The Provocateurs Episode 33: Rajendra Pratap Gupta
Rajendra Pratap Gupta is a policymaker and author, a former advisor to the Health Minister of India, and a leading provocateur in digital health initiatives across the world.
He is the founder of the Global Digital Health Summit, which aims to create the future of healthcare; global think-tank The Health Parliament, which collaborates with the world’s leading organizations to make health and well-being accessible to all; and the International Patients Union, which is dedicated to empowering patients in policymaking. Rajendra also works to advance education in digital health at the Academy of Digital Health Sciences, which is now the largest provider of digital health courses globally.
In this episode, Rajendra draws on his extensive experience in private and public sectors to map out the future of healthcare. Discover:
• How prioritising healthcare can win elections
• The critical role of preemptive care over preventive care
• How genetics and individual data is shifting healthcare “from bedside to website”
With the democratization of technology, Rajendra contends, patients will turn from being passive recipients of care to active participants. Technology will be more than a platform for the solution – it will be the solution itself.
The executive’s participation in this podcast is solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.
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40:33
The Provocateurs Episode 32: Katie McGinty
Katie McGinty is the vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls. In this episode she shares insights from her remarkable career spanning both public service – including as the first woman to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Clinton – and private sector leadership.
Challenging the persistent myth that environmental initiatives harm the bottom line, Katie explains how sustainability and economic success are not opposing forces but complementary strategies, demonstrating through real-world examples how Johnson Controls achieves significant carbon reductions while generating substantial cost savings for clients.
Key themes include:
The importance of systems thinking in environmental solutions.
How buildings can be transformed from climate problems to climate solutions.
The power of technological innovation through efficiency, electrification, and digitalization.
Drawing from her unique background in chemistry, policy, and business leadership, Katie illustrates how bringing diverse perspectives together catalyzes creativity and transforms environmental challenges into competitive advantages and economic opportunities. Sustainability, she contends, is becoming “strategy essential” for businesses.
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This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in these articles are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.
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39:30
The Provocateurs Episode 31: Weslynne Ashton
Profit is Not the Only Value
A sustainable systems scientist, Weslynne Ashton is professor of environmental management and sustainability at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she also co-directs ID’s Food Systems Action Lab.
Here she discusses her work in industrial ecology and the circular economy, drawing from her experiences growing up in Trinidad. Weslynne argues that businesses need to adopt a more holistic view of value creation and regeneration, moving beyond purely financial metrics.
Weslynne Ashton’s research, teaching, and practice are oriented around transitioning socio-ecological systems to create more sustainable and regenerative business practices and emphasizes the importance of expanding beyond traditional views of capital to include eight different types: natural, human, financial, manufactured, social, political, cultural, and digital.
But how do we get these multiple capitals onto the balance sheet of business? Find out more in this conversation with hosts Geoff Tuff and Des Dearlove.
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This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in these articles are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.
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38:53
The Provocateurs Episode 30: Reflections
The 2024 Provocateurs series featured nine inspiring thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and business authors who challenged us to re-think conventional approaches to leadership and management.
Neri Karra Sillaman shared her remarkable story from refugee to building a multi-million-dollar sustainable fashion brand; Marcus Collins explored the hidden power of cultural influence in consumer behaviour; Lisa McKnight revealed how she transformed Barbie into a cultural phenomenon and billion-dollar success; and Andrew Winston redefined the role of business to create a thriving “net positive world”.
One of the key highlights of the 2024 series was recording live at New York Climate Week with Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, who delivered an emotional and unequivocal call to action to address the “moral vacuum” in global leadership. We must cultivate leaders, he says, who are equipped to embrace restorative, reparative, and regenerative practices and lead with purpose.
We also learnt leadership lessons from Amy Chang on becoming an AI entrepreneur; Jeff Wetzler on leveraging the wisdom of the people around you; Dane Jensen on harnessing the positive power of pressure; and Atif Rafiq on driving innovation and digital transformation in traditional, legacy companies.
In this episode, Steve Goldbach, Geoff Tuff, and Kulleni Gebreyes of Deloitte, join Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove of Thinkers50, to reflect on their key takeaways and thought-provoking insights from Provocateurs 2024.
This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in this podcast are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.
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36:32
The Provocateurs Episode 29: Lisa McKnight
Transforming Barbie
Executive vice president and chief brand officer of Mattel, Lisa McKnight is credited with leading the transformation of the Barbie brand. Under her leadership, Barbie became the number one global toy property in 2020 and 2021, and she redefined Barbie’s global social mission with the launch of the Dream Gap Project in 2018, a multi-year initiative which has positively impacted over 25 million girls.
In this conversation with Steve Goldbach, leader of Deloitte’s sustainability practice in the US, and Des Dearlove, co-founder of Thinkers50, Lisa explains what drew her to the world of toys, why the Barbie brand had fallen out of touch with its market, and how she and her team tackled the challenge of making Barbie relevant again.
Find out more about the importance of brands being consumer-centric and staying connected to culture, how Mattel overcame corporate reservations in the making of the Barbie movie, and why you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable when making decisions.
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This podcast is part of an ongoing series of interviews with executives. The executives’ participation in these articles are solely for educational purposes based on their knowledge of the subject and the views expressed by them are solely their own. This podcast should not be deemed or construed to be for the purpose of soliciting business for any of the companies mentioned, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse the services or products provided by these companies.
South Africa