Business Brief is a (very brief) new solo series hosted by Looking Outside podcast host, strategist and corporate futurist Jo Lepore.

When a market is stalling in innovation, an enchanting charismatic leaders selling a bold, crazy idea can be tempting. Is it, then, more important that the idea is visionary, or that it's attainable? In this Business Brief, Jo reflects on the fine line between bold innovation and unethical ambition, and why business leaders must stay vigilant about the dark patterns that distort progress.

Every organization, at some point, has their ethical boundaries tested. But there is a difference between an organization with ambition and drive, and one that pushes its people into unrealistic, unhealthy and disastrous behaviors in order to succeed. Today we’re talking about the slippery slope into destructive and dangerous corporate behavior, with professor of business ethics at HEC Lausanne, Guido Palazzo. Guido says the patterns into darkness are obvious, completely avoidable ... and quite counter to what we’re told makes for a successful corporate culture in business schools.

Business Brief is a (very brief) new solo series hosted by Looking Outside podcast host, strategist and corporate futurist Jo Lepore.

The path to the c-suite is predictable and still reliant on strong commercial literacy. But while marketers are relegated to perceptions of creativity, not financial savviness, senior leaders lack the very skills they bring – curiosity. In this Business Brief, Jo reflects on the cross-functional and transdisciplinary skills needed to bring truly future-forward thinking to organizations caught up in short term thinking.

When a profession brags about its ability to operate without formal training, you know you have a vanity problem. Founder of the MiniMBA, marketing professor and not-actually-that-angry columnist Mark Ritson joins the Looking Outside podcast to reiterate the central role of marketing in business – to understand the other. Marketers today have a branding problem, making it about themselves, the glitz and the awards, and Mark says this is all imposter syndrome stemming from lack of formal training. Empathy is foundational to marketing and is so needed in organizations distracted with short term priorities and obsessed with a narrative of constant change. And it can be a powerful unlocker of transformative ideas (like saving abandoned dogs).

Business Brief is a (very brief) new solo series hosted by Looking Outside podcast host, strategist and corporate futurist Jo Lepore.

It’s all well and good for a brand to have purpose, but what your company? In this Business Brief, Jo unpacks our obsession with proclaiming brand intent and pre-occupation with purpose led marketing. But that's not really the problem; it’s the absence of a well-defined and consistently rewarded company purpose.

If you’re tired of talking about brand purpose, you’re not alone. In most cases, when researched, purpose just does not work. But perhaps it’s been sitting with the wrong department this whole time … Author of The Purpose of Purpose, brand strategist and former stand-up comedian Ron Tite, argues that purpose is not for the marketers but for human resources, because ultimately what you "say” about your brand hinges entirely on what you collectively “think” within your company. There is there a tendency in organizations to bypass the bit in the middle - to voice your vision before you’ve backed it up tangible policies, incentives and activities. Without that, it’s just bullshit PR.

Business Brief is a (very brief) new solo series hosted by Looking Outside podcast host, strategist and corporate futurist Jo Lepore.

What does it take to build a business that lasts generations? In this Business Brief, Jo reflects on long-term thinking, the resilience of family-run businesses, and why creating a compelling vision matters when aligning business heritage with future ambitions.

On this episode of Looking Outside we peek into the metaphors, imagery and stories that unknowingly shape the limitations of our business strategy, and limit our ambitions. UNESCO chair of futures, Sohail Inayatullah has seen this many times before - from brands rethinking positioning, CEOs shifting cultural capability, to government leaders reshaping coalitions. In each case, when we dig deeper to the metaphor we hold for ourselves, we gain visibility of what limits our worldview, and the bars that guard us from transformational change. Sohail stresses that a strategy can easily change based on the story you tell others, but it’s uncovering the story you tell yourself as a leader that, while uncomfortable, is the true unlocker of new possibilities for the future.

What a year! It’s time to wrap it up for 2025 and highlight the eclectic mix of diverse perspectives, divergent topics and expert thinking that appeared on the show this year. From the best performing episodes and most popular themes, to the most prominent guest go-to's for fresh perspectives, today we’re going back to the episodes that resonated most.

In this live conversation, recorded on the podcast stage at SXSW Sydney, two futurists explore the unforeseen future emerging in the workplace. Author and ex-journalist Andrea Clarke, joins host Jo Lepore on stage to discuss the human and talent transformation taking place at work. Our resistance to this kind of change is normal, Andrea says, as our human inclination is to see it as a loss and not a gain. Workers must reframe how they take in and take charge of what’s asked of them - becoming discerning of mainstream narratives told to them, building ‘unignorable’ human skills, and strengthening the mindset of adaptability to constant change. As change is, after all, the only constant - especially at in how we work and how we lead.

The food system isn’t broken. But it has a big problem. That is land – and how little of it we have. Journalist and author Michael Grunwald joins us on the show today to talk openly about the elephant in the food ecosystem. Regenerative agriculture, precision fermentation, vertical farming, meat alternatives … we have no shortage of innovative ideas in the food system. But very quickly, a ‘quick fix’ turns out to be just a dumb idea. Despite a growing population, climate change challenges, and a human hypocrisy problem, Mike says we can feed everyone with the land we have, we just can’t keep taking more of it for agriculture.

Business forecasts depend on the predictable patterns of population growth, both for customer sales and for workforce talent. But what happens when we see this growth halt, or even regress? Political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba joins the show to dive into some of the largest societal and political dynamics intersecting with demographic shifts. From changes to the types of jobs on offer, to medical access, to urbanization, demographic changes influence a wide array of long term interconnected forces. And when it comes to this topic, Jennifer says, that long term lens is a gift.

Today we are joined once again by good friend of the podcast, Roger Spitz. While Roger is known well as a futurist and change agent today, his career started in investment banking and M&A. On this episode we explore the cross-roads of the investment world with emerging future innovation, and how this impacts business strategy. Roger argues the playbooks of old strategy are outdated. Systemic, regular disruption and added complexities in our world mean we need to use modern frameworks to address new shocks to business systems. When the risks were low, the fallout of bad decisions was manageable, Roger says, but value creation today requires a new way of assessing opportunity – by building anti-fragile systems that can help steer towards the long term game amidst short term crises.

When we talk about “human in the loop” of AI, what we mean is human intervention. But what if the AI was human? Or more accurately, a replica not of a generic repeatable, predictable human-sounding response, but built like you. Tech entrepreneur Robert LoCascio joins us today to explore this future, where humans aren’t just kept in the loop but are integrated with AI. Through his company Eternos, Rob aims to replicate a human being, capturing everything from their past experiences, future hopes, and right down to how they emotionally rationalize in the moment. It begs the question: what do we truly risk giving away to the machine, if we hand over not just our tasks, but our lived stories and learned knowledge?

If strategic planning in the consumer goods sector feels different right now, you’re not imagining it. For the past 15 years, leaders in CPG categories have struggled to build plans that deliver the kinds of predictable, reliable profit of days past. Former General Mills Chief Strategy Officer, and a leading independent voice in long range strategic planning, Peter McDonald joins us to discuss the shifting expectation of corporate strategy, where it is necessary to provide a long range lens into the future beyond a short term fiduciary focus. At the heart of this strategy challenge today is a preoccupation with old playbooks in new competitive landscapes, prioritizing the shareholder at the expense of the consumer, and operating with false confidence - denial, even - that things will revert to the way they were.

Fashion is a massive $1.8 Trillion industry. Within that two tales unfold: one of quality, timelessness and individualized expression, and another of wastefulness, shame and pride. On this episode, we explore how fast fashion competes with slow fashion; where craftsmanship, carefulness and scarcity supersede fleeting trends. For this we’re joined by French fashion designer and YouTuber Justine Leconte. To her one million viewers around the world, Justine emphasizes the importance of choosing what we buy carefully. But not necessarily at the expense of style, which everyone has the ability to harness, particularly when we tailor fashion to us.

This podcast was not read by synthetic AI generated replicas … although it could be. Live from the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies in Denmark, together with three trained communications professionals, we discuss the future of their field. If there even is one. FARSIGHT podcast host and Head of Publications at the CIFS Casper Skovgaard Petersen, Head of Communications Toke Hanghøj and new CIFS partner, and host Jo Lepore discuss the synthetification of what we create and what we consume.

Financial stability and economic growth has been a staple of national prosperity and business success. In this search for predictable prosperity, fueled by individual ownership and material attainment, we forget that economic models were built as a fix to a problem within the specific context of a social need. Today, economic models have become the convention our society moves within, and the narrative of perpetual growth is familiar. But are these models serving society in the context we now live in, one that requires constraint? To explore these frameworks that rule our lives, we’re joined by economist Hans Stegeman, who, in his double life as Chief Economist at Triodos Bank in the Netherlands by day, and independent thinking columnist by night, shows how provocative questions that help us re-perceive existing systems can influence change from inside the system.

Your business could benefit from a chief geopolitical officer. Not just because of the large shift in operational complexity accelerated by geopolitical conflicts, but because not looking at these topics in a considered way, through a lens of expertise, could lead to poor decisions, lost opportunities, or worse, paralysis. But, says our Looking Outside guest today, while the crisis is real and large, it’s not anything new – in fact we’re going back to the old ‘normal’. Jake Sotiriadis has seen this first hand, as part of the intelligence unit in the United States Air Force, as strategic foresight lead at the Pentagon, and as senior strategy advisor to the public and private sector. Jake says every decision, be it in the public or private sector, carries some risk. The biggest risk, however, is not a bad decision, but indecision.

You can’t talk about the future without talking about change. But change can trick you, as guest Roger Spitz says on this latest episode, filmed live at the Rulebreaker Future Congress in Germany. Roger is the founding Chair of the Disruptive Futures Institute and, there, instructs global leaders in operating with agility in uncertain environments. The thing about change, Roger explains, is that it feels equally incredibly slow and exponentially fast – and both perceptual models can distract us from focusing on the present moment and what needs to be solved for today. On the show, Roger stresses why cognitive agility and informed optimism are critical mindsets in a future that feels uncontrollably volatile.