Mazen Nahawi, founder and group CEO of CARMA and RAIYN, joins Earned First to assess the communications landscape of the ongoing US-Iran conflict. Drawing on CARMA's media intelligence data, he argues that the largely neutral view of Gulf countries reflects a deficit in terms of incomplete storytelling rather than active hostility, and one that Iran's disciplined communications strategy is effectively exploiting.

Nahawi also reflects on building two global holding groups out of the Middle East, the cultural and operational advantages that emerging-market businesses bring to the industry, and why the gap in communications today is less about capability than courage.

Christine Fellowes, founder of NINEby9, and Jane Morgan, chief client officer at Ashbury Communications, join Earned First to discuss Nineby9's latest research report, AI and the Future of Women in the Workplace. The conversation covers the exposure women face as AI reshapes the workforce, with women overrepresented in the roles most at risk of displacement and underrepresented in the roles being created. Fellowes and Morgan also examine how women's more measured approach to AI adoption, while a genuine organisational asset, can go unrecognised in workplaces that reward speed over outcomes. The episode looks at the structural changes needed in how organisations design learning, align HR and technology functions, and rethink entry-level talent investment, and what individuals can do in parallel.

Ramya Chandrasekaran, chief communications officer at QI Group, joins Arun Sudhaman to discuss how AI has moved from experiment to embedded practice inside her team, why geopolitics has fundamentally expanded the scope of the CCO role, and what it takes to build communications that actually land across 17-plus markets. She also shares an honest account of how she won a seat at the table, and why building relationships with the lawyers might matter more than you think.