As AI accelerates and traditional corporate structures strain under pressure, what does leadership look like in the next era of work? Justin Billingsley, co-founder of Simbioniq and former Global CMO of Publicis Groupe, explores why the age of heroic managers is giving way to orchestrators who design systems that think, adapt, and coordinate at scale. 

Justin Billingsley is Co-Founder of Simbioniq, an AI company creating psychologically complete digital humans for marketing research, and author of "Brandflow: The Marketing Orchestration Playbook." As former Chief Marketing Officer of Publicis Groupe, including seven years on the Management Committee, Justin led marketing transformation for one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. His earlier client-side experience includes leadership roles at Coca-Cola, Nokia, Orange, and Unilever. Justin writes Brandflow, a twice-weekly strategic newsletter for senior marketing leaders navigating what he calls "The Great Compression” or the simultaneous forces of budget decline, platform disintermediation, AI automation, and margin compression reshaping the industry. His work focuses on sustainable transformation practices, moving from "sidelines to arena," and building competitive advantage through systematic orchestration rather than heroic coordination.

EPISODE CREDITS

Produced, edited and mixed by Ria Tobaccowala

Artwork designed by Ben Damiano

Additional music licensed through Premium Beats

LINKS

Explore more about the new frontiers of work at Rethinkingwork.io

For more actionable insights that inspire subscribe to Rishad Tobaccowala's free weekly substack: The Future Does Not Fit In The Containers Of The Past. 

This show is also available on YouTube which includes visual supplements. 

Rishad's Book Rethinking Work is available in print and audio. Click here for where to buy.