An observer of trends, Stefan would prefer to be called 'student' than 'futurist.' Stefan believes one of the most defining trends of our time is "an obvious decline in trust all over the developed world." "If you ask people in Europe or in the United States, more and more people tend to be distrusters. . . I trust that the future will be worse. And that is a problem of course–if you don't believe in the future, if you actually believe tomorrow will be worse, then you will tend to choose a different kind of action, rather than I can collaborate with you and we can make awesome things happen." Stephan sees people turning away from the truth because "the truth is harder to handle in a rapid change environment. It's going to be tougher and tougher." He blames declining trust on a trend toward "short-termism" and going for "the easy wins. The short term solutions." His clarion call is that "we have this one planet. . . the planet is sending us invoices for using resources in a non-sustainable way." He believes "more and more people today need a vision for the human future" and points to collaboration and trust as key. His mission? To "help others realize that the biggest problems here are the biggest opportunities. And there is no conflict between making impact and business. Making impact is the only business strategy that will be rewarded."