Piers Fawkes is a connector. He melds ideas. He brings people together. He sends ideas out into the world—often for free—and hopes they'll inspire people to, if we may crib an ad slogan of the past from one of his clients, think different.
The N.Y.-based Englishman is a businessman, a trends guy. Four years ago he co-founded PSFK, "a trends research, innovation and activation company," with London-based business partner Simon King. But this is no ordinary trends company. It has a do-gooder (or should we say do-better) mission: inspire readers, clients and guests to make things better—better products, better services, better lives or a better world, Fawkes says.