In this special LIVE episode of Looking Outside, recorded at the Insights and Innovation Exchange event in Texas, we look more closely at the symbols and signs that surround us, the study of Semiotics, with semiotician, author and marketer, Dr Rachel Lawes. Rachel blends her 20 years in Market Research and her academic training as a Social Psychologist, with a focus on how people communicate through the study of semiotics. Rachel describes this as looking more deeply and critically at what is...

Are some people simply more cut out to take on big responsibilities, where lives are at stake, or is it actually just good training? In this episode of Looking Outside, we explore the mindset and skills of preparedness in Flying with commercial airline pilot, Ricardo Nunes. Being responsible for hundreds of people on the plane is not something Ricardo takes for granted. While many of us would find that extreme level of responsibility crippling, Ricardo says the confidence comes from...

Lars Behrendt joins us for this episode of Looking Outside, discussing the bureaucracy, ego and over-perfection that gets in the way of great innovating … in other words, Innovation B******t. Now a voice of influence in the innovation space, particularly in his home country of Germany where he gets 10 million content views weekly, Lars shares how he ‘engineered’ a voice of authority in order to break through the clutter of innovation nonsense; with a few cuss words, a ton of humor and big...

In this episode we discuss the future of snacking with daydreamer, sunshine chaser and optimist, Matt Weiss. Matt founded his own upcycled snacking company, RIND Snacks, and lives by the mantra of making weird and wonderful things happen, even if it feels impossible. In this chat, Jo and Matt discuss what health means in the context of personal happiness and fulfilment, from what you eat, to the lens through which you see the world, to self awareness of what gives you sustenance (food or...

Inspired by a conversation at the 2023 CES Food Tech Expo, today we discuss how one of the most traditional industries is being transformed through Culinary Creativity, with CEO and Founder of Hungry House, a platform for creative chefs, Kristen Barnett. In creating Hungry House, Kristen shares how she puts the values of both the chef and the customer first, by focusing on food quality. Her platform allows the customer to add more meaning to the choices they make in how they explore and...

In these volatile and uncertain times, it can feel harder than ever to achieve things for ourselves and our teams, so today we take a cue from the performance experts, speaking about Motivation with mental performance coach, Lauren Johnson. The stakes are high for professional athletes, but they cope with the same challenges as all of us; building mental toughness to persevere physically, and creating positive habits to practice towards exceptional results. Lauren learnt this first hand...

Marketing is often thought of as a creative field, in part because it leans into the art of negotiation to sell a product, but it must be done with rigor. In this episode, we explore that rigorous side of marketing, and the research that should shape its decisions, with Marketing Science research professor and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Byron Sharp. Naturally curious and a lover of history, Byron sprinkles nuggets of real world truths, as he explains how marketing research is...

Does conflict and incompatible perspectives always have to be a negative? In this episode of Looking Outside we speak with Raj B. Shroff, Founder & Principal at PINE, a strategy and design agency to hear how he and his company leverages conflict to get to a better outcome. Raj shares how his workplace thrives on openness, when ideas are great or when things aren’t working, and how he creates the space for everyone part of the company to feel comfortable with that. It’s empathetic to be...

We kick off Season 4 bravely with the visionary Amy Webb, Quantitative Futurist, CEO of the Future Today Institute, professor at NYU and author. In this episode, as in Amy’s book The Genesis Machine, we discuss the paths towards synthetic futures and the methods in creating more credible focus on the long term future. Amy speaks to her journey coming into the "esoteric" field of futures, from a fact-based background in economics and journalism. Fortuitously, she meandered on the rocky path to...

The final episode of Season 3 takes us to the precipice of change, looking at the topic of Fear. We discuss this with Mark Minukas, co-author of Unfear, a book on the very topic.   As someone who had to face into fear a few times, transitioning from a career as a civil engineer in the US Navy, to navigating the corporate world of management consulting, Mark shares how the discomfort of this change gave him perspective and forced him to see himself in ways he was previously blind to. Mark...

In episode 29 we peek back in time and look at the future that comes from the past, exploring the field of Archives with Senior Manager of the McDonald’s Golden Archives, Archivist Mike Bullington. As an information gathering profession, often thought to be buried in old relics and secret data, Mike shares how he turns the knowledge into action, amplified by people throughout the organization, by making people care about the past. Mike shares the process of deciding when something is...

We start a new year with a new way of Thinking, approaching the topic of careful consideration, extrapolation and explanation in a critical way. Joining us is self-proclaimed overthinker, award winning writer, leading cultural commentator and Foresight & Strategy Lead at Reddit, Matt Klein. As can be seen by his intro, Matt takes on a lot and he takes in a lot. He starts by sharing how he loads information and how he avoids overloading - a process where he binge eats information and then...

We end 2022 on a pragmatic but aspirational note, reflecting on the ability to make positive change without needing to disregard nor fully transform the current dominant system. We discuss Good business that can also be Profitable, with Do Good Foods Co-CEO and Co-founder, Justin Kamine. As an ambitioned leader of a company progressing the agriculture industry forward on climate action, Justin proposes the concept of a business that is more sustainable, more equitable for food producers, and...

In this episode of Looking Outside we learn how to weave together the voices of the future, the agents with vision, to create Coalitions of Change, with Cat Tully, Founder and Director of the School of International Futures. With a broad, and ‘mongrel’ background, Cat shares how her mixed experiences from across multiple sectors, government to private, have helped her to fine tune learned behavior in looking broadly at the influences of change and facing into their often uncomfortable...

Episode 25 of Looking Outside welcomes prize-winning author, former professor, social worker, and activist, Dr Nora Gold to explore the perception and potential of Narratives; those stories we tell others and ourselves that ultimately limit or empower us. Passionate about fiction, and writer of her own stories, Nora shares both her perspective and the social science research on how fictional stories can literally change us. How escaping into the story of someone else brings down our defenses,...

Be prepared to teeter on the edge of excitement and cynicism, as we explore The Metaverse in this episode of Looking Outside, with technology futurist and Metaverse expert, Theo Priestley. Theo is CEO and Co-Founder of Metanomic, a complete web3 economic platform for developers, but he is also one of the public voices ready to poke holes in Metaverse concepts commonly spouted. To peel back the polished veneer, Theo discusses the need to look at the gaps in the arguments made today on the...

In this episode of Looking Outside we look closer at the numbers and what they are telling us, exploring the predictive human powers of Demographics. For this we chat with fellow Aussie, Bernard Salt, Founder & Executive Director of The Demographics Group. As a well known personality, famous for injecting a bit of humor into his public speaking events and newspaper columns, Bernard shares his philosophy on presenting the numbers in a way that is engaging and compelling. He speaks to how...

In this slightly poetic episode, we look both inside and outside the often simplified topic of Identity, exploring what it means to be, create and become who we are, with Creative Strategist and Founding Poet at Brand Poetry Inc., Theophilus Wells IV. Naturally philosophically minded, Theo shares his observations on the dichotomy of human nature and will in shaping our individual identities, stressing the benefit of being curious about the things that make us different, and the power in...

We start season 3 digging deep into human values, while speculating on their evolved expression into the future, with futurist and Associate Professor at University of Houston's Foresight Program, Dr Andy Hines. Having authored a book on the topic of values, ConsumerShift, Andy shares how defining what a value is and how it is expressed by people with differing typologies, helps us perceive them as something less static and therefore shows us their potential evolution into the future. Jo and...

We end Season 2 of Looking Outside with a frank look at the very topical topic of activism in business. We do this not theoretically or observationally but first hand with activist entrepreneur and CEO of Eat the Change, Seth Goldman. Seth speaks to why 'acting' is critical in activism, as he's done first hand by venturing into organic packaged food, healthier fast-casual restaurants and planet-friendly meat alternatives. Seth shares how he has done this by crafting ideas designed to change...

In Episode 19 we speak with marketing strategist and successful author, Mark Schaefer on the way to generate and leverage Influence, for both your personal and professional brands. Author of nine books including Return on Influence and Cumulative Advantage, Mark shares his research and experience in the area of content marketing. He explains why it’s not enough to simply generate content; why you must rise above the noise with a ‘spiky point of view’. Mark and Jo reflect on the challenges...

In the latest episode of Looking Outside, we explore Exploration itself, and what it means to be truly curious about people, places and the future, with Zak Dychtwald, Founder of Young China Group and author of Young China. Zak shares how he approaches exploration: from visiting countries that are ‘misunderstood’, to immersing himself in stories about the far off possible future, to building an ‘intimacy’ with foreign cultures, places and people that you wouldn’t get from descriptions by...

Episode 17 of Looking Outside shows us the courage, self-awareness and patience needed to make a Career Pivot, or in the case of Nihal Advani, Founder & CEO of QualSights … several! What mindset does it take flip your life around and try something completely different? Nihal takes us on his personal journey from professional tennis player, to tech ‘idea guy’ at Microsoft, to creating and leading his own business. He details how adaptability is a pivotal component of seeing new...

In episode 16 we get grounded in how a strategist thinks, and their process in creating impactful strategy, with Mark Pollard, CEO Sweathead. A guide to many creative thinkers and long-time strategists, Mark discusses the role of chaos within orderly processes, the purpose of finding personal meaning in your thinking, and the need to balance intellectualism with practicality. Having written a book about it, ‘Strategy is your Words’, Mark discusses the purpose of the written expression and the...

Episode 15 takes us outside the comfort zone in looking at the darkness in life and in people. We’re talking about True Crime with Jenn Vogel, Chief Revenue Officer, Voxpopme. Both fans of the true crime genre, Jenn and Jo discuss their seemingly irrational (but actually very rational) fascination with criminal acts, and the true circumstances surrounding them, and what that tells about human limitations and moral boundaries. As a people-first leader in the business of playing detective...