Alex Liu∶ More Joy at Work

The Sydcast

Episode Summary:

“If you don’t start with reality, you can’t fix it.” Simple yet deeply meaningful. Alex Liu – one of the world’s top management consultants – has an interesting take on lots of things, including diversity and how to make it work better, racism and how to make it stop working, and joy at work, the secret sauce of successful organizations. All on this episode of The Sydcast.

Syd Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life.

Alex Liu

A trusted advisor to CEOs and boards, Alex joined Kearney as a partner in 1996 and later served as head of the firm’s global Communications, Media & Technology Practice and as a member of the board of directors. He was elected as the firm’s ninth managing partner in 2018. He also serves as the firm’s chief diversity officer. Alex has served as both speaker and co-chair at World Economic Forum (WEF) events, including the Annual Summit in Davos and the WEF Africa Summit, sharing his perspectives on the fourth industrial revolution and future-workforce topics. He is also a member of the WEF International Business Council (IBC), an advisory body made up of 100+ influential chief executives and chairs. Alex has been published in The Harvard Business Review, featured in The Financial Times, and selected a “Top 25 Consultant” by Consulting Magazine and a Top 20 Global Diversity CEO in 2020. He hosts a podcast #Joy@Work. Alex has previously served as a board advisor to Emirates Telecommunications Company (Etisalat) in UAE. Prior to Kearney, Alex was CEO of a technology startup and a partner with the Boston Consulting Group, helping establish the firm’s Asian operations outside of Japan in the 1990s. He began his career in brand management at a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble. Alex earned an MBA from Harvard, BA from Yale and serves as a trustee of Episcopal High School (Virginia). He remains an avid rugby player.

Insights from this episode:

• The idea that curiosity and learning is not just beneficial for consultants, but for everyone.
• Understanding what workplace culture truly is and entails.
• Identifying responsibilities that business leaders have in recognizing social inequities and leading by example to move toward solutions.
• Making joy a priority at work.

Quotes from the show:

• Consulting is “the hidden growth industry, because it’s an index for change.” -Alex Liu [3:42]

• “As soon as you stop learning about an industry, a sector, people, how people work, you’re not a very good teacher, consultant, or coach. So I think consultants need to be curious. They need to want to make a difference.” -Alex Liu [5:15]

• “We need to make sure that we create a culture, which is not only you feel psychologically and physically safe to be in, you need to be seen for who you are, not just your identity because most diversity is actually invisible, as you know. It’s not just race, gender, or age. It is many other things.” -Alex Liu [13:23]

• “We’re human at our core, and companies and people that are successful recognize and treat people that way--as individuals, not as easy identities.” -Alex Liu [33:50]

• “If you don’t start with reality, you can’t fix it.” -Alex Liu [45:50]

• “Run your own race. Self-define your passion, your definition of success, because you’re your own board of directors.” -Alex Liu [59:52]

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Alex Liu

LinkedIn: Alex Liu

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)