Private Innovation in the Public Interest
Aug 6, 2026 · 28 min · 10 segments
**Professor Sekou Bermiss** studies how “strategic human capital” gets deployed in organizations through socialinteractions that have consequences for the organization’s performance. This means that…
Sekou BermissGuest
Anita McGahanHost
[gentle music] Welcome to Pi-Squared, Private Innovation in the Public Interest.
Our website is at pisquared.bernscenter.org, where you can subscribe to our newsletter at pisquared.bernscenter.org\signup. I'm excited to introduce you to Sekou Bermiss.
Sekou is associate professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
His research is on how strategic human capital shapes firm performance, innovation, and organizational outcomes.
He also studies political ideology and how status and diversity influence organizational decision-making and stakeholder reactions.
Um, his work has been published in really the leading journals across the field, and he's been featured in Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
He's a research fellow at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and an international research fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.
Before he became a scholar, before academics, he worked for Deloitte in New York City and received his PhD and master's degrees in management and organizations from Kellogg at Northwestern University, and he also has a bachelor's in chemical engineering from RPI.
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.
[gentle music] Welcome to Pi-Squared, Private Innovation in the Public Interest.
Our website is at pisquared.bernscenter.org, where you can subscribe to our newsletter at pisquared.bernscenter.org\signup. I'm excited to introduce you to Sekou Bermiss.
Sekou is associate professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
His research is on how strategic human capital shapes firm performance, innovation, and organizational outcomes.
He also studies political ideology and how status and diversity influence organizational decision-making and stakeholder reactions.
Um, his work has been published in really the leading journals across the field, and he's been featured in Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
He's a research fellow at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and an international research fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.
Before he became a scholar, before academics, he worked for Deloitte in New York City and received his PhD and master's degrees in management and organizations from Kellogg at Northwestern University, and he also has a bachelor's in chemical engineering from RPI.
