This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the novelist and journalist Victoria Robson, who has more than 20 years experience reporting on business and finance in the UK and Middle East. Her newly-published debut novel 'Sirens Bay' is an 'enemies to lovers' small-town romance set in Maine. She wrote it under the pen name Cassie Bruce, and is now working on the second book in the series. As co-founder of Brighton-based writers' group Real Writers Circle, she believes in the power of stories, understands the value of sharing knowledge, expertise and skills between peers, and loves the joy and support that community brings. In the podcast, we discuss the above, along with her involvement in the dynamic Safehaven Brighton, which was set up over a decade ago to support anyone in need. It welcomes anyone looking for a safe place, the aim being to provide them with dignity, hope and community.

Series One

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast, I interviewed Joakim Noren, who is now a consultant, having been the Marketing Director and Vice President of Artipelag - a unique international venue for art, culture and design, beautifully set among pine trees on Varmdo in the Stockholm archipelago.

Previously, Joakim was at the Swedish Institute, where he developed the 'Brand Sweden' platform into a complete brand strategy. Prior to that he'd been head of their strategy unit, which followed on from years as an independent concept developer and design strategist. (I last saw him when we were in Beirut, speaking at a conference alongside Govt officials).

In this podcast, we discuss issues including the complexities of national branding initiatives, ideas around consensus culture and progressive notions of #BrandSweden alongside 'Swedish Brands Today'.

We discuss green investment and regenerative capitalism, and 'Now/Next/Why' regarding the implications of Covid's impact on Scandinavian society and culture.

Series Four

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Houston-based Alexandra Whittington, a futurist writer and speaker who explores the future of humanity and society. A former Lecturer in Foresight at the University of Houston, she’s been highlighted as one of the world’s top futurists by Forbes. The co-author and co-editor of several books including 'A Very Human Future', 'Aftershocks and Opportunities' and 'The Future Reinvented', Alex also delivered the popular 'Museum of the Future' TEDx talk. She's passionate about empowering people to imagine and create positive futures for themselves and their communities. So, we discuss the above, and I hope you enjoy listening to her as much as I did!

Series Three

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Sylvia Gallusser, who is a renowned Global Futurist and the CEO of Silicon Humanism. Based in San Fransisco, she's an inquirer of our future, conducting foresight projects on the future of health, well-aging, and social interaction, the future of work and life-long learning, as well as transformations in mobility and retail.

Sylvia closely monitors the future of the mind and transhumanism, investigates Artificial General Intelligence and AI ethics. She's also involved in the future of our oceans and sustainability, and supports positive ocean tech startups.

Over the past year, she focused her research on mental health in the workplace and remote work environments, and the future home. Sylvia has launched an "Ethics and Philosophy of Futures" think tank within the Association of Professional Futurists. She's also a Go-to-Metaverse Strategist, helping brands enter the metaverse and web3 strategically and ethically, and co-designing focused metaverse brand activation.

An author of Speculative Fiction , Sylvia teaches MBA classes, and facilitates workshops on go-to-market strategy, competitive analysis, futures thinking, worldbuilding, and entrepreneurship.

So...as you can no doubt imagine, I really enjoyed listening to her viewpoints - and I'm sure you will too!

Series One

In this episode, I talk with the renowned strategist Gareth Kay, a founding partner of the cutting-edge independent creative studio Chapter, in San Fransisco, whose clients inc Google, Airbnb, Sonos, Dropbox, Uber, Facebook and PayPal.

(Although , since we recorded the episode, Gareth has now moved into fintech).

Prior to setting up Chapter, he'd spent 20yrs at some of the world's best ad agencies, inc Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where he was Chief Strategy Officer. He says that 'today, people expect more from their brands'.

Those expectations may seem unreasonable, but they have been reset for good'. We talk about the 'complexity of uncertainty' summing up a key challenge of C19, but that we need to use the crisis 'as a portal to a better future'.

Finally, Gareth talks about the urgent need to support the 'cultural creators and enablers' that play such a vital role in our lives.

Oh, and he's also been to more gigs than seems humanly possible and really, really wanted to be a drummer. So...please listen and enjoy!

Series Four

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Ben Holt, Global Lead for Strategic Foresight at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Solferino Academy, who helps the network explore possible futures and learn the skills needed to make them useful in the present.

He's also a Visitor at the Cambridge University Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and a committee member at the Humanitarian Innovation Fund.

In this episode, Ben discusses his dynamic work, all of which involves 'thinking about the future and making things happen today'. I hope you enjoy listening to him as much as I did!

Series Four

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features the renowned Philippa Wagner, a creative thinker who connects people, places & spaces across a range of lifestyle industries with a particular focus on F&B, hospitality, wellness & retail. She's a highly creative, commercially-driven strategist with extensive big-brand experience, having worked with some of the industry's best and brightest, including Birch, Ennismore, Sessions and Locke. Philippa's specialist focus on consumer behaviours, strategic forecasting & brand storytelling puts her in a unique position to deliver insightful, forward-thinking outputs that help brands carve out a space for themselves in the world. In our conversation, she explains her viewpoints on companies from wellness startups to heavyweight hospitality brands, and how she works to put experience at the heart of their business.

Series Four

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast, I interview Andrew Koppelman, who is the John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, and Philosophy Department Affiliated Faculty at Northwestern University.

Andrew's scholarship focuses on issues at the intersection of law and political philosophy. He's been published and quoted across an array of leading newspapers and has appeared on numerous TV channels. He's also written more than 100 scholarly articles and seven books.

In this episode, we discuss his latest book 'Burning Down the House' which explains how modern libertarianism began with Hayek’s admirable corrective to the Depression-era vogue for central economic planning. It resisted oppressive state power and showed how capitalism could improve life for everyone. Yet today, it's a toxic blend of anarchism, disdain for the weak, and rationalisation for environmental catastrophe.

Andrew’s book therefore traces libertarianism's evolution from moderate pro-market ideas to 'romantic fabulism' and the promotion of climate change denial. His book is the definitive history of an ideological movement that has reshaped American politics - I found his viewpoints to be fascinating, and hope you do too!