Beyond the Case
A podcast where global leaders from the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management (OPM) community join in a personal capacity and share the real decisions, failures, and mental models behind building enduring companies.
This podcast is independent and not affiliated with Harvard Business School.
Episodes
75 episodes
From Trauma-Driven Hustle to Purpose-Driven Leadership - Saleema Vellani
Saleema Vellani shares the deeply personal story behind her entrepreneurial journey, from childhood trauma and feelings of rejection to building a life rooted in purpose, impact, and leadership.Saleema reflects on losing her mother at 16...
The Mindset That Turned Rejection Into Opportunity - Gevorg Shahbazyan
In this episode, Gevorg Shahbazyan shares a story shaped by rejection, resilience, and relentless ambition. Despite earning a master’s degree, speaking multiple languages, and completing internships in Washington D.C., he was rejected by nearly...
Gratitude, Growth & the Pursuit of Freedom - with Caio Zapata
This conversation with Caio Zapata was particularly refreshing because it blended entrepreneurship with deep introspection and philosophy. Beyond discussing business growth and leadership, Caio spoke thoughtfully about freedom, gratitude, adven...
They’re Solving Mental Health at Scale Using AI & HBS Is Taking Notes - Marc Goldberg & Christine Carville
In this episode, Marc Goldberg and Christine Carville share their journey from individual entrepreneurial paths to co-founding Resilience Lab and now leading at Cerebral. Christine’s career evolved from early entrepreneurship into clinical psyc...
Wisdom from an Unconventional Life - Isa Lorenzo
Isa Lorenzo’s story is anchored in three powerful ideas: stay endlessly curious, view failure as timing rather than defeat, and continually rediscover your purpose. She believes curiosity has been the driving force of her life, pushing her to e...
Meeting Warren Buffett & Bill Gates Taught Me the Truth About Wealth - Elie Nour
A defining moment in Elie Nour’s journey came from attending the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting, where he met Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. That experience shaped two core beliefs: humility at the highest levels of wealth and t...
From Empires to AI: How Power Is Shifting Globally - Caroline Elkins
Caroline Elkins is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and one of the world’s leading historians on empire, power, and institutions.We explored a central question: How s...
The First Rule is Don't Lose - Sherry Li
How many of us can genuinely reinvent our skill set as our business demands it? From Wall Street finance to hands-on real estate investing, and now to building AI-powered technology, Sherry Li has done exactly that. But what makes her evolution...
30+ Years of Executive Coaching: Patterns & Frameworks Behind Leadership Success - Linda Miklas
Working with Linda Miklas, my executive coach during the OPM program at Harvard Business School, was...
The Hidden Math Behind $1B Growth: Unit Economics That Matter - Judy Liu
Judy Liu begins with an unexpected insight: her thinking today is deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy and introspection, which help her navigate leadership, ego, and the different roles she plays across life. From that foundation, she shar...
Awareness: The First Step to Wisdom - Pàdraig O Céidigh
When you compete on a global stage for Entrepreneur of the Year and lose to Narayana Murthy, you don’t just come back with a trophy or a ranking - you come back with perspective.That experience shaped how Pàdraig O Céidigh thinks about e...
CEOs Don’t Have All the Answers: Leading a 750-Employee Autism Company Through Uncertainty - Ronit Molko
Ronit Molko shares her journey from growing up in South Africa during apartheid to building and scaling a national autism services company in the United States. After moving to the U.S. to study psychology and specializing in autism, she starte...
Public Markets, Real Estate, Venture, and Gold: A Portfolio Strategy - Tiz Gambacorta
Tiz Gambacorta shares his journey from investment banking and institutional fund management into entrepreneurship and later venture investing. He explains why he left a stable finance career in search of greater fulfillment, built a financial m...
A Father’s Playbook: 15 Life Lessons I Want My Daughters to Know - Rusty Russell
This episode centers less on business success and more on legacy, urgency, and documenting life lessons for the next generation.Rusty Russell shares his journey from growing up on a farm in rural Australia, leaving school early, b...
Breaking the ‘Son Heir’ Myth in Business - Nafeesa Moloobhoy
Being a woman raised in a traditional family, married young, without completing college or having any work experience and then stepping in to lead a 96-year-old legacy business in the male-dominated shipping industry is an extraordinary challen...
The 20-Year Rule for Entrepreneurs: Happiness and Long-Term Selfishness - Vivek Bhargava
Vivek Bhargava's philosophy is that the best entrepreneurial life is built on integrity, optimism, learning, and continuous stretching with happiness as the foundation, not the reward.Vivek is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and author ...
How KPIs, KRAs, and Leadership Systems Scaled Aquilaw to 150 People - Sucharita Basu
Sucharita Basu, Managing Partner of Aquilaw, speaks about how leadership systems, KPIs, and lessons from the Harvard Business Scho...
Family Constitutions: A Key to Multi-Generational Business Continuity — Fernando Fey
One of the strongest realizations from this conversation is the importance of a family constitution in sustaining a multi-generational business. Many family companies assume alignment will naturally exist because of shared blood and hist...
What’s the Worst That Can Happen? Running Marathons in Iran and North Korea - Daf Dubbelman
Daf Dubbelman is a real estate entrepreneur, endurance athlete, and Harvard Business School OPM participant who is completing the program for the second time. Daf shares the mindset that drives both his athletic and business pursuits:
From 150 Tasks to 6 Priorities: Using the Pareto Principle with a Business Coach – Ankit Gupta
Ankit Gupta, second-generation entrepreneur and leader of the Holistic Group, shares how business coaching played a critical role in sharpening his leadership, focus, and decision-making. While formal lear...
Growing 620× Over 25 Years by Letting Go of Daily Operations - Devendra Surana
Devendra Surana describes his shift from founder-operator to builder of an enduring organization. Early failures (first 2–3 years) forced humility, sharper strategy, and resilience. Over time he leaned into what he’s best at - new product devel...
From HBS Student to Case Protagonist: Risking It All for Impact - Guillermo "Billy" Jaime
It’s rare to attend Harvard Business School as a student and even rarer to later become the subject of two HBS case studies. Billy Jaime did both. While enrolled in the Owner/Preside...
The Founder’s Blind Spot: Holding On Too Long - Daniel Silva
With nearly three decades of entrepreneurial leadership, deep OPM roots, and the humility of a lifelong learner, Daniel Silva brings a rare blend of technical rigor, family-business insight, and reflective wisdom to this conversation. As the co...
The Power of Psychological Safety Among Peers - with Felix Kues
Felix Kues is a serial entrepreneur, deep-tech investor, and Harvard Business School OPM participant. Felix shares his journey from building AI software companies across multiple continents to founding a highly automated venture fund and later ...
The Inner Operating System of an Entrepreneur: Advisors, Yoga, and Time - Sudhakar Kadavasal
Sudhakar Kadavasal, a second-generation entrepreneur from Chennai has built and led businesses across IT services, logistics, chemicals, construction, and energy, with operations in India and Dubai. Sudhakar shares how his father’s early entrep...
