The New Abnormal

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Lasse Jonasson, Director & Futurist at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS) where he also heads their advisory service. CIFS is a global leader in applying futures studies methodologies to solve strategic challenges within organisations. Their core advisory offerings include megatrend analysis, scenario planning, risk assessment, innovation processes, and strategic foresight. The Institute is a truly global entity, working for and with public, private, and academic organisations around the world. This includes governments and Fortune 500 companies, to startups and NGOs, on a strategic level. Therefore, and as you'll hear, we discuss a wide range of subjects, ranging from the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism to the Future of HR, alongside issues such as navigating complexity and the dynamics of change. And, of course, some implications of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard and Baidu's Wenxin Yiyan/Ernie get highlighted...

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features the dynamic Alison Taylor, who works on challenges at the intersection of corporate integrity, risk and responsibility. She's the Executive Director of Ethical Systems, which is part of NYU Stern School of Business and is a collaboration between leading academics working on behavioural science, systems thinking and organisational psychology. Currently writing a book for HBR Press on how the landscape for business ethics is transforming, she's also an Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern School of Business, where she teaches professional responsibility and leadership to undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA students. Alison holds Senior Advisor roles at BSR and Wallbrook, is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption, and is a member of the UK government's Business Integrity Initiative expert panel.She has a long track record of consulting for large multinational companies, on strategy, sustainability, political and social risk, culture and behaviour, human rights, ethics and compliance, stakeholder engagement, ESG, and anti-corruption.  So, we cover all of the above in what I hope you'll agree is a fascinating discussion! 

Series Three This episode of The New Abnormal features the dynamic Jon Alexander, author of "CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us".It's a book that seeks to reframe the moment in time we're living in as one of huge civic opportunity, not just crisis and collapse, and in doing so opens up a world of possibility for organisations and leaders across sectors and across the world.Jon is co-founder of the New Citizenship Project, a strategy and innovation consultancy that aims to shift the dominant story of the individual in society from Consumer to Citizen. (NCP is a certified B-corporation). Having begun his career with a decade in the advertising industry at agencies including BBDO and Fallon, Jon is increasingly active and visible politically; as a Fellow of the Young Foundation and the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of the OECD's Innovative Citizen Participation Network. So, in this episode, we discuss all of the above, but with a core focus on his excellent new book, where he describes in detail why he believes we need a new thinking framework - and a new set of ideas...I hope you enjoy listening in! 

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Phil Rowley, Head of Futures at Omnicom Media Group UK.  In addition to this, he's also a Media Futurist, Tech Advisory Board Member, AdWeek Columnist, and Power MBA lecturer.  Phil specialises in talking to brands about the future, turning thought-leadership and emerging tech trends into actual strategies.  He has over 22 years’ experience working in London, Dublin & Auckland – and is a recipient of ‘The Internationalist’ Agency Innovators Award. In this episode, we discuss a series of the latest reports from OMG Futures, and therefore discuss a range of macro issues including 'The Next Decade', 'The Future of Wellbeing' and 'The Future of Sustainability' alongside specific subjects such as 'How to be a Bad Futurist' (and how to be a good one), 'Why the grey market is THE market' and 'Tech for Truth'. 

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features a fascinating interview with a renowned futurist, Tom Lombardo. He's a Director at the Center for Future Consciousness,  which offers educational experiences that challenge and stimulate the mind, expand conscious awareness, empower creativity, deepen understanding, enhance ethics and promote social growth.  Tom is also an Exec Board Member and Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation, and Editor at the Journal of  Futures Studies. In this deeply interesting and wide-ranging conversation, Tom discusses issues including the history of futurism, his best-selling books, notable futurists / philosophers / psychologists / authors, along with contemporary leading-edge thinking into the overall subject of futurism, foresight and scenario planning.So...I hope you enjoy listening to his viewpoints as much as I did! 

Series ThreeThis episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Sylvia Gallusser,  who is a renowned Global Futurist and the CEO of Silicon Humanism. Based in San Fransisco, she's an inquirer of our future, conducting foresight projects on the future of health, well-aging, and social interaction, the future of work and life-long learning, as well as transformations in mobility and retail. Sylvia closely monitors the future of the mind and transhumanism, investigates Artificial General Intelligence and AI ethics. She's also involved in the future of our oceans and sustainability, and supports positive ocean tech startups. Over the past year, she focused her research on mental health in the workplace and remote work environments, and the future home. Sylvia has launched an "Ethics and Philosophy of Futures" think tank within the Association of Professional Futurists.  She's also a Go-to-Metaverse Strategist, helping brands enter the metaverse and web3 strategically and ethically, and co-designing focused metaverse brand activation. An author of Speculative Fiction , Sylvia teaches MBA classes, and facilitates workshops on go-to-market strategy, competitive analysis, futures thinking, worldbuilding, and entrepreneurship.So...as you can no doubt imagine, I really enjoyed listening to her viewpoints - and I'm sure you will too! 

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast I interview the incredibly dynamic Alice Charles,  who leads the World Economic Forum's cities work streams, inc the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization and its workstreams on City Climate & Resilience, Urban Inclusion, City Digital Transformation and City Financing. She's also created the City Dialogues series, which enables curated discussions between city leaders and leaders of business, civil society and academia on the city's future vision and collaborative action. Alice provides advice and direction on a variety of Forum initiatives inc the Future of Real Estate, BiodiverseCities 2030, Net Zero Carbon Cities and Sustainable Timber and the Built Environment.  In addition, she leads the production of cities related content and events at WEF Summits, including Davos. So, and as you can imagine, we cover a lot of ground covering the above issues. I found her viewpoints absolutely fascinating and hope you do too!

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal features Henry Coutinho-Mason, who is obsessed with new perspectives on the biggest question in business: "what will people want next?"I've been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of his new book “The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work & Thrive In The Coming Decade” which was written in conjunction with Wall St Journal bestselling author Rohit Bhargava and is out soon.  The book is the focus of our conversation, hence discussing issues such as 'How we will connect, get healthy and thrive / How we will live, work, and consume / How humanity will survive''.(The ex-Managing Director of Trendwatching, Henry's previous book "Trend-Driven Innovation" formed the basis of their research, content & product.) He's also co-founder of 3Space, an innovative solution to generating social value from empty commercial property. Finally, he was also mentioned as one of GQ's Most 'Connected Men in Britain'.  As they say, what's not to like? 

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features the designer, urbanist and strategist Johanna Hoffman, who explores the ties between design, planning, fiction and futures. She's the founder of California-based Design for Adaptation, a studio using strategic planning, interactive storytelling and speculative design to survey the impacts of potential futures and spur proactive adaptation. Johanna also works with other firms, implementing foresight assessment, futures research, story and strategy to help people, cities and organisations understand what future changes mean for them, and develop actionable plans in response.In this episode, she explains how the emerging field of speculative futures can help us dream - and build - better, sustainable, and more equitable cities for everyone. Her new book 'Speculative Futures: Design Approaches to Navigate Change, Foster Resilience, and Co-Create the Cities We Need' is out now! 

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast (available on all the usual platforms) features Ian Peters MBE, Director at Institute of Business Ethics; which has a guiding purpose of championing the highest standards of ethical behaviour in business. Ian is a specialist in business policy and strategic communications, and is highly experienced in media & government relations, and business policy. All organisations need to demonstrate they are trustworthy, and the IBE is an important partner to any business wanting to preserve its long-term reputation by doing business in the right way.  In the interview, Ian outlines subjects including 'how to build an ethical culture', illuminates issues impacting leadership & role modelling, gives practical guidance around purpose, ethical values, organisational culture and behaviour; along with detailing practicalities around both establishing and demonstrating a code of ethics.