outthinker networks

This audio was recorded by AI.   A few weeks ago, I spent the weekend in my former hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut—a place that, like a well-restored car, reveals different layers depending on how closely you look. If you know Greenwich, you know it has a reputation. Some people adore it; others resent it. It’s […]

This audio was recorded by AI.   Last week, I stood in a quiet corner of Boston’s Seaport, reviewing notes before back-to-back talks for two healthcare giants—Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Cigna. Despite their vastly different missions and models, one invisible force powers them both: the supply chain. At Vertex, precision defines every decision. They won’t pursue

This audio was recorded by AI.   I’m always drawn to the stories that don’t follow the usual playbook—the entrepreneurs who saw value where others didn’t, who built something meaningful by paying attention to the margins. In a world obsessed with disruption, few embody that quiet, strategic brilliance better than Arlene Harris. Known as the

This audio was recorded by AI.   Through my work as a business and innovation strategist and author, I’ve looked for the patterns that separate the great from the merely good. Over time, I’ve noticed that the businesses that truly stand out—the ones I admire not just as a consumer but as a strategist—are the

This audio was recorded by AI.   In the age of digital footprints and distributed workforces, the competitive advantage no longer lies in owning the best ideas—it lies in surfacing them faster, shaping them smarter, and scaling them with precision. That’s the role of an internal idea marketplace: a system that democratizes innovation by matching

This audio was recorded by AI.   Buying software these days feels like going to Costco for milk and leaving with a kayak. You wanted a solid Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system but ended up with a pile of clunky extras—a “revenue harmonizer,” a “customer sentiment heatmap,” and other stuff no one asked for. It’s

This audio was recorded by AI.   In a world where emerging markets are exploding across AI, clean energy, and biotech, perhaps the boldest transformation is happening not on Earth—but above it. Space is no longer the exclusive domain of Cold War superpowers. It’s a commercial frontier, and companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are

This audio was recorded by AI.   In today’s business world, companies are obsessed with solving problems—yet most don’t even know which problems they actually have. Teams burn through budgets chasing new strategies, new tools, new processes—blind to the fact that the answer is often already buried in their own ecosystem. Somewhere in the code

This audio was recorded by AI.   I find there’s a strange kind of magic in watching technology fade. Once upon a time, the microwave oven was a Space Age marvel. It changed not just how we heated leftovers but how we lived—dismantling family mealtimes, slashing housework hours, and ultimately helping millions of women enter

This audio was recorded by AI. Humans have always been social decision-makers. From the fireside councils of ancient tribes to digital debates on global platforms, our greatest accomplishments—and gravest errors—have often stemmed from the ways we choose together. Tom Malone, MIT professor and founding director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, famously identified five