Photography by Weston Wells
Is it enough to celebrate the businesses, people and ideas making the kind of moves that will change the world for the better? Maybe… But what if we could take this one step further?
In Volume 2 of Huge Moves magazine, we don’t just look at the who and what, or even why. With this issue, we take a very close look at how these “10 Huge Moves” are being made, despite daunting and difficult challenges. By taking a clear-eyed approach to data-driven stories, reported by veteran journalists and Huge’s own credentialed subject matter experts, we’ve come across something that feels revelatory. It’s alignment — not just for the bottom line, but for society as a whole.
Each feature narrative is a variation on this theme, telling a similar story about the resilience and ingenuity of people, companies and governments working together across borders both physical and digital. On page after page, the power and potential of collaboration shines through as the key to progress.
Take our cover art from one of the hottest AI artists on the scene today, Refik Anadol. These are never-before-published images from his latest project, “Winds of Yawanawá” (2023), which was co-created by young painters from the Yawanawá community, indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon. Together, using AI-driven “data as a pigment,” they’ve unveiled a stunning, multilayered artwork series that responds to real-time weather data from the Amazon rainforest.
Launched as a limited Genesis NFT collection in July, it is a colorful homage to living in harmony with the natural world that also leverages new technology to benefit the people who inspired it. In “Portrait of an AI Artist”, you can hear directly from Anadol about this project, as well as his thoughts on blockchain and provenance in the age of AI, his true feelings about art critics — and what his next major global rainforest project is all about.
Of course, that’s not all. This 116-page issue covers the biggest moves shaping the future of fintech, healthcare, retail, travel, social media and artificial intelligence.
In “The $4 Billion Bet”, esteemed journalist Chris Pomorski (Vanity Fair, The New Yorker) brings us the inside story behind Amazon’s game-changing acquisition of One Medical, with insight from the founder himself. His story speaks to the fact that one business cannot revolutionize the consumer market on its own; rather, dramatic change comes from cross-sector collaboration.
To see how this is playing out on a global scale, skip over to “What Happens When the Chips Are Down”. In this feature, automotive journalist Patrick George (The Verge, The New Republic) not only gives us a clear understanding of the importance of semiconductors to our global economy, but just how far governments are willing to go to control them. (Don’t miss Michael Schmidt, U.S. CHIPS program office director, on the record explaining the future implications of Biden’s $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.)
Ever wonder who’s winning “The Wallet Wars”? Here, fintech’s favorite reporter Mary Wisniewski dives into Apple’s ever-expanding digital wallet, providing a glimpse of what’s coming to the Western world of banking — one app that blends identity, banking and commerce. This move is so large it has invited regulatory scrutiny, and we’ve covered that, too.
In “Coastal Culture”, I look closely at how hospitality is approaching its sustainability goals. By canvassing everything from small family-owned businesses to the largest luxury conglomerates, I hope to illustrate where this is going, and who’s investing in real change. For instance, in this story we’re joined by Iris Lam, director of sustainability and global development at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, who sounds off on the relative strengths and weaknesses of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) programming in the luxury travel sector. Hers is a voice that cuts through the noise of a controversial topic.
In this issue, we’re also breaking our own business news in “Creativity Is Capital” by revealing the latest data product from Huge: the Creative Capital Index. It’s a remarkable AI-powered model that helps us measure a business’ level of organizational creativity relative to its competition. Think of it as the S&P 500 index but for creativity and innovation, as told by its architect, global chief product officer Lisa De Bonis.
Are you sensing the through line? Not one of our main characters has made their marks without collective buy-in, cooperation and partnership. But it’s not easily earned. There is tension. There is conflict. You will find ideas that contradict each other, or that challenge tradition in such a groundbreaking way that there is no turning back.
It is a privilege to interview these business leaders at this tumultuous moment in time. To set down their stories in print is to give their ideas permanence. Ultimately, that’s our aim: to honor and amplify not big egos, but big ideas.
I hope you’ll have a gander and agree: These stories truly give us reasons to be hopeful about the future. Our species’ superpower is cooperation. Not only is alignment achievable — it is well worth the struggle. It’s all right there in black, white and our personal brand favorite: magenta. Happy reading,
