Welcome to The New Strategist: FSC’s business magazine of insightful new thinking and opinion from experts, authors, and in-role executives, exploring the strategic challenges and future opportunities for companies in 2025 and beyond.

The latest from The New Strategist

Featured

The CX Revolution: A New Framework for Customer Experience in the Age of Intelligence

Customer experience is the ultimate output of a company’s brand promise, determining whether a business stands the test of time or fades into obscurity. But CX, and by extension brand loyalty, is on the verge of being totally unrecognisable from what we have known until now. CX’s position as business-critical, however, is resolutely unchanged. The latest research from FSC offers a practical way to navigate the coming change.

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Strategy is Shifting. Creativity is Catching Up.

Strategy is no longer just about efficiency and positioning: it’s about narratives, culture and connections. Creativity is about thinking differently, about new solutions to complex problems. And in a world characterised by uncertainty and change, a creative outlook is the new strategic imperative.

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Human-Centric Leadership in a World in Flux

Disruption is the watchword of today’s working culture. The economic impact that comes from a disengaged and anxious workforce is enormous – but so is the opportunity to reverse it. Effective leaders today must rally everyone together to build the resilience that we need – as individuals and organisations.

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Beyond the Algorithm: Influence, Impact and the Real Economics of Social Media

Social media promised brands a gold rush of reach, relevance and revenue. But while its potential remains vast, most businesses are still digging in the wrong place. For too long, brands have chased likes, followers and impressions, but what really matters today is participating in culture, not just advertising within it. In our new reality, where cultural relevance matters more than media budget, the problem of why the return on social remains elusive needs to be reframed. FSC’s new white paper, The Power of Social, provides a roadmap as to how brands can do this.

AN FSC WHITE PAPER

THE POWER OF SOCIAL

Influence and ROI in the
Attention Economy

Download the free White Paper

Smart Thinking

Featured

Getting to Goldilocks (Or, the Art of Asking the Right Question)

Sean Kelleher-Clarke, Head of Programme & Project Management at Nesta, believes the art of problem-solving requires the ability to think outside of what’s directly in front of us. Sometimes we can be too close to a project or issue to see what needs tweaking, which creates bias in our quest for an efficient solution. To find our way to the winning outcome, we have to first set our course by asking the question that isn’t too big or too small, but ‘just right’: the Goldilocks question.

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Cutting Through the Noise: AI, Authenticity & the
Future of Content

As brands battle to win out in the attention economy and grapple with the rise of GenAI, creating content that really resonates is a confounding challenge. FSC’s white paper, The Future of Content, unpacks the seismic shifts in today’s content ecosystem, looks at what’s next – and offers a roadmap for businesses ready to lead with creativity, clarity and credibility.

Alternative Angles

Featured

Evolving the Creative Agency Model: The Unique & Lean Approach of Future Strategy Club

In the ever-evolving landscape of creative agencies, the dichotomy between traditional employee-based models and the newer freelancer-driven approaches has sparked considerable debate. Justin Small, Founder of FSC, explains how Future Strategy Club's innovative model offers a promising alternative: blending the best of both worlds to meet the demands of modern brands and talents alike.

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Longing to Belong: How Brands Can Build Loyalty Through Communities

From the network of support to the steadying sense of identity, being part of a tribe goes a long way to offset the turbulence-as-usual that now defines our lives. New research from an FSC white paper shows that leveraging this power of community has become the critical factor for brands to build customer loyalty and through this business growth.

Ash Schofield Interview

Creating the Gold Standard of Brand Communities

We spoke to giffgaff CEO Ash Schofield about his career journey to date, building giffgaff's unique brand community of dedicated members, and the power of feeling part of something.

Watch the Interview

Ten Lessons for Growth: Building Community at Your Company's Core

In today's global economy, growing a company that stands the test of time is no small feat. Justin Small, CEO of Future Strategy Club, shares ten essential strategies for ensuring your organisation not only grows, but becomes an authentic brand customers believe in - and somewhere people are excited to build their careers.

Practice Blogs

Featured

Going Solo with Your Tribe

For Artist China Jordan, choosing to work for yourself shouldn’t mean that you lose your professional support network. She asserts that calling on your social circles, or “tribe”, can be your best secret weapon for success when the going gets tough.

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Personal Branding that Connects and Drives Us Towards Success.

Personal Brand Strategist Ash Jones explains the power of influence in your professional career, and how mastering the art of Personal Branding has the potential to unlock new opportunities, and connect you with communities that can propel you towards success.

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I, For One, Welcome Our Robot Overlords

Copy Director Jim Compton-Hall tells us to hone our craft and, well, be better. The art of copywriting takes talent and emotional intelligence to understand a brief, to make words sing in a way that brands are looking for. But can this one day be done by AI? The answer is unclear. Either way,

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Authentic Advocacy in the New World

of Events & Experiences

The post-pandemic world has significantly impacted the Events Industry. FSC Member Jade Coles, a Culture Specialist & Programmer, and Creative Producer for Events & Digital, shares the essential steps to creating authentic and diverse experiences in this new era of events.