Business and Society with Michigan Ross

This November, tariffs are in effect and in flux, the job market is unstable, and AI continues to impact the way business is done. Consumers and businesses alike are looking out for these trends in the economy as the holiday shopping season approaches.

On this episode of Business and Society, Ross professors Ari Shwayder and Michael Speigl discuss the current state of the economy, unpacking the macroeconomic data and the uncertainty surrounding it. Topics covered include the bifurcated nature of today’s economy, the ways tariffs are gradually being passed on to consumers, changes in the labor market, AI, and predictions for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

The rise of short-term contract work and freelance jobs has created a large percentage of workers who work on their own terms, outside of organizations. These freelancers find new ways to deal with autonomy in their work, walking a precarious tightrope between instability and independence. 

On this episode of Business and Society, Ross Professor Sue Ashford discusses her award-winning research on the gig economy. Topics covered include the connection between productivity and identity for freelancers, how they gauge their own success, and the four main factors for thriving as an independent worker: connection to people, place, purpose, and routine.

The conversation ends with a discussion of how the gig economy has transformed in the five years since Ashford’s paper was published. She discusses algorithmic management, how a global pandemic brought society closer to independent work, and the future of her research.

Between 1989 and 2009, fewer than 100 women became CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. 

In 2014, Aparna Joshi, and her co-authors embarked on a deep dive into every one of these rare events. While the barriers to women’s success in senior roles and the negative industry reactions to their ascension have been long documented, Joshi felt these focuses failed to provide actionable knowledge. Her research thus highlights the “recipes” for women’s post-succession success, and points organizations towards a clearer path forward. 

On this episode of Business and Society, Professor Aparna Joshi, Michigan Ross Professor of Management and Organizations and recent recipient of the 2025 Academy of Management’s Impact Award, sits down with host JT Godfrey to discuss her research, the factors of success for women in senior leadership, and ways of creating more supportive and thriving environments. 

• Host: JT Godfrey
• Guest: Aparna Joshi
• Executive Producers: JT Godfrey and Jeff Karoub
• Audio Engineer: Jonah Brockman
• Editorial Production: Mads Henke

In 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan, switched its drinking water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River to save money, resulting in a decade-long public health crisis in which Flint’s residents faced lead contamination and other serious health issues. A major challenge for Flint and hundreds of cities looking to update their aging water infrastructure is efficiently and accurately predicting the location of lead pipes. Enter BlueConduit, a Ross School of Business start-up that originated the approach of using machine learning to do just that. Since the company's foundation in 2016, they've rapidly expanded, working with over 100 customer accounts spanning over 400 different towns and cities in more than 25 states.

On this episode of Business and Society, Professor Eric Schwartz, co-founder of BlueConduit and associate professor of marketing at Michigan Ross, sits down with host JT Godfrey to discuss his experience tackling the Flint Water Crisis. Schwartz explains how the company’s machine learning technology works, recounts BlueConduit’s journey from beginning as a community start-up to expanding and impacting public policy, gives insights into the businesses of public utility and infrastructure, and shares his optimism in data science and marketing being used as forces for good.