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What next? Leadership conversations for a better future

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by University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

15 episodes

Updated Daily

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Podcast Overview

How do we rebuild confidence in the future - and in our collective ability to shape it? How do we reconnect economic growth with social progress, fairness, and stability? And how do we harness innovation without widening inequality or navigate political tensions without retreating from cooperation? Responses to these questions demands new thinking - ideas that challenge assumptions, acknowledge what isn’t working and offer credible paths forward for business, finance and government. That’s the focus of our new podcast series, hosted by CISL CEO Lindsay Hooper, and Investec Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer Marc Kahn. You’ll hear from leaders, innovators and critical thinkers who are grappling with the toughest challenges of our time - and bringing forward important new thinking and practical action. From industrial transformation and AI to philanthropy’s catalytic role, the voices of the next generation and the shifting geopolitics of power, we ask how today’s leaders can bridge divides, unlock innovation and steer economies toward long-term stability and opportunity.

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Publishing Since

11/13/2025

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Recent Episodes

January 22, 2026

Bridging the trust gap: rebuilding legitimacy through place and community

Guests Professor Mike Kenny, Head of Department at the Bennett School of Public Policy, University of Cambridge Jacinta Koolmatrie, Aboriginal heritage practitioner (Adnyamathanha and Ngarrindjeri) Episode overview Across many societies, trust between communities and institutions has fractured. People feel decisions are remote, economies no longer work for them, and institutions do not recognise their on-the-ground realities. In this episode, Lindsay Hooper and Marc Kahn explore how trust and legitimacy can be rebuilt through place-based, community-led approaches, and why listening only matters when institutions are prepared to change how power is exercised. Professor Mike Kenny examines how economic transition, geographical polarisation and centralised governance have weakened the relationship between citizens and the state, creating deep place-based grievances. Jacinta Koolmatrie provides a grounded perspective from Aboriginal communities, where trust in institutions often never existed in the first place, and explains why consultation fails when institutions are unwilling to relinquish control, slow down, and work with communities on their own terms. The conversation explores what actually works: community wealth building, experimental and deliberative policy approaches, Indigenous-led responses during COVID, and the role of time, iteration and tacit knowledge. It also examines the risks of “one-size-fits-all” engagement, and the power of narrative and nostalgia in rebuilding legitimacy without falling into populist politics. Key Takeaways Place matters in practice as well as sentiment: policy outcomes vary with local history, networks, capacity and constraints, so design and implementation cannot be separated. Community engagement improves decisions by revealing tacit, experience-based knowledge that is not captured in formal data or models. Experimental, test-and-learn approaches that allow priorities to be set locally and adjusted over time produce more workable and legitimate outcomes than fixed, top-down programmes. Selected quotes “The listening [by those inpower] is more of like a show to the world that they’re doing something, but they’re not actually doing something….They realise that they’re going to lose power if they do anything past the listening part.” Jacinta Koolmatrie “Unless you really have a deeper understanding of how people feel and think about particular issues, the solutions you may try and impose just may well not fly, they may well not work or indeed be counterproductive.” Professor Mike Kenny Credits Presented by: Lindsay Hooper, Chief Executive, CISL Marc Kahn, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Investec Produced by: Carl Homer (Cambridge TV) & Alexa Sellwood Executive Producer: Gillian Secrett In partnership with: Investec Listen and Subscribe: Available on all major podcast platforms or visit the Leadership Hub on the CISL website or Investec Focus for more episodes and insights. Disclaimer: The views in this podcast are those of the contributors, and don’t necessarily represent those of CISL, the University of Cambridge, or Investec, and should not be taken as advice or a recommendation.

January 20, 2026

Making the Transition Investable: Policy Certainty, Capital, and Coordination with Marina Grossi, Sang-Hyup Kim & Helena

Clean and green growth has moved from ambition to execution, but the challenge is one of pace. Investment conditions are key: predictable rules, credible pathways, and coordination across value chains, finance and government. Helena Norrman describes what this looks like inside one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise – steel - including the reality of upfront capital investment, permitting and policy risk, and the mismatch between industrial timelines and market expectations. Marina Grossi argues that confidence is rebuilt through delivery, evidence of real world outcomes, and coalitions and coordination to make progress investable. Sang-Hyup Kim explains why transition policy now sits at the centre of industrial strategy, competitiveness and geopolitics, and how “mini multilateralism” and practical platforms (including carbon markets and hydrogen) can unlock scale even when global cooperation is strained. Across steel, green growth policy and Brazil’s business-led coalitions, the episode sets out a practical playbook for leaders who want to move beyond isolated initiatives and accelerate delivery at scale. Guests Helena Norrman: Executive Vice President and Head of Group Communications, Global Steel Company, SSAB (Svenskt Stål AB) [Swedish Steel, Limited] Sang-Hyup Kim: Executive Director, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Marina Grossi: President, Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS) [Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development] Key takeaways 1. Make the transition investable: prioritise predictability and credible pathways that survive political cycles. 2. Treat transition policy as industrial strategy, because energy, infrastructure, finance and skills move together. 3. Build coalitions that align incentives across value chains and jurisdictions, because isolated action does not scale. 4. Rebuild confidence through delivery: scale proven projects and remove bottlenecks (permitting, infrastructure, standards). 5. Lead for execution: focus, be pragmatic and prioritise, act under uncertainty, and manage short-term results alongside long-term commitments. Selected Quotes “Leadership now needs super pragmatic business focus, operational excellence driven leadership -because that can actually generate strong enough results to allow for the transformation to happen - and then you need to stay the course and that take guts.” Helena Norrman “Markets don’t shift because one leader moves first. They shift when coalitions align incentives across value chains, sectors and jurisdictions.” Marina Grossi “If global multilateral corporation is not easy to achieve, then we can start with mini multilateralism by working with like-minded countries together” Sang-Hyup Kim Credits Presented by: Lindsay Hooper, Chief Executive, CISL Marc Kahn, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Investec Produced by: Carl Homer (Cambridge TV) & Alexa Sellwood Executive Producer: Gillian Secrett In partnership with: Investec Listen and Subscribe: Available on all major podcast platforms or visit the Leadership Hub on the CISL website or Investec Focus for more episodes and insights. Disclaimer: The views in this podcast are those of the contributors, and don’t necessarily represent those of CISL, the University of Cambridge, or Investec, and should not be taken as advice or a recommendation.

January 15, 2026

Reclaiming the Future from the Algorithm

Guest: Vilas Dhar – President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation; philanthropist, technologist and advocate for human-centred AI What Next? Leadership Conversations for a Better Future explores how leaders can help build future-fit economies, bringing fresh perspectives, provocative questions and conversations with leaders shaping the future of markets, business and society. Artificial intelligence 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? Lindsay Hooper and Marc Kahn explore how leaders can reclaim agency over the future of AI, ensuring it serves human progress rather than narrow commercial or political interests. Vilas Dhar argues that the real challenge is not whether AI will become uncontrollable (this is the realm of Sci-Fi), but whether societies can adapt quickly enough to its social, economic and cultural impacts. He makes the case for shifting the focus away from hype and dominance towards participation, institutional imagination and moral courage — and for designing AI systems that restore human agency and democratic participation, while supporting inclusion and long-term resilience. Key Takeaways 1. The greatest risk of AI is social disruption, loss of human agency and participation. 2. AI must be shaped as a societal project, not left to markets or geopolitics alone. 3. Civil society, government and business all have roles as co-architects of the future – but civil society has not yet stepped up. 4. Leadership today requires moral courage, humility and long-term thinking. 5. A better AI future is possible — but only if participation replaces passivity. Selected Quotes “I’m not worried about an AI system 100 years from now that decides that humans are bad. I’m worried about 10 years from now, whether we have the capacity to deal with what happens when millions of people feel not just displaced, but fully kicked out of a social contract that hasn’t really worked for them for decades.” — Vilas Dhar “Inertia does not equal inevitability. Because we’re on that path doesn’t mean that we can’t do better.” — Vilas Dhar “The question becomes who will hold the moral courage to say that whatever it is that we create has to work for everyone.” — Vilas Dhar Credits Presented by: Lindsay Hooper, Chief Executive, CISL Marc Kahn, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Investec Produced by: Carl Homer (Cambridge TV) & Alexa Sellwood Executive Producer: Gillian Secrett In partnership with: Investec Listen and Subscribe: Available on all major podcast platforms or visit the Leadership Hub on the CISL website or Investec Focus for more episodes and insights. Disclaimer: The views in this podcast are those of the contributors, and don’t necessarily represent those of CISL, the University of Cambridge, or Investec, and should not be taken as advice or a recommendation.

15 total episodes available

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What is What next? Leadership conversations for a better future?: How do we rebuild confidence in the future - and in our collective ability to shape it? How do we reconnect economic growth with social progress, fairness, and stability? And how do we harness innovation without widening inequality or navigate political tensions without retreating from cooperation?

Responses to these questions demands new thinking - ideas that challenge assumptions, acknowledge what isn’t working and offer credible paths forward for business, finance and government.

That’s the focus of our new podcast series, hosted by CISL CEO Lindsay Hooper, and Investec Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer Marc Kahn.

You’ll hear from leaders, innovators and critical thinkers who are grappling with the toughest challenges of our time - and bringing forward important new thinking and practical action. From industrial transformation and AI to philanthropy’s catalytic role, the voices of the next generation and the shifting geopolitics of power, we ask how today’s leaders can bridge divides, unlock innovation and steer economies toward long-term stability and opportunity.
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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