Jump Podcast

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.

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.

The Wisdom Gap: How Modern Leadership Fails Without 4 Essential Capabilities

In a world overflowing with information, wisdom is surprisingly hard to come by. We dig into the difference between wisdom and knowledge, why knowledge doesn't necessarily precede wisdom, and how leaders can cultivate it (doing, reflecting, coaching). We close from Headlines from the Future, including China’s underwater data center, the global spread of 3D‑printed guns, and Nike’s robotic ankle brace.

AI & The Next Renaissance: A Conversation with Zack Kass

We sit down with Zack Kass, global AI advisor, former Head of Go-To-Market at OpenAI, and author of The Next Renaissance, for his take on where artificial intelligence is headed and how it will shape our future. Zack’s undeniably optimistic outlook anticipates a golden age where access to “unmetered intelligence” will unlock academic progress and drive economic gains that lift up societies. He draws a sharp distinction between knowledge and intelligence, arguing that while humanity has gathered immense amounts of information, our brains’ processing power is limited. According to Zack, AI changes that, by giving us the cognitive horsepower to make sense of it all and fueling a new wave of scientific and social discovery. 

Lululemon: Scaling What Makes You Great

Last week, Lululemon’s founder and former CEO fired shots at the company with a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal. And the numbers are on his side—the company's stock has plummeted more than 50% in the past year. In this episode, we unpack what the clash reveals about the challenge of scaling without losing your edge—and what future-focused strategists can learn about navigating category maturity, cultural relevance, and corporate nightmares.

The Great Lock In of 2025

In this episode of the Jump Podcast, Dev and Michelle unpack the “Great Lock-In of 2025”, a viral challenge born on TikTok that they reframe for strategy leaders. They challenge executives to treat Q4 as “Q0”, a time to run small experiments, close open loops, and reset leadership habits before the new year. This episode is a call to action for leaders ready to lock in and lead with intention. It’s about turning intention into momentum—and, for some, that shift in mindset may manifest as getting bangs.

Disney and Jimmy Kimmel: The Real Story is Strategy

Disney’s decision to suspend—and later reinstate—late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is all anyone can talk about. The involvement of Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has sparked debate over free speech and potential government overreach. But Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola argue that, at the heart of the controversy, lie important lessons for enterprise businesses on navigating conflicting stakeholder demands in an era of crisis overload.

Jump Offsite 2025: What Future Are We Building?

What kind of future are we actually building—and is it one we want to live in? Live from Jump Offsite 2025 in Napa Valley, Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola share takeaways from three days of deep dives, bold ideas, and uncomfortable truths. AI is accelerating, but do we really understand what we’re unleashing? Culture is shifting, but are we losing the social glue that holds us together? And in business, do startups still have the edge when it comes to disruption? One thing we walked away with: it’s time to pause and ask where our current trajectory is leading, and what trade-offs we’re willing to make along the way. And if you're still holding out hope for a brighter future, good news: your dog might live to see it.

AI Thought Partners: A Conversation with Shannon Heald

We speak with cognitive scientist Shannon Heald to explore what it really means for AI to be a thought partner, and why the missing piece is metacognition. We examine how we’ve moved from offloading memory, with tools like maps and lists, to offloading generation with large language models, and what that means for leaders trying to balance efficiency with insight. Shannon also shares how leaders can pair AI’s ability to performance tune with a process of captured serendipity to evolve better ideas. AI can help you reach your goals, but you still need to go outside to find out what a hike is.
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.

The Science of Spirituality: A Conversation with Lisa Miller

What if your greatest leadership tool isn’t in your spreadsheet, but in your spirit? In this profound and provocative episode, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik are joined by Dr. Lisa Miller—Columbia professor and author of The Awakened Brain—to explore the science of spirituality and its surprising impact on decision-making and leadership. Lisa reveals that every human is biologically wired for spiritual awareness, and when leaders tap into this awakened mindset, they unlock a deeper form of knowing—one that data alone can’t provide. Together, the trio dives into twin studies, MRI scans, and real-world examples to show how intuition, mystical experiences, and even dreams can guide game-changing decisions. In an era of radical uncertainty, this conversation offers a timely reminder: the most future-ready leaders are those willing to listen not just to the numbers—but to the soul.
 
#Spirituality #Religion #DecisionMaking #leadership
 
Links
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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 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 to grow their businesses in times of change.