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.

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, host Karen Lynch sits down with Emma LaPorte, Group Insights and Strategy Manager at Crown Resorts, to explore what it truly means to be a high-integrity insights leader. Emma shares her unique career journey from academia and agency life to healthcare, FMCG, and now experience-led research in the entertainment and hospitality sector.

Together, they unpack how rigor, curiosity, and creativity intersect in modern insights work, especially when decisions are emotionally driven and high-stakes. Emma discusses building stakeholder trust, navigating data quality challenges, and balancing speed with thoughtful upfront alignment. The conversation also looks ahead to the future of the insights profession, including the evolving role of AI, the enduring importance of human judgment, and why storytelling remains essential for influencing senior leaders. This episode is a must-listen for insights professionals seeking to elevate their impact.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Emma’s career path from academia to enterprise insights leadership
2. Balancing scientific rigor with creativity and storytelling
3. Building trust with stakeholders through transparency and integrity
4. Managing data quality and pressure-testing insights
5. The future of insights: AI, integration, and human interpretation

Resources & Links:

Crown Resorts

You can reach out to Emma LaPorte on LinkedIn.

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

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, host Karen Lynch sits down with Joanna Byerley, founder of Talent Pools AI, to unpack how AI is reshaping hiring, leadership, and careers in the insights and ResTech space. Joanna explains the shift from traditional executive search to talent intelligence—a more strategic, data-informed way to map markets, pipeline talent, and benchmark salaries before a single role is posted.

She and Karen explore the emerging reality of jobless growth, the erosion of entry-level roles, and what that means for the future leadership pipeline. They also discuss how to build AI-native roles, what separates the 5% of successful AI initiatives from the rest, and why human judgment remains the irreplaceable core skill for insight and strategy teams navigating ambiguity.

Key Discussion Points:

• From search to talent intelligence: How market mapping, talent pipelining, and salary benchmarking create smarter, less transactional hiring strategies for insights and ResTech leaders.
• Jobless growth & entry-level erosion: Why AI-enabled productivity is decoupling revenue growth from headcount and what that means for early-career researchers.
• Careers as lattices, not ladders: How AI and role convergence (product, consulting, insights, tech) are reshaping career paths and the skills that matter most.
• What successful AI leaders do differently: Governance, focus on a few high-impact use cases, realistic 2–4 year horizons, and a culture that tolerates disciplined experimentation.
• The one thing AI can’t replace: Human judgment—the ability to weigh context, nuance, ethics, and risk in turning AI outputs into business decisions.

Resources & Links:

• Talent Pools AI – Executive Search & Talent Intelligence
• Joanna’s article: Platforms, Proof & Power – The New Rules of Insights & Executive Hiring
• Insights Career Network (ICN)

You can reach out to Joanna Byerley on LinkedIn.

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

In this episode, Lenny Murphy sits down with Hakan Yurdakul, CEO of Bolt Insight, to unpack how AI-native research is reshaping qual and quant. Hakan shares his Unilever-to-founder origin story and the personal “bring summer forward” purpose that drives Bolt’s human-centric philosophy. They dig into BoltChatAI and why AI-moderated qual only works when it’s trained on real human interviews and supported by rigorous human-in-the-loop checkpoints.

The conversation explores Bolt’s Dynamic Personas—living profiles that refresh with ongoing human input—plus the limits of synthetic data for innovation. Finally, Hakan lays out a “Jarvis-style” vision for an AI assistant insights officer, and the duo reflects on what this shift means for trust, ethics, and the evolving role of researchers as strategists and storytellers.

Key Discussion Points:

• Hakan’s path from Unilever marketing/insights to founding Bolt Insight—and the “bring summer forward” mission guiding the company.
• What it means to be an AI-native research firm across quant + qual, and why “qual at scale” is now feasible.
• Human-in-the-loop AI moderation: training on real interviews, quality scoring, and guardrails to avoid “chatbot research.”
• Dynamic (living) personas and meta-analysis: how Bolt keeps personas current and useful without over-relying on historic synthetic data.
• The next 2–5 years: AI automates grunt work, pushing researchers toward strategy, storytelling, and doing more with the same.

Resources & Links:

• Bolt Insight
• BoltChatAI features: Dynamic Personas and Meta-Analysis.
• 2025 GRIT Business & Innovation Report

You can reach out to Hakan Yurdakul on LinkedIn.

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

In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, host Karen Lynch sits down with Jairus Lofton, Senior Manager of Strategic Insights at Panera Bread, to unpack how human-centered insights power menu innovation in QSR and fast casual. Jairus traces his journey from Hershey to Sonic, McDonald’s, and now Panera, sharing a behind-the-scenes case study on rebuilding Sonic’s core burger from the ground up using guest feedback, quant modeling, and rigorous testing.

He explains how culinary inspiration, trend data, and real-world operations come together to decide what actually makes it onto the menu—and stays there. Jairus also talks about serving younger consumers like Gen Z without chasing every shiny trend, why brand authenticity matters more than ever, how AI fits (and doesn’t) into his process, and the philosophy of “flexibility with rigor” that guides his work and advice for other insights professionals.

Key Discussion Points:

• How strategic insights at Panera Bread shape menu innovation, from guest feedback to foresight and trend spotting.
• A deep-dive case study: rebuilding Sonic’s flagship burger based on consumer dissatisfaction, competitive benchmarking, and CLT/taste tests.
• The complex cross-functional ecosystem behind “menu magic”: insights, strategy, culinary, supply chain, and marketing working in lockstep.
• Balancing trend reports, social listening, and culinary creativity to decide which food trends are worth scaling—and which to skip.
• Adapting to Gen Z’s desires for transparency, customization, and unique flavors while staying authentic to the Panera brand.
• Jairus’s advice to insights pros: cross-industry networking, borrowing ideas from other categories, and practicing “flexibility with rigor.”

Resources & Links:

• Panera Bread – Brand & Menu
• The Hershey Company (early career in retail sales & CPG)
• CAVA (example of fast-casual brand resonating with younger consumers)
• 7 Brew Coffee (emerging drive-thru coffee brand mentioned in the episode)
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You can reach out to Jairus Lofton on LinkedIn.

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

Survey fraud is having a moment—and not the good kind. Karen Lynch sits down with Steven Snell, PhD, Head of Research at Rep Data, to unpack findings from the forthcoming State of Fraud 2025 initiative, which analyzed 4.1B+ survey attempts.

Steven explains how Research Defender detects evolving tactics (from hyperactivity spikes to location spoofing and batch fraud), why inattentiveness isn’t the same as fraud, and what varies across B2C vs. B2B and by region.

Most importantly, he shares a pragmatic three-part playbook for researchers: better design, always-on fraud prevention, and principled data cleaning. If you care about data quality, respondent trust, and keeping your insights credible, this conversation will help you stay one step ahead—and a lot smarter than the fraudsters.

Key Discussion Points:

• Fraud vs. inattention: distinct problems that often get conflated
• “Hot fraud summer”: hyperactivity surges and what drove them
• Regional patterns: diverse, tech-enabled fraud in large markets vs. volume tactics elsewhere
• B2C vs. B2B: duplicate entries vs. compound/batch, and why incentives matter
• The playbook: user-friendly survey design, proactive fraud defense, and pre-defined cleaning rules

Resources & Links:

• Rep Data
• Research Defender — fraud prevention platform
• Webinar recap: “The State of Fraud” Q&A highlights
• Research on Research hub (methodology deep dives)

You can reach out to Steven Snell on LinkedIn.

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