly/3LBylWD

iHeart - https://ihr.fm/49gWXOe

Amazon Music - https://amzn.to/4nUer6N

YouTube - https://bit.ly/4hTsWWV

11/07/2025

🏆 Congratulations to our client, Iyad Rahwan, recipient of the 2025 Lagrange–Fondazione CRT Prize, the world’s premier award for research in Complex Systems and Computational Social Science.

A pioneering scholar of human–AI interaction and director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Rahwan is redefining how we understand artificial intelligence.

His groundbreaking research reveals that intelligent machines reflect our collective values, biases, and behaviors while also shaping new forms of intelligence and ethics that challenge us to reimagine coexistence between humans and AI.

We’re proud to celebrate this extraordinary honor and to represent a thinker whose vision bridges science, ethics and society while helping leaders and communities navigate the moral and social dilemmas of the AI age.

👉 Learn more about Rahwan’s research: https://bit.ly/47MrQI7

11/06/2025

When leaders need the world’s best ideas, they turn to Stern Strategy Group.

From AI ethics to regenerative business, psychological safety to digital transformation, our roster includes the thinkers shaping today’s most important conversations - including five of this year’s Top 10 Thinkers50 management thinkers.

We’re proud to represent the bold minds redefining leadership, innovation and the future of work: people like Amy Edmondson, Andrew Winston, Linda Hill, Ranjay Gulati, Scott D. Anthony and many more.

When you need the latest, most in-depth thinking, from the future of AI to the future of humanity, turn to Stern. We represent the best of the best.

👉 https://bit.ly/4qMOPv2

11/05/2025

The future of work isn’t coming — it’s already here. As Selina Neri, Ph.D., the CEO, Dean and co-founder of the Future Readiness Academy, explains, “Future Readiness is the DNA of people built to thrive in the Future of Work. It rests on the lifelong ability and willingness to learn, unlearn and relearn a set of characteristics so people can propel themselves and their organizations forward."

Fresh off her panel appearance at this year’s Thinkers50 Summit, Neri challenges leaders to move beyond traditional models of talent development and embrace fluid, lifelong learning cultures that help organizations and individuals build to thrive.

Her actionable frameworks help leaders future-proof their teams through holistic, human-centered strategies that bridge technology, geopolitics, longevity and purpose.

💡 Discover how Selina Neri equips organizations to cultivate agility, resilience and meaning in a fast-changing world: https://bit.ly/3LxiyIl

11/04/2025

🏃For decades, we’ve been told that competition fuels excellence. But what if it’s doing just the opposite?

In her groundbreaking new book, "Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success" (out today!), award-winning strategist and bestselling author Ruchika T. Malhotra challenges the myth that rivalry drives results.

👉 Find out more about her important new framework in our newsletter: https://bit.ly/47GALL1

11/04/2025

When there’s a challenge to overcome, who does the CEO turn to for advice?

Exclusive advisory engagements with Stern Strategy Group give key decision-makers access to top global thought leaders who help unlock strategic potential with unrivaled guidance.

By partnering with these pioneers and researchers, business leaders are better equipped to transform their challenges into opportunities for inspiration, innovation and growth: https://bit.ly/43SuYAN

Explore customized and confidential programs to meet your organization’s goals through:

💡 1:1 or small group strategy coaching for senior leadership
💡 Workshops to solve existing problems or plan for future scenarios
💡 Executive education programs
💡 Train the trainer sessions
💡 Office hours for C-suite leaders and boards
✔️Tailored packages that include all of the above!

🌐 Advisory in Action:

Our client Amy Gallo helps companies cultivate a resilient speak-up culture. Learn about the challenge she addressed, her methods and the results here: https://bit.ly/4oyQxyA

Advisory engagements give key decision-makers access to top global thought leaders who help unlock strategic potential with exclusive guidance.