Marketing is often thought of as a creative field, in part because it leans into the art of negotiation to sell a product, but it must be done with rigor. In this episode, we explore that rigorous side of marketing, and the research that should shape its decisions, with Marketing Science research professor and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Byron Sharp.

Marketing science is at its core punk, or anti-establishment, and because of this Byron challenges any purist academic to ‘get out of the lab’ and the marketing bubble, and into the real world. There you must put aside your assumptions about what works based on isolated cases, or personal passions, and any snobbery you may hold about unglamourous categories, and seek out the patterns that form evidence. “Look and you will see,” Byron says, because most people don't bother to really look.

Does conflict and incompatible perspectives always have to be a negative? In this episode of Looking Outside we speak with Raj B. Shroff, Founder & Principal at PINE, a strategy and design agency to hear how he and his company leverages conflict to get to a better outcome.

Raj shares how his workplace thrives on openness, when ideas are great or when things aren’t working, and how he creates the space for everyone part of the company to feel comfortable with that. It’s empathetic to be honest, Raj says, because head nodding doesn’t get the best out of people nor the work.

We kick off Season 4 bravely with the visionary Amy Webb, Quantitative Futurist, CEO of the Future Today Institute, professor at NYU and author. In this episode, as in Amy’s book The Genesis Machine, we discuss the paths towards synthetic futures and the methods in creating more credible focus on the long term future.

Amy takes us into the future, and the topic of the latest book she co-authored with Andrew Hessel, The Genesis Machine, explaining how over 13 years of researching AI she noticed something profound happening in the synthetic biology space. General purpose technologies have the potential to fundamentally alter society and impact the economy, like electricity and the internet have, and while Amy concedes scaling it is a ‘ways off’, we should be paying attention, and planning for synthetic biology to act as the next generative purpose technology – transforming medicine, the environment and our food systems.

The final episode of Season 3 takes us to the precipice of change, looking at the topic of Fear. We discuss this with Mark Minukas, co-author of Unfear, a book on the very topic.

Through intervention, and self-reflection, Mark illustrates how we can use fear and fear-driven reactions to our benefit, to better understand what we’re trying to ‘react’ to and what threatens our self-identity. The game is to be curious, Mark says, and use fear as a cue for learning more about yourself.

In episode 29 we peek back in time and look at the future that comes from the past, exploring the field of Archives with Senior Manager of the McDonald’s Golden Archives, Archivist Mike Bullington.

As an information gathering profession, often thought to be buried in old relics and secret data, Mike shares how he turns the knowledge into action, amplified by people throughout the organization, by making people care about the past.

We start a new year with a new way of Thinking, approaching the topic of careful consideration, extrapolation and explanation in a critical way. Joining us is self-proclaimed overthinker, award winning writer, leading cultural commentator and Foresight & Strategy lead at Reddit, Matt Klein.

Matt takes on a lot and he takes in a lot. He shares how he loads information and how he avoids overloading - a process where he binge eats information and then let's it "simmer" at its own pace during a silent walk outside. When he returns to it, it forms a constellation of connection points and inspiration sparks.

We end 2022 on a pragmatic but aspirational note, reflecting on the ability to make positive change without needing to disregard nor fully transform the current dominant system. We discuss Good business that can also be Profitable, with Do Good Foods Co-CEO and Co-founder, Justin Kamine.

As an ambitioned leader of a company progressing the agriculture industry forward on climate action, Justin proposes the concept of a business that is more sustainable, more equitable for food producers, and still profitable.

In this episode of Looking Outside we learn how to weave together the voices of the future, the agents with vision, to create Coalitions of Change, with Cat Tully, Founder and Director of the School of International Futures.

Having created the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Network, Cat speaks to why it’s critical we use the voice of young people as evidence towards future planning, by allowing those who will live in the future to speak for it.

Episode 25 of Looking Outside welcomes prize-winning author, former professor, social worker, and activist, Dr Nora Gold to explore the perception and potential of Narratives; those stories we tell others and ourselves that ultimately limit or empower us.

Passionate about fiction, and writer of her own stories, Nora shares both her perspective and the social science research on how fictional stories can literally change us. How escaping into the story of someone else brings down our defenses, makes us more empathic, and turns us into a different person by the time we close the book.

Be prepared to teeter on the edge of excitement and cynicism, as we explore The Metaverse in this episode of Looking Outside, with technology futurist and Metaverse expert, Theo Priestley. Theo is CEO and Co-Founder of Metanomic, a complete web3 economic platform for developers, but he is also one of the public voices ready to poke holes in Metaverse concepts commonly spouted.

To peel back the polished veneer, Theo discusses the need to look at the gaps in the arguments made today on the Metaverse; like how technologies that make up web3 are at varied levels of understanding and development across industries, while the technologies adopted in every day use are still quite dated.

In this episode of Looking Outside we look closer at the numbers and what they are telling us, exploring the predictive human powers of Demographics. For this we chat with fellow Aussie, Bernard Salt, Founder & Executive Director of The Demographics Group.

As a well known personality, famous for injecting a bit of humor into his public speaking events and newspaper columns, Bernard shares his philosophy on presenting the numbers in a way that is engaging and compelling. He speaks to how to establish the facts, make a strong case, demonstrate your credibility … and be bold enough to have a bit of fun with it.

In this slightly poetic episode, we look both inside and outside the often simplified topic of Identity, exploring what it means to be, create and become who we are, with creative strategist and founding poet at Brand Poetry Inc., Theophilus Wells IV.

Naturally philosophically minded, Theo shares his observations on the dichotomy of human nature and will in shaping our individual identities, stressing the benefit of being curious about the things that make us different, and the power in observing the negative.

We start season 3 digging deep into human values, while speculating on their evolved expression into the future, with futurist and Associate Professor at University of Houston's Foresight Program, Dr Andy Hines.

Having authored a book on the topic of values, ConsumerShift, Andy shares how defining what a value is and how it is expressed by people with differing typologies, helps us perceive them as something less static and therefore shows us their potential evolution into the future.

We end Season 2 of Looking Outside with a frank look at the very topical topic of activism in business. We do this not theoretically or observationally but first hand with activist entrepreneur and CEO of Eat the Change, Seth Goldman.

Seth speaks to why 'acting' is critical in activism, as he's done first hand by venturing into organic packaged food, healthier fast-casual restaurants and planet-friendly meat alternatives. Seth shares how he has done this by crafting ideas designed to change large scale food system issues while appealing to evolving consumer values.

In Episode 19 we speak with marketing strategist and successful author, Mark Schaefer on the way to generate and leverage Influence, for both your personal and professional brands.

Author of nine books including Return on Influence and Cumulative Advantage, Mark shares his research and experience in the area of content marketing. He explains why it’s not enough to simply generate content; why you must rise above the noise with a ‘spiky point of view’.

In the latest episode of Looking Outside, we explore Exploration itself, and what it means to be truly curious about people, places and the future, with Zak Dychtwald, Founder of Young China Group and author of Young China.

Zak shares how he approaches exploration: from visiting countries that are ‘misunderstood’, to immersing himself in stories about the far off possible future, to building an ‘intimacy’ with foreign cultures, places and people that you wouldn’t get from descriptions by outsiders.

Episode 17 of Looking Outside shows us the courage, self-awareness and patience needed to make a Career Pivot, or in the case of Nihal Advani, Founder & CEO of QualSights … several!

What mindset does it take flip your life around and try something completely different? Nihal takes us on his personal journey from professional tennis player, to tech ‘idea guy’ at Microsoft, to creating and leading his own business. He details how adaptability is a pivotal component of seeing new opportunities, alongside the criticality of knowing yourself and your own strengths.

In episode 16 we get grounded in how a strategist thinks, and their process in creating impactful Strategy, with Mark Pollard, CEO Sweathead .

A guide to many creative thinkers and long-time strategists, Mark discusses the role of chaos within orderly processes, the purpose of finding personal meaning in your thinking, and the need to balance intellectualism with practicality.

Episode 15 takes us outside the comfort zone in looking at the darkness in life and in people. We’re talking about True Crime with Jenn Vogel, Chief Revenue Officer, Voxpopme.

Both fans of the true crime genre, Jenn and Jo discuss their seemingly irrational (but actually very rational) fascination with criminal acts, and the true circumstances surrounding them, and what that tells about human limitations and moral boundaries.

In Episode 14 of Looking Outside we explore the mindset needed to break out and do something on your own - successfully. Today we’re chatting with Julie Meyer, Founder and Co-CEO of Eat Well Global, about Entrepreneurship.

Having founded her own company, and constantly writing and reflecting, Julie shares her motivations for bringing ideas to life, as well as what meaningful ‘real why’ lies behind her personal drive to create something impactful.