Episode Five: Creating the Next Economy, with Dr Amanda Cahill

Is it really possible to build an economy that works better for people and planet? How?

Few leaders understand this question from as grounded, practical and hopeful a perspective as Dr Amanda Cahill. In 2014, Dr Cahill was invited to help present to a regional community in Queensland, Australia, worried about their economic future amidst falling demand for their coal. At the time, she was doing economic development work…in Fiji.

“Don’t worry,” she was told, “no one’s going to listen to you anyway, they’ll all think you’re a greenie.” Instead, requests for meetings snowballed: within five days of her presentation she’d heard from 54 people — local businesses, councils, heads of industry — all of them scared about the changing economics of climate change.

The calls never stopped, and today Dr Cahill leads this work full-time as CEO of the The Next Economy. In this conversation, we explore how to bring people together based on what matters to them, what’s changed since the bushfires and pandemic, and what each of us can do to help chart a better way forward. We also talk puppies, being young and idealistic, and owning what you have to offer with radical humility.

Dr Cahill is a 2020 Churchill Scholar. She has a PhD in Human Geography from the Australian National University, and associate positions at The University of Queensland and the University of Sydney’s Policy Lab. To learn more about Dr Cahill’s work visit www.nexteconomy.com.au or follow on Facebook.