In Episode 40, “This Too Shall Pass”, Blenheim Partners’ Gregory Robinson speaks to Mehrdad Baghai, Chairman of Alchemy Growth, a strategy advisory firm, and Global Chief Executive Officer of High Resolves, a not-for-profit organisation focused on immersive citizenship education programs for young people in Australia, Canada, the United States, Brazil and Mexico.

Mehrdad is the author of New York Times bestseller , as well as international bestsellers and . Mehrdad was previously an Executive Director of the CSIRO and worked at McKinsey and Company as a partner and co-leader of their worldwide Growth Practice.As OneThe Alchemy of GrowthThe Granularity of Growth

Greg and Mehrdad discuss leadership during a crisis, the difficult decisions that have to be made and dealing with the delicate topic of trust, especially now as we are in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Mehrdad also brings to light the unique growth opportunity brought about by a crisis; by looking within and asking the tough questions, we can rise with renewed maturity from this collective wakeup call.

We hear about Mehrdad’s upbringing, and how his family moved from Iran to Canada to escape persecution. Drawing from his experiences, he had a keen interest in collective action, went on to study at Harvard University and worked with Nobel laureate Thomas Schelling. Mehrdad stresses the importance of messaging to inspire collective action, especially with the extraordinary circumstances we currently face.