82: Mike Lenox (UVA): Brad’s Manhattans and “Extreme Centrism”

This episode, our last from “GURK,” the Global Enterepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference held in Boulder in June 2024, features a conversation with another one of Jeff’s academic heroes and GURK founder, Mike Lenox. He's a Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, of which Jeff is an alum. Mike’s influence helped Jeff focus his interest on CleanTech entrepreneurship, and the two have published several papers together. Our bartender today is none other than Brad, who mixes his signature Manhattan while Jeff and Mike reminisce a bit about their Darden days before getting into more serious discussion about how clean entrepreneurship bridges our dichotomous political chasm on climate change. In cases where new clean tech demonstrates superior effectiveness over carbon-intensive technologies, the markets do their thing and the clean tech wins. They also poke holes in the Panacea Hypothesis, which holds that entrepreneurship alone will solve all the world’s problems. Mike, Jeff and Brad concur that it’s really the interaction between markets and the policy that guides them that’s the key. Whether it’s big issues like climate change, or AI — which our conversation also touches upon — Mike firmly believes that — especially in today’s fractured political climate — “extreme centrism” is the way forward. Our discussants agree that embracing and understanding the world’s complexity in order to solve big issues is the fundamental role of today’s entrepreneur. Unsurprisingly, they also agree that Brad’s Manhattans are excellent. Enjoy and cheers! —— This episode of Creative Distillation was recorded during the Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference, held in Boulder in June 2024. Unfortunately, there’s no link to Brad’s Manhattans, but here's that recipe for the Raymond Hale. It looks pretty tasty. The Raymond Hale: 2 parts bourbon 1 part elderflower 1 part lemon top with ginger beer Learn more about Mike Lenox on his faculty page at UVA’s Darden School of Business (https://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty-research/directory/michael-lenox) Mike’s two clean tech books, “Can Business Save the Earth” and “The Decarbonization Imperative,” can be purchased from his website, michael-lenox.com -- Learn more about CU's Deming Center for Entrepreneurship: https://deming.colorado.edu Comments/criticism/suggestions/feedback? We'd love to hear it. Drop us a note at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. -
An Analog Digital Arts Production for the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship
Produced, recorded and edited by Joel Davis "Whiskey Before Breakfast" [Traditional] performed by Jeffrey York and Brad Werner. Recorded, mixed and mastered by George Figgs ___ CREATIVE DISTILLATION University of Colorado-Boulder professors Jeff York and Brad Werner distill entrepreneurship research into actionable insights. Jeff York | Associate Professor | Research Director
[email protected] Brad Werner | Instructor | Teaching Director
[email protected] Deming Center for Entrepreneurship | CU Leeds School of Business
303.492.9018 | [email protected]

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