Planning and project management are very old business functions, but they are undergoing a rapid change thanks to how advances in data science enable organizations to effectively manage uncertainty. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne and the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr discuss how new tools in data science, AI, machine learning and harnessing the wisdom of the crowd have revolutionized how people and organizations plan. Could “over budget and past due” become a concept of the past for those able to harness uncertainty and flexibility in data-enabled ways?

Accounting measures can help boards and investors answer some very important questions about the performance, integrity and compensation of CEOs in surprising ways. Professor Shane Dikolli at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business has used analytical modeling and empirical analysis to evaluate CEOs for much of his career, and he and the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr discuss why the insights hidden in plain sight within accounting disclosures have important implications for business managers at every level.

Our lives have become an open book to the companies collecting our data, and marketers are becoming increasingly sophisticated at using that data to compel us to buy their products and services. But we’re entering a new phase of the digital marketing revolution. The artificial intelligence age. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Raj Venkatesan discusses his book, The AI Marketing Canvas: A Five Stage Roadmap to Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, with the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr to examine where the industry is headed and how marketers can responsibly manage AI-powered marketing in the rapidly evolving media landscape.

The world has been captivated by the stunning collapse of Theranos and its supposedly wunderkind founder Elizabeth Holmes, who now faces trial for fraud. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Jared Harris worked with Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz to develop a series of cases that reveal how the advanced nature of the technology allowed the ruse to go on so long and the high cost Shultz paid for his part bringing down the house of cards. Harris speaks with the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr about what it took to make an ethical stand and how increasingly complex technology will present challenges for ethical leaders.

The glass ceiling exists around the world. From the U.S. to India, women work harder to get a foot in the door, a seat at the table or a place at the top of established businesses. But what about women who want to start their own businesses? As University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Gaurav Chiplunkar discusses in this Ideas to Action podcast with the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr, the barriers they face might be even greater. To examine the challenge, Chiplunkar shared his new research on the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs in developing countries, how their challenges harm the entire economy, and what business leaders and policymakers can do about it.

Electric vehicles are everywhere. Renewable energy like solar and wind, too. The U.S. is back in the Paris Climate Accord. Progress to stop climate change has come so far, yet still has a long way to go and the road from here only gets harder. Professor Mike Lenox and Senior Researcher Becky Duff at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business talk with the Batten Institute’s Sean Carr about their new book on what it will take to decarbonize the economy. Not just one sector. Every sector. And their insights have big implications for every business leader, investor and policymaker.

The future of work is changing, whether you’re ready or not. But getting ready is no simple task. Who can you trust to teach the new skills you’ll need? How much should you pay? What’s more important: credentials or knowledge? University of Virginia Darden School of Business Dean Scott Beardsley has spent the last six years honing the School’s strategy to serve the needs of the next generation of business leaders, and he joins Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning’s Anne Trumbore to dissect the landscape of lifelong learning, how it is evolving to meet the needs of the modern workplace and how professionals can best tap the power of education to advance their purpose.

New year, new you? Flipping the calendar has become a cliché for goals, resolutions, intentions and self-improvement. Those good intentions fail all too often, not out of desire but out of an inability to change or adapt. Humans struggle with change, and the stakes of that limitation are getting higher as the world enters an era of massive technological disruption and the coronavirus pandemic challenges our way of life. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Ed Hess is an expert in high individual and organizational performance. His latest book, Hyper-Learning, offers practical pathways to develop “a new way of being” for individual success and “a new way of working” for business success. The Batten Institute’s Sean Carr speaks with Ed to share how we can all simply be better at changing.