Latest podcast episodes.

What a year! It’s time to wrap it up for 2025 and highlight the eclectic mix of diverse perspectives, divergent topics and expert thinking that appeared on the show this year. From the best performing episodes and most popular themes, to the most prominent guest go-to's for fresh perspectives, today we’re going back to the episodes that resonated most.

In this live conversation, recorded on the podcast stage at SXSW Sydney, two futurists explore the unforeseen future emerging in the workplace. Author and ex-journalist Andrea Clarke, joins host Jo Lepore on stage to discuss the human and talent transformation taking place at work. Our resistance to this kind of change is normal, Andrea says, as our human inclination is to see it as a loss and not a gain. Workers must reframe how they take in and take charge of what’s asked of them - becoming discerning of mainstream narratives told to them, building ‘unignorable’ human skills, and strengthening the mindset of adaptability to constant change. As change is, after all, the only constant - especially at in how we work and how we lead.

The food system isn’t broken. But it has a big problem. That is land – and how little of it we have. Journalist and author Michael Grunwald joins us on the show today to talk openly about the elephant in the food ecosystem. Regenerative agriculture, precision fermentation, vertical farming, meat alternatives … we have no shortage of innovative ideas in the food system. But very quickly, a ‘quick fix’ turns out to be just a dumb idea. Despite a growing population, climate change challenges, and a human hypocrisy problem, Mike says we can feed everyone with the land we have, we just can’t keep taking more of it for agriculture.

Business forecasts depend on the predictable patterns of population growth, both for customer sales and for workforce talent. But what happens when we see this growth halt, or even regress? Political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba joins the show to dive into some of the largest societal and political dynamics intersecting with demographic shifts. From changes to the types of jobs on offer, to medical access, to urbanization, demographic changes influence a wide array of long term interconnected forces. And when it comes to this topic, Jennifer says, that long term lens is a gift.