A Case of the Mondays

TWC Media Group

Ever wonder how to combine meaning and work? Ever feel like a rebel in your own company? Have you looked at other companies and thought 'Why can't we innovate like them?' Join your host, Chris Thierfelder and his guests from all corners of the business world to discuss these ideas and more each Monday through the summer. Spend a little extra time in the car with us, and maybe you'll learn something new, or maybe you'll just have a reason not to step in to that cubicle on time. A thoughtful business podcast for thoughtful business people.

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Top 10 A Case of the Mondays Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best A Case of the Mondays episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to A Case of the Mondays for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite A Case of the Mondays episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

"Lead with Grace and Patience" w/ Gia Vitali

A Case of the Mondays

04/27/20 • 51 min

Chris talks with the Chief of Staff for the Mayor of Minneapolis, Gia Vitali. Gia has spent her career dedicated to public service and to making her communities better, fairer, and healthier.
We discuss the challenges of keeping a city of 425k people functioning during a crisis, what Gia's had to learn in short order to be an effective leader during this time, and her hopes for what we see on the other side of this surreal time.
Chris also tells you why you're terrible at assessing risk, and why you not wearing a mask doesn't mean what you think it means.
Read this stuff:
Book; "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," Yuval Noah Harari
Book; "Thinking, Fast and Slow," Daniel Kahneman
Article; Humans are Too Optimistic to Comprehend the Coronavirus, Olga Khazan, The Atlantic
Article; The Psychology of Risk Perception, Harvard Mental Health Letter, HMS
About Gia Vitali:
Gia Vitali began her career on Capitol Hill in working for Congressman Bruce Vento and his successor Congresswoman Betty McCollum. In 2004 Gia returned to Minnesota and led the Get Out the Vote effort for the Kerry/Edwards Campaign. She went on to manage several campaigns, work for Senator Amy Klobuchar, and served as political director for a national organization focused on recruiting, training, and helping to elect candidates to state and local office.

Gia served as deputy campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families – the historic campaign that successfully defeated the constitutional amendment to define marriage as solely between one man and one woman.

In April of 2013, she joined the corporate communications team at Medica Health Plans where she supported the Medicare and Medicaid business segments. In November 2015, Gia joined the Department of Human Services as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Writer, Host: Chris Thierfelder
Producers: Sarah and Max Warman
Art: Jennie Jacobs
Music: Kevin MacLeod
IG: @mondaypod
LinkedIn: A Case of the Mondays
Site: A Case of the Mondays
Copyright 2023 TWC Media Group All Rights Reserved

Everyone Thinks They're Ethical (w/ Cynthia Patton)

A Case of the Mondays

07/15/19 • 59 min

Do you think you're an ethical person? Ever knowingly run a red light? Ever walked off with office supplies that weren't yours? Ever say or do something that maybe isn't technically illegal, but wasn't exactly the right thing to do? Ever wonder why?
Today, Chris sits down with Cynthia Patton, SVP and Chief Compliance Officer for Amgen to talk about ethics in business and the role of compliance departments in helping people navigate the grey areas of business. They discuss ethical shading, situational ethics, what compliance departments do, and how to accept the fact that we're all only human.
Read more about the Stark Laws here.
Blind Spots, by Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
Nudge, by Richard Thaler
Cynthia M. Patton serves as senior vice president and chief compliance officer, responsible for Amgen’s worldwide privacy and compliance and business ethics organizations.
Cynthia serves as Chair of the Amgen Foundation and previously served as a board member of Watts Healthcare Corporation, the Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center and Westside Neighborhood School. She is a board member of the Martin Luther King Community Hospital and the Los Angeles Music Center and also serves as a member of the board of trustees for Wildwood School. Patton received her juris doctor from George Washington University and her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College.
She was recently awarded the 2019 Carol R. Marshall Award for Innovation in Corporate Ethics, and she was further recently named to Black Enterprise's "Most Powerful Women in Corporate America" list.

Mondaypod Summer Vacation: Gary Pisano

A Case of the Mondays

06/12/23 • 60 min

Today we're getting in the wayback machine to 2019--remember that? We were still living in 2016 back then, and we were such summer children.
Are you innovative? Do you know what it means to be innovative? Probably not, but that's ok because today I'm brining back my 2019 conversation with Harvard Business Professor, Gary Pisano.
In his own words: "Over my three-decade career, I have explored fundamental questions about how organizations learn, innovate, and compete. A researcher, teacher and consultant to many of the world’s largest corporations, I focus on the management of innovation, strategy, enterprise growth, the commercialization of science and international competitiveness. My work on these topics has spanned a broad range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, apparel, electronics, entertainment, financial services, health care, manufacturing, restaurants, semiconductors, software, specialty chemicals and web services."
The article that blew my mind and made me need to talk to Prof. Pisano: The Hard Truth About Innovative Cultures
And another great one from 2021, applying the lessons of evolution and Gary's own research in a case study about how Moderna developed their COVId-19 vaccine: What Evolution Can Teach Us About Innovation
Outro: "Rockaway Beach" by The Ramones

"The Reality is, You Never Figure it Out." w/ Brian Rea

A Case of the Mondays

06/08/20 • 91 min

Today's the last interview of Season 2, and for it, Chris sits down with artist and author Brian Rea.
Brian's book, "Death Wins a Goldfish" is a beautiful, thoughtful, charming, and insightful look at what happens when the hardest working being on the planet--the Grim Reaper Himself--takes an imposed yearlong holiday and what lessons he learns from stepping away from work. Those lessons are some we can all learn, and that's why we saved this interview for last. It was one of Chris' favorite conversations, and we hope it one of yours, too.
Chris also talks about the last couple of weeks of protests, why history rhymes, and what we can learn from the moment we're in.
Learn more:
Brian's Website: Brianrea.com
Book: "Death Wins a Goldfish"
Article: "The Mystery Gift at the End of the World" by Brian Rea
Revisionist History Presents: The Limits of Power (Chapter 7 of "David and Goliath" by Malcom Gladwell)...this link will open up Apple Podcasts
Not an sponsor, but buy their stuff anyway: Diop

People WANT to believe (w/ Bethany McLean)

A Case of the Mondays

06/10/19 • 59 min

On today's show, Chris sits down with Bethany McLean for a wide-ranging interview, spanning growing up on the Iron Range in Minnesota, to her career as a business writer and how her time in the heady days of business magazines built her skepticism of the corporate world, and led her to be one of the premier chroniclers of corporate malfeasance.
Then, we hear Just One Thing about a company who's helping their employees achieve that ever-elusive work-life balance.
Chris also talks villains, both on the screen and in the boardroom.
Read Bethany at Vanity Fair, watch her on CNBC, or go buy her books.
Bethany McLean is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. She is also a columnist at Yahoo Finance and a contributor to CNBC. Her two books are the The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron and All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. She lives in Chicago. She has also written two mini books, Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the US Mortgage Giants and Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World.

You Don't Get Innovation For Free (w/ Gary Pisano)

A Case of the Mondays

06/17/19 • 64 min

Today, we kick off Innovation Week! Chris sits down with Gary Pisano, professor at Harvard Business School, and author of over 100 scholarly articles on innovation and business management. His most recent book, Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation is a look at how large enterprises can leverage their scale to become transformational innovators.

Chris also talks about pitching consulting services (it’s hard, and he doesn’t like it), how innovation can take a lot of forms that we don’t notice, and how one company is finally reckoning with its terrible past.
Read more of Professor Pisano’s scholarly work (referenced in the interview):

Dynamic Capabilities (1997), Restoring American Competitiveness (2009), Innovation Strategy (2015), Hard Truths (2019)

Buy a copy of Creative Construction here.

The Ten Types of Innovation can be found here.

From the NY Times: Nazis Killed her Father. Then She Fell in Love With One

Follow us on social media! You can find A Case of the Mondays on Facebook, Instagram (@mondaypod), Twitter (@mondaypod1), and LinkedIn.

More about Professor Pisano:

Gary Pisano is the Harry Figgie Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he currently serves as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development (promotions and tenure). He joined the Harvard faculty in 1988 after completing a Ph.D. at the University of California Berkeley.

Over the course of his career, Pisano has explored fundamental questions about how organizations innovate, learn, compete, and grow. His research and consulting experience has spanned a broad range of industries including aerospace, automobiles, apparel, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, entertainment, financial services, health care, restaurants, semiconductors, software, specialty chemicals, and web services.

At Harvard, Pisano has taught MBA, executive, and doctoral courses, and has mentored a number of doctoral students. He has created and currently teaches a new MBA electric course “Managing Growth” based on his current research on the drivers and impediments to organizational scaling and growth. He is also the co-creator and co-chair of a new executive program called “Driving Profitable Growth”.

In addition to his academic research and teaching, Pisano serves as an advisor to senior leaders at leading companies around the world and has been a director of both public and private company boards. He currently serves on the board of directors of Axcella Health and Celixir.

"You Are Enough, and You Got This." w/ Moe Carrick

A Case of the Mondays

06/01/20 • 61 min

Today, Chris talks with author, researcher, executive coach and now podcaster(!) Moe Carrick. Moe's work focuses on creating dynamic, human-centric leaders and work places so that we can all thrive and flow in our careers. Her books tackle some of the thorniest ideas in modern leadership, and pays respect to that most complicated workplace mystery: people!
Moe's ideas have been imperative for years but have taken on a new urgency now, as we are all confronted with a need to evolve as leaders and create brand-new paradigms for leadership and for work itself. As we all start to settle in to a "new normal" it's high time we re-consider what good leadership looks like and how it can lift us up and through our current environment.
Read this stuff:
Website: Moecarrick.com (links to toolkits, her books, and podcast can be found there!)
Not a sponsor, but go buy their stuff anyway:
If you find yourself in Bend, OR, go check out Boneyard Bewery!

"The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Case of the Mondays

05/01/23 • 33 min

Hey, better late than never! We're just trying to put out an honest podcast folks, sometimes the plane comes in late and sometimes, it doesn't land at all. That's a reference to today's topic, "The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Chris talks about the book, what it's about and what a novel written in the 30's has to tell us about life and work here in the cozy embrace of 2023. (Hint: people haven't changed as much as we might have hoped.)
Chris also talks about the "Mastering Project Management" Webinar hosted by this very podcast host, that you can sign up for by clicking that link! Tune in next week and Chris will give you the code for 25% off registration.
Project Manager's Masterclass (enrollment opens on May 9th!)
Glad Bitch Podcast (it's excellent, better than this one!)
Mondaypod Manager's Book Club on Amazon
"The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (publisher's site)

"You Have to Believe in Your Next Sale" w/ Jeremy Wieland

A Case of the Mondays

05/25/20 • 68 min

Today's a little different, folks. Chris and co-host Jeremy Wieland get together to swap stories about the current small business climate as a result of the pandemic. They talk about how the optimism of the small business community clashes with what the data is telling us, what the outcome of a small business apocalypse might look like (hint: good, if you like Chipotle and only Chipotle, bad otherwise), what needs to happen to avert it, and why you should delete your food delivery apps.
Have a great Memorial Day, everyone!
Read this stuff:
Study, Columbia Business School: "Crisis of Confidence Could Delay Recovery Over a Decade"
Article: "Q&A with the President of the SBA of Michigan"
Article: "SHRM Small Business Study (PDF)"
Article: "Delete Your Delivery Apps"
Book: The Black Swan, Second Edition by Nassim Taleb
Buy: Ky's Hawaiian Shirts (they also have pandemic masks!)
Watch (or not): Demolition Man (trailer)

The Most Valuable Thing You Own is Your Data (w/ Viktor Mayer-Shönberger)

A Case of the Mondays

07/29/19 • 55 min

What are we talking about when we talk about "Big Data?" How do we balance privacy with unlocking the power of personal data? Should companies that have created massive value from data be forced to share with the market? What do we do when everyone's daily tasks are taken over by artificial intelligence?
Today, Chris talks with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, one of the world's leading experts on Big Data and the impact is has on all of us. We define Big Data, discuss what it allows us to do and how it drives the creation (and concentration) of value, and how we might consider regulating it to encourage better, safer, and more thoughtful use.
Chris also relates how he learned about the importance of data, and makes you think again before you click the "Buy Now" button.
A selection of Viktor's work:
Book: Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data
Book: Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age
Article: The Internet is Rotting
Article: How Facebook Can Share its way Out of its Data Problem
Article: Your High School Transcript Can Haunt You Forever
Additional stuff:
Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Markus Wolf
Check us out!
Facebook: Mondaypod
LinkedIn: Mondaypod
Twitter: @Mondaypod1
IG: @Mondaypod

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FAQ

How many episodes does A Case of the Mondays have?

A Case of the Mondays currently has 45 episodes available.

What topics does A Case of the Mondays cover?

The podcast is about Corporate, Society & Culture, Management, Leadership, Work, Podcasts, Entrepreneurs, Philosophy, Business, Innovation, Careers and Ethics.

What is the most popular episode on A Case of the Mondays?

The episode title '"The Reality is, You Never Figure it Out." w/ Brian Rea' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on A Case of the Mondays?

The average episode length on A Case of the Mondays is 52 minutes.

How often are episodes of A Case of the Mondays released?

Episodes of A Case of the Mondays are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of A Case of the Mondays?

The first episode of A Case of the Mondays was released on May 15, 2019.

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A Case of the Mondays

TWC Media Group

Top 10 A Case of the Mondays Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does A Case of the Mondays have?

What topics does A Case of the Mondays cover?

What is the most popular episode on A Case of the Mondays?

What is the average episode length on A Case of the Mondays?

How often are episodes of A Case of the Mondays released?

When was the first episode of A Case of the Mondays?

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