Olivia: Alright Jackson, I'm going to say the title of a business book, and I want your honest, one-liner gut reaction. Ready? Jackson: Born ready. Olivia: Future Shaper: How Leaders Can Take Charge in an Uncertain World. Jackson: Sounds like the title of a pamphlet they'd hand you before you get on a rollercoaster you definitely shouldn't be on. Olivia: That is surprisingly accurate. And the author would probably agree with you. Today we are diving into Future Shaper by Niamh O’Keeffe. Jackson: Niamh O'Keeffe. I like the name. Does she have the credentials to be telling us how to ride this terrifying rollercoaster? Olivia: She absolutely does. This isn't just theory from an ivory tower. She's a corporate leadership advisor with over 25 years in the trenches at places like Accenture. Plus, she founded a company called First100, which is all about helping new executives survive and thrive in their first few critical months. She has seen this chaos up close, over and over again. Jackson: Okay, so she's seen people get thrown from the rollercoaster. I can respect that. But what's the big problem she's trying to solve? Is the world that much more uncertain, or are we just complaining more? Olivia: That is the perfect question to start with, because O'Keeffe's entire argument begins there. She claims we're in a genuine, full-blown crisis of leadership.

Jackson: A 'crisis of leadership.' That sounds dramatic. Is it really a crisis, or is it just that leadership has always been hard and now we have more books about it? Olivia: It’s the nature of the difficulty that's changed. She quotes Mark Spelman from the World Economic Forum, who says, "In today’s world of mixed signals and rapid change, we need our leaders to evolve their skills." O'Keeffe's point is that the old playbook is officially obsolete. The stability that allowed for 10-year plans and top-down, predictable strategies is just… gone. Jackson: Right, the world where the CEO had all the information and could just hand down the stone tablets of strategy. That feels like a black-and-white movie at this point. Olivia: Exactly. And the result is what she calls "Leadership Overwhelm." She describes this situation where leaders are expected to have all the answers, but the world is serving up questions nobody has ever seen before. There's this feeling of being adrift without a map. Jackson: That feeling of having no manual is so real. It’s like you’re supposed to be the expert, but you’re secretly Googling everything just like the rest of us. Olivia: She has this great example in the book where she says most leaders, when you ask them about their approach, give you a patchwork of answers—a philosophy here, a core value there. But very few can articulate a clear framework, a set of steps they take when things get tough. So when the pressure mounts, they default to just managing or doing the work themselves instead of actually leading. Jackson: Okay, but I have to push back a little here, because some readers have pointed this out. They've said the book is practical, but that the ideas aren't fundamentally new. Is 'leadership overwhelm' just a new brand name for 'work is stressful'? Olivia: I think that's a fair critique, but O'Keeffe would argue the source of the stress is new. It’s the sheer velocity of change, driven by technology, and the shifting expectations of the workforce. Think about it: a leader today is dealing with AI potentially making entire departments obsolete, a global supply chain that can be disrupted by a single tweet, and a team that might be composed of five different generations with completely different values. Jackson: That's a good point. You're not just managing a production line anymore. You're managing a swirling vortex of technological, social, and economic chaos. Olivia: Precisely. And she says in this new reality, "only the most adaptable will survive." It’s a stark, almost Darwinian claim. The old leadership intelligence—being strategic, having emotional intelligence—is no longer enough. You need something more. Jackson: So what is that 'something more'? What’s the secret sauce that separates the leaders who thrive from those who just… survive? Or get thrown from the rollercoaster, to stick with my metaphor. Olivia: It's an empowered mindset. That’s the absolute core of her argument. She has this fantastic line: "This empowered mindset is what sets apart the leader from the follower, and indeed what sets apart the leader from the machine." It's about taking agency. Jackson: I like that. The machine can follow instructions, but it can't decide to build a whole new rollercoaster. Olivia: Exactly. And that shift from passive follower to active creator is the bridge to her entire solution. It’s a powerful idea that moves us from just diagnosing the problem to actually doing something about it.

Jackson: Okay, so we've established that the old leadership map is useless and we're all feeling a bit lost in the woods. How do we start drawing a new one? Where does this 'empowerment' come from? Olivia: It comes from a decision. And O'Keeffe frames this with a powerful rally cry that echoes throughout the book: "Stop waiting and start creating!" It’s a call to action. She argues that the first step is to empower yourself, to realize you have the power to shape your own future. Jackson: That sounds great, but it also sounds a bit like a motivational poster. How do you actually do that when you're drowning in emails and meetings? Olivia: She makes it concrete by focusing on self-awareness and responsibility. And to illustrate this, the book provides one of the most powerful examples of self-empowerment imaginable: the story of Oprah Winfrey. Jackson: Oh, now we're talking. The queen of shaping her own future. Olivia: Absolutely. The book lays out her background, which is just staggering to revisit. Born into deep poverty in rural Mississippi, facing horrific abuse and neglect as a child. The obstacles were immense—poverty, racism, sexism. By all accounts, her potential should have been extinguished before it ever had a chance. Jackson: It’s a story so dramatic it almost feels like fiction. Olivia: It really does. But the process was very real. She made a conscious choice to take responsibility for her life. She committed to education, she excelled, she won a scholarship. When she got into broadcasting, she faced constant resistance. But she didn't wait for someone to give her permission to succeed. She took her own pain and her own experiences and turned them into her strength. She built her own platform. Jackson: Wow. When you frame it like that, it's the ultimate example of "stop waiting and start creating." She didn't just find a path; she paved a highway and built a city on top of it. Olivia: And that's the insight O'Keeffe connects back to leadership. Empowerment isn't a passive state; it's an active process. It’s about taking responsibility, setting a clear goal for yourself, and then taking consistent action. Oprah's journey is the macro version of what O'Keeffe wants leaders to do on a smaller scale every single day. Jackson: That's a fantastic illustration. But, let's be real, Oprah is one in a billion. How does O'Keeffe translate that epic, world-changing journey into something a regular manager, who is definitely not a billionaire media mogul, can actually do on a Tuesday afternoon? Olivia: That's the million-dollar question, and that's where her "Future Shaper Playbook" comes in. She breaks it down into five key fundamentals. They’re the practical steps to translate that empowered mindset into action. She calls them the "Five Ps." Jackson: The Five Ps. Okay, I'm ready. Give them to me. Olivia: The first is Preferable. You have to establish your preferred future outcome. What do you actually want to happen? Get crystal clear on that vision. The second is Persuade. You have to convince people to follow you, to buy into your vision. The third is Persist. Be resilient. You will face obstacles. You will have setbacks. You have to stay the course. Jackson: That sounds like the hard part. Olivia: It often is. The fourth is Prove. You have to deliver results. Nurture your team, get some early wins, and build momentum. And the fifth and final P is Platform. You need to power up your network and multiply your impact. It’s about building connections that help you achieve your goal. Jackson: Preferable, Persuade, Persist, Prove, Platform. It’s actually a pretty solid, memorable framework. It’s like a recipe for getting any major project off the ground, whether that's launching a new product or, you know, becoming Oprah. Olivia: It is. And woven throughout these fundamentals are what she calls the F.U.T.U.R.E. and S.H.A.P.E.R. traits—things like being Fearless, Unconventional, Tenacious, Authentic, Proactive. But the Five Ps are the core operating system. They provide that missing manual. It’s a structured way to think about moving from an idea to a reality.

Jackson: So when you put it all together, it feels like the book is making a pretty bold claim. It’s saying that the feeling of being overwhelmed isn't your fault, but it is your responsibility to fix. Olivia: That’s a perfect way to put it. The book validates the feeling of chaos while simultaneously refusing to let you use it as an excuse. It’s a two-part move. First, you have to accept that the old map is useless. It’s not coming back. Second, you have to pick up a compass and a machete and start cutting your own path. Jackson: And the Five Ps are the instructions for how to use the compass and the machete. Olivia: Exactly. The book's real power, I think, isn't in giving you a perfect, laminated map to a guaranteed future. Its power is in convincing you that you are fully capable of undertaking the journey yourself. It’s about building that internal engine of agency. Jackson: I like that. It’s less about predicting the future and more about building the confidence to handle whatever future comes. Olivia: And to shape it. That's the key word. Not just react, not just adapt, but to proactively create a piece of the future. Jackson: So if someone listening is feeling that leadership overwhelm right now, sitting at their desk, feeling like they're on that terrifying rollercoaster, what's the one thing they should do after this episode? The very first step? Olivia: I’d go right to her first 'P': Preferable. O'Keeffe would say to take ten minutes today. No more. Open a blank document and write down what a successful, preferable outcome looks like for you or your team in six months. Don't worry about the 'how' yet. Don't get bogged down in the obstacles. Just get the destination crystal clear in your own mind. That act alone is the first step in taking back control. Jackson: That feels manageable. It’s not 'solve world hunger,' it's 'define what winning looks like.' Olivia: It's the first step to stop waiting and start creating. And I think it leaves you with a really powerful question to reflect on. Jackson: What's that? Olivia: What future are you currently waiting for permission to start building? Jackson: Wow. That’s a heavy one to end on. A perfect, slightly uncomfortable question. Olivia: The best kind. Jackson: This is Aibrary, signing off.