Watch Stephan in Action
About Stephan Meier
Businesses have long treated the customer as king. Stephan Meier asks a different question: what happens when a company gives its workforce the same priority? His research has been covered by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and The New York Times, and includes consulting work with Uber Technologies to understand what motivates its drivers.
His book, The Employee Advantage, argues that firms built around an employee-centric business model become more profitable and innovative while attracting top talent. "If leaders can understand how non-monetary incentives affect workers' behavior, those levers can be used to get a more engaged, motivated workforce," he explains.
Stephan's Keynote Topics
As leaders rush to implement the latest emerging technologies into their business workflows, how can they ensure these tools enhance human skills instead of encroaching upon them? According to Stephan Meier, an award-winning Columbia Business School (CBS) professor and chair of CBS’s Management Division, organizations need to take a human-centric approach to design a future where people can collaboratively work with new technology while staying motivated and creative. Director of the “Humans in the Digital Economy” lab at the Digital Future Initiative at CBS, Meier zooms in on strategies for integrating emerging technologies in ways that strengthen autonomy and trust within teams. Attendees exit with clear steps for using artificial intelligence tools as partners that enhance employee satisfaction and productivity, without subjecting them to surveillance.
A toxic workplace culture hampers employee well-being while making it difficult to achieve organizational goals. How can an organization constructively change culture once nastiness and negativity have settled in? According to Columbia School of Business professor Stephan Meier, leaders can create a more positive and psychologically safe workplace by making open communication the standard. In this engaging and entertaining presentation, Meier reveals how to remove barriers to engagement, foster a workplace that celebrates transparency and empower employees to contribute to their fullest potential. Managers walk away with strategies for identifying and mitigating negativity at work to ensure every team member feels valued and understood, paving the way for enhanced collaboration and innovation.
New tools like generative and agentic AI are presenting unprecedented opportunities and challenges to leaders. When business and demand on its workforce seems like it’s changing faster than ever before, how can executives be sure they’re making the right choices for their organizations? By intentionally applying classic leadership skills like relationship building and the art of persuasion, and adapting them to the new dynamics, says Stephan Meier, an award-winning professor at Columbia Business School (CBS). In this highly interactive presentation drawn from his popular executive development program at CBS, “Leading Into the Future,” Meier focuses on the practical application of management fundamentals to address real-world business dynamics, such as the explosion of data availability, changes in workforce dynamics/expectations and the need for constant up- and re-skilling . Attendees walk away with insights into the old and new skills needed to strategically manage the integration of emerging technologies. They also gain a clear understanding of how to adapt to the shifting global market while shaping the trends of the future.
Businesses traditionally consider customers to be king, but what if a company’s workforce was given similar priority? Award-winning Columbia Business School professor Stephan Meier points out that with the rise of AI technology, the organizations that treat their human employees well will have a key advantage over increasingly robot-reliant competition. Drawing on his book, “The Employee Advantage,” Meier illustrates how firms that emphasize an employee-centric business model boost their profitability and innovation while becoming magnets for top talent. Through compelling case studies and real-world examples from his research and executive education programs, Meier reveals essential mindset shifts for creating a mutually beneficial environment where both employees and business thrive. Participants walk away with practical strategies for holding employees as critical stakeholders, ultimately lowering turnover and raising profits.
Books by Stephan Meier
Stephan in the Media
Managers aren't ready to lead the AI talent they're hiring
Business books: what to read this month
The New Corner Office Is at Home
Rethinking Incentives: What Leaders Miss About Employee Engagement
How Employee Centricity Drives Business Success
When Economic Struggles Foster Self-Interest, Not Universal Compassion
AI-Generated Digital Twins: Shaping the Future of Business
Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Why Women Value Meaning at Work More Than Men
An Employee-Centric Mindset Is Just as Important for Businesses as a Customer-Centric One
How the Behavioral Economics of Uber Drivers Reveal What Really Drives the Workforce
Effective Leadership Is All About ‘Engaged Autonomy’
Why Companies Still Need to Invest in People, According to a Columbia Business Professor
An engaging look at the complex relationships that connect pay, respect, culture, autonomy, purpose, and more to employee experience and company value. 'The Employee Advantage' shows that employee experience remains a worthy bellwether for company success.
Amy C. EdmondsonNovartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School, and Author, "The Right Kind of Wrong"
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