Headlines

Former Chair and CEO Emeritus of BET Networks, Debra Lee is joining AT&T’s board of directors, becoming its fourth female member. Her appointment recognizes her position as an influential leader in the entertainment and media industry. During three decades at BET Networks, Lee saw it become the first African-American company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and later, acquired by Viacom for $3 billion in 2001. Along with her work at BET, Lee founded Leading Woman Defined, an annual gathering of prominent African-American women, and served on the board of prominent organizations such as Twitter, Marriott, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and Paley Center.

Best-selling author of The Sports Gene, APB speaker David Epstein published his new book, the #1 NYT best-selling Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World to rave reviews from Malcolm Gladwell, The New York Times, NPR and more.

Paralympic medalist and APB speaker Patrick "Blake" Leeper finished fifth in the 400 meter race at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships this past Saturday, which would qualify him for the world championships team. Born without legs from a congenital birth defect, Leeper has never been one for excuses. He has defied the odds and won countless titles as a Paralympic runner.

Are you a Shark Week fanatic? APB's Paul de Gelder will be hosting shows that you won't want to miss! An Australian Navy diver who lost two limbs in a brutal shark attack that changed his life, de Gelder has inspired audiences around the world with his riveting story of triumph over tragedy.

APB speakers Ken Jennings, the all-time Jeopardy! champion, and Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players of all time, both have faced head-to-head against artificial intelligence machines. Featured in Forbes, the two challenges are considered to be some of the greatest the world has seen. 

Best known for his groundbreaking research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), APB speaker Alex “Sandy” Pentland and his artificial intelligence (AI) company, Cogito, is featured in TIME.  

Are you more likely to succeed from deliberate practice or by gaining experience in varied areas? Two APB speakers—best-selling author of Range, David Epstein, and Senior Editor-at-Large of Fortune, Geoff Colvin—each argue that one of these paths is the best way to find success.

From Coco Gauff’s triumph on the courts to electrified fans chanting, “Equal Pay!” as TEAM USA took home the gold at the Women’s World Cup, the eyes of the world were on women. Minutes after the USWNT won its second consecutive championship, NIKE aired an ad called “Never Stop Winning” that captured the mood. “I believe,” the narrator said, “a whole generation of girls and boys will go out and play and say things like, ‘I want to be like Megan Rapinoe when I grow up.’” Rapinoe and her teammates Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle, Tobin Heath and others have fought hard for equal pay and investment in women’s soccer. As tennis legend Billie Jean King tweeted, “These athletes have brought more attention, support, & pride to women’s sport…It is long past time to pay them what they rightly deserve.”

New York Times columnist and CBS correspondent David Pogue was featured on this week’s episode of CBS Sunday Morning where he discussed his article “Seeing Red: Mankind Gets Closer to Mars.” A leading speaker on the impacts of innovation on business and science, Pogue is known for his informative, entertaining and insightful keynotes on trending technologies and how they disrupt life as we know it.

CEO of The MPI Group and former editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek, APB speaker John Brandt will release Nincompoopery: Why Your Customers Hate You – and How to Fix It on July 16. In Nincompoopery, Brandt offers concrete examples of how any organization can innovate in ways that delight customers and attract top-level talent. Using research from thousands of companies, Brandt creates a blueprint for success by sharing how leaders can kill “corporate stupidity,” which is what prevents organizations from getting the value that it and its customers deserve. Says Brandt: “Ill-planned, outdated or ludicrous organizational structures can turn even the most eager employee into a nincompoop—or at least force him or her to seem like one.”