External Industry Podcast297 Episodes

Cold Call

Published by Harvard Business School / HBR Presents

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.

Note: These episodes are published externally by Harvard Business School / HBR Presents, not by Wootomatic. We host this embedded stream for educational and commentary purposes. Listen to every episode right on our site below.

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Episode 29328 minSeptember 29, 2026

Considering the Future of the BBC and Its Funding Model

With viewership of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) in decline, the country’s Culture Minister must recommend a new funding model for the venerated public institution which will allow the broadcaster to succeed in an increasingly competitive media environment. Harvard Business School senior lecturer Henry McGee and host Brian Kenny discuss the case, “The Future of the BBC: Public Ownership vs. Privatization,” and the different structures an institution like the BBC could have in order to operate in a financially sound and culturally impactful way.

Considering the Future of the BBC and Its Funding Model

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Episode 29226 minSeptember 22, 2026

Dare to Be Bad at Something (from Fixable)

Sometimes the only way to win is by finding the courage to lose. Cold Call presents a special episode from TED’s Fixable podcast. In it, the show’s hosts, Leadership Coach Anne Morriss and Harvard Business School Professor Frances Frei, challenge leaders to “dare to be bad” in order to free up capacity to excel at more important things. They share insight on the power of a strategic “no,” the value of ruthless prioritization, and how Steve Jobs and Apple delivered breakthrough innovation by strategically underperforming. Frances also explains why you can’t always trust your own instincts, and Anne reflects on the lessons she learned in her early days of parenting.

Dare to Be Bad at Something (from Fixable)

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Episode 29131 minSeptember 15, 2026

How GEO Is Changing the Role of Brand Manager

AthenaHQ, a startup that helps brands monitor, protect, and optimize their visibility across conversational AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini was founded in 2025. Co-founded by Andrew Yan, the company built a platform that enables major consumer brands, B2B software companies, and marketing agencies to track their share of voice, correct factual errors in AI responses, and manage their reputation across generative answer engines. In this episode, Harvard Business School associate professor Julian De Freitas and AthenaHQ co-founder and CEO Andrew Yan join host Brian Kenny to discuss the case “AthenaHQ: Building Brands for AI Search,” exploring how marketers are navigating the new world of generative engine optimization (GEO), the so-called “dark funnel” of customer engagement, and the need for brand managers to optimize for brand sentiment and accuracy not just search rankings.

How GEO Is Changing the Role of Brand Manager

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Episode 29032 minSeptember 1, 2026

Best of Cold Call: The Bumpy Road to Expanding a Fleet of Electric School Buses

How do you scale innovation in a fragmented system you don’t fully control? That is the challenge Highland Electric Fleets faced as it worked to replace diesel school buses with electric vehicles across the United States. In this episode from 2025, Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Highland Electric founder and CEO Duncan McIntyre join host Brian Kenny to discuss the Harvard Business School case, “'The Wheels on the Bus' Go Electric: Highland Electric Fleets and Partners,” and what it takes to scale a climate solution while sustaining momentum and coordinating across public and private sectors.

Best of Cold Call: The Bumpy Road to Expanding a Fleet of Electric School Buses

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Episode 28924 minAugust 18, 2026

Can an AI-Powered Scribe Curb Physician Burnout?

In 2024, Mass General Brigham, the largest health system in Massachusetts, piloted an AI-powered, ambient note-taking and transcription program among a subset of clinicians to address increasing rates of staff burnout and turnover -- largely driven by the administrative burden of clinical documentation in the electronic health records (EHR). Early results showed promising reductions in clinician burnout, intention to leave, and increased physician efficiency. But concerns about the technology, including the generation of inaccurate notes with errors or hallucinations made physicians resistant to learn and adopt it into their workflows. Harvard Business School Associate Professor Susanna Gallani and host Brian Kenny discuss the challenges leadership at the health care organization anticipated as they considered scaling the AI technology responsibly in the case: The AI Scribe: Enhancing Physician Presence and Curbing Burnout at Mass General Brigham

Can an AI-Powered Scribe Curb Physician Burnout?

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Episode 28824 minAugust 4, 2026

Why Metaphysic AI Looked to Hollywood for a Digital Rights Model

Founded in 2021, AI generative video company Metaphysic first rose to fame through viral deepfake videos. It achieved a significant milestone with "Here," the first major film to use AI for de-aging actors, including Tom Hanks. The company had two revenue streams: high-end content creation for Hollywood studios and a platform allowing individuals to own and control their digital likeness thanks to the entertainment industry’s “separated rights” framework. However, as AI increasingly codified expertise across other sectors, such protections do not extend; employers own workplace data by default. In such environments, when an individual's expertise can be digitally captured, replicated, and monetized, questions remain about who can capture value and the pivotal role of claiming data rights in complex multi-party negotiations. Harvard Business School Associate Professor Zoe Cullen and host Brian Kenny explore the tensions between individual rights and commercial applications of AI in the case, Metaphysic AI: Rethinking the Value of Human Expertise.

Why Metaphysic AI Looked to Hollywood for a Digital Rights Model

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Episode 28727 minJuly 21, 2026

How a Museum Marketing Team Used AI to Bring People Closer to Art

In 2025, Harvard Art Museums considered using generative AI in a marketing campaign to increase visitor engagement and membership. Looking to boost attendance and appeal to a younger audience base, and facing intensified competition for leisure time, the Museums’ marketing team explored animating a canonical artwork using AI-generated avatars as part of a digital campaign. While the approach promised novelty and attention, it raised internal concerns about brand authenticity, interpretive authority, donor relations, and reputational risk. Harvard Business School Associate Professor Julian De Freitas and Harvard Art Museums Director of Marketing John Connolly join host Brian Kenny to discuss the case, Harvard Art Museums: When Art Meets Artificial Intelligence. They explore tensions between innovation and brand stewardship in cultural marketing, organizational barriers to new technology adoption, and the strategic use of emerging technologies in brand management.

How a Museum Marketing Team Used AI to Bring People Closer to Art

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Episode 28630 minJuly 7, 2026

Are We Entering a New Age of Creativity with the Help of AI?

In March 2024, The Atlantic announced a strategic content and product partnership with artificial intelligence giant OpenAI. OpenAI would license The Atlantic’s content to train its models and respond to user queries, while The Atlantic would receive a fee, privileged access to OpenAI’s technology, and “premium” positioning within the tech giant. The Atlantic’s journalists, however, were incensed, concerned that partnering with OpenAI was “a devil’s bargain.” Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire owner of The Atlantic, had to consider what was in the magazine’s best financial interest and what impact a continued partnership could have on the magazine’s journalism—and more broadly on the ideas landscape as a whole. Was Jobs undermining The Atlantic’s reputation, or was she bringing a new business model to bear on an industry facing major headwinds? Harvard Business School Professor Caroline Elkins joins host Brian Kenny to discuss the case, “The Atlantic and OpenAI.” They explore the question, “Is AI creative?” and how the answer affects not only journalism as we know it, but considerations for whether we can harness AI to enter an age of increased creativity for humankind.

Are We Entering a New Age of Creativity with the Help of AI?

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Episode 28537 minJune 23, 2026

How School of Rock Created Structure in Order to Scale with Agility and Creativity

In the summer of 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before Rob Price became CEO in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist culture led to variability in teaching styles, educational outcomes, and risks for copyright violations. One of Price’s major initiatives to aid better standardization was the Method App which provided a structure to empower and guide work at the school branches, featuring nearly 100 show programs and 1,000 copyright-compliant song choices tagged with the associated skill levels, musical concepts, and corresponding show programs. When the app launched in 2019, it struggled to gain traction. Some franchisees felt the functionality was flawed; others worried that the app threatened their pedagogical independence. Harvard Business School Professors Tatiana Sandino and Jeffrey Rayport joined host Brian Kenny and School of Rock leaders Stacey Ryan, President, and Rob Price, Former CEO for a live taping of Cold Call on the HBS campus. They discussed the case, “School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment,” and explored how they chose to drive adoption of the Method App across its franchisees without reigniting tensions with the corporate office.

How School of Rock Created Structure in Order to Scale with Agility and Creativity

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Episode 28433 minJune 9, 2026

The Founder Mindset: Tim Ferriss on Experiments, Risk, and Freedom

What does it take to be a founder? In this episode of The Founder Mindset, produced by Harvard Business School Foundry and hosted by Senior Lecturer Reza Satchu, Satchu sits down with writer, podcaster, and investor Tim Ferriss to discuss his blueprint for nimble decision-making and actionable success.

The Founder Mindset: Tim Ferriss on Experiments, Risk, and Freedom

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