Cold Call

How do you scale innovation in a fragmented system you don’t fully control? That is the challenge Highland Electric Fleets faced as it worked to replace diesel school buses with electric vehicles across the United States. In this episode from 2025, Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Highland Electric founder and CEO Duncan McIntyre join host Brian Kenny to discuss the Harvard Business School case, “'The Wheels on the Bus' Go Electric: Highland Electric Fleets and Partners,” and what it takes to scale a climate solution while sustaining momentum and coordinating across public and private sectors.

Founded in 2021, AI generative video company Metaphysic first rose to fame through viral deepfake videos. It achieved a significant milestone with "Here," the first major film to use AI for de-aging actors, including Tom Hanks. The company had two revenue streams: high-end content creation for Hollywood studios and a platform allowing individuals to own and control their digital likeness thanks to the entertainment industry’s “separated rights” framework. However, as AI increasingly codified expertise across other sectors, such protections do not extend; employers own workplace data by default. In such environments, when an individual's expertise can be digitally captured, replicated, and monetized, questions remain about who can capture value and the pivotal role of claiming data rights in complex multi-party negotiations. Harvard Business School Associate Professor Zoe Cullen and host Brian Kenny explore the tensions between individual rights and commercial applications of AI in the case, Metaphysic AI: Rethinking the Value of Human Expertise.

Jenny Wolfram founded BrandBastion to help companies manage the risks of social media by combining AI with human moderation. She joins HBS professor Julian De Freitas and BrandBastion’s Head of Operations and Finance, Vesa Rikkinen, to discuss how this hybrid model builds trust without ballooning costs.

Tata Power stood at the forefront of India’s energy transition. The firm’s long history was deeply intertwined with the country's development. As Mumbai’s power needs increased, Tata Power built out thermal assets across India, and while thermal power generation remained Tata Power’s mainstay, the firm slowly started diversifying. In 2020, Tata Power boldly announced a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, concurrent with a complete phase-down of thermal capacity. It later brought this commitment forward to 2045. To prepare for declining revenues from thermal power generation, Tata Power was actively expanding its renewable business, but stakeholders had concerns about the company’s ambitions. Was the firm’s decision to sacrifice potentially high returns in thermal power generation financially imprudent, or did it position the firm well as India inevitably accelerated its energy transition? In this episode, host Brian Kenny welcomes Harvard Business School Professor Vikram Gandhi and Tata Power CEO Praveer Sinha to discuss the case Tata Power and India’s Energy Transition, and how India’s largest private power producer is reimagining its future.

For 35 years, Dollar Tree, a discount retail chain selling general merchandise, had held its fixed price point steady, charging $1.00 for its ever-changing assortment of household items, food, stationery, books, seasonal items, gifts, toys, and clothing. That changed in late 2021, when the company announced that Dollar Tree was raising prices on all goods to $1.25. Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jill Avery joins host Brian Kenny to discuss whether the retail chain could remain relevant to its price sensitive shoppers through smart marketing, pricing, and branding strategies in the case, “Dollar Tree: Breaking the Buck.”