Dr. Bridget Dalton, Head of Truth Futures at Truth Consulting and a 2026 Greenbook Futurist honoree, joins host Karen Lynch to unpack what it really means to “understand the future through culture.” With a background spanning academia, poetry, and semiotics, Bridget shares how cultural analysis can act as connective tissue across quant, qual, and AI-powered unstructured data to create sharper strategic direction.

They explore how scenario planning builds confident “what next?” decisions, why multi-method work should surface productive tension (not identical answers), and how Truth Changemakers partners with the Ashoka network to learn from social entrepreneurs already building the future. Bridget also speaks candidly about dyslexia, neurodiversity, and evolving standards of “credible communication” in insights.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Why culture is “future-baked” and how semiotics helps make instinct make sense
2. Moving from curiosity (“why”) to action (“so what”) with scenario planning
3. Blending semiotics, qual/quant, and AI-driven unstructured data for stronger foresight
4. Truth Changemakers + Ashoka: learning from social entrepreneurs with a “pre-detection lens”
5. Neurodiversity in insights: reframing credibility, communication, and talent

Resources & Links:

1. Truth Consulting (learn more about the consultancy and Truth Futures):
2. Ashoka (global network of social entrepreneurs)

You can reach out to Bridget Dalton on LinkedIn.

Many thanks to Bridget Dalton for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.