The Self Beyond the System | Josep M. Coll, PhD

The Self Beyond the System | Josep M. Coll, PhD

What does it mean to be human in an age of AI, accelerating uncertainty, and collapsing systems? In this episode, I sit down with Josep M. Coll — systems thinker, economist, educator, and spiritual practitioner — to explore one of the most important questions of our time: how do we navigate a world in deep transition without losing ourselves in the process? Josep's story is as interdisciplinary as his thinking. From studying economics and international development, to living and practising Zen in South Korea, to bringing spirituality into business schools and the United Nations — his life has been a long practice of connecting the inner and the outer. What he discovered along the way is that you cannot address the big systemic challenges we face — climate change, inequality, AI disruption, the collapse of old economic models — without also doing the inner work. We talk about what systems thinking really is (and why it's not a discipline but a field of interdependence), how AI is acting as a mirror forcing us to ask who we are beyond work and productivity, why education for children needs roots before screens, what spirituality actually looks like inside a business or organisation, how money and purpose can coexist, and what gives him hope in what Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci called "the era of monsters" — that difficult passage when the old world is dying but the new one hasn't yet taken shape. This is a conversation about courage, curiosity, collective intelligence, and the responsibility we each carry to help build the world that is emerging. Topics we cover:  * Systems thinking: what it is and why it matters now more than ever   * AI as a mirror: who are we when machines can do what we do?  * Education, children, and screens: what should we actually be teaching?  * Spirituality in business: how Josep brought meditation into boardrooms and the UN  * Money, purpose, and the health of organizations  * Universal basic income, techno-feudalism, and what happens to the economy  * How to stay resilient and curious in times of chaos  * Gramsci's "era of monsters" and the futures we have a responsibility to imagine → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com [https://newworldinthemaking.com] → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking [https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking] → Become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About Josep M. Coll → Connect with Josep on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josep-m-coll-phd-0baaa0ba/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/josep-m-coll-phd-0baaa0ba/]→ Read more about Josep on his website: https://www.jmcoll.com/ [https://www.jmcoll.com/]  ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening, and for being part of the new world in the making.

The Banking Crisis That's Already Here | Zee - The Reluctant Accountant

In this episode of New World in the Making, I sit down with Zee, known online as The Reluctant Accountant. Zee has spent the last fifteen years working in the parts of finance most of us never see: internal audit, risk, and compliance. The places where you actually find out how the system works, because your job is to check whether anyone is breaking the rules. Now she reads the news so the rest of us don't have to. And she does it in a language built to include people, not exclude them. We talk about: * How a working-class kid from South London ended up decoding global finance, and why she thinks her languages degree shaped her more than accounting ever did * What shadow banking actually is, and why we're not as protected from another 2008 as we think * Private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and the rebrands that quietly hide what's really going on * Why money only has value because we collectively believe it does, and what happens when that belief shifts * The AI bubble: is the valuation real, or are we pricing a future that may not arrive? * The petrodollar, BRICS, de-dollarization, and what's happening to American financial power * CBDCs and the dystopian edge of programmable money * How geopolitics is reintroducing friction into a global economy that ran on Amazon-Prime logic for decades * The deliberate flooding of misinformation, and why people are starting to see through it * Why community, the unsexy, slow, in-person kind, may be the most radical thing left → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com [https://newworldinthemaking.com]→ Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking [https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking]→ Become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About Zee — The Reluctant Accountant Find Zee's commentary on financial news, geopolitics and the systems behind both — accessible, sharp, and refusing to be obtuse on purpose. → Follow Zee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereluctantaccountant/ [https://www.instagram.com/thereluctantaccountant/] ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening, and for being part of the New World in the Making.

The Myth of the Green Consumer | Richard Cope

In this episode of New World in the Making, I sit down with Richard Cope, founder of EcoVox, to take apart one of the most persistent myths in business: the idea of the "green consumer." Richard has spent more than two decades researching what people actually do, not what they say they'll do, when sustainability shows up on a shelf, a menu, or a price tag. And his conclusion is sharp: the green consumer, as most brands imagine them, doesn't really exist. People aren't refusing to buy sustainable because they don't care. They're refusing because the proposition has been built on assumptions that were wrong from the start. What Richard offers instead is more grounded and more hopeful. We talk about: * Why the "green consumer" segment most businesses chase is largely a fiction * What people actually care about when they buy: the Me Economy, Healthy Habitats, Closer Communications * Why the green premium is collapsing, and why that's good news, not bad * How guilt-led climate messaging is alienating nearly a third of society * The values that genuinely unite people across the climate debate * Why corporate humility, transparency, and even apology matter more than perfect campaigns * Fashion resale, balanced diets, small wins: where behaviour change actually happens * The agility gap between startups and big brands, and who's really moving the needle * How AI, labelling, and regulation are quietly reshaping the point of purchase * What Richard thinks the next decade looks like, and what surprised him most along the way → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com [https://newworldinthemaking.com] → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking [https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking] → Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About Richard Cope and EcoVox Founder, EcoVox Consumer Insights Researcher with 20+ years tracking how people actually behave around sustainability → Learn more about the EcoVox's last report at this webinar, June 4th at 2PM GMT: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6574896370885199447 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULxak9PtdsY] → Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcope-ecovox/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcope-ecovox/] → Learn more about EcoVox: https://www.ecovox.co.uk/ [https://www.ecovox.co.uk/] ⚠️ DisclaimerAll content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.

Techno-Colonialism: The Hidden Threat of AI | Tara Stevens

In this episode of New World in the Making, I talk with Tara Stevens, Executive Director of the Center for Tomorrow, about how AI is disrupting our societies and why the systems shaping our world are more fragile than they seem. Most of us don't realise how quickly AI is transforming work, economies, and power. Tara reveals the hidden powers of techno-colonialism: how AI concentration and data dependency are creating new forms of inequality and threatening sovereignty. And we also dive into the agency and power we have to build the new emergent world that takes all life into the equation. With over 15 years leading impact-driven innovation worth hundreds of millions, Tara proves systemic change is possible. We explore what it takes to ensure no one gets left behind in this transition. We talk about: * How AI is reshaping jobs, economies, and power, and who gets left behind * Techno-colonialism: what it is and why it threatens equity and sovereignty * Why grassroots movements and civic agency matter for ethical, inclusive AI * The skills future leaders need: systems thinking, agility, emotional intelligence * Practical steps to participate in systemic change and reimagine work * Why reimagining capitalism, UBI, and new governance models are essential This conversation matters because the choices we make today will dictate whether AI fuels greater inequality or becomes a tool for collective empowerment. If you're curious about building a future where technology works for all of us, not just Silicon Valley elites, this one's for you. → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com [https://newworldinthemaking.com/] → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page [https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page] → Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About the Center for Tomorrow The Center for Tomorrow is a global nonprofit building infrastructure for societal transformation in the age of AI. → Learn more: https://www.centerfortomorrow.com/ [https://www.centerfortomorrow.com/] → Connect with Tara: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarapjstevens [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarapjstevens]  ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.

From Chaos to Clarity: The 5 Forces Reshaping Our World | Become a Maker | Adriana Sánchez Uebelhoer

40+ Conversations. One Course. A New World in the Making. | Adriana Sánchez Uebelhoer This one is a little different. For the first time, I am not the one asking the questions. My colleague and collaborator Beatriz Paniego Béjar sits in the host seat, and I get to be the one reflecting. On a year of conversations. On what I've learned. On why we built what we built. And on what's coming next. New World in the Making is turning one. And after more than 40 conversations with people working at the edges of this transition, something became clear: the knowledge was there, but not everyone has the time or the bandwidth to sit with 40+ hours of dense, rich, sometimes unsettling conversations. So we asked ourselves, what if we distilled all of it into something people could actually move through together? That's how Become a Maker was born. An 8-week course structured around the 5 forces of change I kept hearing across every single conversation, no matter whether I was talking to an ocean engineer, an energy economist, a philosopher, or a spiritual thinker. They were all describing the same transition from different angles. The 5 forces we go through together: 1. Macro Systems and Geopolitics: money, debt, the fracturing dollar-based order, CBDCs, Bitcoin, and why the system we've always known is crumbling 2. Technology and AI: what it means when intelligence itself gets automated, who controls it, and what's emerging at the edges 3. Organizations: how we organize ourselves is changing, from steward ownership to teal organizations to entirely new social contracts 4. Nature and Regeneration: what it looks like to step back into alignment with natural systems and the logic of abundance 5. Consciousness and Self: where it all lands, in us, in how we show up, and in what we choose to build Each week includes daily content capsules you can navigate in a busy life, live sessions with some of the most listened-to guests from the podcast, and a community to go through all of it with together. Because this is a lot to hold alone. Special guests joining us inside the course include Jeff Booth, author of The Price of Tomorrow, Daniel Luca from Eden Block, Lisa Gill from Leadermorphosis, Ismael Dainehine from EverGive, and others who have shaped how I understand this moment. This isn't a five-step solution. It's a map. And it's for anyone who senses that something isn't adding up, who feels both scared and strangely alive in this moment, and who wants to move from confusion into clarity and from clarity into action. Become a Maker starts May 18th. Five spots available at a reduced price for anyone not in the right financial moment right now. → Sign up & find out about the course at: https://newworldinthemaking.com/courses → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page → Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions.Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.