Reflections 2025

Steve Goldbach, Geoff Tuff, and Kulleni Gebreyes of Deloitte join Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove of Thinkers50 to reflect on their highlights and insights from the 2025 Provocateurs series.

Featuring in-depth conversations with leaders and innovators, the 2025 Provocateurs explored pressing topics from sustainability and space exploration to digital health, public policy, and food systems innovation. Throughout the series, compelling stories emerged that illustrate the power of systems thinking, reframing narratives, and leadership under pressure.

We heard about seaweed and rum in Barbados: a circular economy success story combining waste products to create fuel. We learned how modulating electrical motors reframes sustainability as efficiency, delivering rapid returns on investment. And we listened as astronaut Eileen Collins described the extreme pressure of an aborted rocket launch, exemplifying agility and preparation as the essence of leadership.

The 2025 Provocateurs guests included:

• Weslynne Ashton, sustainable systems scientist at the Illinois Institute of Technology
• Katie McGinty, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer at Johnson Controls
• Rajendra Pratap Gupta, founder of the Global Digital Health Summit
• Karthik Ramanna, from Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government
• Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander
• Selassie Atadika, award-winning chef, chocolatier, and innovator
• Anke Hampel, Chief Sustainability Officer at ABB * recorded live at Climate Week New York *
• Natalie Nixon, author of The Creativity Leap and Move. Think. Rest.

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