In How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, Michael Bungay Stanier outlines how to set up working relationships for the best chance of success—by following a process of thorough preparation, a keystone conversation, and regular maintenance.

Bungay Stanier, founder of coaching firm Box of Crayons, is a world-renowned thought leader on coaching and author of the best-selling coaching book, The Coaching Habit. In his most recent book, he focuses on relationship-building, providing readers with processes and principles, as well as exercises and ample practical advice to sharpen their skills.

Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Bungay Stanier discusses how to build the “best possible relationship” and how to maintain and repair it over time. Moreover, they assess how to create a corporate culture conducive to these relationships, and how to make these relationships work in a hybrid or remote setting.

Key topics discussed:

[01:22] How to make difficult relationships more workable
[03:39] Definition of a “best possible relationship” and how to build it
[05:54] How to have a keystone conversation
[12:26] The impact of corporate culture and different personality types
[15:44] How to maintain and repair relationships
[20:42] The implications of hybrid and remote work
[22:31] How leaders can apply these lessons in their organizations

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

How to Work with (Almost) Anyone with Michael Bungay Stanier

In Capitalism and Its Critics: A Battle of Ideas in the Modern World, John Cassidy offers a multi-century history of global capitalism, told through the eyes of its dissenters.

Cassidy is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His new book blends biography, history, and economic analysis to reveal the roots of urgent debates the business world and society face today, as AI, climate change, and inequality are forcing us to reexamine the economic system.

In his conversation with Nikolaus Lang, global leader of the BCG Henderson Institute, Cassidy discusses the main historical themes of capitalism critique, why the system continues to endure, how it is being, and what its future may be in the current context of assaults on the system from both the political left and right.

Key topics discussed: 

[01:44] The main themes of capitalism critique
[04:17] Why capitalism endures
[09:15] The paradox of state capitalism
[14:21] The misunderstood Luddites
[19:09] Trade tensions and global economic asymmetry
[24:45] The role of unpaid domestic labor in driving the capitalist system
[28:50] The most surprising insights in writing the book
[31:33] The future of capitalism

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About the BCG Henderson Institute

The BCG Henderson Institute is the Boston Consulting Group’s think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, economics, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Capitalism and its Critics with John Cassidy

Inspiring and thought-provoking conversations with leading thinkers about influential ideas on business, technology, economics, and science. Hosted by Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, and Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Global Chief Economist of BCG.

For more ideas and inspiration, sign up to receive BHI INSIGHTS, our monthly newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Capitalism and its Critics with John Cassidy

Thinkers & Ideas / BCG Henderson Institute

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