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Let’s Reboot the Future

Reboot the Future

This podcast is for anyone who has ever been called naïve for thinking that we can create a world that is a kinder, more equitable and beautiful place to live.

It is a treasure trove of evidence that there are people out there leading with kindness, caring for our planet and thriving. These are their very human stories of how they are doing it - so that you know you are not alone, this is possible, and you can find your way to help Reboot the Future.

Tune in to the consistent frequency of inspiring, relatable stories, learning how people are navigating challenges and acting with courage.

Let's create the momentum towards a better way of being, let's Reboot the Future.

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Yesterday · 13 min
Rewidling our Psyche: Ben Goldsmith
This week's Reboot Forum series episode features Ben Goldsmith, who talks about growing up fascinated by wildlife and refusing to let go of a vision of Britain living with wildlife. Visits to France as a child showed him it was possible, and by his teens he was writing to park rangers and Country Life magazine to make the case for bringing back species like wild boar. Ben is hopeful about where the country is heading. He reflects on Britain's shift from a nation wary of wildness to one increasingly ready to trust nature to lead, and on what it takes to keep pushing for change even when the odds feel stacked against you. More about Ben Goldsmith: Ben has two decades of investment experience in green industries. He is co-founder of Nattergal Ltd, a natural capital company focused on restoring ecosystems at scale, and founded and chairs Conservation Collective, a growing network of locally-focused environmental philanthropic foundations. He also serves as a Trustee of the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, and was a non-executive director of the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2018 to 2022. Alongside all this, Ben hosts the Rewilding the World podcast, is author of God is an Octopus, and is rewilding land surrounding his family home in south Somerset. You can listen to Ben Goldsmith’s weekly podcast ‘Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith’ here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
September 14 · 10 min
Rivers' Worth: Aimee Felus
This week’s guest is Aimee Felus, CEO of the Western Sussex Rivers Trust. Aimee loves working for Rivers Trusts, drawn to the reciprocity and energy she finds there. She and her team know the value of the work they do, for rivers and for people, particularly through the ecosystem services that help mitigate environmental issues like flooding and biodiversity loss. She finds it challenging when others don't place that same value on the work, but this spurs her on to help people understand. Ultimately, Aimee feels that treating people with kindness and respect, fuelled by real passion for the work, takes you a long way in bringing others on board. A grounded conversation about staying committed to work that matters. More about Aimee Felus: Aimee has worked with water for 21 years, specialising in water quality issues, nature-based solutions and community engagement. Rivers captivate Aimee, for their vital place in the natural world, for their role in our culture and all that they offer to us. Aimee’s top river moments include hauling 3500 tyres from the Lea with amazing Thames21 volunteers, watching the sand martin’s aerial dance from a canoe on the Wye and seeing a river weave its magic into her son as he was charmed for hours on a paddleboard. Aimee feels very privileged to be able to work for her local rivers through the Western Sussex Rivers Trust. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
September 8 · 14 min
Living an Inspired Life: Hitendra Wadhwa
Hitendra Wadhwa has spent his career exploring what it really takes to live and lead well, work he now leads at Columbia Business School and through the Mentora Institute, which he founded. In this episode, he talks about the years he spent pulling back from the world (leaving strategy consulting and a Silicon Valley startup behind) to go deeper into his own inner life, and what that inner work eventually taught him: that the goal isn't to choose between the inner and outer world, but to find the intersection between them. He shares how that thinking played out in an unexpected place, a leadership programme he ran inside a Northern California prison. That instinct not to inflict pain on others goes right back to childhood. Hitendra became a vegetarian at eight, in a Punjabi meat-eating family, and held to it even when it meant pushing against his own dinner table. It's a thread that runs through everything else he talks about: living an inspired life, and finding freedom not in our circumstances, but in how free we are on the inside. More about Hitendra: Hitendra Wadhwa is the founder of the Mentora Institute and a professor at Columbia Business School, where he's won the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence. He's the author of Inner Mastery, Outer Impact, and draws on the world's mystic traditions to codify the laws of success in life and leadership. Before academia, he was a strategy consultant at McKinsey and founded a Silicon Valley startup. He holds an MBA and PhD in Management Science from MIT's Sloan School of Management, and a BA with Honours in Mathematics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
September 1 · 18 min
Belly Bugs to the Rescue: David Bell
David Bell, creator of Belly Bugs, has found a way to get children genuinely excited about eating well. After thirty years in advertising, David turned his skills to a new challenge: gamifying the science of gut health for kids. He introduces children to the “gang of little helpers" living inside them, turning gut microbes into characters they want to feed with colourful fruit and vegetables, and it works. In a Sunderland pilot, a school cook reported children coming in and ordering salad straight away. David describes his childhood in rural County Down as both heaven and hell: an idyllic dairy farm and close community, set against the backdrop of the Troubles. As a Protestant whose three best friends were Catholic, he wished everyone could cross divides as easily. His advice to his younger self, and it clearly runs deep, is simply this: never give up. This episode celebrates the launch of the Belly Bugs X Reboot the Future Academic Calendar, find it here. Read out blog 'Learning for Their World' based on David's episode here. More about David Bell: Born in County Down, Northern Ireland in 1961, David graduated from Edinburgh University in 1987 with a PhD in Ancient Greek before joining ICI's marketing department in Manchester. In 1992 he founded his own advertising agency, Cheetham Bell, which became known as Manchester's "creative hotshop" and was bought by WPP in 2000. He went on to be CEO of JWT's Manchester office and Creative Director at global digital agency Mirum, before leaving advertising in 2017 to develop Belly Bugs, the children's IP he created to introduce kids to their gut microbes, which research is showing to be the silver bullet for childhood nutrition. He has published one Belly Bugs book with New River/Little River Books, with a second, "The Poo That Wouldn't Budge," due this autumn. A keen cyclist, David is fascinated by the natural world. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
August 25 · 13 min
Wilder: Jon Conradi
This week we're joined by Jon Conradi, founder of Wild Mosaic, who is getting people rewilding without needing to own acres of land or live beside a nature reserve. Rewilders choose a three-metre by three-metre tile to follow, and Jon sends personal updates on their patch, the wildlife spotted there, and the progress of the land. It began with a nature club he set up at primary school, sparked by watching a neighbour's tree cut down. Even then he sensed that caring about nature was one thing, but persuading others to take action invited the question, why does it matter? For Jon, rewilding has been a way through apathy and despair at environmental chaos, and what he loves most is the personal connection: knowing each rewilder, and the small joys of an otter sighting or a butterfly landing on someone's tile. www.wildmosaic.eco More about Jon Conradi: Jon Conradi is the founder of Wild Mosaic. He is getting people rewilding without them needing to own acres of land or live next to a wildlife site. The UK led the world in exploiting wildness, it's now time for us to lead the world in restoring it. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
August 3 · 14 min
Project: Kindness - Filippa Brundish
Filippa Brundish, founder of The Kindness Cooporation, learned early just how much listening matters. A quiet child raised with little money but plenty of love, she spent her early years absorbing the world rather than speaking up in it, taking it all in like a sponge. In time, she wanted to put that attentiveness to work. A project manager who loves getting things done, she took the brave, some might say naive, step of leaving a well-paid job to found The Kindness Coorporation, using her skills to design and deliver programmes that build kindness. Their flagship project Project JOY (Joining Older and Younger), brought schoolchildren and care home residents together, lighting up both. She hopes to see this project grow far beyond her corner of the UK. Her advice to her younger self is about finding her voice: be bold, be brave, speak out sooner, but remain exactly who you are. The quiet dark horse, she's learned, has her own kind of strength, and people, and the relationships that matter, are everything. More about Filippa & The Kindness Cooperation CIC With 25 years' experience as a management consultant across both the private and public sectors, I've spent my career helping organisations plan, deliver and navigate change. Three years ago, I decided to put that experience to work for good, founding The Kindness Cooperation CIC — a non-profit delivering projects with real social impacts, powered by the same project management skills I've honed throughout my career. Outside of work, I'm mum to two wonderful kids and married to a very gifted primary teacher. When I'm not juggling family and work life, you'll find me on the tennis or padel court, planning our next family holiday to France, or being dragged around the park by Ruby, our endlessly energetic cocker spaniel. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
July 28 · 10 min
Design, from the Ground Up: Oliver Lloyd
Oliver Lloyd is a designer and systems thinker, with sustainability as the starting point of his work. He was once advised to "meet people where they are, but don't leave them there," and you get a strong sense of his enthusiasm for collaborating on projects where our connection to and care for nature is front and centre. Oliver shares how he's used this approach with a brand that makes multi-tools. Finding the point where his ethos and their brand met, he's been able to take them on an exciting journey, designing tools for city gardeners with small spaces to spark their engagement with nature. Considering planetary boundaries as a next step in design and production then became a natural conversation. Oliver is keen to share his work and methods, believing that an open source approach puts greater value on our planet, rather than only on the sale of the product. It's a challenge to business as usual, and it has met its share of pushback. But for Oliver, this way of working lets people feel part of a whole process, where their own agency and creative abilities are trusted and come to the fore. More about Oliver: Oliver is a designer and systems thinker working at the intersection of physical product development, emerging technologies, and climate adaptation. I help early-stage ventures and mission-driven organisations design products, services, and systems that are regenerative from the ground up. My approach combines hands-on prototyping and manufacturing knowledge, co-creation, workshop facilitation, futures thinking and strategic foresight — so sustainability isn’t an afterthought, it’s the starting point. Oliver Lloyd Design Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
July 21 · 17 min
Real Solidarity: Mary Ann Clements
Mary Ann Clements, Co-CEO of ADD International, has spent her whole life refusing to accept that "this is just the way the world is." As a child in a small Oxfordshire village, she felt every injustice keenly and couldn't fathom why the grown-ups had all given up. That refusal became her work. At ADD, a participatory grant maker for disability justice across Africa and Asia, she led a full-scale rethink: ending the old programmes, handing the decisions to the disabled movements ADD exists to serve, and swapping "we know best" for genuine solidarity. Plenty called it naïve. She is honest about what was hard, and what helped get her through. Mary Ann believes we need to be brave and hopeful. She has a photo on her desk of herself, aged four, dancing in the garden, a reminder to bring that free spirit into the messy, serious business of changing the world. Read our blog about this episode 'Turning the Ship' here. More about Mary Ann: Mary Ann Clements is a writer, facilitator and coach with over 25 years' international experience in social justice and organisational change. Most recently Co-CEO of ADD International, she helped transform it from a traditional NGO into a participatory grant-maker advancing disability justice, and was Co-Director of Healing Solidarity, which engaged over 3,500 people in reimagining global development through equity, care and collective action. She shares reflections on leadership, power and change through her Substack, How We Transform , and at maryannclements.com, and co-authored Red Tents: Unravelling Our Past and Weaving a Shared Future (2021). She is currently working on her first novel. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
July 14 · 16 min
The Case for Idealism: Satish Kumar
Photo by Carles Rodriguez Marin Peace pilgrim, lifelong activist, former monk and founder of The Resurgence Trust, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 50 years, and at 90 he is still choosing to be, in his own words, a naïve idealist. At nine he renounced the world to become a Jain monk, against the wishes of his businessmen brothers, who thought him too idealistic. He decided then that being naïve was exactly what he wanted, and he has never let go of it. In his twenties he walked 8,000 miles across 15 countries without money, from India towards the world's nuclear capitals, in the name of disarmament, meeting Bertrand Russell, Martin Luther King and others along the way. The pragmatic people, he argues, are the ones ruining the world with war, waste and warming. It is the idealists, the Buddha, Gandhi, King, who actually change it. Idealism, for Satish, is not a flaw to grow out of but the very thing the world most needs us to hold onto. That conviction led him to found Schumacher College in Devon. He wanted an education of head, heart and hands, teaching young people courage, creativity and the confidence to make their own path rather than wait for one. It is idealism as a practical training, a way of seeing that dares young people to imagine differently and act on it. Satish now wants every country to establish a Minister of Peace, noting that 194 nations fund armies and defence while not one invests in peace itself. War, he says, achieves nothing: not in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ukraine or Gaza, only lives lost. The age of war has passed, he believes, and the age of peace is what we must now build, spending our energy on how to be good neighbours rather than good enemies. It is a bracing, hopeful call from someone who has lived every word of it. More about Satish: Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 50 years. He undertook a pilgrimage for peace, walking for two years without money from India to America for the cause of nuclear disarmament. Now in his 80s, Satish has devoted his life to campaigning for ecological regeneration and social justice. He is a world-renown author and international speaker, founder of The Resurgence Trust and Editor Emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist – a change-making magazine he edited for over 40 years. To find more about Satish and join him in protecting people and planet click here. Link here to the Resurgence Trust Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
July 7 · 7 min
An Eye For Nature: Xander Beks
This week we're joined by Xander Beks, founder of Eye For Nature, whose whole way of working began with a simple willingness to step up. As a teenager, when others met a good idea with "that will never happen," his instinct was different: nothing is impossible until we have tried. More often than not, it became a success. He puts it down to an open, generous approach, one he traces to his Dutch roots, and a saying that "you always have no as an answer, and maybe you will get a yes." Coming to people with kindness rather than self-interest builds trust, he found. Much of our conversation turns to intergenerational learning, and Xander's belief that we waste the potential of young people. Through Eye For Nature he works to put them in the driver's seat, helping shape how they learn and matching them with mentors and experts around the world. What he describes is a genuine two-way exchange: older generations sharing experience, and younger ones, often the real experts now, teaching in return. Find out more about Eye For Nature here. Read our blog about this episode here. More about Xander Beks: Xander Beks is the Founder and Leader of Eye for Nature Cooperative, bringing over 20 years of international experience across nature-related fields, youth engagement, learning design and system transition, spanning government (national, EU and UN), education, civil society and the private sector. With more than 30 years of hands-on farming experience, he combines a deep understanding of farming realities with strategic expertise in regenerative agriculture, landscape restoration and value-chain transformation, put into practice on the farm he runs with his wife and parents-in-law, the home base of Eye for Nature and part of a future Polder Campus. He has extensive experience designing learning programmes for young people, farmers and changemakers, with a focus on leadership, experiential learning and system change. He has led national and international initiatives across youth, food systems and regenerative agriculture, including Harvest of Tomorrow, Youth Food Lab, World Food Forum national chapters, Groundswell NL, and the School of Sustainable Food and Farming NL. He has also held senior roles in public-sector policy and defence-related sustainability and energy-transition programmes, bringing strong capability in multi-stakeholder coordination, governance and complex delivery. Xander holds a Master's in Agricultural Engineering from Wageningen University & Research, is a Nuffield Scholar (2023), and is a reserve officer (Major) at the Dutch Centre of Expertise for Military Engineering, filling several roles in European and NATO fora. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
June 29 · 11 min
Adventures in Understanding: Alice Morrison
Explorer, TV presenter and author Alice Morrison joins us this week, fresh from a world first: becoming the first recorded person to cross Saudi Arabia from north to south on foot. For Alice, the heart of adventure is understanding, and not only of the people next door. Through the stories she gathers and shares from her journeys, she helps us get to know other people, countries, religions and places, so we can no longer stand back and condemn them from a distance. We see where they are coming from, and make better decisions. She honestly wrestles with her beliefs about our world. She once believed life would simply keep getting better. Reporting from Northern Ireland, she saw the peace reached at Stormont as a template the rest of the world might follow, and the rise of conflict and violence since has been hard to bear. Yet she still believes we have to face it and keep acting for a better humanity. In a Scottish word from her upbringing, we must "gird" ourselves for the tough and necessary work ahead. More about Alice: Alice Morrison is an explorer, TV presenter and author, fresh from a world first as the first recorded person to cross Saudi Arabia north to south on foot. A Scot brought up partly in Africa, she studied Arabic and Turkish and worked in journalism before changing course in mid-life, cycling 12,000km from Cairo to Cape Town on the longest bike race on earth. Now based in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, she has since walked the length of the Draa river as the first woman to do so, crossed the Sahara with camels and Amazigh guides, and presented BBC series including her latest, Arabian Adventures: Secrets of the Nabateans. She is the author of four books, among them Walking with Nomads, runner-up for the Best Travel Book Award 2023, and hosts the podcast Alice in Wanderland. Link here to learn more about Alice’s adventures and her 4 books here. Link here for Alice’s podcast ‘Alice in Wanderland’. Read our blog about this episode here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
June 23 · 16 min
A Strong Sense of Fairness: Ben Rawlence
Award-winning author and co-founder and director of the pioneering Black Mountains College, Ben Rawlence joins us this week. He shares how his life has been guided by a need for fairness for all and a deep commitment to morally important campaigns. That work in policy and human rights has taken him to the USA, to his beloved Tanzania, and across Africa, a career that someone recently described to him as a graveyard of good intentions. Through all of it, one question has kept him steady: "what's the right thing for me to do right now?" Right now for Ben, that means building this unique college in and around the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park in Wales, creating a future where nature and people thrive together. Black Mountains College takes on the challenge of our times: how to build a fair and just society within safe planetary boundaries. More about Ben: Ben Rawlence is the is the award-winning author of Radio Congo, City of Thorns, The Treeline and Think Like a Forest. His writing has been translated into a dozen languages. The Treeline won the 2023 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, the 2022 Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications among others. He is the co-founder and director of the pioneering educational institution, Black Mountains College in Wales. His next book chronicles the Gulf Stream system: The River in the Sea: The Ocean Current That Made the World As We Know It (out in 2027). Ben's latest book is Think Like a Forest, Letters to My Children Children From A Changing Planet. Read our blog about this episode here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
June 15 · 13 min
A Mission to Spread Kindness: Joshua Ford
This week we're joined by Joshua Ford, an award-winning actor and filmmaker whose work explores kindness, vulnerability, human connection and the belief that creativity can change lives. In 2024 he made a film called Hey You, Yes You, Open Me, dropping a hundred handwritten notes of kindness across London's tubes and buses, each one a message of hope and an invitation to connect. It went viral, and Joshua still hears from people every day, grateful for the impact it has had on them. Joshua grew up in a small, busy house in High Wycombe with three brothers, his parents and a couple of animals. Amid the chaos, and his mum's serious ill health, there was so much kindness that he assumed the whole world worked that way. He believes he was drawn to the arts because of it, drawn to understanding people more because of the compassion shown to him. He emphasises keeping your imagination alive and not caring if you look silly doing what you love. As he puts it, when it comes to creativity, "it doesn't really matter what people think so much because you've made it and they haven't." Link here to watch ‘Hey You, Yes You, Open Me’ More about Joshua Ford: Alongside his creative endeavours, Joshua champions a “DIY” approach to creativity, believing that creativity can underpin almost every part of life and help nurture the truest human experiences. Through his films, talks, and community projects, he encourages others to stop waiting for permission and simply begin making, connecting, and expressing themselves authentically. Read our blog 'Shifting the Baseline: Joshua Ford's episode' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
June 9 · 9 min
Shamelessly Idealistic Creativity: Ben Peers
Ben Peers, Creative Director, Designer and Videographer, believes that nothing ever really changes for the better without a little bit of shameless, idealistic creativity. He also believes that our fixation on metrics and the bottom line can stifle our ability to challenge the status quo and shame idealism out of us. He recalls the same trajectory in his own life: creativity that flourished in primary school, before that spark was stifled and shamed within the conformist walls of secondary school. That's why he created 'Good Eye', a safe space for idealism and a counterweight to the cynicism that stops us believing we can do things differently. As he says, "if we're discouraged from imagining a better future because it's too idealistic, then how on earth are we ever going to even achieve a fraction of that?" He shares how, through Good Eye, he is bringing together a community of creatives who want to use their talent to build a better world. He wants to awaken people to a possibility many of us lose sight of: that creativity is for more than selling things, it can help build the world we want to live in. More about Ben Peers: Ben Peers is a London-based Creative Director, Designer and Videographer. In 2025 he began developing Good Eye, a community for creatives who want to use their creativity for good. Read our blog 'On the Side of Nice: Ben Peers’s episode’ here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
June 1 · 16 min
Building Bridges in the Food System: Dr Lucy Wallace
What happens when you stop trying to fit in and start trusting your own way of seeing the world? Dr Lucy Wallace, a convenor and peacebuilder in food systems, has spent her career bringing people together in rooms thick with conflict, holding to one quiet belief: everyone deserves a seat at the table. In this conversation she takes us from a childhood spent hunting out small pockets of nature in the concrete West Midlands, to the noisy halls of COP, where making space for every voice is rarely tidy but is how trust slowly takes root. She speaks openly about embracing her late-diagnosed ADHD, about peacebuilding between those working in food systems, and about hope. When others try to dim your light, she says, it is usually a sign you have touched on something that matters. Her gentle encouragement to the rest of us is to stay with it, and to keep building the empathy that carries people along. More about Lucy Dr Lucy Wallace is a globally recognised connector, convenor and peacemaker in the food system, with 20 years' experience. She is the founder of Liminal Thinking, where she advises organisations on food innovation ecosystems, and Creative Director for tmrw. She has held senior roles at EIT Food, led the secretariat of the Action on Food hub at the UNFCCC COP, and co-founded REGEN HOUSE. A biologist by training, with a zoology degree from Aberdeen and a PhD in veterinary science, her feel for complex systems is rooted in the living world. Want to think more about the issues raised in this podcast? Read our blog 'When 'Not Enough' Means it's Time to Share' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
May 26 · 18 min
The Right Thing To Do : Samantha Ward OBE
What happens when you refuse to accept that nothing can be done? In this episode, we hear from Samantha Ward OBE, Deputy CEO of Royal Voluntary Service, whose lifelong conviction that the world can be changed for the better has shaped an extraordinary career in service and volunteering. From childhood, Sam had a powerful sense of right and wrong and the grit to go with it, always asking not just "why is this happening?" but "what can we do about it?" Where others saw naivety, Sam saw possibility, and she never stopped acting on it. That conviction was tested most visibly when the pandemic hit and Royal Voluntary Service stepped forward while others battened down the hatches. The result? The NHS Volunteer Responders programme, built in a matter of weeks, which mobilised 750,000 volunteers and delivered support over 2.6 million times to people who might otherwise have been completely cut adrift. Sam also shares the more recent launch of GoVo, RVS's flexible volunteering platform now home to nearly 1,800 charities, designed to meet people where they are and make volunteering work for modern life, whether that's 20 minutes on the way home or a Saturday afternoon trying something completely new. As Sam describes it, it was built on the same quiet certainty that it was simply the right thing to do. More about Samantha: Samantha Ward OBE, Deputy CEO and Chief of Services and Volunteering at Royal Voluntary Service As well as Deputy CEO responsibilities, Sam is also responsible for Royal Voluntary Service's volunteering, safeguarding & service delivery, including health, social care, community services and Armed Forces support. Sam is also a qualified Leadership Coach, Mentor & Consultant for Leaders who feel driven to serve and are born to lead. She was awarded an OBE for services to charity in 2022. Links and resources: Royal Voluntary Service GoVo volunteering platform Want to think more about the issues raised in this podcast? Read our blog 'The Girl Who Wouldn't Look Away' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
May 19 · 12 min
What does good look like?: David Butcher
Before he made it to the boardroom, David Butcher managed the stage at a Jimi Hendrix concert. What he learned backstage on a Baltic island about motivation, leadership and getting the best out of people stayed with him through three CEO roles and a lifetime in business. In this episode, David makes the case that the most effective leaders are not the loudest ones. Kindness, compassion and the courage to ask simple, naive questions, he argues, are the tools that cut through complexity, unlock better thinking and drive better outcomes. The boardroom, it turns out, needs a little more of what worked backstage at the Love and Peace Festival. More about David Butcher: A veteran of more than 50 years in the pensions and investment industry, David has been a CEO three times and served as a non-executive director on the pensions boards of BlackRock, Legal & General, Scottish Widows and The Peoples Pension. David has also chaired two companies in the wellbeing and mindfulness space and served as a board member for two research organisations in the pensions and asset management sector. A mind management practitioner for 50 years, David is now bringing the benefits of mind management to individuals and companies. Through Positively Aware Ltd, David provides coaching and mentoring services to individuals and companies to improve mental health and wellbeing, resilience and productivity. Want to think more about the issues raised in this podcast? Read our blog 'What kind of world are we building?' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
May 12 · 18 min
Purpose, People, Trust: Edwin Booth CBE
What does it look like to build a business where people truly matter? Edwin Booth CBE, Executive Chairman at E.H.Booth & Co ltd, shares his journey from arriving as an 18 year old into his family's business, shaped immediately by the sheer kindness of the people around him, to becoming a leader who puts people at the heart of everything. Edwin reflects on how culture is built from the inside out. By listening to people’s experiences, especially those who have faced barriers such as imprisonment, he has helped create opportunities rooted in dignity, skill-building, and trust. This is a conversation about purpose in action. About leadership that listens. And about the belief that when people are supported and trusted, they can thrive. Or as Edwin puts it, “there is no such thing as someone who cannot do something, if they are encouraged, shown how, and trusted to do it well.” A warm, wise and quietly radical conversation about what business can be when it genuinely puts people first. More about Edwin: Edwin Booth CBE DL is Chairman of E H Booth & Co Ltd, the proprietors of Booths Food Stores in the North of England. Representing the fifth generation of his family to lead the business since 1847, Edwin has spent his career building an organisation rooted in excellent service, sustainability, and locally sourced food and drink. Beyond the business, Edwin has dedicated much of his life to community and public service. He chaired the Lancashire LEP for over seven years, chaired the Employment Advisory Board at HMP Lancaster Farms, and is a Trustee of the Eden Project. He was appointed CBE in 2019 for services to business and charity, and served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 2021. Want to think more about the issues raised in this podcast? Read our blog 'The Northerner in the Room' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
May 5 · 12 min
Gathering for Good: Gemma Lannon
Gemma Lannon has created a wonderful gathering space in London for people channelling their work towards sustainability and climate solutions - it's called Treo House. In this episode, Gemma shares how the sudden loss of her father at 15 reshaped her understanding of the world, teaching her to hold two things at once: the uncertainty of outcomes, and the courage to act anyway. She reflects on why "naive" might not be the negative label we think it is, how optimism and joy are not just nice-to-haves but essential fuel for this work, and why acting from instinct and conviction, even without all the answers, might be exactly what our collective challenges demand right now. More about Gemma: Gemma Lannon is the founding director of Treo House, a collective for people working in sustainability in London. The organisation facilitates our ability to learn from and look after each other, through in-person events hosted at its home in Vauxhall. Gemma previously worked in the sustainability team at Unilever and on grassroot sustainability projects in Cornwall, Portugal and New Zealand. Link to Treo House Want to think more about the issues raised in this podcast? Read our blog 'Moral Courage & Disco Balls' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org
April 28 · 13 min
Start with Peace: Michael Macy
Michael Macy may describe himself as having a minor role, but a front row seat in establishing peace across some of the world's most complex conflict zones - but the lessons he carries from those experiences are anything but minor. At the heart of this conversation is a deceptively simple but profound insight: "Too often people think you have to resolve all the conflicts before you can have peace. No, peace, in my experience, peace creates the space to resolve the conflict." Michael brings this to life through his experience of the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast, offering a rare and intimate perspective on how peace, when enacted, can do what negotiation alone cannot. He also shares what he's doing about it today. Through Enacting Peace, an international effort he co-founded, Michael invites people everywhere to mark each equinox and solstice with a conscious act of peace, however small. The invitation is simple but radical: to recognise your own capacity to contribute, to celebrate it, and to act on it. Michael mentions his friend Joe, he is referring to Joe Miller. You can find out more about Joe here. A little more about Michael: Michael Macy is currently working to encourage peace. He is on the board of the Abrahamic Reunion, working for peace in Israel and Palestine and a founder of Enacting Peace, an international effort to invite people to act for peace. It has no dogma, no dues and no politics, just a request and a hope that you will do something for peace. He initially worked as a therapist, became a trial lawyer and hosted a radio talk show. He then spent nearly 30 years as a U.S. diplomat developing mutual understanding between the U.S. the UK, Mali, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, India, Haiti and Tunisia among others. In order to build those bridges, he worked with dancers, writers, artists, academics, journalists, religious community leaders and comedians. Want to think more about the issues raised in this podcast? Read our blog 'The Space We Create' here. Subscribe for more stories and practical tools from Reboot the Future. www.rebootthefuture.org

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