U.S. Business Editor of the Financial Times

Features writer for New York Magazine and Author of “Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork”.

In our fifty-eighth episode of The Crux, we are honored to welcome the Chair of the Diversity Action Alliance, Professor Denise Hill of Elon University, and the President of the Diversity Action Alliance, Carmella Glover. The Diversity Action Alliance is a coalition of public relations and communications organizations that have joined forces to accelerate progress relative to diversity, equity and inclusion across the PR profession.

In our fifty-seventh episode of The Crux, we welcome Marjorie Benzkofer and Cherry Bayer. Marjorie is the Chief Strategy Officer of Fleishman Hillard and Cherry is the Director of Internal Communications at LabCorp. They are both members of Page Up. Marjorie and Cherry will talk with us about a report Page Up published last year, Resilience and Change in a Time of Change: Research Findings on the Transformed Role of Communications. It's an excellent summary of the dynamic forces that are transforming business communications almost on a day-to-day basis.

In our fifty-sixth episode of The Crux, we welcome author and CEO of Dezenhall Resources, Eric Dezenhall. We discuss Eric's point of view on the role of business in society and crisis communications in an era of turmoil, acrimony, and collapsing trust in the media.

In our fifty-fifth episode of The Crux, we welcome Kendra Butters, the communications director of the Boston Athletic Association. We discuss Kendra's role and responsibilities and how her team is handling the near-constant turmoil for the crises that were brought upon the association by the pandemic.

In our fifty-fourth episode of The Crux, we welcome Mark Schaefer, COO of B Squared Media. Mark is also a faculty member at Rutgers University and an author. We discuss with him his latest book, Cumulative Advantage: How to Build Momentum for your Ideas, Business and Life Against All Odds.

In our fifty-third episode of The Crux, we welcome Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of GE and today a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates and instructor at the Stanford Global School of Business. Jeff has a new book, HOT SEAT: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company. We discuss the role communications and culture played in Jeff's tenure at GE and how leaders should be thinking about those topics today.

In our fifty-second episode of The Crux, we welcome Jolie Hunt, CEO and founder of Hunt and Gather. We discuss her lessons learnt from holding senior titles at a young age, how the move to digitized relationships has changed influencer ideologies, and how companies should adapt to social movements such as showing their support against racism.

In our fifty-first episode of The Crux, we welcome David Murray, author of An Effort To Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half. We discuss communicating more honestly with ourselves, how Americans can focus more on what we have in common, rather than our differences, the medias contribution to the polarization that we see today in the U.S., and David shares the meaning of "Words Hold People Together," one of the essays featured in the book.

In our fiftieth episode of The Crux, we welcome Frank Figliuzzi, author of The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence. We discuss what led Frank to write his book, the values of the FBI and how they can be applied to other organizations, the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and how the FBI can continue to be effective in the current environment.

In our forty-ninth episode of The Crux, we welcome Eric Handler, Vice President of communications at the YES Network. We discuss what it is like to lead a communications team in the most competitive sports market in the world, how COVID changed his job over the last year, and how sports networks have handled the growing activism in nearly every aspect of life.

In our forty-eighth episode of The Crux, we welcome Dean Acosta, senior vice president and CCO of Lockheed Martin. We discuss NASA's Perseverance rover, which Lockheed Martin had a hand in, how being a journalist helped Dean both at NASA and with his role today, the digital-first approach, change management, and Dean's journey to becoming CCO of Lockheed Martin.

In our forty-seventh episode of The Crux, we welcome Judy Samuelson, the executive director and founder of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program. We discuss Judy's new book, The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World, the changing role of business in society, and why CEOs should be paid less.

In our forty-sixth episode of The Crux, we welcome Jen Prosek and Mark Kollar from Prosek Partners, one of the world's leading financial communications and strategic advisory firms. We discuss the role of purpose, ESG efforts, and areas of growth for the company. As we close out 2020, our team also names our own communicators of the year.

In our forty-fifth episode of The Crux, Gary and Mike speak with Alan Murray, the president and CEO of Fortune Media Group. We discuss the ways the 90-year-old media business has reinvented itself, trends in CEO activism, what business leaders can expect from the Biden Administration, and the future of journalism.

In our forty-forth episode of The Crux, we welcome Stefanie Johnson, professor of organizational leadership at the University of Colorado-Boulder and author of a new book, Inclusify. We discuss research-backed ways to create authentic diversity and inclusion, trends in unconscious biases and related training, and findings on women's tasks and trajectory in the workplace.

TW: This episode discusses sexual harassment in the workplace, starting around the 50:00 mark.

In our forty-third episode of The Crux, Gary and Mike interview Vivian Schiller, executive director of the Aspen Institute and former president and CEO of NPR. Vivian emphasizes using evidence-based reality to guide media literacy and shutting down false, harmful information, especially amid the ongoing "infodemic."

In our forty-second episode of The Crux, Mike and Gary welcome Jeff DeMarrais, CCO of Cognizant, one of the world's leading professional service firms. We discuss using the "moneyball" methodology of communications, recruiting talent for the future, and telling your story looking beyond the traditional PESO model.

In our forty-first episode, Gary and Mike are joined by Tony Fratto, managing partner of Hamilton Place Strategies and former deputy press secretary in the George W. Bush White House. In the wake of a historic election, we discuss the evolution of news, polling, internal communications, and the notion of Trumpism.