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The orthodoxies of authority that have defined a generation are in flux. As trust in traditional arbiters of power is being eroded people are increasingly turning to more alternative and personalised sources of authority to seek out answers...
…Across the political, cultural, and organisational landscape, new norms and behaviours are writing over the top-down absolutism of traditional authority with more collaborative, subjective, and relational networks of influence and power…
…Amid these shifts, the question of where authority comes from today requires more complex, and contextual, answers. Here, we gather our collective thinking in a multidisciplinary content series to encourage reflection and curiosity about our present moment, and to unearth and put forward emerging forms of authority that have potential to drive change in business and in culture.
Explore our four themes
As genAI rapidly changes our creative marketplaces, who is really in control?
In our age of hyper-quantification, what metrics should we pay attention to?
In building our future spaces and communities, what ideas and principles should guide our decision-making?
To build knowledge and expertise, who are people turning to?
“What's interesting about this question about authority and democracy is that so much is based on our trust in each other. And only if that trust holds do the rules hold. What we are seeing right now is that the lack of trust is challenging democracy, and that makes it much harder to negotiate in good faith.”
- Ali Noorani, program director of U.S. democracy at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
“If you look to who commands authority today it’s people who can deliver simple messages clearly, whether that’s a CEO defining a company’s core mission or politician outlining a future manifesto. They need to have a perspective, yes, and it will only cut through if the messaging resonates with what people are looking for in a way that they understand.”
- Jeppe Christiansen, CEO of Maj Invest, Chairman of the Board of Haldor Topsøe A/S, and member of the Board of Directors at Kirkbi A/S and Novo Holdings A/S.
As genAI rapidly changes our creative marketplaces, who is really in control?
Authorship & Authenticity
PODCAST
Authorship in the age of AI
Our ReD Dialogue with Charles Gorintin, co-founder of Mistral AI and co-founder and CTO of Alan, Neil Beloufa, artist and co-founder of ebb.global, and ReD partner Charlotte Vangsgaard on who holds authority as the lines between creators, content, and consumers are increasingly blurred.
Will curation become more important than creation?
What could the creative business model of tomorrow look like?
Is genAI a technological or an epistemological revolution?
On Good Authority
Lore Oxford
How is the rise of self-advocacy challenging traditional notions of authority?
ReD’s Ariel Abonizio in conversation with Lore Oxford, researcher, cultural theorist, and strategist leading brand strategy and cultural intelligence at Reddit.
In our age of hyper-quantification, what metrics should we pay attention to?
Numbers & Metrics
PODCAST
Our ReD Dialogue with Alon Halevy, Senior Principal Applied Scientist at AWS, Gabrielle Merite, information designer, and Saumya Gupta, Co-Founder of Build IRL Accelerator on which numbers to pay attention to in today's data-abundant landscape.
What is a meaningful metric?
How should we differentiate between truth and evidence?
What if instead of measuring individual goals, we measured balance?
When does measuring something become unhelpful?
On Good Authority
Jeppe Christiansen
The authority of simplicity
ReD partners Martin Gronemann and Iago Storgaard in conversation with Jeppe Christiansen, CEO of Maj Invest, Chairman of the Board of Haldor Topsøe A/S and member of the Board of Directors at Kirkbi A/S and Novo Holdings A/S.
In building our future spaces and communities, what ideas and principles should guide our decision-making?
Systems & Spaces
PODCAST
How to create a world-class children’s hospital
How do approaches based on deep human insight elevate levels of care?
How can hospitals be more holistic in their approach to patient care?
How does integrating play into treatment influence the patient experience?
On Good Authority
Ali Noorani
How is a lack of trust challenging the authority of democratic institutions?
ReD partners Millie Arora and Morgan Ramsey-Elliot in conversation with Ali Noorani, program director of U.S. democracy at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
To build knowledge and expertise, who are people turning to?
Leadership & Credibility
PODCAST
Our ReD Dialogue with Taylor Price, leading Gen Z financial expert, and Matt Klein, cultural theorist and head of foresight at Reddit, on shifting notions of expertise amidst declining trust in institutions.
Who are today’s experts?
What’s behind our changing behaviours and attitudes towards expertise?
How can admitting uncertainty generate credibility as a leader?
Are we in an era of creative stagnation?
On Good Authority
Emily Oster
What can the domain of parenting and pregnancy teach us about expertise and trust-building?
ReD's Tamara Moellenberg in conversation with Emily Oster, economist, author and CEO of ParentData
“A large part of the decline in trust in the last decade is this idea of post-truthiness. And coming to the realisation that people’s truth is, in certain contexts, subjective. In the same sense, I think authority is also often subjective – even in terms of what you consider good authority or authority that you trust."
- Lore Oxford
INDEX
Editorial
Matthew Janney, Millie Arora, and Morgan Ramsey-Elliot
Design
Nanna Sine Munnecke and Matthew Kay
Thanks
Amelía Aarsø, Ariel Abonizio, Yara Ali, Neïl Beloufa, Jeppe Christiansen, Maria Cury, Thomas Frandsen, Elisabeth Ida Ginsberg, Charles Gorintin, Martin Gronemann, Saumya Gupta, Alon Halevy, Alexis Jakubowicz, Matt Klein, Mikkel Krenchel, Filip Lau, Anne Mette Worsøe Lottrup, Gabrielle Merite, Tamara Moellenberg, Ali Noorani, Emily Oster, Lore Oxford, Taylor Price, Erin Scherer, Iago Storgaard, Charlie Strong, and Charlotte Vangsgaard