Phenomena

'Leading with Perspective', a new season of the Phenomena Podcast all about leadership, transformation and strategic thinking with a brand new episode each month. Leading with Perspective is all about having engaging conversations with top industry leaders and hearing about how they effected change within their organisation, their industry and the wider culture.

In a special edition of the ReD podcast, we’re bringing you the best bits of a conversation that took place last week in our offices in NYC, where Ian Dull sat down with neuroscientist and entrepreneur Vivienne Ming and VP of Research Science at Meta’s Reality Labs, Richard Newcombe, to discuss the role of bodies in the age of AI In front of a packed room on a cold New York evening, they discussed how computers “see” and interpret the world compared to how we as humans do, when and how to integrate these technologies for different industries from healthcare to education, tech to finance, and finally, what’s next for more embodied forms of AI.

In this special edition of the podcast, we are live from Copenhagen, Denmark where we hosted a discussion with Oluf Borbye Pedersen, a world expert on the gut microbiome, and Theis Brydegaard, head chef at the Alchemist. Are We Listening to the Gut? was the topic of conversation, and as part of our ongoing content series all about our changing relationship to flesh, offers us a novel lens through which to consider our bodies, our selves and the world around us. Hosted by ReD’s Filip Lau and Anne Mette Lottrup, they discuss why we should consider food as preventive medicine, the relationship between what and how we eat and healing and finally, and why paying more attention to our gut might help solve behavioural barriers around adherence.

This is a special edition of the ReD podcast live from Paris, France, where we hosted a discussion with British photographer Maisie Cousins, and Pernod Ricard’s head of foresight, Daphnée Hor, at the beautiful Lafayette Anticipations, a gallery space in the heart of Paris. Are We Afraid Of The Body? was the topic of conversation, a question that sits right at the heart of our ongoing content series all about our changing relationship to flesh. Hosted by ReD’s Sandra Cariglio, they discuss the changing ways bodies are considered and represented in our age of sanitised, Instagram-ready aesthetics, the growing fascination with perishability, waste and decomposition, and finally, ask whether we’re entering a germ renaissance.

Since the sexual revolution of the 1970s, the Western world has been obsessed with representations of sex. And within this historical explosion of sexual imagery, many companies capitalised on the powerful narrative that consumption could deliver sex appeal and in turn, increase one's chances for finding a partner. More recently, however, we're seeing a shift where sex appeal is becoming increasingly dissociated from the idea of romantic love and folded into a wider and more varied set of personal narratives. To unpack this further, host Eliot Salandy Brown sits down with Sandra Cariglio, a partner at ReD Associates, and Polly Rodriguez, co-founder and CEO of sexual wellness brand Unbound, as part of our ongoing special series on our evolving relationship to flesh and the body. Together, they tackle big questions such as: Does sex still sell? How are behaviours and values around intimacy changing? And if the desire to seduce isn't driving consumption in fashion and beauty like it used to, what will take its place?

Martin Gronermann and John Dalton sit down with Eliot Salandy Brown to discuss how the latest social science can help banks and financial institutions provide better products and services. Topics include executives misunderstanding young people, emerging financial practices, digitization of financial tools, and introducing productive friction for better decision-making.

While there are still many questions about what the metaverse of the future will look and feel like, nearly everyone is in agreement that it’s a big deal. And while the metaverse has been well covered from a technological angle, what is often missing from the debate are questions about the human and social implications of its evolution. In this episode, Eliot is joined by ReD partner Iago Noguer Storgaard and Jacob Wachmann, a former ReD employee and now strategy director for games and metaverse experiences at the LEGO Group, to discuss the possible directions the metaverse might take, and what that means for businesses as they look to build strategies and technology roadmaps for the future. To what extent does the metaverse mark the next paradigm shift in how we work, play, and learn as humans? How might science fiction be misleading us as to how it will change our lives? And what false assumptions are executives across industries making on features such as immersion and interoperability as they develop metaverse strategies of their own? Listen in as we also share the best books to dive deeper into the topic, from sci-fi to contemporary nonfiction to 1960s theoretical philosophy.

Companies use the word “strategy” more than ever, while strategy consultants with MBAs march the halls of companies penning sensible “strategic plans” that boards enthusiastically approve. Yet companies with a unique perspective on why customers spend with them and how they will win in their chosen space are in the minority. In this special edition of the podcast we speak about strategy with Roger Martin, one of the most influential minds in business and a trusted strategy advisor to global CEOs. In conversation with ReD partners Filip Lau and Iago Noguer Storgaard, Roger outlines the sorry state of strategy today and explains why it is in danger of becoming a lost art. What is the difference between a “strategic plan” and an actual strategy? Why are traditional strategy consultancies actually selling project management services? And how might revisiting the teachings of Aristotle help us come up with better strategies in today’s business world?

Brands play a fundamental role in shaping social identities. Neuroscience can teach us about brand perception and challenge core views of marketeers. Big brands can learn from small brands about approachability. The power of context on consumer behavior can be observed through a study about popcorn. Neuroimaging technologies are used to study consumer decision-making.

Discussions around mental health are everywhere. But as different industries ask themselves how to get mental health right, our research points towards the need for a shift in how we understand its causes and, by extension, deliver solutions. In this episode, host Eliot is joined by ReD partner Anne Mette Wørose Lottrup and Emily Mendenhall, medical anthropologist and professor at Georgetown University, to discuss moving beyond a biological and individual understanding of mental health. How do the social sciences help us get to the social, environmental, and cultural factors underpinning psychological distress? What new opportunities for public and private players does this widening in our understanding afford? And how might a more holistic approach to care offer new approaches to solutions and a way out of our current mental health crisis?