Avsnitt
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Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Jan Berger, the Founder & CEO of Themis Foresight.
Based in Berlin, his company anticipates economic, technological, social and political drivers of future change. He and his team are driven by the conviction that outstanding futures research is key for the strategic direction of Europe's business and entrepreneurial elite.
Jan's academic training was in Modern & Contemporary History and Slavic Studies, which led him to take an MA at Lomonosov Moscow State University. He's lived and worked on four continents, and has held leadership positions in corporations and startups.
So...we discuss all of the above in what I hope you'll agree is a dynamic conversation! -
Series Four
In this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I interview Nils Muller, CEO & Founder of TrendONE - a specialist agency that's a market leader in identifying key trends in fast moving branches of business.
In our discussion, Nils discusses their methodologies and approach to working for clients such as BMW and Airbus, his viewpoints on developing 'Brand Germany' and takeouts from the Dubai Future Forum - having just returned from a hot and sunny UAE to a cold and snowy Germany.
Hence, we discuss a range of topics covered at the forum, including Future Generations, Future Education, and the Future of Nature regarding Planet-Centric Innovation. Along the way, we also cover issues such as the latest thinking around Foresight, Strategic Growth, Collaborative Approaches and Futures-Literacy regarding Complexity, Experimentation and Anti-Fragility.
So, I hope you enjoy listening to Nils as much as I did! -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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Series Four
In this episode of The New Abnormal, I interview Chris Arning, Founder of the boutique consultancy Creative Semiotics Ltd, co-founder of Semiofest, and course leader of 'How to do semiotics in seven weeks'.
He works with best-in-class virtual teams to analyse brands in order to make them more coherent and true to themselves, more distinctive within their category and sector, and more resonant and relevant within the prevailing (and ever changing) culture.
The outcome of his work is new pack designs, communication strategies, new systems for content creation and better equipped, more confident brand teams. He does that via semiotics: an evidence based technique rooted in academia via the premise that preference is driven by the intangible aspects of brands that activate associative thinking.
Chris has a stellar reputation in his field, and in this interview he gives a brief masterclass in his specialist subject(s). So...enjoy! -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Michael Beverland, Professor of Brand Strategy, Strategy & Marketing, at the University of Sussex Business School.
He's an innovator in marketplace authenticity and strategic design research, as well as cultural marketing insights.
Michael is also the author of 'Building Brand Authenticity: Seven Habits of Iconic Brands' and 'Brand Management: Co-creating Brand Meaning'. (Which provides an overview of the controversies and debates, leading thinking and enduring challenges in brands and branding, including historical context, cultural & critical perspectives).
We discuss all of the above, therefore including issues such as classic and leading-edge thinking relating to branding / strategy / marketing, along with how these subjects are currently taught in business schools. Michael is an expert in his field, so I hope you enjoy listening to (and learning from) him as much as I did! -
Series Four
This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Phil Balagtas, author of the superb new book 'Making Futures Work'.
Phil is also a former Design Director at McKinsey Design and General Electric (Digital & Aviation) with over 20yrs of experience as a Digital Interaction Designer and Design Leader working across sectors inc aviation, aerospace, airlines, advertising, retail, utilities, and public sector.
He's also a Facilitator, Futurist and Founder of the Design Futures Initiative (a nonprofit based in San Francisco), the Speculative Futures network and PRIMER conference - initiatives dedicated to the education and advancement of Futures Thinking and helping organisations develop business and product strategies for the near and far future through Strategic Foresight and Speculative Design.
In this fascinating conversation, we discuss all of the above. So...enjoy! -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Matt Boffey, Chief Strategy Officer at Design Bridge and Partners. He’s part of its Senior Leadership Team and Executive Committee, managing a business of nearly 300 people in London, where he leads a strategy team of ‘the brightest and best brand & design thinkers on the planet’!We discuss a range of career highlights (so far) including how he authored transformational brand strategies for the likes of Adidas and Deliveroo, developed world-famous global creative campaigns for Nike, and originated the much-imitated ‘Good Food Deserves Lurpak’ campaign.
Elsewhere, Matt outlines the latest issues impacting the world of agencies, and how to encourage and enable a dynamic internal agency culture. He’s a really dynamic thinker, so I hope you enjoy listening to his viewpoints as much as I did.
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Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the brand innoventor & commercial strategist Stephanie Vilner-Sheppard, who consults globally on strategy to help clients innovate and futureproof their P&L (for people and planet). She’s a problem solver for brands and businesses, through a lens of planet-centred design-led thinking.
That problem solving might mean creating innovation pipelines or setting short-, mid- to long-range strategy, or pointing out white space that’s harder to see once you’re in a company obsessing over short term results. It will likely mean bringing in insights from seemingly far afield and disconnected to a particular industry vertical, pulling on deliberately disparate insights.
In this wide-ranging interview, she explains how to see opportunities before others, her experience at the G20 where she was elected ‘Lead Delegate’ by EY, how she advised the Mexican President on futureproofing education, and why L’Oreal offered her any job in the company.
She’s deep multi-sector / multi-market experience, and so we discuss all of the above, and more, in this dynamic conversation. -
Series Four
This episode of ‘The New Abnormal’ podcast features the strategic psychologist Dr Max McKeown - a writer, consultant & researcher specialising in innovation strategy, leadership and culture. He’s written a series of influential books and conducts research with Warwick Business School.
An advocate of innovation culture, he also argues that failure can be positive for progress if it is viewed as part of learning. He makes a distinction between change and progress, "change is inevitable but progress is not".
His book on strategy was one of the winners at the Chartered Institute of Management's Book of the Year Awards, Max argues that "strategy is about shaping the future" and approaches the subject as something that people do, both as style of thinking and the combination of actions taken along with their consequences.
So, we discuss the above and his viewpoints on those including Sartre and de Beauvoir along with topics including satisfaction, dissatisfaction, radical freedom, progress, and the illusion of stability.
Finally, he also gives us advanced notice of his next book 'Super Adaptability'. -
Series Four
This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features the political scientist and university professor Sohail Inayatullah, who is the inaugural UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability & Humanity, and instructs at the Metafuture think tank.
He helps individuals and organisations create alternative and preferred futures, theorises how the future is constructed, and develops futures methodologies.
Editor in Chief of the Journal of Futures Studies, he's also contributed to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Future, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Peace.
In this fascinating interview, he explains his renowned approach to 'Futures Thinking' and whilst doing so discusses the Futures Triangle, S-Curves, Causal Layered Analysis, and the Six Pillars approach...
The conversation also includes references to those such as Dator, Marx, and Hegel, whilst linking to issues such as Spiritual Cities, Poverty v Abundance, Wants vs Needs, Used & Disowned Futures, and Population Dynamics.
So...I hope you enjoy listening to Sohail as much as I did! -
Series Four
This episode of the New Abnormal podcast features Toronto-based Alexis Tennent, who is an innovative leader, design & foresight strategist. She firmly believes that foresight should not be confined to the realms of academia, politics, or privilege; rather, it should be an opportunity accessible to all.
That's why Alexis aims to inspire inclusivity in foresight work, fostering empathy for those who engage in it voluntarily, despite how much it asks of us intellectually, psychologically, and emotionally.
We discuss her work, including how she initiates the establishment of futures-oriented cultures within large-scale organisations, instilling a forward-thinking mindset across all levels, fostering innovation and adaptability.
To do so, she leads cultural transformation, integrates innovation and design principles, and directs innovative programs. A current example of this is the work on which she's currently collaborating to 'Future with Nature'.
Finally, we also discuss her MA project, where she explored memory, conceptions of time, and plurality in futures narratives... -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the renowned futurist and speculative designer, Monika Bielskyte.
She's also the founder of Protopia Futures, a life-centric design and collaborative foresight platform that centres previously marginalised perspectives. The project's mission is to inspire a new wave of future visions showcasing how a transcultural and interdisciplinary approach, alongside disability and neurodivergence inclusion, can foster regenerative economies for the decades to come and chart an actionable path towards a positively interdependent and compassionate future world.
Her work is firmly anchored in contextual, complex realities on the ground, rather than one-size-fits-all techno-solutionism, prone to short-term hype cycles and rapid obsolescence. As a speculative designer, Monika prototypes culturally expansive, socially and environmentally engaged future world designs that take lessons from visually and narratively captivating Science Fiction entertainment and apply them to make real-world future literacy more compelling.
She's a deeply interesting individual, so I found it fascinating listening to her viewpoints and hope you do too! -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal features the leading social philosopher Roman Krznaric, whose books focus on the power of ideas to create change. His international bestsellers, which include The Good Ancestor, Empathy, and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than twenty-five languages.
His new book History for Tomorrow is out now, and in it he unearths fascinating insights and inspiration from the last 1000 years of world history that could help us confront the most urgent challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century.
Roman believes that history offers a vision of radical hope that could turn out to be our most vital tool for surviving and thriving in the turbulent decades ahead. We therefore discuss a wide range of viewpoints that he illuminates in a suitably dynamic manner. I found it to be a fascinating conversation, and hope you will too! -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the designer, researcher, and educator Lesley-Ann Noel, who is the author of Design Social Change and co-editor of The Black Experience in Design. She’s also created several design tools for critical reflection, such as The Designer’s Critical Alphabet and the Positionality Wheel.
Lesley-Ann has a bachelor’s in Industrial Design from Universidade Federal do Paraná in Brazil, a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, and a PhD in Design from North Carolina State University. She was awarded honorary doctorates for service to the field of design by the University of the Arts London and the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Lesley-Ann is the Dean of Design at OCAD University (Aug 2024). Before OCAD-U, she taught at North Carolina State University, Tulane University, Stanford University, and the University of the West Indies.
In this deeply interesting conversation, she outlines her dynamic work, and discusses her book which has just been selected by McKinsey as one of their '2024 Annual Book Recommendations' as chosen by CEO's, founders, editors in chief, and other global leaders... -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Falk Fuhrmann, Executive Director at Shanghai HuiLue Business Consulting Co, and Visiting Professor teaching International Brand Communication & Innovation, Consumer Behaviour & Insights, at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou.
He also is an award-winning creative strategist with more than 20 years of experience, who led the strategic planning department of TBWA when they opened their Berlin office. Later as head of strategy with DDB, he developed & championed the agency’s philosophy of creative business solutions. For nearly a decade, Falk led strategy development for P&G in CEMEA, APAC & Greater China.
So, we discuss all of the above in this fascinating discussion, which naturally takes in Daoism and Confucianism. Re: the former (and perhaps the latter) we had to struggle our way through some loud building activity in the background during some of this recording, so please channel your inner-harmony at those stages! -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal features Julian Boulding, Owner of The Network One. They provide “open source creativity” and communications services from around 1200 independent agencies in 109 countries, worldwide.
His annual review of the Cannes Lions Festival is always eagerly sought after, and the actual version will be sent out after this podcast goes live. In it, Julian discusses the latest industry trends and issues as discussed at this years event.
So, if you want to hear whether Cannes has changed (and if so, for better or worse) along with his views on agencies that are on the way up and those on the way down, the next big thing in client/agency relationships, which international markets are the ones to watch, and whether an average day involved a five hour lunch when Julian joined the industry, then please listen in. -
Series Four
This episode of The New Abnormal features Catherine Roy, Foresight & Design Leader at Thales.
She sets their foresight and design strategy, and helps to drive futures thinking & business growth. Overall, she aligns futures, business, product and service strategy with the needs of users / consumers in order to achieve goals.
In this podcast, she explains her approach to the above, by illuminating some dynamic case histories regarding projects covering foresight, risk and innovation.
Along the way, we discuss issues including social acceptability, soft power, storytelling, co-creation and destruction, hype cycles, future consciousness, shapeshifting, meaningful disruption, and dynamic leadership.
Oh, and why it's important for futurists to 'find your tribe' within an organisation... -
Series Four
This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Chloe Markowicz, Editor at Contagious, which helps agencies and brands supercharge their marketing by learning from the world's most creative and effective companies and campaigns. They do that via their IQ intelligence platform, consulting services, training and events.
We discuss a range of issues including the latest 'Contagious Pioneers' report, which highlights agencies that set the standard for creative excellence in advertising and marketing - and where the likes of BETC (Paris) / Colenso BBDO (Auckland) / Gut (Buenos Aires) / Howatson+Company (Sydney) / Lucky Generals (London) / Ogilvy India (Mumbai) / Rethink (Toronto) / Uncommon Creative Studio (London) were the winners.
Chloe also discusses industry trends, big thinkers / dreamers / doers, and the imminent Cannes Lions Festival, where the Contagious team will be making a valiant attempt at working, in between partying at the 'Contagious Villa'.
She also discusses how to break into the industry, and the experiences that led her to editing everyone's favourite industry title, which exists to inspire and enable contagious creativity. -
Series Four
This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Paolo Gallo, a renowned executive coach, bestselling author and keynote speaker. He's the author of two superb books: 'The Compass and the Radar - the art of building a rewarding career while remaining true to yourself' and the newly published 'The Seven Games of Leadership - navigating the inner journey of leaders'. In his dynamic career he's been chief human resources officer at World Economic Forum in Geneva, chief learning officer at the World Bank in Washington, and director human resources at European Bank for Reconstruction & Development in London, with previous experiences at International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C. and Citigroup in London, New York and Milan, his hometown. So, in the interview we discuss both of his books, and his fascinating viewpoints on issues including authenticity, ethics, trust, change, development, and reputation. Paolo is a deeply interesting individual, and I hope you enjoy listening to him as much as I did! -
Series Four
This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Ari Wallach, who is a futurist and social systems strategist. He's also the author of 'Longpath: becoming the great ancestors our future needs' and host of 'A Brief History of the Future' (which premiers on PBS in April 2024) c/o Futurific Studios, a new production studio focused on shifting the narrative and the way society approaches current problems for a positive future. Ari is also a Columbia University adjunct professor, and over the past 20 years has advised some of the world's biggest companies and organisations, from CNN to the White House to the UN, on how to plan for better futures. He's a really dynamic guest, so enjoy the episode! -
Series Four
This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features the renowned Philippa Wagner, a creative thinker who connects people, places & spaces across a range of lifestyle industries with a particular focus on F&B, hospitality, wellness & retail. She's a highly creative, commercially-driven strategist with extensive big-brand experience, having worked with some of the industry's best and brightest, including Birch, Ennismore, Sessions and Locke. Philippa's specialist focus on consumer behaviours, strategic forecasting & brand storytelling puts her in a unique position to deliver insightful, forward-thinking outputs that help brands carve out a space for themselves in the world. In our conversation, she explains her viewpoints on companies from wellness startups to heavyweight hospitality brands, and how she works to put experience at the heart of their business. - Visa fler
