'Reluctant Futurist’ Mark Stevenson is a strategic advisor to governments, NGOs and corporates, helping them face the grand systems challenges of our time and understand their (changed) role in meeting them, or dying gracefully if they need to. Though branded a ‘futurist’ by others Mark is more, as one client puts it, ‘Chief Annoying Question Asker’. He helps organisations change the way they feel, think, invest and operate in order to answer the intertwined questions the future is asking us - on climate change, inequality, the retreat of democracy and the failures of the markets to price risk properly (to name just four). His two bestselling books, An Optimist’s Tour of the Future and the award-winning We Do Things Differently map out some existing and proven solutions to our current dilemmas. He is Futurist Without Borders for Medicines Sans Frontiers (UK), Global Ambassador for Client Earth and a strategic advisor of climate change to the UK Ministry of Defence. TED curator, Chris Anderson remarks, “Stevenson wears no blindfold. His tools are curiosity, open-mindedness, clarity and reason.” He also enjoys a successful side career as a comedy writer and songwriter, which he regards as essential for maintaining key skills needed in his strategy work. “The brain does the PR for what the heart has already decided, if you can’t speak to the heart any systems change is dead in the water.” His hit podcast with comedian Jon Richardson and fellow systems change advocate Ed Gillespie is available on all major platforms.