The Disruptive Voice - 45. Modernizing Energy Transmission & Distribution Infrastructure for the Development of Sustainable and Resilient Communities, with Jessica O. Matthews

45. Modernizing Energy Transmission & Distribution Infrastructure for the Development of Sustainable and Resilient Communities, with Jessica O. Matthews

12/30/19 • 39 min

2020 is nearly upon us and here at The Forum we’re delighted to welcome the new year with Jessica O. Matthews, Founder & CEO of Uncharted Power. Jessica, a member of the HBS Class of 2014 and a BSSE alumna, is working to transform the global energy system into a renewable, smart, and distributed network of clean energy technology. A prolific inventor and entrepreneur, she was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and is listed on 11 patents and patents pending for technologies relating to energy generation, transmission, and storage. In this episode, Jessica discusses the challenges associated with our aging power grid infrastructure; the impact of her dual US/Nigerian citizenship on design strategies; viable options for energy generation, storage, and transmission; and the smart technologies that she and her team are working to develop at Uncharted Power.

She is hosted by Katie Zandbergen, Community Manager at The Forum for Growth & Innovation. Katie holds a DPhil in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford and is a regular host of The Disruptive Voice.

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44. Choosing College: Bob Moesta and Michael Horn on Why We Hire Education

It’s the most wonderful time of the year but for many high school seniors it means one thing: college application deadlines! This week on The Disruptive Voice, as millions of students hit “submit”, we’ve invited Bob Moesta and Michael Horn to The Forum to discuss why we go to college in the first place. They’ve recently released an excellent, highly-readable book called “Choosing College” that uses Jobs To Be Done-based research to examine why people hire education and how to choose it. You can further explore their findings at Choosing College.

Michael received his MBA from HBS in 2006 and, since then, has worked closely with Professor Christensen on disruption in education, including as Co-Founder of The Christensen Institute. He's currently the Head of Strategy & Senior Partner Entangled Group and is Chief Strategy Officer & Principal Consultant at Entangled Solutions. Bob is a Disruptive Voice podcast veteran and, along with Prof Christensen, is co-architect of the Jobs To Be Done theory. He is also President & CEO of the The ReWired Group and moonlights as a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, and the Kellogg School at Northwestern. Bob and Michael are hosted this week by Chris Diak, an M.Div. candidate at Harvard Divinity School and one of our newest members here at The Forum for Growth & Innovation.

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46. Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption: A Conversation with Bob Cohn

In 2009, at a time when The Atlantic was a 152 year old publication known chiefly for its erudite monthly magazine, Bob Cohn joined as Editor of Atlantic Digital. A career journalist, he arrived at The Atlantic five years into a fifteen year wave of disruption that shuttered the doors of some 1,800 local newspapers across the United States. Under Bob’s leadership, digital publishing thrived at The Atlantic, and he was named Co-President & COO in 2013 and President in 2016.

Bob is hosted on this podcast episode by Derek van Bever, Director of The Forum for Growth & Innovation, and it was recorded in late November of 2019, while Bob was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he taught a semester long series called “Journalism and Politics in an Age of Disruption.”

Bob and Derek discuss the structure of the media industry and the fallout of disruption over the last 20 years, the circumstances which enabled The Atlantic to transition from a print monthly to a digital daily, and habits for responsible media consumption. Bob stepped down from his presidency at The Atlantic in 2019 and has just been named President/Managing Director of The Economist.