2026 Future List Honoree Feranmi Muraina joins Karen Lynch to explore what it really means to lead AI transformation inside a global brand. With a background in engineering and brand management, Feranmi brings a scientific mindset to insights, demanding evidence, challenging assumptions, and teaching teams how to work with AI rather than blindly accepting its outputs.

From building AI protocols and cultivating curiosity across organizations to understanding digital communities and amplifying fringe voices, Feranmi shares practical strategies for embedding AI responsibly and effectively. He also discusses the future of foresight, scenario planning, and how AI can surface early signals that shape tomorrow’s markets.

This episode is essential listening for insights leaders navigating AI adoption while staying people-centered and future-focused.

Key Discussion Points:

1. What it means to be a 2026 Future List Honoree and why client-side representation matters
2. Transitioning from engineering and brand management into insights leadership
3. How to create AI standards and protocols inside organizations
4. Teaching teams to be naturally curious and challenge AI outputs
5. Community-first brand positioning and decoding digital cultural signals
6. AI’s role in foresight, early signal detection, and scenario planning

Resources & Links:

1. Register for IIEX Europe (where Feranmi will be on stage)

You can reach out to Feranmi Muraina on LinkedIn.

Many thanks to Feranmi Muraina for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

Dr. Bridget Dalton, Head of Truth Futures at Truth Consulting and a 2026 Greenbook Futurist honoree, joins host Karen Lynch to unpack what it really means to “understand the future through culture.” With a background spanning academia, poetry, and semiotics, Bridget shares how cultural analysis can act as connective tissue across quant, qual, and AI-powered unstructured data to create sharper strategic direction.

They explore how scenario planning builds confident “what next?” decisions, why multi-method work should surface productive tension (not identical answers), and how Truth Changemakers partners with the Ashoka network to learn from social entrepreneurs already building the future. Bridget also speaks candidly about dyslexia, neurodiversity, and evolving standards of “credible communication” in insights.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Why culture is “future-baked” and how semiotics helps make instinct make sense
2. Moving from curiosity (“why”) to action (“so what”) with scenario planning
3. Blending semiotics, qual/quant, and AI-driven unstructured data for stronger foresight
4. Truth Changemakers + Ashoka: learning from social entrepreneurs with a “pre-detection lens”
5. Neurodiversity in insights: reframing credibility, communication, and talent

Resources & Links:

1. Truth Consulting (learn more about the consultancy and Truth Futures):
2. Ashoka (global network of social entrepreneurs)

You can reach out to Bridget Dalton on LinkedIn.

Many thanks to Bridget Dalton for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

Karen Lynch sits down with Karen McFarlane, Founder of Kaye Media and longtime fractional CMO, to unpack what board service really looks like beyond the shiny LinkedIn headline. From her early career pivot (HBO home video by day, creative “startup” projects by night) to leading through uncertainty, Karen McFarlane shares how board work can sharpen leadership, expand networks, and create impact beyond pure business-as-usual.

The conversation demystifies advisory vs. working vs. governing boards, why trust is the real operating system between a board and CEO, and how volunteering can signal character and capability to hiring managers. If you’re considering board service or building a board for your startup, this episode is a practical roadmap with purpose baked in.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Fractional leadership: why embedded CMOs bring “portable perspective” across companies
2. Board types decoded: advisory vs. working vs. governing (and what each actually does)
3. The board–CEO relationship: trust, clarity of roles, and constructive challenge
4. Board service as career fuel: networking with a job-to-do, resume signal, and leadership reps
5. Building a startup board: skills-first recruiting, avoiding “yes-people,” and planning board evolution

Resources & Links:

1. Kaye Media (Karen McFarlane’s firm)
2. AMA New York (board + community)
3. Hudson Valley Credit Union: Board of Directors overview
4. NACD Blue Ribbon Commission report on board–CEO trust
5. Columbia Business School Exec Ed: Corporate Governance Program
6. Karen’s LinkedIn newsletter: Better On Purpose
7. MVP podcast: Momentum Now

You can reach out to Karen McFarlane on LinkedIn.

Many thanks to Karen McFarlane for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.