The science of a good day is also the science of a better future.

This week’s episode of How We Future with Lisa Kay Solomon features Caroline Webb: leadership coach, behavioral science expert, McKinsey Senior Advisor, and bestselling author of How to Have a Good Day.

Caroline’s work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and practical leadership. She shares how we can prepare for chaotic times and gain agency by understanding the ways our brains handle uncertainty, stress, and decision-making.

You’ll learn:

• Why attention is your most precious resource
• A simple three-part framework (“Know. Be. Do”) that helps leaders navigate chaos
• How naming what you’re feeling instantly reduces stress
• Why imagining a future scenario trains your brain to respond better in real life
• Why realistic optimism, not blind positivity, is the mindset leaders need right now

This conversation is a practical, hopeful guide for anyone trying to lead with more clarity, calm, and positivity. Caroline shows that the skills we need to navigate the future aren’t abstract. They’re learnable, repeatable, and rooted in how we manage our minds today.

Links from the show:

• Learn more about Caroline and her projects on her website
• Buy the book: How To Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb
• Take Caroline’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: Science-based Habits for Modern Leadership and How to Have a Great Day at Work
• Link to HBR Chapter: Guide to Dealing with Conflict by Caroline Webb
• Even more resources from Caroline Webb to help you thrive!
• Psychologist Podcast with Scott Barry Kauffman

What if the future makes more sense when we treat it like a game?

In this episode of How We Future, Lisa Kay Solomon is joined by Jeffrey Rogers—futures facilitator, lifelong learner, and co-founder of PROJECTORY—to explore how play, prospection, and curiosity help people prepare for inevitable uncertainty. Jeff is an expert at designing experiences, workshops, and games that help leaders feel the future, not just think about it.

Together, Lisa and Jeff unpack why the future is “too important to leave to the futurists,” and how all of us can build their capacity to imagine, experiment, and act with more confidence.

Jeff shares stories from youth leadership trips, corporate workshops, and global facilitation work that reveal how people learn best when they’re invited to experiment, reflect, and play their way into new futures.

You’ll learn:

• Why prospection, or an ability to imagine forward, is a superpower we’re all naturally equipped with
• How games create low-stakes environments for exploring high-stakes ideas
• How simple imaginative activities (like interviewing a child about their future) promote agency and perspective
• Why designing your future self is just as important as designing future strategies
• Jeff’s favorite books and games, so that YOU can put his great ideas into action

This episode will encourage you to stay open, curious, and willing to try things that might not work (yet). Jeff’s approach makes the future feel expansive, collaborative, and wonderfully human.

Links from the show:

• Chair Zombie Game
• Gamestorming (practices by David Gray and Sunni Brown)
• Hal Hirshfield’s work at UCLA
• PROJECTORY

Bonus! Jeff’s recommendations for diving into futures practices:

• How to Future by Scott Smith and Madeline Ashby – an accessible toolkit for futures facilitation
• Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud – a geologist's perspective on thinking across vastly different time scales
• Borne: A Novel by Jeff VanderMeer – science fiction that builds deep empathy for non-human entities (and yes, he cried at the end)

Is trust the foundation of the future?

In this episode of How We Future, Lisa Kay Solomon sits down with Zoë Jenkins, Director of Civic Trust and Recruitment at Civics Unplugged, to talk about how the next generation is reimagining democracy from the ground up.

Zoë’s journey started early—she joined Civics Unplugged as a high school fellow, went on to write her own job description fresh out of college, and now leads programs helping young people build community through civic trust, a term you’ll learn all about in this episode.

Zoë and Lisa cover:

• Why democracy depends on trusting your neighbors, not just voting with them
• How young people are turning frustration into innovation
• The difference between attachment and affection, and why it matters
• How flattening hierarchies and “breaking the model” unlocks leadership at every age

This episode is a call to action for anyone who wants to strengthen the bonds that hold our communities—and our futures—together. Zoë reminds us that democracy isn’t just a system. It’s a daily practice of showing up, listening, and believing in one another.

Links from the show:

• Zoë’s TEDx Talk on “Saving the World in an Empathy Crisis”
• CBS This Morning segment featuring Zoë and Generation Change
• Learn more about Zoë on her website
• Zoë’s partnership with Aerie to speak about “How to Contribute to Social Justice”
• Article from More in Common about the role of sports fans in democracy