Built for Turbulence
Pascal Finette
Uncertainty isn’t going away – so let’s learn to thrive on it. Join Pascal Finette (author of Disrupt Disruption, GYSHIDO, and Built for Turbulence [2026]) in conversations with leaders who’ve built organizations that get stronger under stress. No theory. No consultant-speak. Just practical wisdom from practitioners in the trenches – turning volatility into competitive advantage and building antifragility into everything they do. Each episode: real stories, hard-won insights, and actions you can take Monday morning. The future belongs to those who prepare, not predict.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 22, 2021 • 25min
A Conversation with Vanessa Liu (VP @ SAP.io Foundries North America)
Vanessa is a business builder, digital media entrepreneur and technology innovator. She has been building, launching and re-launching six businesses over a span of 20 years and heads up SAP.io today, where she is investing in women and diverse-led B2B intelligent enterprise start-ups.
Discover why occasionally you have to hang out with motorcycle fanatics to unearth consumer insights, how corporations can and should work with startups, and why disruptive innovation is best explored through the lens of consumer actions.
Jun 15, 2021 • 27min
A Conversation with Gisbert Rühl (Former CEO, Kloeckner & Co SE)
Gisbert Rühl is the former CEO of Klöckner & Co, a steel manufacturer and one of the ten largest companies in Germany. At Klöckner he led a hugely successful transformation initiative, positioning the company as a global leader in its space.
Learn from one of the most remarkable (and widely studied) transformations in the industry, and discover how to push for long-term thinking, align an organization behind a bold vision, and how to avoid the common pitfalls of doing so.
Jun 8, 2021 • 25min
A Conversation with Alvaro Delgado Aparicio (Co-Founder, CEO & Chief Innovation Officer at BREIN – BRECA´s Innovation Hub)
Alvaro is the co-founder, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer at BREIN, Grupo BRECA’s innovation hub. Grupo BRECA is one of the largest companies in Peru – a conglomerate spanning primary industries such as fishing and mining all the way to healthcare and financial services. Alvaro is also the director of the BAFTA-nominated feature film Retablo (streaming on Netflix).
Explore in this far-reaching conversation why innovation is like love, how to get an incumbent conglomerate to embrace change, and why running an innovation lab is comparable to making a feature film.
Jun 1, 2021 • 24min
A Conversation with Christina Nesheva (ViiV Healthcare)
Christina is the former cofounder of the Innovation Lab of ViiV Healthcare, a joint venture between GSK, Pfizer and Shionogi and focused entirely on HIV therapies. Previously she held leadership positions at GSK and has spent her career at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
Learn why it is so important to “be in the game”, how leaders today need to operate in a two-track environment, and why fear is the major inhibitor for disruptive innovation inside a corporation.
May 25, 2021 • 25min
A Conversation with Kyle Nel (Singularity Labs / Lowe's)
Kyle Nel is the President of Singularity Labs and formerly headed up innovation at DIY retail giant Lowe’s. Under his leadership, Lowe’s launched the first 3D printer into space, developed Augmented Reality experiences and in-store robots.
Discover what it takes to turn an incumbent organization into one of the posterchilds of disruptive innovation, why comic books are a great tool to communicate, and why storytelling is so important.
May 18, 2021 • 29min
A Conversation With Maurice Conti (Former Head of Moonshots at Telefonica Alpha)
Maurice is the CEO of Applied Intelligence and formerly led Telefonica’s moonshot factory Alpha as their Head of New Moonshots. Alpha has been described as the only European moonshot factory and the European Google [X].
Learn why disruptive innovation is a lot like owning a pet tiger, what cowboys with plastic guns and no horses have to do with disruption, and what companies have to do to navigate the treacherous waters of change.
May 10, 2021 • 30min
A Conversation With George Constantinescu (Chief Transformation Officer at ATCO)
George is the Chief Transformation Officer at ATCO, a large Canadian manufacturing and utility company. He is looking back onto a long, illustrious career in the sector, both inside of large corporations and his own startups.
Learn about George’s approach to first principles thinking and how to apply it to innovation, why disruption could be considered a negative force and how to structure innovation efforts inside large incumbents operating in regulated industries.
May 4, 2021 • 26min
A Conversation With Wing Pepper (Former COO Factory & Plan44 Labs)
Wing is the former COO at Factory and Pilot44 Labs, two of the most innovative innovation labs in Silicon Valley, where he worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as startups, creating innovative (and often disruptive) new products, services and business models.
Delve into the human aspect of disruptive innovation, and learn why companies, like life in general, move in circular motions. Deconstruct R & D, and learn why the two functions should be treated separately.
Feb 23, 2021 • 39min
A Conversation With Ryan Merkley (Chief of Staff at Wikimedia Foundation)
Ryan is the Chief of Staff at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Wikipedia. Before this he held leadership positions at Creative Commons, Mozilla.org and public offices.
Explore why and how open innovation works, why it regularly yields surprising results, and is extremely robust — and dig into the common pitfalls which happen when organizations embrace “open”.
Feb 23, 2021 • 32min
A Conversation With Andy Billings (Head of Profitable Creativity at Electronic Arts)
Andy currently serves as Head of Profitable Creativity at Electronic Arts, having helped the company thrive through two massively disruptive transformations. In addition, Andy hosts an award-winning, global leadership accelerator program with a 20+ year track record.
Dig deep into what makes gaming giant Electronic Arts tick, how the company managed to stay relevant longer than most of its peers, and why it might not be possible to be thoughtful or planful about disruptive change after all.
