What Next?

Chris Hirst, award-winning author of No Bullshit Leadership , No Bullshit Change and Indispensable: the No Bullshit Guide to Career Success  on leadership and teamwork in the workplace. The former Global CEO at Havas Creative and former CEO at Gray, London who was ranked in 2018's Evening Standard power 1000 list as one of advertising industry's most influential CEOs, argues that leadershi...

Michael Walrath, CEO of Yext, on the shift from an internet built for humans to one built for machines. The founder of Right Media which was acquired by Yahoo for $850 million, and Moat which was acquired by Oracle, argues the importance of structured data for AI-driven search and discoverability. Google, he says, will still be important, but will soon no longer be the entire oxygen of the interne...

Anders Indset, leading business philosopher and author of  The Singularity Paradox , places the emergence of Artificial Human Intelligence at the center of a broader reflection on what it means to be human in a world of accelerating technological change. Recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the most influential voices in technology, economy, and leadership, he is the founder and chairman of Njordis...

Steven Gaffney, author and expert in change management and honest communication on his nine-step formula for effective leadership. Coaching and advising high-achieving teams with Fortune 500 clients like Amazon, Marriott and Allstate Insurance and the US government and military has led him to highlight the need for deep listening and addressing emotions. Leaders must create emotionally safe enviro...

Kudzi Chikumbu, tech executive at TikTok, venture capital advisor and digital influencer on the rise of the portfolio career. He argues that the creator economy is much more than just a side hustle, but a talent pipeline which is already enabling the best creatives to leverage their talent and use social media to express their authentic creativity. The role of human differentiation in the AI age,...

Steve Fisher, futurist and innovation leader at Revolution Factory and The Human Frontier Institute on the future of AI and human potential in the workplace. The author of  The Startup Equation , host of  The Think Forward   Show  and  Off World   Podcast  discusses his new book,  Super Shifts,  which argues the importance of designing the future rather than simply reacting to it or resisting it....

On a special crossover episode between Career Lab and What Next , Renetta McCann joins Rishad Tobaccowala to explore the monumental shifts redefining where, when, and why we work. Drawing from insights in Rishad’s new book, Re-Thinking Work , they unpack the five forces reshaping the future of employment—from generational mindset shifts and the rise of AI to the gig economy and the lasting effects...

James Root, Senior Partner at Bain & Company and author of "The Archetype Effect" on the need to de-average talent management systems. A former adman, his six worker archetypes, Giver, Operator, Artisan, Explorer, Striver, and Pioneer, each based on a different set of motivating priorities, provide a deeper insight into the real needs of the workforce.  He argues that leaders need to...

Haleh Shoa, founder of Picturli, on intentional digital preservation of memories, both for the individual but also in Business. The former advertising executive who has led global brands such as Apple, Infinity, Nissan and Ritz Carlton through the analogue to digital transition, including spearheading transformation at Ogilvy LA, argues that digital asset management can curate a corporate legacy....

Sir John Hegarty on the philosophical heart of creativity. The founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and a legend in advertising who now advises startups, argues that the expression of self is the key to creativity. In his series of courses, The Business of Creativity, he explains the need to understand the two different types of creativity: pure and applied. He urges leaders to forget the data and feed...

Mike Maynard, CEO of the Napier Group on the benefits and challenges of employee ownership, the importance of focus in a competitive market and why to invest in employee growth. An engineer turned marketing man, he argues the need to continually upgrade ourselves and develop our teams, finding a sense of ownership, both in our company and our work. Results do matter, he says, but we need to think...

Bill Harvey, Emmy-winning media researcher on the three levels of consciousness in the workplace: emergency oversimplification procedure (EOP), observer state, and flow state. An advertising veteran from the Mad Men era, his innovations in advertising, including the passive people meter and set top box data have made him a legend. Now, after decades of consulting for more than 70 of the top 100 ad...

Rohit Bhargava, founder of the Non Obvious Company and IdeaPress Publishing, on augmented creativity, the human mode, and accelerated learning. Adjunct professor at Georgetown University with a background in marketing and advertising at Ogilvy and Leo Burnett, he argues the significance of live events, media literacy, and the role of the curator in the stories we tell in branding. Technology advan...

Michael Tchong, pioneer in digital marketing and consumer behaviour and Adjunct Professor of Innovation at the University of San Francisco on uber trend spotting in a world of AI driven innovation, acceleration imperative and time compression.  A trusted authority on market-disrupting trends, he predicts the extinction of digital marketing with the rise of AI-powered disruptors, and the influence...

Dr. Angela Jackson, CEO of Future Forward Strategies and author of "Win Win Workplace," on the importance of centering employee voices, aligning business success with employee well-being, and building diversity, equity and inclusion into pathways to advancement. The Harvard lecturer who advises organizations on innovation and human capital strategies has been featured in Forbes Wall Stre...

Nick Colucci, former chief operating officer of Publicis North America on his 40-year career in healthcare advertising and recent induction into the Hall of Fame. Having built Publicis Health into the industry's largest health focused agency network as CEO and chairman, Nick shares the top three take outs of his extraordinary career: the importance of self-management over time-management; the sign...

Digital pioneer and innovator Leslie Laredo, president of Laredo Group and the Academy of Digital Media, and Deborah Burns, award-winning author of "Authorize IT!: Think Like a Writer to Win, brand storyteller, and business strategist, share their thoughts on why leadership must be redefined -- and how to it. They discuss their beliefs, stressing that traditional models of leadership need to...

Steve Dennis, strategic growth consultant and author on risk taking in leadership strategy. His books "Remarkable Retail" and "Leaders Leap," call for companies to adapt quickly to disruption. They stress the importance of being ‘remarkable’, avoiding mediocrity, and taking bold, transformative actions to stay relevant. Explaining the key principles of leadership he describes i...

Vikram Sharma, Operating Partner at S2G Investments on the massive opportunities of new technology for digitization and legacy industries. The former division president of Information Resources, or IRI, and former CEO of Shop Local says that 80% of US GDP comes from low-digitized industries, presenting significant opportunities for innovation.  An extraordinary combination of businessman, strategi...

Jack Myers, media ecologist, leadership strategist and author of  The Tao of Leadership  on how ancient principles can guide the modern business. The former executive at CBS TV and ABC Radio, and founder of The Myers Report and Media Village Education Foundation argues that leadership In the AI era will be built around five Taoist values: harmony, flexibility, balance, stability and integrity, int...

Jack Klues, former director at Publicis Groupe, on the current talent crisis in the advertising industry. The architect of what is now Publicis Media built his career at Leo Burnett Media and says that long-term employee growth over constant job churn is about companies investing in their people. The role of leaders, he says, is to foster a supportive environment in the age of AI, shifting from bo...

Kass and Mike Lazerow are serial entrepreneurs, investors, and authors of  Shoveling $!it: A Love Story About the Entrepreneur’s Messy Path to Success.  As the co-founders of Golf.com and Buddy Media—acquired by Salesforce for $745 million—they bring a wealth of experience from decades of building businesses and supporting nearly 100 early-stage startup founders as angel investors and advisors. Th...

Andrew Essex, a seasoned executive at Tata Consultancy Services on the future of business, creativity, and brands in an AI-driven world. The founding CEO of the award-winning agency Droga5 and CEO of the Tribeca Film Festival argues for the importance of human ingenuity and the need for brands to maintain their value, and gives us his vision of the evolving role of Madison Avenue. He predicts that...

Seth Green, Dean of the University of Chicago Graham School on how to navigate career transitions while keeping sight of our North Star, ‘traveling lightly" as we balance purpose over material wealth in achieving a fulfilling life. The co-architect of the University’s Leadership in Society Initiative, aimed at helping accomplished individuals transition to meaningful second careers, argues th...

Peter Naylor, seasoned media executive on the impact of streaming television and the superior experience it provides. The former global Vice President at Netflix argues that Sports streaming will explode our expectations of the viewing experience as Netflix and others begin to leverage the advertising potential of what was the last bastion of traditional media. And through his involvement with San...