Heads Talk ®

Let us know your thoughts. Send us a Text Message.
Follow me to see #HeadsTalk Podcast Audiograms every Monday on LinkedIn
Heads Talk - The Analysis
The Analysis is part of Heads Talk®: Nexus Rerum: Boardrooms & Statecraft. Here we extend the conversation beyond the principal exchange.
1 or 2 consequential questions from the main episode are placed before a second distinguished voice. An individual deeply embedded in the worlds of business, policy, or geopolitics. Their role is not merely to respond, but to interrogate: to examine the framing of the question, challenge its assumptions, and surface the deeper strategic and intellectual currents that may otherwise remain unspoken.
This is expert analysis, a companion discussion that offers a more deliberate and expansive reflection, where ideas are tested, perspectives are sharpened, and the dialogue evolves beyond its original bounds.
What you will hear is a continuation, not a repetition. A considered counterpoint. A deeper reading of the question at hand, a nuance.
We hope you find The Analysis  both illuminating and indispensable as part of the broader Heads Talk experience.
In this episode, we feature Dr. Jakob Schaad’s analysis of Episode 286 with Michael Feller, Illusion Statecraft: Inside Power, Hidden Architecture & Strategic Deception, focusing on Questions 5 and 6.
Question 5 — Multipolarity:
Is what we describe as a “multipolar world” a genuine rebalancing of power or a fragmentation in which coordination is breaking down?
Question 6 — Myth of Strategic Autonomy:
To what extent is so-called strategic autonomy, particularly among Gulf and mid-tier powers, real and to what extent is it constrained by dependencies that remain deliberately unspoken? 
Further enquiries or to connect with Dr Schaad: [email protected]
ABOUT THE HOST
Support the show
Follow, Support, Contact Heads Talk® - A Fly On The Boardroom Wall
LinkedIn
Website
Twitter
Email at [email protected]

Let us know your thoughts. Send us a Text Message.
Follow me to see #HeadsTalk Podcast Audiograms every Monday on LinkedIn
Episode Title: 🇦🇺Illusion Statecraft: Inside Power, Hidden Architecture & Strategic Deception🇦🇺 
In this episode of Heads Talk, a continuation of the #HTPowerSeries, we have Michael Feller, former Australian diplomat turned geopolitical strategist, with experience across government, diplomacy, and financial markets.
Michael served in Australia’s foreign service, including diplomatic postings in Singapore, led Australia’s bilateral relationship with India, and advised the Prime Minister on Asia from within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Having operated inside the system at the highest levels, he brings a rare, inside-out perspective: not how power is described, but how it is actually exercised.
This is not a conventional geopolitical discussion.
We interrogate the growing gap between narrative and reality:- what you might call illusion statecraft. The idea that the global order still functions through rules, alliances, and cooperation is increasingly at odds with what’s playing out beneath the surface.
From economic warfare and financial fragmentation to the quiet shift of power into systems - payments, energy, data, this episode strips back the theatre of diplomacy and asks a more uncomfortable question:
Who actually holds power and who is simply performing it?
This is a conversation designed to challenge, to corner, and at times, to expose. Because in today’s world, understanding geopolitics is no longer about what is said, but what is deliberately left unsaid.
A sharp, grounded discussion where diplomacy meets reality, and where power is analysed not as it’s described, but as it’s actually deployed.
Topics Covered:
◽️ Illusion statecraft & the widening gap between narrative and operational reality
◽️ Performative diplomacy & the difference between signalling and substance
◽️ Rise of personalism and the shift from institutions to individuals
◽️ Economic warfare as the new frontline of geopolitical competition
◽️ Who really controls the rails of power across payments, energy and data
◽️ Financial fragmentation and the challenge to dollar dominance
◽️ Infrastructure targeting and the shift towards civilisational pressure points
◽️ System fragility and how local shocks cascade into global instability
◽️ Difference between real and performed power and who is gaining leverage
◽️ Whether multipolarity represents stability or a fragmentation of order
◽️ Reality behind strategic autonomy and its hidden dependencies
◽️Collapse of geopolitical language as a reflection of shifting realities
◽️ Whether cooperation still holds or opportunism now dominates
◽️ Decision-making without a master plan in an increasingly uncertain world
Episode Sponsored by Accxia - Europe's Largest Private Cloud for Atlassian
ABOUT THE HOST
Download⏳grab a cup of Bird & B
Support the show
Follow, Support, Contact Heads Talk® - A Fly On The Boardroom Wall
LinkedIn
Website
Twitter
Email at [email protected]

Let us know your thoughts. Send us a Text Message.
Follow me to see #HeadsTalk Podcast Audiograms every Monday on LinkedIn
Episode Title: 🇬🇧From Literacy to Agency to Power🇬🇧
Today we have a guest returning to Heads Talk: Louise, CEO of GoHenry and one of the leading pioneers in ensuring financial literacy is accessible to children.
I spotted her recent LinkedIn post on financial education entering the UK school curriculum and jumped at the chance to have her back on the show. It was a pleasure speaking with Louise again. Do check out her first episode #188 on Heads Talk for more on her journey and the foundations of her work.
Louise returns to Heads Talk at a pivotal moment. But this conversation goes far beyond curriculum change.
We explore a bigger shift: from teaching children about money, to equipping them with the agency and power to navigate, and especially question, financial systems in an AI-driven world.
From GoHenry’s evolving role to the global realities of financial behaviour, this episode challenges a simple assumption: is financial literacy enough anymore?
Topics Covered:
◽️ UK schools embedding financial education into the curriculum and what this signals
◽️ From literacy to agency to power: redefining financial capability
◽️ The evolving role of GoHenry alongside formal education
◽️ AI and decision-making: does financial literacy need to evolve?
◽️ Teaching children to manage money vs question financial systems
◽️ Designing education for an AI-driven future
◽️ Global perspectives: how attitudes to money differ across markets
◽️ Keeping pace with innovation: digital currencies and AI tools
◽️ Financial inclusion: reaching underserved families and shifting power
◽️ Collaboration between government, schools and industry
◽️ What will define financial empowerment for the next generation

So download⏳grab a cup of Bird & Blend Tea Co. - Great British Cuppa Tea ☕️& have a listen🛋
◽️Episode Sponsored by - Accxia - 𝔼𝕦𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖'𝕤 𝕃𝕒𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕤𝕥 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕖 ℂ𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝔸𝕥𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕒𝕟
Partnership with: 
◽️Money20/20 Europe 
Link to Louise's First Episode No. 188 here
ABOUT THE HOST
GoHenry's Website here
Support the show
Follow, Support, Contact Heads Talk® - A Fly On The Boardroom Wall
LinkedIn
Website
Twitter
Email at [email protected]

Let us know your thoughts. Send us a Text Message.
Follow me to see #HeadsTalk Podcast Audiograms every Monday on LinkedIn
Heads Talk - The Analysis
In this inaugural edition of The Analysis, part of Heads Talk®: Nexus Rerum: Boardrooms & Statecraft, we extend the conversation beyond the principal exchange.
1 or 2 consequential questions from the main episode are placed before a second distinguished voice. An individual deeply embedded in the worlds of business, policy, or geopolitics. Their role is not merely to respond, but to interrogate: to examine the framing of the question, challenge its assumptions, and surface the deeper strategic and intellectual currents that may otherwise remain unspoken.
This is expert analysis, a companion discussion that offers a more deliberate and expansive reflection, where ideas are tested, perspectives are sharpened, and the dialogue evolves beyond its original bounds.
What you will hear is a continuation, not a repetition. A considered counterpoint. A deeper reading of the question at hand, a nuance.
We hope you find The Analysis  both illuminating and indispensable as part of the broader Heads Talk experience.
In this episode, we feature Dr. Jakob Schaad’s analysis of Episode 284 with Simon Evenett, The Great Upheaval, focusing on Questions 2 and 8.
Question 2 — The Corporate–State Merger:
Are we moving towards a model in which the distinction between state power and corporate power becomes largely symbolic?
Question 8 — Naming the Era Beyond “Isms”:
What might historians ultimately call this era?
Further enquiries or to connect with Dr Schaad: [email protected]
ABOUT THE HOST
Support the show
Follow, Support, Contact Heads Talk® - A Fly On The Boardroom Wall
LinkedIn
Website
Twitter
Email at [email protected]

Let us know your thoughts. Send us a Text Message.
Follow me to see #HeadsTalk Podcast Audiograms every Monday on LinkedIn

Episode Title: 🇨🇭The Great Upheaval🇬🇧
We kickstart the new series on Heads Talk® with a guest I’ve been wanting on the show for quite some time — and it was absolutely worth the wait. This is also the longest episode we’ve recorded, yet it felt anything but. Early morning recording, sharp thinking, and a conversation packed with insight from start to finish.
I’m joined by Simon J. Evenett, Professor of Geopolitics and Strategy at IMD and one of the foremost experts on international trade and investment. Known for cutting through the gap between theory and reality, Simon has spent decades advising governments, global firms, and institutions on navigating economic and geopolitical complexity.
This episode sets the tone for the series:- candid, hard-hitting, direct, unfiltered., leaving no stones unturned. We unpack what Simon describes as The Great Upheaval: a world where the narrative of open markets collides with the reality of state-driven strategy, where assumptions about globalisation, risk, and economic order are being rewritten in real time. A strong opening to the series and one that delivers clarity, challenge, and more than a few lines worth revisiting for soundbites.
Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Trade and Investment 
Topics Covered:
◽️ Everyone talks about open markets… but what if they were never truly open?
◽️ The widening gap between global trade rhetoric and reality
◽️ From hidden protectionism to overt economic confrontation
◽️ “Liberation Day” tariffs: a turning point in modern trade dynamics
◽️ Why the “level playing field” is more aspiration than reality
◽️ The growing entanglement between governments and global firms
◽️ Weaponisation of interdependence:- finance, supply chains, and technology
◽️ Fragility in global systems: risk, resilience, and strategic blind spots
◽️ AI, employment, and the future economic settlement
◽️ The end of specialisation - entering The Great Upheaval
So download⏳grab a cup of Bird & Blend Tea Co. - Peach Soda Tea ☕️& have a listen🛋
Episode Sponsored by
◽️Accxia - 𝔼𝕦𝕣𝕠𝕡𝕖'𝕤 𝕃𝕒𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕤𝕥 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕖 ℂ𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝔸𝕥𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕒𝕟
Journal of International Business Policy here
ABOUT THE HOST

#AFlyOnTheBoardroomWall #HTPowerSeries #HeadsTalkPodcast
Support the show
Follow, Support, Contact Heads Talk® - A Fly On The Boardroom Wall
LinkedIn
Website
Twitter
Email at [email protected]