In this episode of The New Abnormal podcast, I interview Neil Shearing, the Group Chief Economist at Capital Economics, where he leads a world-class team of economists and oversees the firm’s global research agenda.

A trusted voice in international finance, Neil is known for his clear, insightful analysis of the global economy - insights that regularly feature in the Financial Times and other major publications, as well as on TV and radio.

Earlier in his career, he served as an Economic Adviser at HM Treasury, working on fiscal policy and global economics.

In the interview, we discuss his new book 'The Fractured Age' in which he describes how the tectonic plates of the global order are shifting, creating new pressures that will strain long-standing financial structures. Neil explains where the world's new economic fault lines will emerge, and how disruptive they'll be...

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Gergely Nemeth, former Head of Strategic Foresight at NATO and now CEO of Hungary’s Defence Innovation Research Institute (VIKI), who reflects on a career ‘impacted by coincidence’ but marked by increasing responsibility in defence planning, policy, and foresight.

Beginning as an intelligence analyst, he moved through roles in Hungary’s Ministry of Defence, NATO committees, and finally NATO’s Strategic Foresight team, where he revitalized foresight processes disrupted by COVID. A pivotal assignment in Brussels during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave him direct experience in international defence collaboration and NATO’s “art of the deal” diplomacy.

At VIKI, Nemeth leads efforts in foresight, innovation, and strategic outreach, supporting projects such as XR-based training systems and advancing the robotization of armed forces, which he views as inevitable due to demographic, technological, and battlefield realities.

A key point we discuss is the role of hope in futures thinking: Gergely believes that foresight must not only identify risks but also shape preferable futures through agency and action. Above all, he stresses the importance of intellectual honesty, institutional adaptation, and collaborative innovation as vital for building resilient defence ecosystems...

This episode of The New Abnormal features Lourdes Rodriguez, a Strategic Foresight Consultant with the European Commission and Co Exec Director at Teach the Future.

With a background in Psychology, her work has been focused on trends research and foresight for more than 15 years, and she's therefore deeply experienced in discovering new signal of change and seeds of the future in the present.

Lourdes is currently also doing a Master’s in Cyber Politics and Government, as she's interested in learning more about the impact of emerging technology in a geopolitical context, how it could affect our governments, our democracies and ultimately, our lives.

You'll understand why Forbes magazine describes her as 'one of the best futurists in Spain' as she describes her past career and current activity in our conversation.

So...I hope you enjoy the discussion!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Marie Stafford, Global Director (Intelligence) at VML. She's a strategic foresight consultant skilled in creating inspiring future narratives, transforming futures insights and trends into commercial opportunity across a top tier multinational client portfolio.

Specialised in foresight at the intersection of consumers, culture and innovation, Marie is also a seasoned speaker and panellist cited in outlets like the FT and New York Times.

In this episode, she discusses the latest 'Future 100' from VML (the renowned industry report that examines key trends from around the world, and features interviews with a range of sector experts) along with her take on dynamic issues illuminated at the recent SXSW London.

So, if you're interested in listening to the views of an industry-expert across a range of subjects from Sharing to Solitude and from Pets to Architecture...enjoy!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Peter Cunliffe-Jones, visiting researcher at the University of Westminster and Director of Facts Matter Research, a misinformation research and strategy consultancy, where he advises organisations in effective ways to both counter the harmful consequences of misinformation and protect wider freedom of speech.

Peter started his career as a news journalist for the AFP new agency - working for more than 20 years in Europe, Africa and Asia. He reported from Bosnia and Croatia on the last year of war and first 12 months of peace, from Nigeria on the end of decades of military rule, oversaw the agency's coverage of the Asian tsunami, developed its online news services. In 2012, he founded Africa Check, the African continent's first independent fact-checking organisation, which operates in South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya.

He's also run training courses for fact-checkers in countries from Afghanistan to Myanmar, worked as a strategic adviser to the Arab Fact-Checkers network, which seeks to foster nonpartisan fact-checking in the Arab world, and served on the Safety Advisory Council for TikTok in Africa.

His new book is called "Fake News - what's the harm?" and presents four dynamic ideas for fact-checkers, policymakers and platforms on the challenge of information disorder.

In our conversation, Peter discusses all of the above and more, in what I hope you’ll agree is a fascinating episode. So – enjoy!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Faris Yakob, co-founder of Genius Steals, who began his career as a strategist during the first dot com explosion, before moving into agency world. He worked for some dynamic agencies inc Naked Communications (as their 20th employee) before moving on to be EVP Chief Tech Strat at McCann Erickson NYC. He subsequently went to MDC Partners - a network of best-in-breed agencies inc CPB, Anomaly, 72 & Sunny, and kbs+, and then co-founded the superbly named Spies & Assassins.

Faris was a founding member of the IPA Social Committee, and has blogged about - and been involved in discussion around - social in the industry for a decade. He's also written for those inc Campaign, Fast Company, Forbes, Contagious, Canvas8, etc.

We discuss all of the above and more, in a conversation which takes in Marx, uncertainty & risk, Kant, Severance, Cannes Lions, and the realities of Nomadic Consulting. So...enjoy!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal features Gareth Kay, Partner at The Intangibles 'the transformation consultancy for the intangible world'. He's spent over two decades working in, and learning from, some of the best creative companies in the world.

In that time, Gareth realized there is no ‘one way’ to shape and deliver valuable brands that create sustainable demand, but there are some principles that hold true: that problem-finding is at least as important as problem-solving; that being interesting is as important as being right; that great brands are built by their behavior not just their narrative; that the biggest risk facing many businesses is the false division between ‘brand’ and ‘product’; that a strategy is only as good as the work it delivers.

(By the way, he makes a return to the podcast, having been one of my first guests when I set the series up, back in 2000 during the first weeks of the pandemic).

Gareth has earned himself a stellar reputation in the marketing world, and in this interview he discusses leading-edge thinking about the business context of today and how to unlock value for the world's most ambitious equity firms and brands...

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, who is a Foresight, Strategy, Innovation and long-term planning advisor to government, private corporations and NGOs.

A highly experienced foresight researcher with an extensive track-record on international projects and sound academic credentials, he's an expert on internationalization and research commercialization, and has managed projects in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

With a track record on several boards and expert advisory role in public policy institutions in Innovation, Culture, Agrofood, Environment, Security; Epaminondas is a UNESCO Chair on Futures Research, the President of MOMus, and is the ex-Chief Scientific Advisor for Foresight to the Greek Prime Minister.

In this episode we cover all of the above, along with his views on a range of catalytic issues being discussed in futurist-circles in 2025. And, as a bonus, he also discusses 'Russian Cosmism' a radical biopolitical utopian perspective espoused by the philosopher Nikolai Fedorov in the late 19th C, in which he 'rejected the contemplative for the transformative, aiming to create not merely new art or philosophy but a new world'.

So...enjoy!