#37 - Sami Mäkeläinen | Telstra | Debunking Conspiracy Theories Using Strategic Foresight

Innovation Rockstars

"In my work, I prefer to focus on asking better questions rather than providing straight answers." This episode takes us down under, where we welcome Finnish-born Sami Mäkeläinen. In his role as Head of Strategic Foresight at Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications company, Sami tries to ensure - as he says himself - that the company is not caught by surprise by the future. Next to a brief look at the structure and organization of strategic foresight at Telstra, we take up the issue of the 5g conspiracy theory that Telstra faced at the time of the introduction of this new technology and learn how Sami's work fed into developing strategies to counter this world of misinformation and disinformation. Curious to learn more? Then tune in! The episode at a glance: - Sami’s 60-second introduction sprint (00:01:53) - 3 sentence starters (00:02:40) - The 5G conspiracy theory and how Telstra dealt with it (00:04:59) - The “Either - Or” Game (00:09:34) - Diving into Strategic Foresight at Telstra (00:11:47) - Which Foresight model does Telstra use? (00:13:19) - Sami tries to outline a typical workday as Head of Strategic Foresight at Telstra (00:14:50) - About obtaining and organizing information (00:16:20) - How is Strategic Foresight positioned at Telstra, and what marketing efforts are there to push it? (00:17:40) - Can the success of Strategic Foresight at Telstra be measured? (00:22:10) - Sami’s three key takeaways for our listeners (00:23:50) - A look into the future: Automatization as a game-changer for various industries (00:26:17) - Sami’s Innovation Rockstar Moment (00:29:17) *** LISTEN - LIKE - SHARE You like our show? Then leave us a rating or a review on Spotify or Apple Podcast and share it with colleagues and friends and whomever! *** And by the way... don't miss Telstra's educational videos about 5G technology - they're definitely worth a look :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXOz0L_PBNs&list=PLDSVlk2SFRQIlRKpJ76uZ5Va4s4iOKjk9