The New Abnormal Sean Pillot de Chenecey

Series Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Giana Eckhardt, Professor of Marketing and Vice Dean at King’s Business School, King’s College London. 

A leading expert in the field of consumer behaviour, consumer culture, consumer ethics, branding and the sharing economy, she publishing regularly in journals such as Harvard Business Review. She is co-author of The Myth of the Ethical Consumer (Cambridge University Press) and co-editor of Handbook of the Sharing Economy.  

Her research has won awards and been featured in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, Fortune, Vogue, Scientific American, The BBC, and on National Public Radio. Giana has presented her work at top institutions and conferences around the world, inc the United Nations CSR Global Forum, Brand Week, Future of Brands, and the Global Women’s Forum. 

So, we discuss the above, and her forthcoming book 'In Praise of Inconvenience'. 

Series Three

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Tom Johnson, MD at the consumer insights and futures consultancy, Trajectory. He's a researcher, trends analyser and forecaster with  a mass of experience leading complex insight and foresight projects for clients including Vodafone, British Council, Department for International Trade, General Medical Council, McCann and many more.  Trajectory help clients understand how customers, markets and the world around them is changing - and how they can benefit from that change. Trajectory's proprietary international data  - Global Foresight - draws on 100,000 consumer interviews and has been running for a decade. Their monthly 'Optimism Index' monitor tracks consumer sentiment in the UK each month, gaining viewpoints from 1500 adults re: issues such as confidence, personal choice & control, social trust, opportunities in tech, optimism and their place in the world. We discuss all of the above and more, so I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Series Two

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Executive Director of 'Growth Coaching International' and Professor of Positive Psychology at University of East London. 

An international authority in the field of coaching, he's a renowned public speaker who regularly presents on the topics of motivation, engagement and leadership. 

We discuss his latest book and his motivation for creating coaching cultures for learning which allow people to pursue their aspirations with confidence and mental toughness. 

In this fascinating episode, we also talk about his thinking around post-traumatic growth, social polarisation, evidencing compassion, why hope isn't mere wishful thinking - it 's a valuable tool, and why optimism can be dangerous. 

Christian explains that while it's important that a vision for the future is believable, it should also be desirable - and he also outlines  six evidence-based ways to look after your mental health. 

To conclude, we debate the psychology and philosophy of hope vs optimism. This is one of my favourite subjects, so I hope you enjoy listening to Christian as much as I did! 

Series Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast I interview the incredibly dynamic Alice Charles,  who leads the World Economic Forum's cities work streams, inc the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization and its workstreams on City Climate & Resilience, Urban Inclusion, City Digital Transformation and City Financing. She's also created the City Dialogues series, which enables curated discussions between city leaders and leaders of business, civil society and academia on the city's future vision and collaborative action. Alice provides advice and direction on a variety of Forum initiatives inc the Future of Real Estate, BiodiverseCities 2030, Net Zero Carbon Cities and Sustainable Timber and the Built Environment.  In addition, she leads the production of cities related content and events at WEF Summits, including Davos. So, and as you can imagine, we cover a lot of ground covering the above issues. I found her viewpoints absolutely fascinating and hope you do too!

Series Three

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Art Kleiner, a renowned expert on management thinking, thought leadership, organisational learning and scenario planning. 

In his new book 'The AI Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology' he illuminates a belief that AI holds incredible promise to improve virtually every aspect of our lives, but we can't ignore its risks, mishaps and misuses. The book therefore offers seven principles for ensuring that machine learning supports human flourishing. 

An editorial consultant for influential thought leaders, he's also former editor-in-chief of the award-winning management magazine Strategy+Business (published by PwC), editorial director of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook series, co-innovator of "learning histories" (MIT) co-author of 'The Wise Advocate' and author of 'The Age of Heretics' and 'Who Really Matters'.  

I really enjoyed listening to his inspiring and insightful viewpoints, and hope you will too!

Series Three

In this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I interview the renowned journalist and author Ian Williams, who was Foreign Correspondent for Channel 4 News, based in Russia and Asia, before joining NBC News as Asia Correspondent, when he was based in Bangkok and Beijing. 

As well as reporting from China over the last 25 years, he has also covered conflicts in the Balkans, Middle East and Ukraine. (He won an Emmy and BAFTA awards for his discovery and reporting on the Serb detention camps during the war in Bosnia). 

His latest book "Every breath you take - China's new tyranny" illustrates the world's first digital totalitarian state, where a system of hitherto unimaginable control threatens to make the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four a terrifying reality. 

In our discussion, he therefore illuminates the extraordinary rise of the Chinese surveillance state, the war against truth and liberal values, and the vital need to make artificial intelligence democratically accountable. 

Ian also describes the implications for the rest of the world regarding the urgent challenges facing the West, in what has become a technological Cold War...