Hope + Possibilities
A Love Letter to the Future of Work
Made in Canada.
Pass your phone — unlocked — to the person sitting next to you. Not to a close friend. To a colleague. A neighbour. Someone you’d describe as trustworthy but have never actually tested.
Watch what happens in your body before you hand it over.
That hesitation? That’s not paranoia. That’s you running a real-time audit of every assumption you hold about trust, privacy, identity, and risk — in under a second, without a framework, without a consultant, without a strategic plan.
You already know how to read signals. You do it constantly. You just haven’t been taught to trust what you notice.
That’s what this podcast is about.
I’m Nola Simon — strategic futurist, keynote speaker, and LinkedIn Top Voice (2024 & 2025). I’m not here to make sweeping predictions about the future. I’m here to help you see what’s already forming — in the moments that feel ordinary, the assumptions that feel obvious, the decisions that feel routine right up until they don’t.
Blockbuster had the data. Kodak invented the digital camera and couldn’t walk away from the legacy of print. They didn’t lack information. They lacked the discipline to question what they already believed — before it became load-bearing.
That discipline isn’t reserved for crisis. It lives in everyday noticing.
The unlocked phone. The meeting nobody challenged. The strategy that felt obvious. The trust that formed — or fractured — in a moment nobody marked as significant.
This show is that noticing, practiced out loud.
Featured in Maclean’s, CBC, and CTV News. Top 10 Leadership Indie on Goodpods.
Made in Canada · 113 Episodes · 57 Guest · 56 Solo
Witnessed Trust: A PR Crisis, a Pop Star, and a Camera Walk Into a Stadium
In this episode, I dive into trust through a pop culture moment that became a global case study: the Coldplay kiss cam incident. What looked like celebrity gossip actually opens up bigger conversations about leadership, workplace ethics, public perception, and how we decide who and what to trust. T
Canadian Perspective on US Politics and Values
Self-Trust and Inner Practices
Exploring how declining trust in institutions connects to cultivating self-trust and inner practices as a foundation for navigating uncertainty.
Beyond Hybrid/Remote: Leadership Decisions That Will Define the Next Decade
Looking at 2026 and why the focus is shifting from hybrid/remote adoption to broader leadership decisions that will shape the future of work.
How I'm Rethinking My LinkedIn Strategy for the Future
An honest look at how LinkedIn and social media are changing, and what that means for showing up, getting found, and building a business.
Let's Talk Thought Leadership and Podcasting in Canada
Amanda Cupido, founder of Lead Podcasting and TEDx presenter, on gaps in Canadian podcasting and how thought leadership intersects with broadcasting.
Flexibility, Advocacy, and the Politics of Care
If you say you don't want to be political, it's often because the system is already working for you. On the privilege of silence and the fight for equity.
Practical Futurism for Daily Life
How to think about futurism not just as theory but as something you can live — bringing foresight into daily decisions and personal practice.
What Got You Here, Won't Get You There
Reflecting on moments when the skills and identities that got you here stop being the ones that will take you forward.
Presence, Work, and AI: Stories Beyond Location
Our stories about work are still anchored to location. What happens when we rethink presence in the age of AI?
Podcasting as Leadership
Podcasting as a form of leadership and cultural stewardship — the ethical responsibilities of holding the mic.
Skills Based Hiring: Is What You Can Do Who You Are?
Organizations are using AI to identify hidden skills. But does reducing people to skill sets miss something essential about identity?
Hope & Possibilities: A Love Letter to the Future of Work 2025
Key themes guiding the podcast in 2025 — a year of recalibration and renewed commitment to redesigning work.
Redefining Workplace Trust
Small Town, Big Impact: Social Media Marketing from Rural Nova Scotia
Ingrid Deon, award-winning entrepreneur, on putting the social in social media from a remote, rural location in Canada.
Exploring Generalist World
Milly Tamati, founder of Generalist World, on her journey from New Zealand and why being a generalist is a strength.
The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired
Hilke Schellmann on how AI systems are making employment decisions and why we need to fight back.
AI in Hiring: The Promise, Perils, and Unintended Consequences
A deeper conversation with Hilke Schellmann about algorithmic hiring and what individuals can do.
Community with Rosie Sherry
Say What They Can't Unhear
Audio version of the conversation with Tamsen Webster on her book Say What They Can't Unhear and strategies for crafting messages that drive lasting change.
The thinking from this show lives beyond the episodes — in essays that go deeper, a trust signal quiz that challenges what you think you already know, and the Everyday Futurism newsletter.
Free Resource
32 books.
28 conversations.
Every book on this list has a full episode behind it — the conversation that shaped the recommendation, the ideas that didn’t fit in a summary, the frameworks you can actually use. Real ideas, real tools, real talk.
Nikolas Badminton · Lisa Bragg · Amanda Cupido · Karen Eber · John Espirian · Karen Ferris · Jeppe Hansgaard · Ludmila Praslova · Hilke Schellmann · Tamsen Webster · and more
If this show has made you think differently, help it find more people.
A review on Apple Podcasts or a share with someone who needs to hear this — that’s how the conversation grows. It takes 30 seconds and it matters more than you think.