SUMMARY BY GUY TURNER
Are We Going to Be Alright? The Future is Ours to Shape
The world feels chaotic. Digital addiction, war, nationalism, AI risks – it’s no wonder the most common question futurist Rohit Bhargava gets is: “Are we going to be alright?”
At SXSW 2025, Rohit delivered a talk that was part reality check, part roadmap to a better future. The takeaway? The future isn’t something that happens to us – it’s something we create. And right now, we have a choice:
Do we let fear, outrage, and division pull us into a race to the bottom – where ego, superiority, and self-interest take over?
Or do we champion something bigger – a race to the top, fuelled by kindness, generosity, and reciprocity?
For Turner & Co, this is a no-brainer. We work with the brands and businesses that choose the race to the top. The ones who use storytelling not to sell fear, but to inspire action. Our clients are proof that the future can be brighter.
Rohit’s talk was an absolute masterclass in how to see beyond the noise and build something better. And the best part? The future starts now.
The Future We Expect is the Future We Create
Everywhere you look, the headlines are bleak. AI taking over jobs. Political unrest. Climate catastrophe. It’s exhausting.
We’re in a cycle of anticipatory anxiety – constantly bracing for disaster before it even happens. And the worst part? Fear is contagious.
Rohit made this point brilliantly with a simple metaphor: a yawn.
- When one person yawns, others do too – it’s an involuntary reaction. Even dogs copy human yawns.
- Fear and outrage work the same way – we see bad news, we expect more bad news, and we act accordingly.
- The only way to break the cycle? Change the story.
The future isn’t some distant place – it’s unfolding right now. And the stories we tell today will shape what happens next.
This is where storytelling isn’t just important – it’s essential.
1. The Human Advantage: Why AI Won’t Replace Us
You’ve heard it before: AI is coming for our jobs.
But Rohit flipped the script. AI isn’t replacing humans – it’s replacing humans who don’t use AI.
A few years ago, financial services rolled out Robo-Advisors – AI-driven investment tools designed to remove human bias. The logic? AI would make better decisions than humans.
But what happened?
- People didn’t trust AI with their money.
- The Robo-Advisors had to introduce premium human advisors to make their service work.
- Turns out, we still want people involved in big decisions.
Even in the age of AI, trust and human connection are irreplaceable.
One of the most heartwarming examples? The UK and Canada’s “Slow Checkout” lanes.
- These lanes aren’t about efficiency – they’re about human connection.
- They encourage people to slow down, chat, and engage in real conversation.
- In a world obsessed with speed and automation, people still crave human moments.
💡 Turner & Co Insight:
For brands, the takeaway is clear: AI should enhance human experience, not replace it. The best stories will always be human stories – and we help brands tell them.
2. Winners vs Champions: Who Are You Elevating?
We celebrate winners. But champions? They build something bigger than themselves.
Rohit gave some incredible examples:
- Elite marathoners rely on pacers – runners who never win but set the speed for others to break records.
- Max Planck championed Albert Einstein when no one else would, helping him gain recognition for the Theory of Relativity. This one particularly resonated as it is about an inside elite rejecting outside thinking – until an internal champion is found. This seems quite prevalent in the investor space at the moment.
- Keala Settle, the singer of This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, was terrified to step forward in an audition – until one guy in a hoodie in the ensemble cast cheered her on, shifting the entire room’s energy.
🚀 Watch this moment unfold. It’s pure magic.
👉 The Greatest Showman | “This Is Me” Rehearsal
💡 Turner & Co Insight:
The brands that will win long-term aren’t just in it for themselves. They champion their customers, their teams, their industry. The work we do helps brands elevate, not just sell. Ask yourself, who is your Max Planck – or more importantly, who are you a Max Planck to?
3. Seeing What Others Miss: The Future Belongs to the CuriousWe tend to think of discovery as finding something new. But what about undiscovery?
Rohit shared a wild story about Sandy Island, a landmass that appeared on maps for over 100 years – until someone finally checked. Turns out? It never existed.
The takeaway? Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs aren’t in discovering something new – but questioning what we thought was true.
And this applies to culture too.
- In Australia, people sit in the front seat when taking a taxi – because they see drivers as equals, not servants.
- At Indian weddings, the bride’s family steals the groom’s shoes and holds them for ransom – a tradition that reinforces that marriage is about families coming together, not just two individuals.
- The Intel “Our Rockstars” ad wasn’t just about selling – it reinforced to employees why their work mattered.
🚀 Watch the Intel campaign that made engineers feel like superstars:
👉 Intel “Our Rockstars” Ad
💡 Turner & Co Insight:
Great marketing isn’t just about selling a product. It’s about reinforcing identity, challenging assumptions, and shaping business and customer culture. All brands can channel this, it’s not just the domain of the big end of town.
4. The Race to the Top vs The Race to the Bottom
Here’s the reality: Not everyone wants to build a better future.
There are brands and leaders chasing status, power, ego – fuelling outrage and division because it gets clicks. That’s the race to the bottom.
But then there’s the race to the top – where kindness, generosity, and reciprocity aren’t just moral choices, they’re business strategies.
And we get to choose which race we run.
💡 Turner & Co Insight:
The brands we work with choose the race to the top. We help companies tell stories that inspire action, build trust, and create movements. Because in the end, the brands that lift others up will be the ones that stand the test of time.
Final Thoughts: The Future Starts Now
Are we going to be alright?
Yes – but only if we choose to be.
The future isn’t about waiting to see what happens. It’s about creating the reality we want.
✨ Tell better stories.
✨ Champion something bigger than yourself.
✨ Be part of the race to the top.
That’s how we change the world.
This is what we do at Turner & Co. If you’re ready to tell a better story, let’s talk.
Rohit Bhargava is a distinguished author, speaker, and innovator, dedicated to fostering non-obvious thinking globally. He has achieved the status of a three-time Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, with ten books to his name, including the acclaimed ‘Non-Obvious Megatrends’.
Over a 15-year career at prominent advertising agencies Ogilvy and Leo Burnett, Rohit advised global brands on human behaviour, marketing, and storytelling. He later founded the Non-Obvious Company and Ideapress Publishing, reflecting his entrepreneurial spirit.
As an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, Rohit teaches persuasive speaking and global marketing. He also contributes a monthly column on non-obvious ideas to Inc. magazine.
Residing in the Washington DC area with his wife and two sons, Rohit is a passionate Olympics enthusiast, having attended six games, and is notably averse to cauliflower.
