Decisions at the Fulcrum
William Hoffman, Ph.D.
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About This Podcast
Decisions at the Fulcrum is a show where pivotal moments of crisis are covered with depth and breadth, to explain why the communication that transpires within organizations and groups is central to the process and outcomes of organizational change and tenacity. Each episode unpacks a turning point—a brand pivot, a bold leadership move, a course correction. The show explores pivotal decision moments. Through layered storytelling and applied research moments, Dr. William Hoffman navigates through coy tensions and catalytic decisions that reshape brands, industries, institutions, and the persons involved. This podcast is made for the entrepreneurial mind, the reflective leader, the culturally competent executive, the start up scholar, and anyone who knows that the fulcrum is where it all turns. Come for insight, come for stories, come for forays into the academic forests, where meaning rustles just past the clearing!
Podcast Home: https://datfulcrum.podbean.com/
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Recent Episodes
Warm Welcomes and Stocked Shelves: Ukrop’s, WinCo, H-E-B, and the Distinction Between Affiliative and Team Approaches
In this episode, I look at two management-leadership approaches while visiting the grocery store. Beneath the florescent lights, right next to the bakery display, and between the BOGO beverages and…
Deepwater Horizon, Part 2: Sensemaking in Industrial and Communicative Crises
Part 2 shifts from the Macondo well to the public narrative explaining the crisis . The crisis split into two halves as soon as oil started to flow across the Gulf: communicative and industrial. How…
Deepwater Horizon, Part 1: A Cosmology Episode at Macondo Well and The Boundaries of Plausibility
In the first part of our Deepwater Horizon episode, I delve into the disaster prior to its emergence as a public narrative. I start by recalling the Exxon Valdez incident, then transition to the Gulf…
Between Robusta Beans and Phin Routines: Vietnamese Coffee, Starbucks, and Competence in Cultural Translation
Coffee is a bean, a stimulant, and a social routine. It is also a global commodity that becomes meaningful only when people give it rituals, tools, prices, places, and habits. In this episode of…
Not Hungry? Try Vital Pursuit: Nestlé and the Corporate Sensegiving of GLP-1 Eating
In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I explore the neon logic of today's supermarket aisle, where food has become a continuous commentary on societal unease. Nestlé's Vital Pursuit, aimed at…
The Best Gluten-Free Cookie I Ever Tasted: Carolyn Haeler on Elevating Gluten-Free Cookies
In this interview episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, Dr. William Hoffman speaks with founder and CEO of Mightylicious Carolyn Haeler about the decisions that emerge when necessity, taste, and…
A Slice Refreshed, and Refreshed Once More: The Ongoing Epic of a Soda Perpetually Reinterpreted for New Coolers
In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we trace Slice from its 1984 debut inside Pepsi’s lemon-lime strategy to its slow disappearance from the American soda aisle. We begin in the fluorescent…
The Guest is Always The Guest: Vance Morris on Disney, Experiences, and Decision-Making
What makes a smooth, thoughtful, and worthwhile experience? In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I speak with Vance Morris, who has expertise in customer experience consulting, Disney tourist…
Frictionless Zooming In: Remote Meetings, From a Train Car to Grid View
In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I zoom into Zoom and go from the train station platform to the teleconferencing platform that became ubiquitous during the early 2020s. This episode opens…
How Conversation Truly Improves Decision-Making: A Discussion with Jake McKee
Organizations now have an unlimited variety of methods for assessing their consumer base, such as analytics dashboards, surveys, and metrics that offer valuable information. But what happens when…
But First, Water: Designing Audience-First Health Campaigns
This week's Decisions at the Fulcrum is a little different: an actual talk based on my health communication seminars. I begin with a familiar scene: a well-meaning billboard scolding you for "doing…
But First, Water: Designing Audience-First Health Campaigns
This week's Decisions at the Fulcrum is a little different: an actual talk based on my health communication seminars. I begin with a familiar scene: a well-meaning billboard scolding you for "doing…
The Peanut Butter is Smoother. Almost too Smooth: Marketing Placebo and the Risk of Reformulation
Peanut butter has a remarkable ability to play well with ingredients from jelly to chocolate to chili pepper. Reese's peanut butter cups, which have been a mainstay in lunchboxes, grocery aisles, and…
Desserts With(out) Vigilance: How “Just a Small Spill” Became a Crisis.
Ice cream has a knack for comfort, trust, and pleasant moments. Yet, as you step into an ice cream establishment, the atmosphere shifts to metallic sounds, machine hums, moisture gathers on the…
Upstream Decisions, Downstream Composure: Mercadona’s Total Quality as Grocery Infrastructure
What does a grocery retail chain look like when supply chain management is the infrastructure? In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we go to Valencia, Spain!🇪🇸 When we look closely at…
Shelf Stable Competence: Vega's perseverance in a category that keeps overpromising
There was a time when a protein powder didn't pretend to be a personality type, thanks to history doing its irritating job. Inside a compostable wrapping, it offered no intensity, calmness, or…
Deliberately Quartered: How Maryland Learns to Live with Its History
There are state flags everywhere, but they are seldom investigated. In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I focus on Maryland's state flag, a quartered design that seems to be contrasting a…
The Rise of Invisible Risk: From Nylon to Supply Chain Materials (Part 2 1918-2020s)
Part II of the DuPont episodes begins after the armistice following World War I. The episode begins in November 1918, when the explosions cease, contracts disappear, and a munitions-based firm…
One Crate at a Time: How the Tuesday Forecast is a Wager for Produce Visibility
In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we look at BrightSide Produce, a produce distributor that works in impoverished parts of San Diego County, and discover that food availability isn't only…
Many Maps, One Seabed Floor: Conflict Mapping Seabed Mining near Nauru
In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I map out one of the more complex disputes in international resource policy: the seabed mining near Nauru. We'll look at the issue by going from the depth…
Frequently Asked Questions
Decisions at the Fulcrum has published 48 episodes since May 2025, covering topics in Business, Education.
Decisions at the Fulcrum is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 25m.
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