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.

Series Four

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Jonas Gissel Mikkelsen, Futurist and Director at The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, where he heads up business development.

Jonas is responsible for creating new initiatives, collaborations and joint-ventures, as well as overseeing publications and managing the Institute's brand & identity.

His primary competencies lie within an abstract ability to create prototypal ideas and an understanding of the larger perspective of initiatives re: the externalities and long-term effects.

So, we discuss all of the above, with a particular focus on strategic transformation, Non-Profits and Civic Society.

But before all that, we discuss his first job after leaving University...

Series Four

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Colin Strong, who is Head of Behavioural Science at Ipsos, and a Professor at Nottingham University Business School.

He works with a wide range of organisations (both private and public sector) to design and deliver behavioural change through the use of behavioural science.

His new book 'Out of Time: the revolution underway in beliefs about being human' is out now. In it, he seeks to make sense of our current state of liminality, and questions what we wish humans to become from this state.

So, we discuss all of the above and along the way, Nietzsche, Descartes, the CIA and the late, great Daniel Kahneman all get a mention, along with many others.

I hope you'll enjoy listening to Colin as much as I did!

Series Four

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Hilary Sutcliffe, Director of SocietyInside, who bring together people and ideas to help tech and its governance earn the trust of society.

The name #SocietyInside is a riff off the famous brand ‘IntelInside’ and aims to encapsulate their aspiration that we reverse-engineer innovation from the needs of society rather than just create technologies which are in an eternal search for a home.

Hilary explores the purpose, risks, ethics, stakeholder involvement and governance of these technologies through research, writing and stakeholder involvement as well as acting as a sounding board & critical friend. She also believes that 'innovation is society in the making'.

We therefore discuss all of the above, and in particular, the issues of inclusion, respect, openness and integrity in policy, regulation and organisational culture. She also explains why "trust is not an outcome - not a message, not a slogan. It's the result of someone's belief in your trustworthiness. Focus then on being trustworthy and providing evidence of your trustworthiness".

Series Four

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features the Leadership Advisor & Speaker, Diego Gilardoni, who helps leaders navigate uncertainty by achieving clarity through a future-proofed vision.

In the interview, we discuss issues such as cross-cultural management theory, strategic foresight, geopolitical depression (with a focus on the polycrisis), along with cognitive diversity, and the dynamic approach to strategic thinking for which he's renowned.

With a background as a journalist in Europe and the US, and as a business consultant in China, Diego provides fascinating perspectives from the intersection of international affairs, communication, business, culture and strategy.

Series Four

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Tom Morton, Global Chief Strategy Officer at R/GA. He helps brands solve the biggest challenges of a changing world: launching and scaling innovation, turning revolutionary technologies into legitimate brands, identifying and winning a radically different next generation of users, defining a purpose to transform the organisation and unlock future growth, developing marketing for today's media and culture, redefining brands from words to actions to create value through interface and innovation, responding authentically to the societal challenges of remote work and racial justice. As a standard setter for creativity and marketing effectiveness, Tom's been a judge for the Effies, Cannes Lions and the IPA Effectiveness Awards, and has won multiple effectiveness awards for increasing revenue and brand equity. As a champion of talent, he sits on the selection committee of the Advertising Hall of Fame and Hall of Achievement to honour diverse leaders who make a positive impact in the creative industries. So, and as you can imagine, we cover a lot of ground in this dynamic conversation: it's not every day that you hear philosophy, psychology and sociology mentioned in the same sentence when discussing brand actions. But first, we have to get past his 'Day One' in agencyland, that saw him tasked with sending faxes to clients. The question is, was he any good as a Jnr Account Exec?

Series Four

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the renowned futurist Tom Lombardo, Director at the Center for Future Consciousness, Exec Board Member of the World Futures Studies Federation, and Editor at the Journal of Futures Studies. Back by popular demand (and having previously covered 'Top Futurist Books') this time he returns to the series to give an overview of the top movies in science fiction. The biggest problem - of course - was deciding what to leave out (so as to not make this episode several hours long) but Tom still managed to cover a wide range of superb films via his renowned depth and breadth of expertise. So, I hope you enjoy listening as he discusses titles that were produced in the earliest days of the 20th Century to those released to critical acclaim only recently.