Jump Podcast

Hosted by Jump Associates

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Aug 2026

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About the show

The Jump Podcast is the conversation for you, our tribe of future-focused business leaders. Hosts Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola explore the most pressing issues in business strategy, culture, and leadership, with insights that help even the most seasoned strategists reframe how to lead and how to plan for What's Next. From interviews with thought leaders to Headlines from the Future , The Jump Podcast aims to widen your perspective to plan for change before the ground shifts beneath your feet.

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August 6, 2026Episode 2943 min

Future-Focused Leadership: How to Prepare for What’s Next

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.

July 6, 2026Episode 2839 min

The Exceptions: How To Win When Your Industry Is Losing

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.

June 9, 2026Episode 644 min

The Future of Work and Meaning

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.

May 7, 2026Episode 559 min

Invisible Rules: A Conversation with Ujwal Arkalgud

If you’ve ever tried to push a new idea through a large organization, you probably know the feeling: the strategy is solid, the data is there, and somehow the idea still goes nowhere. In this episode, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik sit down with cultural anthropologist and MotivBase co-founder Ujwal Arkalgud to unpack the “invisible rules” that shape how organizations make decisions, assign credibility, and resist change. From the hidden power of pedigree and language to the unspoken consensus culture inside innovation teams, Ujwal explains how successful leaders learn to see invisible rules, navigate them, and slowly reshape them from within. The trio explores how to find “power pockets” inside organizations, why Steve Jobs may have been more anthropologist than rebel, and how leaders can build legitimacy without losing their edge. Plus: why the most important skill in leadership might simply be learning to notice what everyone else ignores. Some invisible rules are hidden. Others are obvious, like staying out of a restaurant kitchen. #InvisibleRules #Innovation #Anthropology #Leadership 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 Read Invisible Rules: US ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/177458686X ) Canada ( https://www.amazon.ca/dp/177458686X ) 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.

April 9, 2026Episode 450 min

The Real Reason Why Companies Fail

In this episode, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik take on one of business’s oldest questions: Why do great companies actually fail? Is it really arrogance and complacency that bring companies down… or is that just a narrative we’ve been telling ourselves for centuries? From the chaos hitting SaaS companies in the wake of AI to classic examples like Kodak and AOL, Michelle and Dev unpack what’s really going on beneath the surface. They argue that failure isn’t about leaders getting “too big for their britches,” but about something far more human: our tendency to focus on the present, stick with what’s working, and struggle to let go of a winning formula, even when we know the world is changing. This episode is a sharp, practical look at what it takes to actually build the bridge from today to tomorrow, and why so many companies fall short trying. If your strategy feels like a warm bath, it might be time to get out of the tub anyway. #SAAS #strategy #AI #innovation #futurefocus 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.

March 5, 2026Episode 31 hr 1 min

Focused Challenges: A Conversation with Anousheh Ansari

In this episode of the Jump Podcast, Dev Patnaik sits down with Anousheh Ansari to explore the power of bold challenges and “moonshot” thinking. Anousheh shares the story behind the early days of the XPRIZE Foundation, from the audacious $10M prize that helped kickstart private spaceflight to the dozens of competitions now tackling everything from wildfire detection to clean water and human health. The conversation dives into how well-designed incentives can unlock creativity, attract massive investment, and reshape entire industries. But it also confronts a harder question: if technology can create a world of abundance, why doesn’t everyone benefit? Anousheh reflects on the future she hopes we build, and why leaders must actively shape that future rather than assume it will arrive on its own. And if she gets her way, the future may look a lot like Star Trek - a world of abundance where we don't worry about scarcity... though we're still waiting on the replicators. #Moonshots #Innovation #Leadership #XPRIZE #futurefocus 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.

February 5, 2026Episode 245 min

Leadership: Taking the ICE Test

In this episode of the Jump Podcast, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik dig into what’s unfolding in Minneapolis and why it has become a real time stress test for leadership. As immigration enforcement spills into everyday life and disrupts business, they explore why this moment is not just political but deeply human. Drawing on neuroscience, empathy, and leadership examples, Michelle and Dev examine why some people feel outrage while others feel nothing and what that reveals about our sphere of concern. The conversation challenges leaders to ask a hard question: who do you consider your people and how big is that circle? And if your empathy still is not kicking in, it might be time to put down the potato chips. 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.

January 9, 2026Episode 147 min

Go Big: Starting the Year With Focused Challenges

It’s a new year, unwritten and full of possibility. Before the noise and distractions rush in, take a moment to decide what direction you actually want your company to head. The most disruptive companies in history didn’t lead with 50-page strategy decks; they rallied people around big, focused challenges. Drawing on examples from President John F. Kennedy's race to the moon to companies such as Amazon and Netflix, hosts Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola look at the big "moonshot" challenges that secured their place in history, for better or worse. And as they unpack them, they demonstrate the characteristics of a winning challenge. But first, you have to figure out where your moon is.

December 18, 2025Episode 2743 min

2025 Headlines from the Future

AI-induced layoffs. Chatbot psychosis. Climate disasters. Gene-editing breakthroughs. Self-driving cars. 2025 felt like a sci-fi movie trailer. In this year-end episode, Dev and Michelle take us beyond the moments and examine the momentum underneath it all—the shifts rewiring markets, geopolitics, and society. Because when robotaxis go from fiction to reality in a matter of months, it’s a signal the future is changing lanes quickly.

November 26, 2025Episode 2654 min

AI & Humanity's Extinction: A Conversation with Stuart Russell

A couple episodes back, we sat with an AI optimist. Now we’re heading to the other end of the spectrum. Stuart Russell—UC Berkeley professor, co-author of the field’s definitive AI textbook, and one of the world’s most respected experts—brings a far more concerning view of where AI may take us. He’s been outspoken about the risks ahead: AI systems that exceed human capability, an economy that can’t justify its own valuations, and a future in which nearly all human work could disappear - and robots could eat our ice cream. The Jump Podcast The Jump Podcast is the conversation for you, our tribe of future-focused leaders. Hosts Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola explore the most pressing issues in business strategy, culture, and leadership, with insights that help even the most seasoned strategists reframe how to lead and how to plan for What's Next. From interviews with thought leaders to Headlines from the Future, The Jump Podcast aims to widen your perspective to plan for change before the ground shifts beneath your feet. Jump Associates Jump is the strategy firm for future-focused leaders. We help ambitious companies see what’s coming and adapt before they fall behind. For over 25 years, we’ve worked with teams at Google, Nike, Samsung, Target, and Virgin to solve their most pressing growth challenges. In a world mired in yesterday’s data, we look ahead—integrating strategy, culture, and leadership to help organizations grow through change.