Faris Yakob 'Collaboration is the way to solve problems'
Series FiveThis 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!
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38:05
Gareth Kay 'Creating tangible value from intangible assets'
Series FiveThis 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...
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33:28
Epaminondas Christophilopoulos 'The Future is always uncertain...'
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!
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41:35
Jan Berger 'Anticipating Change for Corporate Foresight'
Series Four This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Jan Berger, the Founder & CEO of Themis Foresight. Based in Berlin, his company anticipates economic, technological, social and political drivers of future change. He and his team are driven by the conviction that outstanding futures research is key for the strategic direction of Europe's business and entrepreneurial elite. Jan's academic training was in Modern & Contemporary History and Slavic Studies, which led him to take an MA at Lomonosov Moscow State University. He's lived and worked on four continents, and has held leadership positions in corporations and startups. So...we discuss all of the above in what I hope you'll agree is a dynamic conversation!
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43:54
Nils Muller 'Helping companies to stay relevant in the future'
Series FourIn this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I interview Nils Muller, CEO & Founder of TrendONE - a specialist agency that's a market leader in identifying key trends in fast moving branches of business. In our discussion, Nils discusses their methodologies and approach to working for clients such as BMW and Airbus, his viewpoints on developing 'Brand Germany' and takeouts from the Dubai Future Forum - having just returned from a hot and sunny UAE to a cold and snowy Germany. Hence, we discuss a range of topics covered at the forum, including Future Generations, Future Education, and the Future of Nature regarding Planet-Centric Innovation. Along the way, we also cover issues such as the latest thinking around Foresight, Strategic Growth, Collaborative Approaches and Futures-Literacy regarding Complexity, Experimentation and Anti-Fragility. So, I hope you enjoy listening to Nils as much as I did!
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