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What does the future hold for business leaders and entrepreneurs? With a rapidly changing world, how does one navigate a path to success? To get a better sense of where we are heading, I caught up with Futurist Joana Lenkova of Futures Forward, who shares insight on how leaders should be thinking about the future of their business. Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself and what a futurist does? Joana Lenkova: I have a background in brand, strategy, innovation, and foresight within large corporations like The Walt Disney Company and now the LEGO Group. In 2019, I founded Futures Forward, my own consultancy, which allows me to work not only with corporations but also with nongovernmental organizations, start-ups, and governmental institutions to imagine better futures for them. Q: How should business leaders and entrepreneurs be thinking about AI and the tools available to them now? Lenkova: For me the more interesting question isnt which tools we are using, its what these tools are enabling us to do. We live in an age of radical accessibility. Entrepreneurs and professionals today have easy access to low or no-code platforms, AI assistants, a global freelance talent pool, and direct-to-consumer distribution platforms. I think the real shift is in speed, access, autonomyand with AI its agency. What used to require full teams and big capital can now be prototyped by one person over a weekend. Q: What about people who are about to start a company now? What advice would you give them as they consider using all this new technology? Lenkova: I have been thinking a lot about that because we tend to get enamored by technology. But what is the one thing that is as important today as it was in the past? Even though these tools have evolved, what really matters hasn’t changed. It’s still about having a clear vision, the ability to adapt, and to solve something meaningful. So, somebody launching a business now, you should really ask yourself, what is the real human need that I’m going to be serving? A lot of times businesses start from a technology, you know, let’s develop this and let’s experiment and prototype and see where it takes us. But in the end, it will be successful if it can be a solution for a meaningful future need. Q: How should business leaders and startup founders be thinking about building teams as many roles are now aided or replaced by AI? Lenkova: I think starting with the problem and not with the technology you use. Perhaps choose to hire versatile hybrid thinkers instead of deep specialists, especially when you need innovative solutions and quick adaptability as a business. Of course, the context is important. But that’s exactly how futurists thinkwe look for cognitive diversity. There is interesting work from Scott Page, whose research shows that diverse groups of people can outperform homogenous groups of experts. Leaders sometimes tend to hire people who confirm their own biases unconsciously, but that’s not healthy. You need people who can shine a light on your blind spots, not those who agree with you. Q: Do you think we are living in a time where we will witness the first solopreneur who utilizes technology and AI to become a billionaire? Lenkova: I wonder if we already have. With creators like MrBeast, for example, who are building these personal media brands in such a different way, creating new IPs, licensing, content, and product lines. Solopreneurs are super enabled today to reach vast global audiences and it can happen overnight using the available tools smartly. But the more interesting thing to me is that there is a shift in values. I really wonder if the next generation of founders are going to aspire to be billionaires in terms of dollarsor maybe this is just a hopeful scenario that I’m living in, that they would want to measure their success by impact or by freedom. So maybe the first billionaire solopreneur will choose not to be one in the traditional sense. Q: Do you think we are heading in a direction where everyone will eventually need to become an entrepreneur or self-employed? Lenkova: Not necessarily, but we are in a world where entrepreneurial thinking is essentialeven inside large companies. I think there definitely will be more experiments in new forms of governance. On one hand the change will manifest in a stronger connection to purpose, keeping the commercial organization structure but looking to generate value across people and planet in addition to profit. I see this in the future as a hygiene factor. Think regenerative systems. On the other hand, we’re also seeing more importance placed on community-led brands, experiments with decentralized forms of governance, etc. But to allow for these changes, you have to remember that the legacy systems and ways of incentivizing governance boards and employees will have to change as well. Q: Anything youd like to share with people launching a business right now? Lenkova: Yesdont just build a product, build a worldview, have a purpose. It isnt enough to sell products, you really have to make positive change to humans, to the planet, to the community. Think about regenerative practices and look at multiple future scenarios. Think about what the world may look like, what youd like the world to look like, and make it happen. Think about the future needs of your stakeholders and build solutions for those. What do you believe about the future that others dont yet see? Let that be your compass. Maureen Brown is co-founder and CEO of Mosie Baby.
Category:
E-Commerce
Butler/Till was introduced to the idea of becoming a B Corp in 2015 when we acquired a small marketing consultancy that did a lot of work in the energy space. Being a B Corp was really important to those employees, and with just a little bit of homework, we realized that the values involved in the certification process were the same values wed woven into our DNA since our founding. The B Corp designation has become a kind of shorthand for a purpose-driven company that balances profits with people and the planet. The designation is not 100% altruistic, nor should it be. B Corps are for-profit companies that believe you can do business for good and that your employees, your clients, and your business all benefit when you do. We are just finishing up the recertification process, which is required every three years. While it can be a challenging process, it pushes us to reevaluate our commitment to corporate social responsibility across five areas: community, governance, customers, environment, and workers. At Butler/Till, this is not a top-down process; it is spearheaded by a dedicated committee of employees who want to ensure we stay true to our values every day. The problem with B Corp certification In recent years, B Corp certification has come under fire from within the community. In 2022, a group of B Corp organizations sent an open letter to B Lab, the nonprofit organization behind the process, protesting the certification of a multinational company with a history of child labor issues and anti-environmental practices. The letter pointed out flaws in the certification process, suggesting it had become susceptible to exploitation for greenwashing purposes and demanding changes. In response, B Lab acknowledged these concerns and published a set of new rules in April to rectify the situation. While the rewriting of these rules took longer than expected, Dr. Bronnersone of the companies that signed the letter in 2022decided not to wait. Earlier this year, the company publicly announced it would be relinquishing its B Corp status when it expires near the end of 2025 and that it would be taking the B Corp logo off of its products. The founders explained, Sharing the same logo and messaging regarding being of benefit to the world with large multinational CPG companies with a history of serious ecological and labor issues, and no comprehensive or credible eco-social certification of supply chains, is unacceptable to us. I applaud their conviction for a just and sustainable planet, but I think their decision to denounce the system rather than stay and fix it is shortsighted. The letter pointed to other highly successful companies committed to justice and sustainability, notably Patagonia and Ben & Jerrys, as examples of those doing it right. The not-so-subtle message here is that the 8,000+ companies that have invested the time and resources to become certified B Corps are not doing it right or not doing enough. Work together to do good This you cant be us message is the opposite of the inclusivity organizations seek when they commit to becoming a B Corp. Were in a moment in this country when companies face backlash for DEI efforts, and the need for corporate social responsibility of any kind is being questioned. This is not the time to give up on efforts to do business in a better way. If anything, employees need us to lean in more than ever. The B Corp values of working together to do good are engraved into our ethos. We make a conscious effort to create an environment where people get to do their best work, feel fulfilled, acknowledged, and respected, and earn a good living doing it. We are also a 100% ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), meaning that the company is fully employee-owned. This keeps us independent and allows us to make decisions that are truly in the best interest of our clients and also happen to be in the best interests of our employee-owners. Weve also committed to spending a certain portion of our dollars with like-minded, minority-owned, women-owned businesses, including other B Corps and other ESOPs. Social good is ingrained in everything we do. B Corp certification helps us solidify and display that commitment to our employees, our clients, our partners, and our community. Giving that up because the process is not perfect would be steps backward versus forward. Throwing away certification isnt the answer Its easy to call people outits practically all anyone does on social media these daysbut purity tests arent useful. B Labs process may certainly be flawed. Companies are scored in each area, and then the results are averaged. This means a low score in one area, like customers or governance, could be essentially ignored if the scores in other areas were high enough. I certainly hope that B Lab’s new rules fix this glaring error in calculation, but throwing the certification away entirely is not the answer. The truth is that most companies do not meet the existing metric. Isnt it better to call them in versus out and give them something to strive for than to declare that theres a small club of pure companies out there that they can never belong to, even if they try? Kimberly Jones is CEO of Butler/Till.
Category:
E-Commerce
The loudest voices may seem like they rise above the clamor. But success and sustained growth in business and in life takes people strong enough to listen. As the president of Chubb Life Hong Kong and head of North Asia for the past three years, Ive embraced a business strategy centered around agility, diversity, and yesproactive listening and learningfrom the key stakeholders affected by my decisions. That includes the community that surrounds me, and from the deeper ties that bind us all. Here are four key lessons Ive learned along the way: #1: Life is full of taboos. Confront them. Diversity is an ongoing action, not a checklist item to be ticked off. In our recent PR, marketing campaigns, and product launches, weve taken on calculated risks head-on and dared to be inclusive by confronting societal taboos in Hong Kong and beyond. In a nod to Hong Kongs shifting population demographics and rapidly evolving definition of family, our Every Way of Legacy campaign called for a new definition of legacy: one based on each individuals unique path and values rather than rote social expectations. We brought this ethos to the fore with innovative products like the citys first insurance plan to offer legacy planning for LGBTQ+ couples. #2: Difficult conversations are waiting. Start one. Life insurance as an industry is rife with possibility and rich with meaning. Its also a minefield for conversations that many people find difficult. However, Ive found that the most challenging dialogues are often the most rewarding. In HK, death is something we just dont talk about. Responses from our early marketing research surveys show that 71% of Hong Kongers have yet to talk about death and end-of-life planning with their loved ones. Therefore, last year we painted the question Whats your wish? quietly on the streets across Hong Kong to ignite the conversations and built a series of events and social media campaigns around this. As a grand finale of the campaign, we presented Conversations of Life: Every Wish Lasts at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, an immersive experience that encouraged participants from all walks of life to open up about what they hoped to leave behind for the next generation. By asking guests to think about their final wishes, we were actually challenging them to dream up brighter futures for themselves and their loved onesand start living out those values today. #3: Companies are part of communities. Join them. At its heart, business is about connectionfrom our clients to the communities that surround us. Growth is never possible without acknowledging where you live, where you came from, and where youre headed next. Weve immersed ourselves fully in local and international communities. From sponsoring Coleman Wongthe first Hong Kong tennis player to win a match at the ATP Masters 1000to backing events like a YouTube music event, Ultimate Song Chart Awards, special screening for the blockbuster movie The Last Dance, launching Chubb Life Art Gallery, supporting the exhibition Picasso for Asia: A Conversation at M+, and Art Basel, weve sought to embrace our brand philosophy, enabling Every Way of Life by materially supporting the artists who tell our collective stories. #4: Every voice counts. Count them. When I joined Chubb Life Hong Kong in 2022, a key priority was enhancing staff retention. By opening up a two-way dialogue and meeting our employees needsfrom an agile, collaborative workspace to improved benefits centered around holistic well-being and work-life balancewe were able to cut that rate nearly in half within just a year. The principle of the power of listening extends far beyond the workplace. We recently overhauled our underwriting efforts by leveraging insights from our focus groups. These opinions also served as a springboard for our recent array of product launches (with eight released in 2024 alone and two in Q1 2025, including a digital-only product). By considering our clients unique pain points and needs in an ever-changing world, weve been able to tailor our solutions to themnot the other way around. After all, the boldest moves and best paradigm shifts dont start with the loudest voices; they start with listening ears. Belinda Au is president of Hong Kong and head of North Asia for Chubb Life.
Category:
E-Commerce
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