About Looking Forward

Looking Forward is a newsletter by Stephen Johnston dedicated to systems change and healthy longevity and a bunch of other things. Economics, innovation, startups, Web3, self-experimentation, design… exploring the change agenda so our society can adapt to a new demographic reality.

It’s aimed at a global audience of impact-minded innovators, and most of the focus will be where I’ve lived and worked: USA, Australia and the UK. I' publish ‘Four For Friday’ every weekend: four things that have piqued my interest that week, as well as occasional longer-form pieces as time allows. Premium members will get my appreciation of their role as a supporter of this effort, and in future potentially additional benefits which are still on the drawing board.

Looking Forward is my place to develop optimistic, ambitious yet practical ideas and actions - an agenda - for today’s challenging times. 

There’s no shortage of bad news out there - this will be a place where to collect practical, implementable ideas that aim to help. A key theme that cuts across my work is how to make communities - the future of business and society - sustainable in an economic system that largely doesn’t recognise the value they provide. An agenda post outlines in more detail some of the topics of interest.  

About me

I’m a Brit, who’s lived half of his life abroad. I spent my formative years after university in Brussels working on European - American trade policy, then got an MBA in the States and spent 6 years at Nokia, riding it up and down. I’ve consulted via Fordcastle - an impact-focused innovation consulting company - ever since. Since 2012 I’ve focused on healthy aging, creating Aging2.0 as a global network, establishing Chapters in 100+ global cities. We sold Aging2.0 in 2022 and have since been more focused on the next evolution of longevity, healthy aging, impact and technology. Hence Looking Forward.

Bit by bit, ‘Looking forward’, has become my go-to phrase. My wife pointed out I use it a lot in speech and when signing off emails. While noting its poor grammar, she said she thought it would make a good newsletter name. I agree. Thanks - again - Caitlin.