Cold Call distills Harvard Business School's legendary case studies into podcast form. Hosted by Brian Kenny, the podcast airs every two weeks and features Harvard Business School faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.


Cold Call

In 2020, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase made two bold organizational moves: going fully remote and banning political discussion at work. These decisions, aimed at reinforcing a mission-first culture, were supported by a written, codified approach to company values and a hiring philosophy designed to attract talent aligned with that mission. In this episode, Chief People Officer L.J. Brock joins case author and HBS professor Charles Wang and host Brian Kenny to discuss how Coinbase’s strategy, explored in the case “Mission First at Coinbase,” raises critical questions about focus, inclusion, and attracting top talent in a volatile industry.

Inside Coinbase’s Mission-First, Remote-First Bet

Jenny Wolfram founded BrandBastion in 2013 after noticing that many companies&#8217; social media pages were teeming with spam, hostile messages, and unanswered comments&#8212;all of which chipped away at customer trust. She built an AI-powered platform, supported by human moderation, to help brands manage comment sections at scale, respond quickly to customers, and protect their reputation.
Wolfram joins the company&#8217;s Head of Operations and Finance, Vesa Rikkinen, Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Julian De Freitas, and host Brian Kenny to discuss the HBS case &#8220;BrandBastion: Managing Online Brand Communities.&#8221; They explore key decisions brands face, including when to step in and respond to customers online, and how to make the case for investing in moderation.

BrandBastion Mixes AI and Human Judgment to Build Trust at Scale

Apollo Global Management has transformed itself from a traditional private equity giant into an insurance-fueled credit powerhouse—thanks to its acquisition of life annuity issuer Athene. CEO Marc Rowan makes a bold bet that an asset-heavy model, which is backed by hundreds of billions in long-term insurance liabilities, can drive repeatable, superior returns and propel Apollo’s assets under management to $1.5 trillion. However, public markets award Apollo a multitude on its earnings that is far lower than asset-light peers like Blackstone, which highlights important trade-offs. Harvard Business School professor George Serafeim joins host Brian Kenny to discuss the questions raised by the case, Apollo Global Management, and explore what Apollo’s transformation reveals about business-model innovation and risk management in today’s rapidly evolving private markets ecosystem, and what it means to be a modern investment firm.

Apollo Global Management’s Business Model Transformation

Tata Power stood at the forefront of India&#8217;s energy transition. The firm&#8217;s long history was deeply intertwined with the country&#8217;s development. As Mumbai&#8217;s power needs increased, Tata Power built out thermal assets across India, and while thermal power generation remained Tata Power&#8217;s mainstay, the firm slowly started diversifying. By 2024, Tata Power was India&#8217;s largest private power producer by installed capacity with annual revenues of $7.4 billion. In 2020, Tata Power boldly announced a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, concurrent with a complete phase-down of thermal capacity. It later brought this commitment forward to 2045.
To prepare for declining revenues from thermal power generation, it was actively expanding its renewable business, but stakeholders had concerns about Tata Power&#8217;s ambitions. Was the firm&#8217;s decision to sacrifice potentially high returns in thermal power generation financially imprudent, or did it position the firm well as India inevitably accelerated its energy transition?
In this episode, host Brian Kenny welcomes Harvard Business School Professor Vikram Gandhi and Tata Power CEO Praveer Sinha to discuss the case <a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/tata-power-and-india-s-energy-transition/325081?sku=325081-PDF-ENG">Tata Power and India&#8217;s Energy Transition</a>, and how India&#8217;s largest private power producer is reimagining its future.
They explore how the legacy energy company should allocate capital between proven thermal assets and emerging renewable technologies, and what lessons the company&#8217;s journey offers for leaders navigating disruption, investor expectations, and the balance between profits and purpose.

Inside India’s Energy Transition: Tata Power’s Net Zero Strategy

In April 2024, writer, podcaster, and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss&#8212;known for his hugely popular podcast &#8220;The Tim Ferriss Show&#8221; and NYT-bestselling books like The 4-Hour Workweek&#8212;found himself at a crossroads. Although his podcast was generating millions annually, he questioned the sustainability of podcasting and his own competitive advantage given the increasingly saturated market and the advent of AI tools and video-centric formats. Plus, he had built his career on anticipating cultural shifts in knowledge work, health, and media consumption while making early angel investments in companies like Uber, Shopify, Facebook, and Twitter. But his podcast&#8217;s reliable cash flow also funded his science-focused foundation, so making any shifts would be very consequential.
He faced a difficult choice: innovate from within his proven format, pivot to entirely new ventures&#8212;possibly in film, premium consumer products, or venture capital&#8212;or risk a slow decline by maintaining the status quo. Complicating matters further was Ferriss&#8217;s desire to start a family, a goal he prioritized above all business ventures. Every month of indecision narrowed his window for successfully transitioning.
Senior Lecturer Reza Satchu and Tim Ferriss joined Cold Call host Brian Kenny to discuss the case, &#8220;Tim Ferriss: What Might This Look Like If It Were Easy?&#8221; in front of a live audience on October 7, 2025 in Harvard Business School&#8217;s Klarman Hall auditorium. Using &#8220;The Founder Mindset&#8221; framework from the course created by Satchu, they explore testing assumptions, calibrating risk, and how to choose the next path in the face of multiple options&#8212;which can often lead to inaction.

Tim Ferriss at a Career Crossroads: How Should He Shape His Next Chapter?

For 35 years, Dollar Tree, a discount retail chain selling general merchandise, had held its fixed price point steady, pricing all of its household items, food, stationery, books, seasonal items, gifts, toys, and clothing that made up its diverse and ever-changing assortment at $1.00. While all other dollar store chains had raised prices over the years to keep up with inflation, Dollar Tree had never budged on its price. However, in late 2021, the company announced that Dollar Tree was &#8220;breaking the buck&#8221; and raising prices on all goods to $1.25.
Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jill Avery and host Brian Kenny discuss whether the retail chain could remain relevant to its price sensitive shoppers through smart marketing, pricing, and branding strategies in the case, &#8220;Dollar Tree: Breaking the Buck.&#8221;

How Dollar Tree Plans to Thrive Despite Breaking the Buck

In the winter of 2023, Lyft was facing declining market share and financial pressures. Enter new CEO David Risher, who took the helm amid low morale and limited resources. His challenge: reignite innovation, refocus the culture, and find new ways to stand out in an industry dominated by Uber.
Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati joins host Brian Kenny to discuss the case &#8220;<a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/lyft-2023-roads-to-growth-and-differentiation/424060?sku=424060-PDF-ENG">Lyft 2023: Roads to Growth and Differentiation</a>.&#8221; They explore how Risher led during a strategic crossroads, making bold decisions, putting the customer front and center, and shaking loose old habits. Gulati also shares insights from his new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Bold-Surprising-Everyday/dp/0063394812">How to Be Bold</a>, illustrating how courage becomes a competitive advantage in times of uncertainty.

How Lyft’s CEO Got the Company Moving Again

How do you scale innovation in a system where critical pieces are out of your control? That is the challenge Highland Electric Fleets faced as it worked to replace diesel school buses with electric vehicles across the United States. While Highland provided financing, infrastructure, and fleet operations, success depended on external partners, including manufacturers, utilities, and districts. Delays and disruptions forced the company to stay nimble and deliver under pressure.
Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Highland Electric founder and CEO Duncan McIntyre join host Brian Kenny to discuss the HBS case &#8220;&#8217;The Wheels on the Bus&#8217; Go Electric.&#8221; They explore what it takes to scale a climate solution while sustaining momentum and coordinating across public and private sectors.

Partnerships Power Highland Electric’s Expanding Fleet of School Buses

In 2020, Atlassian committed to a fully distributed model, allowing employees to work from anywhere, permanently. While many tech peers later reversed course on remote work, Atlassian optimized its approach, developing data-driven routines, rethinking office spaces, and reshaping team rituals for its 12,000 employees in 13 countries.
By 2024, these practices had moved beyond HR policy to become central to the company&#8217;s strategy. Lessons from Atlassian&#8217;s internal experiments began to shape its collaboration software, turning its workforce into an innovation lab. But selling these practices to enterprise customers posed a new challenge: unlike Atlassian&#8217;s traditional self-serve model, distributed work transformation required hands-on support, strategic advising, and cultural change, capabilities the company had not previously built into its go-to-market approach.
Harvard Business School Associate Professor Ashley Whillans joins host Brian Kenny to discuss the case &#8220;<a href="https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/925029-PDF-ENG">Designing the Future of Work: Atlassian&#8217;s Distributed Work Practices</a>&#8221; and the questions Atlassian&#8217;s leaders face: how to scale what works without losing flexibility, how tightly to integrate practices into products, and how to guide customers through a distributed work transformation that requires more than software alone.

Atlassian Anchors Remote Flexibility in Structured Daily Practices

When Happi Co. CEO Sam Rockwell partnered with Snoop Dogg and his son, Cordell Broadus, to launch Dr. Bombay Ice Cream, the team set out to disrupt a stagnant market with innovative flavors and culturally resonant branding. By combining Happi Co.&#8217;s operational expertise with Snoop Dogg&#8217;s global influence, the brand quickly secured placement in 80% of U.S. national grocery retailers and projected $20 million in first-year sales.
Now, as Rockwell considers strategic next steps for marketing, fundraising, and diversification into new markets, he must also navigate the complexities of a creator-led brand. That includes balancing roles and responsibilities while keeping the company nimble and culturally relevant to reach its goals.
Rockwell and Harvard Business School professor Bill Kerr join host Brian Kenny to discuss Kerr&#8217;s HBS case &#8220;<a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/dr-bombay-ice-cream/825090?sku=825090-PDF-ENG">Dr. Bombay Ice Cream</a>,&#8221; which explores the creation, growth, and strategic decisions behind a lifestyle brand fueled by bold ideas and storytelling.

Disrupting the Freezer Aisle: Dr. Bombay Ice Cream

Shake Shack started in 2001 as a hot dog cart in New York City&#8217;s Madison Square Park. It&#8217;s now a global fast-casual restaurant chain renowned for both quality and hospitality. In 2024, following a rapid rollout of digital tools like kiosks and mobile ordering, Chief Growth Officer Stephanie So found herself asking, had Shake Shack built a model that could truly scale, or one that still needed work?
That question came during a leadership transition and amid ambitious plans for growth. Digital orders were up, and average check sizes were higher, but the shift also raised new challenges. Would automation undermine the guest experience or change what it meant to work at Shake Shack? Could personalization and operational efficiency coexist with the company&#8217;s hallmark hospitality ethos?
Harvard Business School professor Chris Stanton joins So and host Brian Kenny to discuss the case &#8220;<a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/shake-shack-s-playbook-for-the-digital-era/825136?sku=825136-PDF-ENG">Shake Shack&#8217;s Playbook for the Digital Era</a>.&#8221; Together, they explore what it means to scale hospitality in a tech-driven industry and how Shake Shack is balancing brand values, digital adoption, and the evolving role of its frontline team.

Shake Shack’s Digital Playbook: More Tech, Same Hospitality?

During a busy travel season, digital travel platform Booking.com wanted to try an experiment that would mean changing the site&#8217;s landing page. The CEO at the time, Gillian Tans, made the decision to lean into the company&#8217;s &#8220;test everything&#8221; culture&#8212;even if it meant failure.
In this episode from 2019, Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke and host Brian Kenny discuss how past experience and intuition can be misleading when attempting to launch an innovative new product, service, business model, or process. Instead, Booking.com and other innovative firms embrace a culture where testing, experimentation, and even failure are at the heart of what they do.
As you plan your summer travels, enjoy this episode about cultivating an experimental mindset with insights from the case <a href="https://hbr.org/product/booking-com/619015-PDF-ENG">Booking.com</a> and Professor Thomke&#8217;s book Experimentation Works.

At Booking.com, Innovation Means Constant Failure (Summer Repeat)

Ming Min Hui, executive director of Boston Ballet, is unique in her field. As a young, Asian American woman with a Harvard Business School MBA and a background in finance, she has focused her tenure on ensuring the ballet company stays true to its art form and simultaneously relevant to its times.
Hui had worked for eight years at Boston Ballet as chief of staff and chief financial officer before taking the helm. Now leading one of the foremost ballet companies in the United States, she confronted evolving demographics, shifting audience habits, and an increasingly challenging financial environment.
Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Edward Chang and Hui join host Brian Kenny to discuss the case <a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/ming-min-hui-at-boston-ballet/925003?sku=925003-PDF-ENG">Ming Min Hui at Boston Ballet</a>. They explore how she balances the past, present, and future&#8212;and how these lessons translate from this nonprofit arts organization to any company, anywhere.

Ensuring Boston Ballet Stays Relevant

Bill Wilson was an incredibly entrepreneurial young man with tremendous potential. He was also a drunk who had hit rock bottom. Then an epiphany led him to enduring sobriety.
With his personal drive and fellowship with former drinking buddies, Wilson built a social movement and worldwide organization. Founded in 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous has helped millions of &#8220;friends of Bill&#8221; recover from alcohol addiction.
In this episode of Cold Call, Harvard Business School Professor Robert Simons joins host Brian Kenny to discuss the case, <a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/bill-wilson-changing-the-world/121048?sku=121048-PDF-ENG" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Wilson: Changing the World</a>. They explore how Wilson navigated life&#8217;s choices, transformed his life and those of others, and left a lasting impact on the world.

How Bill Wilson Cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous and Created a Lasting Social Movement

Keurig Green Mountain (KGM) created a new category of consumer products, becoming a household name in at-home coffee brewing in North America. But by the early 2010s, the public company had lost momentum and suffered a series of product missteps, negative media scrutiny, and ongoing challenges to its partner relationships.
In late 2015, the company was acquired by JAB Holding Company. The new CEO Bob Gamgort led efforts to turn the newly private company around by strengthening partnerships, upping productivity, and reducing costs. In 2017, the company was then able to focus on new growth.
Gamgort had to decide the best strategy from four major options: take the company public again through an IPO; set out for greater global expansion; combine with another coffee business to become a larger player in North American coffee; or diversify beyond coffee through a &#8220;pure play beverage&#8221; strategy. Harvard Business School&#8217;s Senior Lecturer David Fubini and Research Associate Patrick Sanguineti join host Brian Kenny to discuss these options from their case, &#8220;<a href="https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/425009-PDF-ENG" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Keurig: A Return to Growth</a>.&#8221;

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

#275

Inside Coinbase’s Mission-First, Remote-First Bet

#274

BrandBastion Mixes AI and Human Judgment to Build Trust at Scale

#273

Apollo Global Management’s Business Model Transformation

#272

Inside India’s Energy Transition: Tata Power’s Net Zero Strategy

#271

Tim Ferriss at a Career Crossroads: How Should He Shape His Next Chapter?

#270

How Dollar Tree Plans to Thrive Despite Breaking the Buck

#269

How Lyft’s CEO Got the Company Moving Again

#268

Partnerships Power Highland Electric’s Expanding Fleet of School Buses

#267

Atlassian Anchors Remote Flexibility in Structured Daily Practices

#266

Disrupting the Freezer Aisle: Dr. Bombay Ice Cream

#265

Shake Shack’s Digital Playbook: More Tech, Same Hospitality?

#264

At Booking.com, Innovation Means Constant Failure (Summer Repeat)

#263

Ensuring Boston Ballet Stays Relevant

#262

How Bill Wilson Cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous and Created a Lasting Social Movement

#261

How Keurig Brewed a Return to Growth