Today we have a very special guest on the 2nd Renaissance. Not only is Ed
Coper one of my best friends from my high school days in Canberra, but as a young immigrant I also fondly recall a feeling I had that if a then young Ed Coper emerged onto the political scene in the future, Australia would become a more progressive, more inclusive, more enlightened and future-fit society. In a sense, he has now firmly stepped into that hopeful prophecy and arrived with a bang.
In today’s show we do a deep dive into the somewhat dark world of the Disinformation Age, which Ed has masterfully canvassed in his book ‘Facts and Other Lies’, and how leaders and entrepreneurs can a. design a better future story and b. utilise the tools of the digital age to win the hearts and minds to create enlightened ground swell-movements in an ethical fashion. In some ways today’s show was just an excuse to reconnect with Ed face to face, but I am sure you will find this chat as enjoyable and rewarding as I did…
Ed Coper is a leading communications expert and was on the front lines when the internet collided with democracy, growing Australia's first online political movement GetUp to quickly amass more members than every political party combined.
He powered Change.org's global expansion into over eighteen countries and pioneered techniques to bring politics into the digital age, and has been behind the scenes of many of the last decade's most prominent social movements. He has advised campaigns on every continent except Antarctica, and high-profile changemakers from Malala and Greta Thunberg to Richard Branson.
Ed founded the New York-based Center for Impact Communications, which has led efforts to safeguard US elections from disinformation and overcome vaccine hesitancy. Ed also founded a New York City creative agency that serviced multiple Nobel Peace laureates, political and social leaders to scale their social impact. His groundbreaking campaigns have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for causes, won landmark social change and have featured in several museum exhibitions. Ed is based in Sydney and is director of the Populares communications agency and recently master-minded the rise of the climate activists in the successful Teal Independent Movement.