Looking Outside

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.

Recorded live at SXSW Sydney October 2025. Edited for length and clarity. Published with permission from SXSW Sydney.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & Substack & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Andrea at www.andreaclarke.com.au
• Andrea's book 'Adapt: Mastering Change in Four Steps'
• Follow Andrea on LinkedIn & Instagram

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Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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. Perhaps, then, the biggest consideration facing food businesses today is not to chase the ‘next big thing’, but as we scale nascent ideas, to consider land in that equation - and not as a ‘free’ asset. Because as Mike says, with the land we have, the math sucks.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & Substack & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Michael Grunwald
• Follow Mike on LinkedIn & X
• Grab a copy of Mike's book 'We are eating the earth'
• Speaking opportunities with Mike

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

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Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & Substack & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Jennifer D. Sciubba, Ph.D
• Follow Jennifer on LinkedIn & Substack
• Grab a copy of Jennifer's book 8 Billion and Counting
• Learn more about the Population Reference Bureau

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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.

Check out Part 2 of this conversation with Roger: https://www.looking-outside.com/podcast/change

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & Substack & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Roger Spitz
• Follow Roger on LinkedIn & X & Medium
• Grab a copy of Roger's book Disrupt with Impact
• Follow Techistential on LinkedIn & X
• Follow the Disruptive Futures Institute on LinkedIn & X

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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 we give away that which makes us unique, we are makes ourselves replicable. Or, as Rob argues, (if done safely) it could be that we are finding a new way to preserve human life and maintain shared community.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & X & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Eternos
• Follow Rob on LinkedIn

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & X & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Peter McDonald
• Follow Peter on LinkedIn

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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 of Looking Outside, 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.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & X & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Justine Leconte & her label
• Follow Justine on YouTube, Pinterest & TikTok
• Check out Justine's guide for Timelines Style
• Request Justine's Fast Fashion Blacklist
• Watch 5 myths that fast fashion brands want you to believe

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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.

Technology is rapidly upending the traditional media industry. As this happens, we see literacy rates declining and the increasing ease of outsourcing writing and thinking.

So too, all of this influences the stories we create and tell about the future. Whether we paint visions as warning for where our vices may take us, or as a mirror to reflect back what parts of humanity we do not want to lose. And of course, there are lessons in looking back at the past and the stories we told each other that no longer hold true.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & X & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
• Listen to the FARSIGHT podcast & read the publication
• Follow Casper & Toke on LinkedIn

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & X & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Hans Stegeman
• Follow Hans on LinkedIn & subscribe to his newsletter - Tipping Points
• Subscribe to Hans' Substack - System Economics

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.

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 carries some risk. The biggest risk, however, is not a bad decision, but indecision.

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More:

• Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.com
• Connect with host, Jo Lepore on LinkedIn & X & jolepore.com
• Learn more about Jake Sotiriadis
• Follow Jake on LinkedIn
• Read Jake's 2020 report on Geopolitical Competition
• Jake's book "THE REVENGE OF IDEOLOGY: The Hidden Forces Reshaping Global Power" is available for pre-order soon

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⭐ Follow & rate the show - it makes a difference!

----------

Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and strategist, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.

All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2025. Theme songs by Azteca X.