Leadership conversations for a better future

In this episode Marc Kahn, our Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, Lindsay Hooper, CEO at CISL, and guests Faustine Delasalle, CEO of the Mission Possible Partnership, and Katie Fergusson, SVP, Studies and Development at Anglo-American explore what the future holds for heavy industry as the world rises to the challenge of transitioning to a clean energy economy.
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In this episode of podcast series, What Next?  Dominic Vergine, CEO and founder of Monumo gives his take on how AI can play a central role in advancing positive people and planet outcomes. However, the real impact of this technology depends not just on its capabilities but on how we decide to use it.
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In this episode of podcast series, What Next?  Professor Carlos Lopes and investment leader Jasandra Nyker argue that whilst Africa’s energy transition is a climate necessaity, it must also drive innovation, job creation and African instutional investment must crowd in. 
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In this episode of podcast series, What Next? Gillian Tett and Prof. Bob Eccles explore how companies on the ground and how leaders can navigate an increasing polarised global geopolitical landscape, ESG backlash and how these tensions are reshaping climate policy, capital flows and markets. 
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In this episode of podcast series, What Next? José Viñals, Dr Nina Seega and Sarah Kemmitt analyse why finance has struggled to back real-world transition at scale, and outline the shifts needed to connect capital to what should be a huge financing opportunity. 
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In this episode of podcast series, What Next?  Michael Liebreich and Rory Sutherland lift the lid on how to shift behaviour at scale to achieve the energy transition. They also address the sociopolitical backlash we have seen in some sectors with regard to climate action. 
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Is the idea that young people will “save the world", realistic or fair? Clover Hogan, climate activist and founder of Force of Nature and Ravi Naidoo, CEO of the Youth Employment Service (YES) in SA discuss how youth can find agency and meaningful work amid systemic barriers and concentrated power. 
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Thomas Lingard discusses the power shifts created by AI and digital systems and explores where the real opportunity is  to ensure that emerging technologies are used in the best interest of humanity. Ligard founded Unilever’s Global Advocacy team to influence international public policy on sustainable development and now heads the Centre for Future Generations.
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In this episode of podcast series, What Next? Alison Taylor and Karen Wood argue that coporate values are more strategic to build trust and therefore business resilience, than ever. They discuss the realities of trade-offs that leaders must navigate, and the fallacy that business must stay "out of politics".
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In this episode Sudhanshu Palsule, Gillian Secrett and Richard Springer answer the crucial question: why are so many people struggling to find meaning? And what can leaders do to facilitate collective action?
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Philanthropy funds much of the world’s high-risk innovation, early-stage ideas and new economic thinking, often long before markets or governments are able to act. But how can it move beyond individual projects to drive systemic change? In this episode of we speak with two leaders reshaping philanthropy, founder of the Bennett Foundation, Peter Bennett and Leslie Johnston, founding CEO of the Laudes Foundation. 
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AI is rapidly reshaping economies, societies and power structures yet much of the conversation has swung between uncritical optimism and existential fear.  In this episode, of What Next? Vilas Dhar, President of Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, and philanthropist, technologist and advocate for human-centred AI, discusses the Utopian promise offered by AI. Dhar looks at how balancing AI-driven corporate profits with human progress relies on overcoming social and political frictions, as well as mitigating the risk of holding conversations about our collective future in a vacuum that lacks wider engagement.
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This episode of What Next? Helena Norrman, Marina Grossi, and Sang-Hyup Kim explains why transition policy now sits at the centre of industrial strategy, competitiveness and geopolitics. Across steel, green growth policy and Brazil’s business-led coalitions, they set out a practical playbook for leaders who want to move beyond isolated initiatives and accelerate delivery at scale.
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In this episode of What Next?, Professor Mike Kenny, Head of Department at the Bennett School of Public Policy, University of Cambridge, and Jacinta Koolmatrie, an Aboriginal heritage practitioner, examine the growing distrust between communities and institutions, and discuss how sharing power and supporting locally led solutions can help rebuild trust.