This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Gergely Nemeth, former Head of Strategic Foresight at NATO and now CEO of Hungary’s Defence Innovation Research Institute (VIKI), who reflects on a career ‘impacted by coincidence’ but marked by increasing responsibility in defence planning, policy, and foresight. 

Beginning as an intelligence analyst, he moved through roles in Hungary’s Ministry of Defence, NATO committees, and finally NATO’s Strategic Foresight team, where he revitalized foresight processes disrupted by COVID. A pivotal assignment in Brussels during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave him direct experience in international defence collaboration and NATO’s “art of the deal” diplomacy.

At VIKI, Nemeth leads efforts in foresight, innovation, and strategic outreach, supporting projects such as XR-based training systems and advancing the robotization of armed forces, which he views as inevitable due to demographic, technological, and battlefield realities.

A key point we discuss is the role of hope in futures thinking: Gergely believes that foresight must not only identify risks but also shape preferable futures through agency and action. Above all, he stresses the importance of intellectual honesty, institutional adaptation, and collaborative innovation as vital for building resilient defence ecosystems...

This episode of The New Abnormal features Lourdes Rodriguez, a Strategic Foresight Consultant with the European Commission and Co Exec Director at Teach the Future. 

With a background in Psychology, her work has been focused on trends research and foresight for more than 15 years, and she's therefore deeply experienced in discovering new signal of change and seeds of the future in the present.

Lourdes is currently also doing a Master’s in Cyber Politics and Government, as she's interested in learning more about the impact of emerging technology in a geopolitical context, how it could affect our governments, our democracies and ultimately, our lives.

You'll understand why Forbes magazine describes her as 'one of the best futurists in Spain' as she describes her past career and current activity in our conversation. 

So...I hope you enjoy the discussion!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Marie Stafford, Global Director (Intelligence) at VML. She's a strategic foresight consultant skilled in creating inspiring future narratives, transforming futures insights and trends into commercial opportunity across a top tier multinational client portfolio. 

Specialised in foresight at the intersection of consumers, culture and innovation, Marie is also a seasoned speaker and panellist cited in outlets like the FT and New York Times. 

In this episode, she discusses the latest 'Future 100' from VML (the renowned industry report that examines key trends from around the world, and features interviews with a range of sector experts) along with her take on dynamic issues illuminated at the recent SXSW London. 

So, if you're interested in listening to the views of an industry-expert across a range of subjects from Sharing to Solitude and from Pets to Architecture...enjoy! 

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Peter Cunliffe-Jones, visiting researcher at the University of Westminster and Director of Facts Matter Research, a misinformation research and strategy consultancy, where he advises organisations in effective ways to both counter the harmful consequences of misinformation and protect wider freedom of speech. 

Peter started his career as a news journalist for the AFP new agency - working for more than 20 years in Europe, Africa and Asia. He reported from Bosnia and Croatia on the last year of war and first 12 months of peace, from Nigeria on the end of decades of military rule, oversaw the agency's coverage of the Asian tsunami, developed its online news services. In 2012, he founded Africa Check, the African continent's first independent fact-checking organisation, which operates in South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya.

He's also run training courses for fact-checkers in countries from Afghanistan to Myanmar, worked as a strategic adviser to the Arab Fact-Checkers network, which seeks to foster nonpartisan fact-checking in the Arab world, and served on the Safety Advisory Council for TikTok in Africa.

His new book is called "Fake News - what's the harm?" and presents four dynamic ideas for fact-checkers, policymakers and platforms on the challenge of information disorder.

In our conversation, Peter discusses all of the above and more, in what I hope you’ll agree is a fascinating episode. So – enjoy!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Faris Yakob, co-founder of Genius Steals, who began his career as a strategist during the first dot com explosion, before moving into agency world.  He worked for some dynamic agencies inc Naked Communications (as their 20th employee) before moving on to be EVP Chief Tech Strat at McCann Erickson NYC. He subsequently went to MDC Partners - a network of best-in-breed agencies inc CPB, Anomaly, 72 & Sunny, and kbs+, and then co-founded the superbly named Spies & Assassins. 

Faris was a founding member of the IPA Social Committee, and has blogged about - and been involved in discussion around - social in the industry for a decade. He's also written for those inc Campaign, Fast Company, Forbes, Contagious, Canvas8, etc. 

We discuss all of the above and more, in a conversation which takes in Marx, uncertainty & risk, Kant, Severance, Cannes Lions, and the realities of Nomadic Consulting. So...enjoy!

Series Five

This episode of The New Abnormal features Gareth Kay, Partner at The Intangibles 'the transformation consultancy for the intangible world'. He's spent over two decades working in, and learning from, some of the best creative companies in the world. 

In that time, Gareth realized there is no ‘one way’ to shape and deliver valuable brands that create sustainable demand, but there are some principles that hold true: that problem-finding is at least as important as problem-solving; that being interesting is as important as being right; that great brands are built by their behavior not just their narrative; that the biggest risk facing many businesses is the false division between ‘brand’ and ‘product’; that a strategy is only as good as the work it delivers. 

(By the way, he makes a return to the podcast, having been one of my first guests when I set the series up, back in 2000 during the first weeks of the pandemic). 

Gareth has earned himself a stellar reputation in the marketing world, and in this interview he discusses leading-edge thinking about the business context of today and how to unlock value for the world's most ambitious equity firms and brands...

Series Five 

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, who is a Foresight, Strategy, Innovation and long-term planning advisor to government, private corporations and NGOs. 

A highly experienced foresight researcher with an extensive track-record on international projects and sound academic credentials, he's an expert on internationalization and research commercialization, and has managed projects in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. 

With a track record on several boards and expert advisory role in public policy institutions in Innovation, Culture, Agrofood, Environment, Security; Epaminondas is a UNESCO Chair on Futures Research, the President of MOMus, and is the ex-Chief Scientific Advisor for Foresight to the Greek Prime Minister.

In this episode we cover all of the above, along with his views on a range of catalytic issues being discussed in futurist-circles in 2025. And, as a bonus, he also discusses 'Russian Cosmism' a radical biopolitical utopian perspective espoused by the philosopher Nikolai Fedorov in the late 19th C, in which he 'rejected the contemplative for the transformative, aiming to create not merely new art or philosophy but a new world'. 

So...enjoy!

Series Four 

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Jan Berger, the Founder & CEO of Themis Foresight. 

Based in Berlin, his company anticipates economic, technological, social and political drivers of future change. He and his team are driven by the conviction that outstanding futures research is key for the strategic direction of Europe's business and entrepreneurial elite. 

Jan's academic training was in Modern & Contemporary History and Slavic Studies, which led him to take an MA at Lomonosov Moscow State University. He's lived and worked on four continents, and has held leadership positions in corporations and startups. 

So...we discuss all of the above in what I hope you'll agree is a dynamic conversation!

Series Four

In this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I interview Nils Muller, CEO & Founder of TrendONE - a specialist agency that's a market leader in identifying key trends in fast moving branches of business. 

In our discussion, Nils discusses their methodologies and approach to working for clients such as BMW and Airbus, his viewpoints on developing 'Brand Germany' and takeouts from the Dubai Future Forum - having just returned from a hot and sunny UAE to a cold and snowy Germany. 

Hence, we discuss a range of topics covered at the forum, including Future Generations,  Future Education, and the Future of Nature regarding Planet-Centric Innovation.  Along the way, we also cover issues such as the latest thinking around Foresight, Strategic Growth, Collaborative Approaches and Futures-Literacy regarding Complexity, Experimentation and Anti-Fragility. 

So, I hope you enjoy listening to Nils as much as I did!

Series Four

In this episode of The New Abnormal, I interview Chris Arning, Founder of the boutique consultancy Creative Semiotics Ltd, co-founder of Semiofest, and course leader of 'How to do semiotics in seven weeks'. 

He works with best-in-class virtual teams to analyse brands in order to make them more coherent and true to themselves, more distinctive within their category and sector, and more resonant and relevant within the prevailing (and ever changing) culture. 

The outcome of his work is new pack designs, communication strategies, new systems for content creation and better equipped, more confident brand teams. He does that via semiotics: an evidence based technique rooted in academia via the premise that preference is driven by the intangible aspects of brands that activate associative thinking. 

Chris has a stellar reputation in his field, and in this interview he gives a brief masterclass in his specialist subject(s). So...enjoy!