What Next?

Hosted by Publicis Groupe

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

141

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

"What Next?" explores the evolving landscape of business, leadership, advertising, and the future of work. Hosted by Rishad Tobaccowala, the podcast dives into how globalization, technology, and demographic shifts reshape how we create, consume, and communicate. Rishad Tobaccowala engages with CEOs, creative leaders, and visionaries to discuss innovative strategies, technology’s impact on media, and leadership challenges in the future of work. Hear unique insights from academics, futurists, and media innovators on navigating today’s business world.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 13, 2026Episode 344 min

Trusted Differentiation in Brand Storytelling

Rei Inamoto, founder of global innovation firm, I&CO and former chief creative officer at AKQA, on the shift from storytelling to trusted differentiation as a core brand strategy. The author of "Brand Shift" says that the rise of short videos, personal brands, product-as-content and increased consumer expectations has changed the very nature of storytelling and made trust a premium in a world where information is murky. While our human obsession with storytelling over thousands of years is important in marketing, he argues it is the notion of trust and how a company positions itself as trusted differentiation that really matters.

May 30, 2026Episode 228 min

Bookkeeping and the Rise of the Small Business

Natalia Zacharin, founder of Zacharin Consulting, on her journey from corporate life to scaling her firm to $3 million in six years. The Inc 5000 honoree who specializes in fractional CFO services and strategic financial planning, argues the importance of understanding financials, particularly for small businesses, and the pitfalls of inaccurate bookkeeping. Sharing insights on her experience as a fractional CFO and the importance of continuous learning and mentorship, she advises business owners to be cautious with debt, invest wisely, and maintain higher profit margins for growth and reinvestment. Revenue and sales themselves, she tells us, will never fix broken systems, and profit is not the same as cash.

May 16, 2026Episode 141 min

Reducing the Meeting Debt

Rebecca Hinds, author of "Your Best Meeting Ever" on the principles for designing effective meetings. The founder of Work Innovation Lab at Asana and the Work AI Institute at Glean, emphasizes the importance of applying product design principles to meetings, including her 4D system - Discussion, Development, Decision or Debate to reduce "meeting debt" and determine if a meeting is necessary at all. Meetings, she argues, should be limited to discussions requiring complex, emotional or one-way decisions, which leads to real insights into organizational design in the workplace. The best organizations, she says are where leaders lead with curiosity, find the bridge builders, the super connectors and the difference makers, who themselves play with the technology and ask not what they can do with it, but what it can do for them.

May 2, 2026Episode 835 min

Behavior Assessment and Decision-making Science

Jason P. Carroll, founder of Aptive Index — a behavioral intelligence platform powered by psychometric science and AI that helps leaders hire better, lead smarter, and build thriving teams. A TEDx speaker and certified Dare to Lead facilitator trained by Dr. Brené Brown, Jason brings together the science of human behavior and the art of courageous leadership. He says that while AI and technology will change jobs, organizations must leverage, focus on and train their people, because it will be how people use the technology that will make all the difference to the future of business.

April 18, 2026Episode 748 min

Storytelling and the Graphic Novel in an Age of Distraction

Damien Wassel, CEO of Vault Comics, on his transition from academia to publishing and the use of stories as tools for connection and influence. The former academic brings his PhD in Philosophy to underscore his partnerships with globally recognized brands and talent, and publishes multiple best-selling and award-winning comic books and graphic novels. He argues that in an age of distraction, it is stories that can attract and hold our attention, building community through a shared emotional engagement, even across time. It is the comic and graphic novel’s ability to provoke deep reflection, he says, that reminds us of how it feels to be human in the age of Ai.

April 4, 2026Episode 629 min

The Human Context Protocol

Betsy Kauffman, founder and CEO of Cross Impact Coaching on her journey from technology project management to executive leadership coach and consultant. After 25 years leading large-scale technology transformations across Fortune 500 companies, her resulting TED Talk: Four Tips for Honest Conversations at Work has had over 1.6 million views. She tells us how aligning leadership teams for successful AI transformations must include the human element if we are to define goals and secure proper change management. It is the human context in AI decision-making, she says, that can avoid inefficient use of resources and reduced productivity and lead to high-performing, aligned teams. Talent and teamwork, she argues, rather than relying on the advances in technology, are the key to driving strategic success. She has created a free alignment survey to help leaders and their teams understand whether deeper alignment is what your team needs right now before you head into your next big change initiative.

March 21, 2026Episode 533 min

The Heart of Business

Hannah Bauer, founder and CEO of Heartnomics, on her journey from surviving childhood heart disease to leading a firm that helps leaders rebuild trust, alignment, and resilience. A Maxwell leadership faculty member, Lean Six Sigma, Black Belt and Bull Ridge examiner,she explains the importance of balancing love and excellence in leadership, particularly in times of change. She argues that the future of success and leadership is a unique combination of math and meaning, of excellence and heart. In a world that is overwhelmed with burnout and disengagement, focusing on the psychological safety of your teams, she says, is an essential business strategy.#Business #Leadership

March 7, 2026Episode 442 min

The AI Reshuffle of the Knowledge Economy

Sangeet Paul Choudary, best-selling author of Platform Revolution and Reshuffle, explains how artificial intelligence is re-stacking the knowledge economy. As AI changes how knowledge is created, distributed, and monetized, it is also reshaping who holds power across industries. Drawing from his work advising Fortune 500 CEOs and global institutions, he explores what this shift means for workers, companies, and the future of competitive advantage.#Economy #Business #ArtifitialIntelligence

February 21, 2026Episode 339 min

Lévy on the Level

As Publicis Groupe celebrates its 100th anniversary, we’re revisiting a timeless conversation with Maurice Lévy — a leader whose legacy is deeply woven into the company’s story.In this wide-ranging interview, Maurice shares the inside story of the Power of One, how Viva Technology is poised to evolve, and why “the blank cheque of trust” is worth more than the paper it’s written on. He speaks candidly about his own “basket of failures” and why you should “stay in bed at home” if you have no passion for the work you do.

February 7, 2026Episode 250 min

Share of Heart in Building Brands

Warren Kornblum, a marketing leader and author of Notes from The Brand Stand discusses the importance of “share of heart" in building brands by engendering and building trust. The former CMO of Toys R Us says that our need for trust, human connection and long-term growth outweighs the need for any short-term focus on efficiency and scale. In this fast-changing world of algorithms and data, he says, we must focus on human-centric leadership and emotional connections in building lasting brand loyalty.#marketing #business #leadership