Elephants in the Boardroom
Elephants in the Boardroom explores the major, often overlooked forces—the “grey elephants”—that are reshaping the future of business and society. It goes beyond technology to examine deeper megatrends driving disruption and the challenges leaders can no longer afford to ignore. Each episode offers a megatrend radar with candid discussion, incisive insights and practical strategies for spotting opportunities and staying ahead. The show is aimed at leaders who want to understand tomorrow’s risks and shape a better future. It is powered by Achilles.
Episodes
The AI Race: Are We Asking the Wrong Question?
In September 2026, AI's builders started publicly warning that the technology could destroy us - while building faster than ever. Dean and Graeme think everyone is asking the wrong question.
When a senior Anthropic researcher resigned warning of AI Armageddon, and the company's CEO called for "pacing the frontier," the world fixated on one question: how fast should we run the AI race? Dean van L
Strategic Procurement: Beyond Efficiency in an Age of Disruption with Paul Noël
The supply chains that gave you thirty years of competitive advantage are now your greatest vulnerability. So what do you build instead?
From the humanoid robot games in Beijing as a signal of shifting industrial capability to using Stewart Brand’s Pace Layers model to explain why the world is catching leaders off guard, Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington explore how the slow-moving parts
Human Leadership: Why Experience Has No Expiry Date with Faisal Abdalla
Faisal Abdalla became CEO of a 27-country business, stepped down in his early seventies - and took the HR job. What happens when experience refuses to expire?
Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington open this month’s episode with the grey elephants on their radar they see stampeding: the reshaping of global supply chains from efficiency to strategic dependency; 17 countries with simultaneous wildf
Humans in the Lead: The Case for Advancing Intelligence, Not Just Automating It
The real AI question isn't about automation - it's whether we're designing technology to advance human capability or quietly engineer it out.
In this episode, Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington ask the question most boardrooms aren't asking: are we advancing intelligence, or just advancing the artificial?
Hear what happened when one of Nashville's Waymo driverless taxis ends up in a standoff w
The Ageing Workforce: The Leadership Challenge Hiding in Plain Sight with Lucy Standing & Lynda Smith
Why the most experienced workers in your organisation are the ones most likely to be filtered out - and what to do about it.
Most organisations are facing talent shortages, productivity problems, and skills gaps - and overlooking one of the most capable parts of the labour market: people in midlife and beyond. In this episode, Dean van Leeuwen and Graeme Codrington are joined by Lucy Standing (fou
Future of Education: Preparing Children for a World That Doesn’t Exist Yet with Jude Foulston
We’ve spent decades making our organisations leaner, faster, and more efficient. But what if that optimisation is now the problem?
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen explore two forces reshaping leadership in real time: the “big squeeze” hitting global supply chains, and the subtle but dangerous shift towards outsourcing our thinking to AI.
As geopolitical tensions disrupt trade routes and exp
Generational Intelligence: Turning Age Divide into Strategic Advantage with Zavier Coyne
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen open this month’s episode with a reflection on the volatility in and around the Middle East, not to add another layer of commentary to the news cycle, but to ask a more strategic question: how should leaders think when certainty is in short supply?
Using the grey elephant lens, they can see multipolarity happening in real time, alongside the changing face of
Modern Slavery: From Compliance Risk to Strategic Leadership with James Cockayne
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen recorded this month’s episode against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East. Following US–Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent retaliation across the region, the situation is a reminder of how quickly geopolitical shocks can ripple through global systems - from energy markets to supply chains. Rather than trying to predict outcomes, the gre
Beyond Accommodation: Building Neuroinclusive Organisations with Dr. Sarah Babb
February 2026 already feels like a year. In this month’s episode, Graeme Codrington explores two forces leaders can’t afford to treat as background noise: geopolitical rupture and the unseen diversity inside their own organisations.
Graeme turns to China to illustrate what Kairos readiness looks like in practice: long-term planning, disciplined execution, and the ability to move decisively when th
From Signals to Consequences - 2026 Predictions Special
The future isn’t hiding in forecasts or trend reports. It’s already standing in front of us.
In this special episode, Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen examine the grey elephants already reshaping leadership, strategy, and society - highly probable, high-impact forces that are now moving from theory into reality.
From human enhancement to climate-driven insurance collapse, antimicrobial resis
The Future Isn’t Predicted - It’s Created: Live from Dubai Futures Forum
In this special episode, hosts Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen broadcast live from the Dubai Futures Forum, the world’s largest gathering of futurists. They share insights on emerging trends, including the value of focus in a distracted world, the evolving meaning of expertise in the age of AI, and the importance of hope and wonder for driving change. Recorded at the iconic Dubai Museum of
AI’s Power Hunger, Sovereign AI & Sand Scarcity - Lessons from South Africa (with Tom Eaton)
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen explore this month’s “grey elephants”: the collision of AI and energy demand, the strategic rise of sovereign AI, and an overlooked resource, sand. Then Graeme sits down with Cape Town–based writer and columnist Tom Eaton to unpack what the world can learn from South Africa’s last 30 years: state capture, institutional decay and repair, and why change can arr
Signals from the Deep: Data Bunkers, UN & the Future of Shipping with guest Øistein Jensen Chief Sustainability Officer Odfjell
Episode Overview
Graeme Codrington (Johannesburg) and Dean Van Leeuwen (South of London) explore fresh “grey elephant” signals—from subterranean data centres and living with a >2°C world, to UN reform rumblings—then sit down with Øistein Jensen, Chief Sustainability Officer at Oddfjell, to unpack how a 110-year-old global chemical shipping company is tackling decarbonisation, supply-chain due dili
Multipolarity, wars and rumours of wars, and the future of supply chains.
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen return with a timely and urgent discussion about the shifting balance of global power and its implications for business leaders. From startling comments about human longevity by Putin and Xi Jinping to the acceleration of a multipolar world order, the hosts unpack how these geopolitical shifts create uncertainty, and opportunity, in boardrooms everywhere.
Thi
Career Reinvention and Fierce Care in Leadership
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen are joined by Tony, a former professional rugby player who has successfully reinvented himself three times throughout his career. In this inspiring conversation, Tony shares his journey of transformation beyond professional sports and introduces the powerful concept of "fierce care" as a strategic imperative in business.
In a world where transformation is hap
Agentic AI and the Future of Industry Innovation
Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen open this episode with a tribute to Paul Stanley, the former CEO of Achilles, whose legacy transformed the supply chain and ESG sectors. His dedication to transparency inspired this episode's deep dive into the fast moving world of artificial intelligence, where Ginni Rometty's foresight of AI's pervasive influence in decision-making is coming to life.
Imagi
The Urgency of Sustainability with Pia Heidenmark Cook, senior ESG and sustainability leader
This month, we are joined by Pia Heidenmark Cook, one of the most prominent leaders in corporate sustainability, to discuss the urgent actions businesses must take to address climate change and integrate sustainability into their core strategies.
A Senior Advisor to Teneo, Achilles, Eurazeo and Non Executive Director at organisations including Bupa, Pia advises how to develop and operationalise su
Enhancing Sustainability Through Green Mining with Neal Froneman from Sibanye Stillwater
In this episode, hosts Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen from TomorrowToday Consulting, are joined by Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye Stillwater to discuss the future of green mining and the transformation the industry is undergoing in its drive for environmental responsibility.
Neal shares insights into the technologies and processes Sibanye Stillwater is investing in to minimise its environme
The Future of Supply Chain Resilience with Paul Stanley from Achilles
In this episode, hosts Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen from TomorrowToday Consulting, are joined by CEO of Achilles, Paul Stanley for a discussion on the intricate world of global supply chains, examining both the challenges and opportunities they present. From ethical considerations like modern slavery to the necessity of building resilient and sustainable supply chains, we hear how compan
Navigating an Ageing Population: Challenges and Opportunities
In this episode, hosts Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen from TomorrowToday Consulting, explore the implications of an aging population on society, the economy, and our personal lives. They discuss demographic shifts, the need for migration to support economic growth, and the necessity to reinvent retirement.
2025 is already seeing the geopolitical landscape undertake a seismic shift, with tr
Introducing the 7 Grey Elephants Reshaping a Multipolar World
In the first episode of this new podcast by TomorrowToday Consulting, hosts Graeme Codrington and Dean Van Leeuwen explore the mega-trends reshaping the world and business. They introduce the concept of 'grey elephants' - highly probable, high-impact forces, consisting of angry people, aging populations, an angry planet, big squeezes, inequality, intelligent advances, and multipolarity, each prese
