Kevin Kelly is a futurist and co-founder of Wired Magazine. His latest article looks at augmented reality's role in our future lives, in a world he calls the Mirror World. Kevin talks about how business leaders can be better futurists, and why it's not about being right but being ready.

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Welcome to the Mirror World

Following the death of George Floyd, Minnesota Freedom Fund found itself in the international spotlight. Over 900 thousand donations, from around the globe, came pouring in. And celebrity endorsements from folks like Mark Ruffalo guided their followers on how to help support protesters. As Greg Lewin quickly found out, he needed to not only scale operations at Minnesota Freedom Fund fast but maintain the integrity of its important mission to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.

How Minnesota Freedom Fund Scaled Quickly Under International Spotlight

On a global scale, women only hold 29 percent of senior management positions. Not to make any sweeping assumptions, but that’s a far cry from gender equality. But 29 percent is also the highest percentage ever recorded in that category. And it’s thanks to folks like Mia Perdomo and Andrea de la Piedra -- the co-founders and co-CEOs of Aequales. Their consulting firm provides tools for closing gender gaps in the workplace in Latin America.

How Aequales Is Closing the Gender Gap

Marcus Baskerville created Black is Beautiful -- a collaborative beer initiative amongst the brewing community and its customers -- in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily. And you can now find this open source beer at 1,158 breweries, in 50 states, and 21 countries. And As someone who has personally dealt with the abuse of power by the police, this recent turmoil the country is facing has hit home for Marcus.

Black is Beautiful

If you have a dog, then you know BarkBox. It’s customizable monthly subscription boxes are your dog’s favorite pieces of mail. Co-founder Matt Meeker believes the secret to the company’s success is putting every four-legged (and two-legged) friend first. Matt talks about how a pig, yes a pig, redefined the company’s personalization policies and why BARK has invested so heavily in customer service.

Why Personalization Makes BarkBox Leader of the Pack

Rodney Williams founded LISTNR with one thing in mind: simplicity. He saw that the way we buy items involves too many steps. And it could all be solved through the use of sound. LISTNR uses ultrasonic sound to transfer data. That means truly contactless transactions -- be it at the coffee shop, the drive through, or your next concert. Remember concerts? Register for INBOUND 2020: Inbound.com/register

The Future of How We Buy is Sound

Andrew Rea started Binging with Babish almost by accident. And nearly 8M subscribers later, he’s grown it into one of the biggest shows on YouTube. His secret ingredient? His audience. Andrews talks about the show’s steady feed of audience insights and opens up about his own struggles with mental health and recovering from COVID-19.

Why Binging with Babish Says Audience Knows Best

Kim Crowder is a consultant, whose expertise covers diversity, equity, and inclusion. In particular, she’s a corporate anti-racist trainer. To say the least, Kim has been busy lately. The recent protests in the US that started back on May 26 in Minneapolis in response to the death of George Floyd sparked a movement that also had companies taking a hard look at policy bias and racism in their own workplaces. But to make real, lasting change, it all starts at the top.

Real Corporate Anti-Racist Training Starts at the Top

Nick Quah is almost synonymous with podcasts. His newsletter Hot Pod gives a weekly rundown on all things podcasts. And he recently partnered with LAist Studios to create his first podcast called Servant of Pod. And yes, it’s about podcasts. Wait, have we mentioned podcasts? Nick talks with Meghan about what went into creating his new show, how businesses are in a unique position to determine the future of podcasting, and why his gut questions whether branded podcasts should exist at all.

Yes, You Too Can Become a Servant of Pod

Tinashe Blanchet is the founder of The Learning Lab, a New Orleans-based non-profit organization and education space that hosts two summer camps. But given the need for social distancing, Tinashe had to quickly move both camps to fully virtual. She talks about how, for the safety of everyone at the camps, she stood in opposition of local government recommendations. And Tinashe explains why the work being done today will help shape the way technology is used in classrooms in the future.

Trading Camp Canoes for Virtual Classrooms

Steve Blank is not a prophet. But as one of the minds behind the highly influential Lean Startup movement, when Steve starts to look at the future of how we do business, people listen. Steve returns to explain why The Lean Startup is even more essential than ever for businesses right now as they work to not only survive the pandemic but set themselves up to thrive coming out of it.

Why The Lean Startup Is More Essential Than Ever for Businesses

The Coolidge Corner Theater opened in 1933 during the Great Depression and has become a landmark in the city of Boston. But as non-essential businesses were ordered to close, it left many in the film industry wondering: Is it curtains for the indie theater system? Katherine Tallman, executive director at Coolidge Corner Theater, talks about pivoting online with Virtual Screening Room and whether she sees on-demand studio releases as the future of our moviegoing experience.

How Indie Theaters Are Bringing the Silver Screen to Your TV Screen

Bookshop is an online platform where you can buy books from local and independent bookstores. But founder Andy Hunter never imagined how quickly he’d need to scale the company after only launching in January. That’s because what bookstores were experimenting with in February became what they’d need to survive in March. Andy talks about how he’s not only taking on Amazon, but how Bookshop is creating virtual bookseller communities that are reflective and even larger than their physical ones.

Part Two: Reading Is a Revolutionary Act

Danielle Mullen is the owner of Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery -- Chicago’s only black woman-owned bookstore. She’s worked tirelessly to build a community and improve literacy in the city.  As the current crisis closed bookstores around the country, Danielle moved to online sales. But she wasn’t about to handover her store’s keys to the same online giant that’s put so many other independent bookstores out of business. Instead, she found a new platform.

Part One: Reading Is a Revolutionary Act

Ryan Spaccavento, founder of Coffee on Cue, saw an opportunity for an underserved market of coffee drinkers -- business subscriptions and live events. But as companies closed its doors and live events locked its gates, Ryan found his businesses grinding to a halt. So he moved the company online, sold surplus beans to the general public, and distributed fresh coffee to virtual event goers' homes.

Same Business. New Flavor.

It’s never been easier to start a business, but it’s even harder to succeed. Each episode explores the inspiring stories behind how people grow a business, an idea, or a movement.

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