About Looking Forward

Looking Forward is a newsletter by Stephen Johnston dedicated to healthy longevity, web3 and systems change. 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.

Sign up to receive twice-weekly updates: one blog, essay or interview or podcast and Four For Friday: four things such as links, books, podcasts - that have piqued my interest that week. Premium members will get additional benefits including additional content and special access to community events.

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. It will focus for now on the areas that have held my attention for the past few years - healthy aging and longevity, impact investing & ‘ESG’ and Web3, wrapped up in the red thread of systems change.

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.  

I’ll run this as a freemium site - putting my money where my mouth regarding sustainable communities, and continually ideas for creating additional value for the premium members. 

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 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.