Morgan Stanley Ideas Podcast

A rapid shift in the auto industry is coming. Electric vehicles, the long-anticipated cars of the future, are poised to dominate global markets in the next few decades. What impact will they have on how we live our lives?In this episode of the Ideas podcast, we wonder what an electric-car-powered future will look like. Will the internal combustion vehicle go the way of the horse and buggy? Will it mean the revival of the drive-in theater? Or the drive-in home? We speak with urban designer Marshall Brown who looks ahead at a world where electric vehicles will approach 90% of the market. Along the way, Simon Lonsdale of Chargepoint, an electric vehicle charging company, discusses how the driver of the future will fill-up. And Morgan Stanley Research Analyst Harald Hendrikse, an author of our recent Bluepaper on the bright future of the electric vehicle, introduces us to some ideas that may be as surprising as the flux capacitor.For further information, visit morganstanley.com/ideas The host Ashley Mil

We know to make sure our heirs can access our online bank accounts, but what about the rest of our digital selves? As more and more meaningful parts of our lives enter the virtual world, how do we value the assets we leave behind online? What are they worth and to whom?In this episode of the Ideas podcast, we wonder: What’s a good way to pass on 10,000 photos from all those family vacations? Does a viral social media account have real-world value after you die? Could our endless streams of online consciousness become the stuff of meaningful memorials? These are questions for the digital age we all inhabit, whether we’re 8 or 88. And they’re questions for the usually old-school world of estate planning, which Beth Smith, of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s Strategy and Advisory Solutions, knows well.For further information, visit Morgan Stanley Wealth ManagementThe host Ashley Milne-Tyte is a contractor of Pineapple Street Media. The guest speakers are neither employees nor affiliated with Morgan

Finding the rare unicorn startup that both disrupts an entire industry and changes the world for the better has been the mission for Nancy Pfund of DBL Partners. These double bottom line businesses are changing the way many are thinking about sustainability. In this episode of the podcast we learn what Nancy values in these companies, visit a transformative soap factory in a struggling Chicago community, and hear from Hilary Irby, Morgan Stanley’s co-head of Global Sustainable Finance, about how this approach works and what potential investors should keep in mind. For further information, visit Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing.The host Ashley Milne-Tyte is a contractor of Pineapple Street Media. The guest speakers are neither employees nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. (“Morgan Stanley”). The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley. The information and figures contained herein has been obtained from sources outside of Morgan Stanl

When businessman Ron Harrington turned his attention and considerable fortune toward philanthropy he, like many others, confronted the issue of how to make the biggest impact. In this episode we explore the challenges of effective philanthropy, hear stories from Bill and Melinda Gates, talk about the importance of failure, discuss the solution the Harrington project is putting in place and get some tips from Melanie Schnoll-Begun of Morgan Stanley Philanthropy Management.For further information, visit Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management. The examples presented in this podcast are provided for illustrative purposes only. It represents general ways that philanthropy management can help philanthropists with similar circumstances. Each philanthropist's specific situation, goals, and results will differ.The host Ashley Milne-Tyte is a contractor of Pineapple Street Media. The guest speaker is neither an employee nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. (“Morgan Stanley”).

Can consumers get the same quick turnaround on new styles from the sneaker industry that they’ve come to expect for sportswear? This episode, we travel from a sneakerhead haven on New York’s Lower East Side to a state of the art robotics workshop outside Atlanta. Along the way we talk with Jay Sole, Morgan Stanley’s Branded Apparel and Footwear Analyst, about the future of the sneaker industry.

Can a building be great for the environment, great for the people inside, great for the bottom line and even great for the economy? In this episode, we visit Seattle's Bullitt Center, one of the greenest commercial buildings in the world. Morgan Stanley analyst Faty Dembele shares her research on the opportunities and impacts of sustainable building solutions, while University of Washington researcher Heather Burpee explains what it takes to design a building that goes far beyond a LEED certification.

You might assume that building great teams only requires hiring smart people who get along and can work toward a common goal, but that isn’t necessarily what the data tells us. Carnegie Mellon professor Anita Williams-Woolley shares her research on how to maximize collective intelligence, or the type of intelligence that emerges from effective collaboration. We learn about the importance of having cognitive diversity on a team, and the critical step of creating the right environment for such teams to flourish.

Smart decision-making takes more than intelligent people and good data. The theories of behavioral economics inform how businesses, and the rest of us, can try to avoid the irrational responses that may work against our best interests.

This week we're focusing on what may be a blind spot in all the excitement over autonomous vehicles: the future of car insurance. How will it work if there are no actual drivers to insure? We get a glimpse of the not-too-distant future by traveling to Mcity, a leading self-driving car test site at the University of Michigan and we hear from Jon Hocking, who covers the auto insurance industry for Morgan Stanley Research, as well as Hilary Rowen, a legal insurance expert who keeps close track of emerging technologies in Silicon Valley.

This week we're looking at gender diversity in the workplace. Ashley talks with Jana Rich, an executive recruiter in Silicon Valley, who has spent years working through the thorny issues of changing the gender mix in big firms. Plus, you'll hear from Eva Zlotnicka, whose work on the Sustainable + Responsible Investment team within Morgan Stanley Research has produced results that have even the quants paying attention to how workplace gender diversity can impact investment results.

This week we travel to Arizona to see how alternative energy, solar power investment, and utilities are taking what was on the fringes of science 30 years ago and turning it into the norm.