Columbia Bizcast

Professor Sandra Matz explores how companies can turn customer’s personal data into a value proposition. As a Management Professor, Matz studies human behavior at the intersection of big data and social psychology. Her research has shown how just one click on Facebook can help marketers create psychological profiles and how money can buy us happiness. While Facebook has reported that “malicious actors” have taken advantage of search tools on its platform, making it possible for them to collect information on most of its users worldwide, Matz points out that the massive amounts of data companies collect can also lead to positive results. “I think it would be a real shame if we were to just ban those technologies all together,” she tells Columbia Bizcast podcast host Fahad Ahmed ’17. “There are so many opportunities that we have to use that technology in a way that helps people. But if we don't have that discussion, if people don't even know what's happening, we can't have the debate around what is it that we want to use it for.” Companies, Matz says, should look to their customers for insight on how best to use their data to create value. “If companies really start thinking about their customer, instead of their product – I think there’s so much value in that,” Matz says. “If you really put the customer at the center of everything, not only will you be able to make your product a lot better, but you’ll also kind of see which are the things, using data, that customers might value, and what are the things that customers might not necessarily want you to do.”

For Ethan Brown ’08, the journey to disrupting the meat industry began with his childhood, which he split between an urban life in Washington, DC and his family’s Holstein cattle farm in rural Maryland. The connection to animals and the food system informed his innovative idea. After a successful career in clean technology, Brown began to feel disconnected from his upbringing. “It started to really manifest itself when I had to make choices for my own children,” Brown says. “I can remember being on the Jersey Turnpike and stopping to get something to eat with [my children] at Subway. I was ordering a ham sandwich or something for the kids. And here we had these pigs we kept as pets — and the whole thing just got to be ‘Wait, my life is not making sense to me.’ I needed to make a change.” After that epiphany, Brown founded Beyond Meat, a company that produces 100-percent plant-based products with the taste and texture of meat. Brown’s vision for the future of protein is one which improves human health, reduces the environmental strains caused by meat production, and addresses animal welfare concerns. The success of Beyond Meat — now found in more than 20,000 stores nationwide, always in the meat aisle rather than the “alternative” protein case — relies on “relentless innovation.” “We want to innovate so fast that when people try to replicate they’re chasing ghosts,” says Brown. Brown fosters this innovation by letting go of ego and surrounding himself with experts, something he learned from the Oracle of Omaha himself. “I try as hard as I can to surround myself with people who I think are better than I am at what they're doing,” he says. “And that's a tried and true axiom. It really makes sense. And that comes back to Columbia. What does Buffett say about great businesses? It’s management.”

April Tam Smith ’10 is laser-focused on social impact – whether it’s through business or her personal commitment to giving back. It’s transformed the way she defines ROI. She is the co-owner of P.S. Kitchen, a plant-based restaurant in New York City that focuses on the three branches of sustainability – economic, environmental, and social. For her demonstrated leadership and commitment to social enterprise, she received the Tamer Center's 2018 Social Enterprise Leadership Award.

In part two, Professor Hitendra Wadhwa and Fahad Ahmed '17 discuss the the five pillars of personal leadership.

Professor Hitendra Wadhwa’s Personal Leadership & Success is Columbia Business School’s most popular leadership elective. It’s easy to see why. Blending his cultural heritage and experiences in business, psychology, mathematics, with Eastern mystical traditions, Wadhwa investigates how business leaders – and everyone – can best reach their potential.

When Stephanie Palmeri graduated from Columbia Business School in 2011, she took a leap of faith. With no job and two suitcases, she left New York City for Silicon Valley, crashing on the couches of fellow CBS grads. “As someone who didn't have a network [in the Valley]…it was scary, but I did it,” Palmeri says. Palmeri, now a partner at Uncork Capital (formerly SoftTech VC), sat down with Why CBS host Fahad Ahmed ’17 during the School’s Women’s Business Leadership in Tech: From Talk to Action conference in February, where she was a panelist.

In part two of her Why CBS interview, Antonia Hyman ’18 speaks in-depth about her leadership role in the Black Business Students Association (BBSA), the upcoming Elevate conference, and the importance of sharing your story.

In a powerful, two-part conversation, Antonia Hyman ’18, who is completing a joint MBA/JD program at Columbia, sits down with Fahad to discuss the influence her family had on her dream to launch a company for the historically disadvantaged. Read more: https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/articles/columbia-business/why-cbs-podcast-antonia-hyman-18-part-i

Sheena S. Iyengar is the S. T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. Professor Iyengar has taught courses in leadership and entrepreneurial creativity. Her research addresses the implications of offering people, whether they be employees or consumers, choices. In this episode, Fahad Ahmed '17 meets with Professor Iyengar to discuss how "choice" became such an important part of her life, as well as the tips and tools she feels a person can use to maximize the power of choice.

In this episode, Fahad Ahmed ’17 meets with Molly Magnuson ’18, co-president of Columbia Business School’s Student Government, to discuss how life circumstances have helped to define Molly’s passions, her purpose, and overall life perspective.

Carolyn Disbrow is the Senior Director of Brand Marketing for CNN Worldwide and a member of Columbia Business School’s Executive MBA Class of 2018. In her role at CNN, she oversees internal and external branding, corporate donations, sponsorships, and awards strategy for CNN Worldwide. In this episode, Fahad Ahmed ’17 sits in-studio with Carolyn to discuss her love for non-fiction content, passion for the First Amendment, and her opinion that “business is storytelling.”

Dan Brillman ’12 and Taylor Justice ’14 are the co-founders of Unite US, a tech startup streamlining the delivery of health and human services. In this episode, Fahad Ahmed ’17 travels to the Unite US offices in Lower Manhattan to discuss with Dan and Taylor their journey into the United States Air Force and Army, respectively, and to learn how a conversation at Columbia Business School cultivated their entrepreneurial spirit and motivated them to create Unite US.

Glenn Hubbard is dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. Professor at the School since 1988. and dean since 2004. On this episode, Fahad sits in-studio with Dean Hubbard to discuss a number of topics including his love for academia, his time in public service, the power and importance of the CBS network, and the future of the School.

This is Why CBS, a podcast series for Columbia Business School.