Episode Description

In this episode of the Jump Podcast, Michelle Loret de Mola and Dev Patnaik dig into what’s unfolding in Minneapolis and why it has become a real time stress test for leadership. As immigration enforcement spills into everyday life and disrupts business, they explore why this moment is not just political but deeply human. Drawing on neuroscience, empathy, and leadership examples, Michelle and Dev examine why some people feel outrage while others feel nothing and what that reveals about our sphere of concern. The conversation challenges leaders to ask a hard question: who do you consider your people and how big is that circle? And if your empathy still is not kicking in, it might be time to put down the potato chips.

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The Jump Podcast

The Jump Podcast features Dev Patnaik in dialogue with Michelle Loret de Mola. This is the conversation for future-focused leaders thinking about strategy, culture and leadership. The world is crazy. Everything seems to be changing, and not always in a good way. Today, business leaders are struggling to figure out how to avoid becoming the next Kodak, Blackberry or Blockbuster. But fear not, dear listener. Things can get better. People can do better. And the world can be better.

Jump Associates

Jump is the world’s leading independent strategy and innovation firm. We work with the world’s more admired companies on their most important growth challenges. Using a future focused approach to strategy, we’ve helped these firms to grow their businesses in times of change.

It’s a new year, unwritten and full of possibility. Before the noise and distractions rush in, take a moment to decide what direction you actually want your company to head. The most disruptive companies in history didn’t lead with 50-page strategy decks; they rallied people around big, focused challenges.

Drawing on examples from President John F. Kennedy's race to the moon to companies such as Amazon and Netflix, hosts Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola look at the big "moonshot" challenges that secured their place in history, for better or worse. And as they unpack them, they demonstrate the characteristics of a winning challenge. But first, you have to figure out where your moon is.

AI-induced layoffs. Chatbot psychosis. Climate disasters. Gene-editing breakthroughs. Self-driving cars. 2025 felt like a sci-fi movie trailer.

In this year-end episode, Dev and Michelle take us beyond the moments and examine the momentum underneath it all—the shifts rewiring markets, geopolitics, and society.

Because when robotaxis go from fiction to reality in a matter of months, it’s a signal the future is changing lanes quickly.

A couple episodes back, we sat with an AI optimist. Now we’re heading to the other end of the spectrum. Stuart Russell—UC Berkeley professor, co-author of the field’s definitive AI textbook, and one of the world’s most respected experts—brings a far more concerning view of where AI may take us. He’s been outspoken about the risks ahead: AI systems that exceed human capability, an economy that can’t justify its own valuations, and a future in which nearly all human work could disappear - and robots could eat our ice cream.

The Jump Podcast

The Jump Podcast is the conversation for you, our tribe of future-focused leaders.

Hosts Dev Patnaik and Michelle Loret de Mola explore the most pressing issues in business strategy, culture, and leadership, with insights that help even the most seasoned strategists reframe how to lead and how to plan for What's Next.

From interviews with thought leaders to Headlines from the Future, The Jump Podcast aims to widen your perspective to plan for change before the ground shifts beneath your feet.

Jump Associates

Jump is the strategy firm for future-focused leaders.

We help ambitious companies see what’s coming and adapt before they fall behind. For over 25 years, we’ve worked with teams at Google, Nike, Samsung, Target, and Virgin to solve their most pressing growth challenges.

In a world mired in yesterday’s data, we look ahead—integrating strategy, culture, and leadership to help organizations grow through change.

In a world overflowing with information, wisdom is surprisingly hard to come by. We dig into the difference between wisdom and knowledge, why knowledge doesn't necessarily precede wisdom, and how leaders can cultivate it (doing, reflecting, coaching). We close from Headlines from the Future, including China’s underwater data center, the global spread of 3D‑printed guns, and Nike’s robotic ankle brace.

We sit down with Zack Kass, global AI advisor, former Head of Go-To-Market at OpenAI, and author of The Next Renaissance, for his take on where artificial intelligence is headed and how it will shape our future. Zack’s undeniably optimistic outlook anticipates a golden age where access to “unmetered intelligence” will unlock academic progress and drive economic gains that lift up societies. He draws a sharp distinction between knowledge and intelligence, arguing that while humanity has gathered immense amounts of information, our brains’ processing power is limited. According to Zack, AI changes that, by giving us the cognitive horsepower to make sense of it all and fueling a new wave of scientific and social discovery.

Last week, Lululemon’s founder and former CEO fired shots at the company with a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal. And the numbers are on his side—the company's stock has plummeted more than 50% in the past year. In this episode, we unpack what the clash reveals about the challenge of scaling without losing your edge—and what future-focused strategists can learn about navigating category maturity, cultural relevance, and corporate nightmares.

In this episode of the Jump Podcast, Dev and Michelle unpack the “Great Lock-In of 2025”, a viral challenge born on TikTok that they reframe for strategy leaders. They challenge executives to treat Q4 as “Q0”, a time to run small experiments, close open loops, and reset leadership habits before the new year. This episode is a call to action for leaders ready to lock in and lead with intention. It’s about turning intention into momentum—and, for some, that shift in mindset may manifest as getting bangs.