How do you turn cultural insights into products that make a difference in people’s lives?
In this episode, we are joined by Stefan Biel, a scientist turned innovator who for over 25 years has looked to uncover unexplored opportunities and translate them into meaningful products. Having worked for various large players across the consumer goods industry, he now finds himself at Tesa, the global adhesive manufacturer, as their Head of Technical Foresight & Product Development.
In conversation with ReD Partner Sandra Cariglio, Stefan shares his insights on building high-performing innovation teams, taking accountability as a leader, and how to balance corporate legacy with future-focused evolution.
He also discusses the critical role of deep consumer understanding in innovation, and how to translate weak signals from out in the world into products that actually make a difference in people's lives by anticipating changing social realities.
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19:09
Leading with Perspective – with Githinji Gitahi
How to build a corporate strategy for Africa's largest international health NGO?
In our latest episode of Leading with Perspective, we are joined by Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of Amref Health Africa. Amref is committed to transforming the health of African communities serving 30 million people in 35+ countries annually.
Since joining as CEO in 2015, Dr. Gitahi has led Amref through a remarkable transformation, shifting from a vertical disease-focused approach to a systems-led strategy. Under his leadership, the organisation has doubled its impact and budget while pioneering innovative approaches to community health.
Joined by ReD’s manager partner Mads Holme, Dr. Gitahi discusses Amref’s journey from its origins in the 1950s to becoming a leading voice in African healthcare policy, the challenges of transforming a large organisation's strategy and governance, and why addressing issues like climate change and youth engagement are critical for the future of health in Africa.
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27:16
Leading with Perspective – with Camilla Dahl Hansen
How has the financial sector looked to regain trust with consumers and play a more meaningful role in their lives?
In this episode, we are joined by Camilla Dahl Hansen who was most recently with Saxo Bank where she held a number of roles including its Global Chief Saxo Experience Officer and Senior Executive Vice President. Before that, Camilla spent 14 years with Danske Bank as the Head of Group Marketing and SVP for Wealth Management with focus on marketing, communications, transformation, and strategy.
Joined by ReD partner Martin Gronemann, Camilla discusses the state of the financial sector today, particularly with regards to where it is on its journey to becoming more inclusive of women both on the customer side and at the organisational level. If we look back over the last 15 years, how have things changed? And what has stayed the same?
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24:55
How to build a world-class children's hospital – LIVE
What foundational ideas should guide our thinking around future approaches to care?
In 2026, the Mary Elizabeth Hospital in Copenhagen will open to the public. It is a hospital that will revolutionise the experience for children, teens, pregnant women and their relatives before, during and after treatment. And they are doing this by centering the hospital all around play.
Alongside Elisabeth Ida Ginsberg and Thomas Frandsen the hospital’s chief project manager and chief medical officer respectively, ReD’s Anne Mette Worsøe Lottrup and Iago Noguer Storgaard discussed how play became the foundational idea to both the hospital’s design principles and day-to-day operations.
A project that has been over a decade in the making, they also discuss how an idea, or human insight such as play, can be guarded as the governing principle through something as complicated and large-scale as building a new hospital.
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20:58
Who are today's experts? – LIVE
In another live edition of the ReD podcast, we are joined by Taylor Price, a leading Gen Z financial expert with over a million followers on TikTok, and Matt Klein, a writer, cultural theorist and head of foresight at Reddit, to discuss what spaces or figures people are turning to as trust in traditional sources of authority is in decline.
In the conversation, we get into the "who" – has relatability become the new stand-in for expertise? – the "where" – what are some of the tradeoffs to finding expertise in smaller, community-based online spaces? – and the "how" – what can traditional institutions learn from these spaces about meaningfully connecting with consumers?
We also covered the growing homogenisation of culture, the ability for AI to both disrupt and affirm existing models of authority and when brands should, and shouldn't, hand over power to their consumers.
The panel was hosted by ReD's editorial director Matthew Janney, as part of our wider exploration on where authority comes from today.
How are the algorithms in our lives holding us back? What are the most pressing problems of urban residents businesses can help resolve? What can other sectors learn from how the luxury industry is getting sustainability right? These are some of the questions we unpack in season two of the Phenomena podcast by ReD Associates, which explores how a deep understanding of human behaviour can help shape better business strategy.
'Leading with Perspective', a new season of the Phenomena Podcast launches in June 2024, and is all about leadership, transformation and strategic thinking with a brand new episode each month. Leading with Perspective features engaging conversations with top industry leaders on how they effected change within their organisation, their industry and the wider culture.
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