Ian Olasov 'Ask a Philosopher - answers to the most important questions'

Series Three

This 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 Two

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Matt Klein. He's a Cultural Theorist + CyberPsychologist + Strategist who helps organisations understand emerging social shifts and author preferred futures. 

As a quantitative futurist, Matt advises brands like Disney, L'Oréal and American Airlines, as well as TV producers, VC investors, startups, nonprofits, government agencies and journalists. His insights can be found in The New York Times,  Wall  St Journal, Forbes, WARC, VICE + Rolling Stone. (He also writes Zine, a featured Substack.)

Matt is also the Founder and now Advisor of PRSNL Branding, an education platform helping systemically disadvantaged professionals strengthen their online presence and advance their careers.

In this episode, we focus in particular on his articles relating to 'Using AI to quantify & size meta trends' and 'Using AI to discover overlooked social shifts'. 

Matt is absolutely on top of his game, and it was fascinating to discuss the above, along with his views on a range of industry topics.  

Series Three

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features the renowned design anthropologist and psychologist  Anna Kirah. She's an expert in pioneering qualitative research methods used to gather deep insights to understand people's motivations and expectations as well as their articulated and unarticulated needs, and to link this understanding to the design of services, products and organisational change. 

Anna's experience in Boeing and Microsoft has given her global recognition for her work related to people-centred innovation, service design & design thinking, co-creation & interdisciplinary collaboration;  as well as how to lead an organisation in a turbulent age. 

She’s writing a book about design anthropology 'Working on the Edge' (in collaboration with other anthropologists) and is also writing one 'on leadership in an age of change' called Do You Care? 

So, we discuss all the above - and more - in an episode that I hope you'll find deeply interesting. 

Series Two

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast, I interview Mark Shayler, owner at Ape. 

He's a  Thinker / Doer / Creator / Speaker / Author,  who helps companies grow sustainably by developing people, strategies and brand - whilst reducing impact. (Mark has saved his clients in excess of £120,000,000).

He's also  author of the excellent books "Do Disrupt" and "Do Present".  

In the interview, we discuss his highly specialised knowledge of sustainability, in which he has many years experience of advising and working with an array of clients, from major corporates to leading-edge startups. 

Along the way, he outlines his strategic thinking and practical approach to problems facing companies today and tomorrow. 

Mark also talks about the renowned Do Lectures, which have gained a stellar reputation over the years since he was  a founding partner, and with whom he continues to play a crucial role.  

Series Three

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Thierry Malleret, the co-author of both the international best-seller 'The Great Reset' and the newly published 'Great Narrative' which he wrote with Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Exec Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Thierry is the founder and managing partner of #MonthlyBarometer. Its eponymous flagship monthly 'predictive newsletter' is Thierry’s brainchild and the product of his innovative and exacting approach to research and analysis. 
 
Thierry possesses decades of unique professional experience spanning investment banking, being an economist at the EBRD, think tanks and academia in the US and UK, and Govt including a three-year spell in the Prime Minister’s office in France. At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Thierry founded and headed the Global Risk Network and led the programme team for the annual meeting at Davos. 
 
Thierry also founded the #SummitOfMinds -  a series of high-level meetings that combine hard thinking on major macro issues and the importance of personal wellbeing and the power of nature. 

We discussed all of the above in the interview, so I hope you enjoy listening to the podcast as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Series Two

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interviewed Cailin O'Connor, who is an associate professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California. 

She's also the co-author of 'The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread' (published by Yale University Press.

In our interview, we discuss Cailin's most recent writings on the subject of 'why we trust lies' re: the most effective misinformation starting with seeds of truth. 

In doing so, she explains the crucial importance of transparency and accountability, alongside her viewpoints on issues such as confirmation bias i.e. why what you believe depends on who you know; and how demonstrably false beliefs persist and spread - despite negative consequences for the people holding them. 

In an era where arguments rage about issues ranging from climate change (as the polar ice caps melt and forest fires burn) to the wearing of face masks (as millions have died of Covid-19), Cailin illuminates the social forces that explain the manipulation of 'false belief' and propaganda, and why we must understand both how that process works and trust the evidence, in order to fight back against misinformation. 

Series Three

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Jacob Ellis, an experienced public affairs and international relations advisor with a demonstrated history of working to improve policy-making in Wales and globally. 

He's worked with United Nations, World Cities Culture Forum and One Young World, and is committed to ensuring the needs of future generations are central to policy development. 

We therefore discuss all of these areas, and in particular his work with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, his activity as a Future Generations Global Ambassador, being a United Nations Foundation 'Next Generation' Fellow, and a range of the dynamic policy initiatives and other issues on which Jacob is involved. 

Series Three

This 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 Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interview the incredibly dynamic Stephanie Benedetto.  

A corporate attorney turned climate fintech entrepreneur, Stephanie is the Co-Founder of Queen of Raw, no-code enterprise software to intelligently resell and recycle unused inventory on Raw Chain, measure, report, and turn pollution into profit. 

Prior to starting Queen of Raw, Stephanie worked as a lawyer in the fashion, media/entertainment, start-up, and technology industries and co-founded a sustainable textile manufacturing facility. 

An advocate for women in business and sustainability, her companies have been featured in NPR, Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Entrepreneur. 

Stephanie is a 2020 Inc. Female Founders 100, an MIT Circular Economy Solver, an LVMH Innovation Award Finalist, and an Accenture and World Economic Forum Circulars 2022. She's also a Member of Pledge 1% and Founding Member of New York Circular City Initiative and Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network. 

So...as you can probably imagine,  this episode is a great example of someone who went out there to build a business and change the world for the better... 

Series Three

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?