Most leaders know they should be thinking about the future. So why do so few actually do it? In this episode, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik unpack the assumptions that keep leaders trapped in the present. They explain why being future focused doesn’t mean hiring a futurist, why spotting trends is useless if you never act on them, and why the best leaders prepare for multiple futures instead of pretending they can predict exactly what will happen. Along the way, they revisit Kodak’s failure to capitalize on the digital camera, Jeff Bezos pushing Amazon toward machine learning decades before ChatGPT, and the power of making little bets before circumstances force one enormous gamble. Michelle and Dev also explore the difference between being present and being present focused—and why paying closer attention to what’s happening now may actually help leaders notice the earliest signals of what’s coming next. Plus, headlines from the future: states protecting the privacy of your brainwaves, Americans spending more time with AI companions than on dating apps, and air taxis carrying lab-grown organs. Because future-focused leadership isn’t about having a crystal ball. It’s about building a bridge from what’s happening now to what might happen next.

#FutureFocusedLeadership #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #StrategicForesight #Innovation #FutureOfWork #AI

Links

Subscribe to receive Dev’s weekly future focused letters:

https://www.jumpassociates.com/podcastandnewsletter/

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jump-associates

Start a conversation:

inquiries@jumpassociates.com

The Jump Podcast

The Jump Podcast features Dev Patnaik in dialogue with Michelle Loret de Mola. This is the conversation for future-focused leaders thinking about strategy, culture and leadership. The world is crazy. Everything seems to be changing, and not always in a good way. Today, business leaders are struggling to figure out how to avoid becoming the next Kodak, Blackberry or Blockbuster. But fear not, dear listener. Things can get better. People can do better. And the world can be better.

Jump Associates

Jump is the world’s leading independent strategy and innovation firm. We work with the world’s most admired companies on their most important growth challenges. Using a future focused approach to strategy, we’ve helped these firms grow their businesses in times of change.

Inflation is up, wars are dragging on, and most of the stock market's gains are locked inside a handful of AI giants... so what happens to everyone else? In this episode, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik go hunting for the exceptions: companies thriving inside industries that are supposedly dying. They dig into how A24 built a movie studio empire on twenty-million-dollar bets instead of billion-dollar franchises, why Chili's is stealing customers from McDonald's by refusing to discount, how Taco Bell treats product launches like a live focus group, and why Barnes & Noble is opening new stores by giving up the very efficiencies that used to make retail chains powerful. Michelle and Dev unpack the pattern underneath all four: creativity over benchmarking, insights over risk-taking, and playing to strengths instead of chasing someone else's playbook. Plus, headlines from the future: burglars using robotaxis as getaway cars, a dictator's quest for immortality, and a country trying to out-Socrates ChatGPT. Because the winning move isn't following the rules of a dying industry. It's realizing the rules were never worth following in the first place.

#SuccessStories #AI #Leadership #Humanity #HowToWin #Creativity #FutureFocused

Links

Subscribe to receive Dev’s weekly future focused letters:

https://www.jumpassociates.com/podcastandnewsletter/

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jump-associates

Start a conversation:

inquiries@jumpassociates.com

The Jump Podcast

The Jump Podcast features Dev Patnaik in dialogue with Michelle Loret de Mola. This is the conversation for future-focused leaders thinking about strategy, culture and leadership. The world is crazy. Everything seems to be changing, and not always in a good way. Today, business leaders are struggling to figure out how to avoid becoming the next Kodak, Blackberry or Blockbuster. But fear not, dear listener. Things can get better. People can do better. And the world can be better.

Jump Associates

Jump is the world’s leading independent strategy and innovation firm. We work with the world’s more admired companies on their most important growth challenges. Using a future focused approach to strategy, we’ve helped these firms to grow their businesses in times of change.

AI is no longer just a tool to learn, it’s becoming an existential question about work, education, and what it means to be human. In this episode, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik unpack the growing anxiety around AI, from students booing commencement speakers to workers wondering what kind of future they’re preparing for. They explore why “prompt engineering” isn’t enough, how AI may be exposing the limits of today’s so-called knowledge work, and why deep focus, creativity, ambiguity, and even human frailty might become our greatest strengths. From the Pope’s reflections on safeguarding the “human person” to the lessons of photography’s impact on painting, Michelle and Dev ask a bigger question: as AI reshapes work, what parts of humanity are we willing to fight to preserve?

#FutureOfWork #AI #Leadership #Humanity #DeepWork #Creativity #FutureFocused

Links

Subscribe to receive Dev’s weekly future focused letters:

https://www.jumpassociates.com/podcastandnewsletter/

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jump-associates

Start a conversation:

inquiries@jumpassociates.com

The Jump Podcast

The Jump Podcast features Dev Patnaik in dialogue with Michelle Loret de Mola. This is the conversation for future-focused leaders thinking about strategy, culture and leadership. The world is crazy. Everything seems to be changing, and not always in a good way. Today, business leaders are struggling to figure out how to avoid becoming the next Kodak, Blackberry or Blockbuster. But fear not, dear listener. Things can get better. People can do better. And the world can be better.

Jump Associates

Jump is the world’s leading independent strategy and innovation firm. We work with the world’s more admired companies on their most important growth challenges. Using a future focused approach to strategy, we’ve helped these firms to grow their businesses in times of change.