When people set up their own business or go it alone, it makes sense for to want to establish their own identity, yet sometimes that might come at a cost… what if your identity is so distinctive that potential customers or clients don’t understand what you do or why you are so special?

To explore the question of “optimal distinctiveness” in the context of strategic positioning I am delighted to be joined today by Professor Daphne Demetry.

About our guest...

Daphne Demetry is an Associate Professor of Strategy & Organization and Bensadoun Faculty Scholar in the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University

As an organizational theorist and economic sociologist, Daphne uses primarily ethnographic and qualitative methods to explore questions of how entrepreneurs and organizations create and negotiate meaning as they interact with their audiences. She has explored these questions predominately in the craft and creative fields and especially the culinary industry, e.g., underground and pop-up restaurants, gourmet food trucks, and fine dining establishments.

• You can find out more about Daphne’s research here: https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/daphne-demetry
• The article discussed in the interview - Cutting the apron strings: Establishing optimal distinctiveness from mentors in creative industries by Daphne Demetry and Rachel Doern - can be accessed here (open access): https://sms.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smj.70003

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A 2020 article by the polling firm, Gallup, argued that:

“The micromanager has become a bit of a boogeyman in the business world. Nobody wants to work for one. Few managers want to be one. Everyone has a horror story about one.”

To explore the topic of micromanagement and its implications I am delighted to be joined by Dr Catherine Deen.

About our guest…

Catherine Deen is a Senior Lecturer in HR and Organisation Behaviour at the School of Business, University of New South Wales Canberra. As an organisational behaviour researcher, Catherine has a growing reputation for excellent research in the areas of work-related intimate partner aggression, leadership, and the vocational experiences of vulnerable workers. Prior to entering academia, Catherine amassed more than 20 years of industry experience in educational administration, teaching, and research.

Since formally entering academia in 2018, Catherine’s research has been published in a range of top management journals.

To find out more information about Catherine and her research take a look at the following links:

• www.catherinedeen.com
• https://lead.fiu.edu/news/2024/my-way-or-the-highway.html

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Collective stupidity is fairly common in organisations. Firms full of very smart individuals who act in reckless ways that destroy them. Governments and nations that engage in acts of self-harm, descending into economic decline or civil war. Armies that repeat failed tactics. It’s easy to see collective stupidity as something others slip into because of their own idiocy or moral failings. But this perspective misses much. We are all party to such follies.”

So wrote our guest today, Professor Sir Geoff Mulgan, in a recent paper on the focus of our conversation: Collective Stupidity and its implications for individuals, organisations and society.

About our guest

Sir Geoff Mulgan CBE is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, between 2011 and the end of 2019. From 1997 to 2004 Geoff had roles in the UK government including director of the Government’s Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister’s office. From 2004 to 2011 he was the first Chief Executive of The Young Foundation. He was the first director of the think-tank Demos; and has been a reporter on BBC TV and radio

The article discussed in the interview is open access and is available here:

• Mulgan, G. (2025). A Theory of Collective Stupidity in Organisations–and Possible Remedies. Organization Studies, 46(9), 1331-1335.
• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/01708406251349313

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.