52:02 minutes
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February 18, 2025
#18 Navigating ‘The Age of Outrage’
Leading in a World on Edge with Karthik Ramanna
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About The Speaker
Karthik Ramanna is Professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and a fellow at St John’s College. He teaches at the Blavatnik School on managing organisations in polarised times, which led to his 2024 book The Age of Outrage.
An expert on business-government relations, sustainable capitalism, and corporate reporting and auditing, Professor Ramanna studies how organisations and leaders build trust with stakeholders. His scholarship has won numerous awards, including the Journal of Accounting and Economics Best Paper Prize, the Harvard Business Review McKinsey Award for “groundbreaking management thinking,” and three times the international Case Centre’s prizes for “outstanding case-writing,” dubbed by the Financial Times as “the business school Oscars.”
Professor Ramanna established the Case Centre on Public Leadership and the Transformational Leadership Fellowship at the School, the latter a bespoke, by-invitation programme for senior leaders looking to reimagine their public-service impact. In 2022, he co-founded the non-profit E-liability Institute, where he serves as principal investigator, with a mission to drive decarbonisation processes through rigorous GHG accounting. From 2016 to 2023, he was director of the Blavatnik School’s Master of Public Policy programme that has educated over a thousand public leaders from about 120 countries. From July 2023, Professor Ramanna is on partial public-service leave from Oxford to advise the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, an “auditor of auditors” in global markets.
Previously, Professor Ramanna taught at the Harvard Business School in both the MBA and senior executive-education programmes. He has a doctorate from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He lives in Oxford with his husband, Jon, and they enjoy dinner parties and touring Caravaggios.
Episode Description
Professor Karthik Ramanna, a prominent authority on business-government relations and sustainable capitalism, joins us to unravel the themes from his compelling book, “The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World.” Our conversation touches on his influential role as the inaugural director of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government’s Master of Public Policy program. Discover how his course on managing organizations in polarized times served as a springboard for his book, and how engaging with global leaders informed his perspective on leadership in tumultuous times. We navigate the multifaceted challenges of leadership and the societal fissures that threaten the fabric of modern governance.
We explore the unsettling forces of fear, historical injustices, and ideologies of othering that are reshaping our world and eroding the global enlightenment perspective. Delve into the concept of othering and its impact on politics, while understanding why a return to tribal instincts is more prevalent than ever. With trust in institutions waning, the need for temperate leadership that fosters empathy and altruism becomes crucial. Professor Ramana provides a nuanced analysis of how addressing peripheral issues around othering can restore societal harmony.
On the practical side, we discuss effective crisis management strategies, emphasizing the importance of establishing clear rules of engagement and maintaining composure under pressure. With insights from neuroscience and personal anecdotes, learn how simple practices like physical activity can help leaders manage emotions and positively influence others. Professor Ramana shares his thoughts on corporate social responsibility, navigating the delicate balance between business objectives and societal expectations. Concluding with valuable book recommendations, including Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” this episode offers essential tools for personal growth and understanding interdependence in an increasingly polarized world.
Additional inspirations from Karthik Ramanna
- Link to his book The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World
