Series Four

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the renowned futurist Tom Lombardo, Director at the Center for Future Consciousness, Exec Board Member of the World Futures Studies Federation, and Editor at the Journal of Futures Studies. Back by popular demand (and having previously covered 'Top Futurist Books') this time he returns to the series to give an overview of the top movies in science fiction. The biggest problem - of course - was deciding what to leave out (so as to not make this episode several hours long) but Tom still managed to cover a wide range of superb films via his renowned depth and breadth of expertise. So, I hope you enjoy listening as he discusses titles that were produced in the earliest days of the 20th Century to those released to critical acclaim only recently.

Series Two

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Dr Jennifer Mercieca, author and Professor at Texas A&M University; an historian of American political rhetoric whose research combines history, political theory / philosophy / science.

Her latest research is on how ubiquitous propaganda has ruined our public sphere and what we can do about it. As an author, she writes about American political discourse, especially as it relates to citizenship, democracy, and the presidency, and has published three books: 'Founding Fictions', 'The Rhetoric of Heroic Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency', and 'Demagogue for President: the Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump'.

Jennifer has also written for The Conversation, USA Today, Washington Post, and other major media outlets. ​She's been interviewed by the BBC, NPR, The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian, Vice, ABC Radio, Slate, and many other outlets throughout the US and Worldwide - and has been called “probably the leading authority on Trump’s rhetoric”.

So, as you can imagine, this interview features a fascinating discussion about her views, including the use of language as a weapon, how Trump took advantage of distrust, polarisation and frustration, and why the unifying campaign strategies he employed were anything but simple.

In their review of her latest book, The Washington Post stated "The question of how Donald Trump ever got elected president has stumped some of the nation’s deeper thinkers. Jennifer Mercieca has a compelling answer.

Spoiler alert: Trump is not, in fact, a genius. He’s a sophisticated con man who used the tools of rhetoric to pick the pockets of the American body politic, double-talking his way to power..."

Series Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Frank Spencer, Founder & Creative Director at TFSX (Foresight, Innovation, Strategic Design and Learning).

TFSX, based in Florida, help their clients to thrive in a world of complex ideas and practices, uncover emerging trends on the horizon that will impact their business, and discover unseen opportunities for strategic advantage and development.

Frank holds an MA in Strategic Foresight from Regent University, and has worked on strategic foresight projects for numerous major companies. He's a prolific speaker, having delivered keynotes in Atlanta, Buenos Aires, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shanghai, Melbourne, Washington, New York City, Singapore, Mumbai, Wellington, Moscow and San Francisco, on topics such as leadership development, futures thinking, creating environments of foresight in organizations, identifying unseen opportunities, reaching preferred futures, and social innovation.

So, we discuss all of the above, in what I hope you'll agree is a really interesting conversation, during which Frank gives a real masterclass in 'futures thinking'.