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Tom and Katharine talk about laziness: as a motivator for innovation and as a challenge to wasted effort. Are you lazy enough to be useful? Plus, it’s the end of this season for the podcast. Five seasons now! All very different in length and format. But this has been the first with a co-host and though we’re biased, we think it has been great! We’ll be back for season 6 tackling some new topics in a few months.

Katharine and Tom discuss the concept of Net Luxury - an approach to addressing climate change based on the continuing reluctance of many people to make real change. Can we convince people to cut back? Or can we make saving ourselves (the planet will be just fine) seem even more appealing than you'd think it ought to be?

The shape of the most successful organisations is changing. Companies are shrinking and distributing their work across partners and semi-autonomous units, giving them scale, agility and reduced risk. As usual, Tom explains and Katharine interrogates!

The shape of the most successful organisations is changing. Companies are shrinking and distributing their work across partners and semi-autonomous units, giving them scale, agility and reduced risk. As usual, Tom explains and Katharine interrogates!

Tom and Katharine discuss our response to the explosion of choice faced by the modern consumer: the return of the intermediary, offering advice, direction and editorial input. Why do we value influencers? What role for AI in the future of our decisions on music, travel and finance? Find out in this episode. Note: the book reference in the episode is Barry Schwartz's 'The Paradox of Choice - Why More is Less' from all the way back in 2004: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice

We've spent the last twenty years trying to eliminate friction from the interactions between brands and customers. But is this always the right approach? In this episode we talk about the concept of 'good friction', those moments where you want to slow and deepen the conversation.

How do we prepare our children for the future? It's the question I am most commonly asked after speeches. And I always give the same answer. I believe there are three critical skills we all need for future success, in our careers and beyond. I call them the Three Cs. The ability to Curate (discover and qualify information), Create (bring new ideas to life or improve and recombine old ones) and Communicate (to sell your self and your ideas). In this episode, Katharine and I address questions like: What is more important, knowledge or skills?  How do you teach creativity? Why is scepticism so important now? Read more at https://tomcheesewright.com/future-skills-what-to-learn-and-teach-for-success-in-tomorrows-world/

In this season of the podcast we're going to explore a few big ideas in a bit more depth. These are ideas or theories that keep coming up in my work with global 500 brands and government departments around the world. The first topic is what I have termed 'extended adolescence' - in short, are we now experiencing a longer childhood? The ages at which we cross key (traditional) milestones in adult life have been shunted back by a decade. People now learn to drive, buy a house, find a partner, get married, have kids etc perhaps 10 years later than they did in the relatively recent past. We try to answer:  Why is this happening?  Is it a good thing?  Should we be expecting young people to grow up faster?  Are we babying them?  What does this mean for companies/brands? Check out the blog post here for more information:  https://tomcheesewright.com/extended-adolescence/

Tom and Katherine round off the recent episodes with a broad discussion of the Metaverse: what is it? What are the implications? And should we be scared or excited? Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/entering-the-metaverse

John Keefe is one of the founders of Draw and Code, a content studio building immersive entertainment for the world's biggest brands. Tom speaks to John about the evolution of immersive media across augmented and virtual reality, the state of the art in hardware, and how big the coming revolution will be.

Tom talks to fellow futurist and Magic Leap alumnus Cathy Hackl about the Metaverse: the coming together of physical and digital worlds through augmented reality, the internet of things, and more. When is it coming? And what does it mean for brands? Find Cathy Hackl online at https://cathyhackl.com 

Tom speaks to Professor Steven Cleveland, educator and filmmaker about his work on Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's time in Hawaii and the lessons from the past about the future of social equity. Find out more about Steven's project at https://akinginparadise.com/ 

Tom speaks to Steve Sinclair, Senior Vice President of Product and Marketing at Mojo Vision, the company building smart contact lenses for a future of invisible computing. This sci-fi prospect is fast becoming reality, another piece of the puzzle in the next big shift in our relationship with computers. Find out more at https://www.mojo.vision/

Tom highlights the collapse in funding and student numbers in further education in the UK, and Katharine points to the risk of a 'skills timebomb' this presents for the future. Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/further-and-higher-education-the-dividing-line/

Tom and Katharine discuss the G7's moment of harmony, the solution to what Tom calls a 'small world problem'. What does that mean? And what is a 'big world problem'? Find out in this episode of Talk About Tomorrow. Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/small-world-and-big-world-problems

Tom and Katharine talk about the future smart home: transforming furniture, shared energy, and communal living. And about the pitfalls of smart tech, especially when it interacts with pets.  Original story: https://tomcheesewright.com/the-future-home-a-smart-green-machine-for-living-in/

Tom argues that the declining trust in media, politicians and experts is down to distance. We are too far from power and too unequal in wealth and education. Katharine brings the data, and connects questions of trust in our employees, our children, and in each other. Read the blog post here: https://tomcheesewright.com/the-trust-gap

Season four of Talk About Tomorrow begins with an introduction to Tom's new co-host, Katharine McNamara, and a story about the gamification of life in both fun and less fun ways. In the first episode of this new format, Katharine questions Tom about digital inclusion and social credit, and coins the phrase 'digital Top Trumps'. Tom says 'you know' a lot in response (he promises this will stop). The story on which this episode is based, replete with links and references is here: https://tomcheesewright.com/all-the-worlds-a-stadium-and-all-the-men-and-women-merely-gamers

Why a return to austerity would be a disaster for the post-COVID economy, and where we should spend some stimulus money. Plus, why relationships are a window on the future. Original posts:  - You can't dig yourself out of a hole: https://tomcheesewright.com/you-cant-dig-yourself-out-of-a-hole/  - Relationships are the future: https://tomcheesewright.com/relationships-are-the-future/ Download the Console Connect report referenced in 'Relationships are the future', "The Interconnected Enterprise": https://info.consoleconnect.com/en-gb/resources/console-connect-interconnected-enterprise-report

For the second interview in a series focused on the future of healthcare sponsored by Sony Professional Solutions Europe, Tom speaks to Dr Rachel Jenner, consultant in paediatric emergency medicine and associate medical director for quality and safety at Manchester Royal Infirmary. Dr Jenner speaks about healthcare through the pandemic and the lessons learned, and about her work with the Violence Reduction Unit, tackling knife crime. Links:  - Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit: https://twitter.com/gm_vru