Progress is one of humanity's most enduring yet contested ideas. Is progress an actuality or is it a myth? What does progress mean when the present feels so futureless today?

​Horseshoe maximalism is the social temperament of our times, an emerging cultural logic and aesthetic that will dominate consumer and business industries in the coming half-decade.

​Following up from our last report on Hyper-Optimization, the Office of Applied Strategy is proud to announce OAS Dossier 2: The New Pantheon, which explores the phenomena of horseshoe maximalism across multiple industries over the span of 80+ pages. Join us for an evening where we unpack this term with a keynote talk by Tony Wang, followed by a panel discussion with several of the authors, where we explore how political polarization today has given way to new cultural trends that embrace contradiction and extremities. All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the dossier. There will only be 1,000 copies produced, with no online distribution of the report. Limited quantities.

​Helen Yin Chen

​Helen Yin Chen is a strategist and researcher working at the intersection of technology, culture, and ecology. She has held roles at the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, R/GA, IDEO, and Arup Foresight. She is also a research-based artist collaborating with living systems, such as fungi and bacteria, to explore transformative frameworks that deeply enrich both her art and strategy practice.

​Chloé Desaulles

​Chloé Desaulles is a creative director, artist and researcher. Previously at The New York Times R&D, she now leads Touch Response, a creative studio helping cultural institutions and forward-thinking clients navigate an evolving digital landscape through storytelling innovation, full-service design, and R&D.

​Chris Gayomali

​Chris Gayomali is a writer, editor, and creative consultant based in New York City. He is currently the editor of SSENSE and writes the health and wellness newsletter HEAVIES, which was a 2024 featured publication on Substack. He has written for New York Magazine, GQ, The Believer, and National Geographic, among others

​Serena Wang

​Serena Wang is a technology designer and researcher with an emphasis on human-computer interaction, systems thinking, and speculative design. She currently designs operations tools for public transit and has previously done work with autonomous robotics, autonomous trucks, and blockchain platforms. She has given talks at University of Michigan and Northeastern.

​Victoria Massey

​Victoria Massey is a strategist specializing in luxury fashion and beauty, grounded in her ongoing career as an international model. Working across the industry's major fashion capitals, her real-time access to creative culture allows her to bridge her modeling career with her practice as a strategist. Her work focuses around developing creative strategies shaped by her lived experience within the luxury industry.

Tony Wang

​Tony is a strategist and the founder of the Office of Applied Strategy. He has over a decade of multinational experience in luxury, technology, and management consulting. Previously, he was at SSENSE overseeing brand and content strategy. He has also worked at McKinsey, Google & IDEO.