Tom Goodwin

Tom Goodwin keeps fads away from strategy. Not everything is the next big thing and Goodwin puts the customer at the centre of business decisions.

He is a world-renowned cultural transformation expert. The author of Digital Darwinism and founder of consultancy All We Have Is Now, Goodwin is a highly experienced corporate strategist. He stays at the centre of digital trends as the host of The Edge on Euronews.

DIGITAL DARWINISM

Digital Darwinism tackles accelerating change and decreasing corporate lifespans. Industry leaders face so many difficult decisions around technological adoption. It’s a precarious balance. Ignoring the wrong thing or investing in the hype both risk disaster. Rory Sutherland said the book “finally answered many questions about innovation which have long haunted me – not least why most large companies are typically so bad at it. It’s one of those rare books that is worth reading twice.” 

NOWISM  

Goodwin talks about nowism rather than futurism. Whereas futurism is abstract and contemplates how things might look in several years, nowism is human-centric and asks what we can do better for our customers now. New technologies can drive meaningful growth but they need to be applied practically. Goodwin argues that we need to look at change in context and focus on how it affects normal people. Not every new thing is either transformative or a waste of time. By taking a more nuanced approach, businesses can plot pragmatic strategies that serve people better today. 

GENERATIVE AI  

Tom Goodwin has applied this concept to generative AI. He questions mainstream opinion, approaching things from a more sceptical standpoint. There has never been such an abundance of content. So using tools like ChatGPT to mindlessly generate more adds little value. We lack copy that is succinct and genuinely insightful. These are outputs of the creative process that cannot be replicated by LLMs.

A lot of AI hype, particularly among social media influencers, focuses on vaster outreach or hyper-personalisation. Goodwin thinks it lacks ambition to see this as an end goal. Instead we should be asking how to make things better. Companies are trapped by where they start. Parts of their business models are outdated. Goodwins gives the examples of banks who have too many branches or car companies with an unnecessary network of dealerships. These companies would be better served re-organising in pursuit of quality than doubling down on quantity.

INFLUENTIAL MARKETER

Goodwin’s practical style makes him an influential voice on LinkedIn where has a following of over 700,000. He advises Fortune 500 companies and start-ups, sitting on multiple boards, whilst his work has been referenced in The New York Times and The Economist, amongst others, and published in media such as The Guardian, TechCrunch and Forbes.

Based in New York but often on the road, Tom Goodwin helps businesses steer clear of the hype-merchants and luddites to create meaningful customer-centric strategies.