Today’s guest is Rory Stewart - a man with an extraordinary biography and a sharp intellect. Drawing on his unusually broad and deep experience, I had an enjoyable and compact conversation with Rory about navigating conflict, dealing with a changing world order and acting as a true leader within it.

Rory is a former British cabinet minister and is known globally today as the co-host of the highly recommended podcast "The Rest Is Politics". He is also Professor in the Practice of Grand Strategy at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. Before that, Rory served as a soldier, diplomat and provincial administrator in Iraq. He also walked across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal; experiences he later captured in his fascinating books.

Please enjoy this short but rich conversation with the diplomat at heart, Rory Stewart, and subscribe to the Sparkr Podcast for more conversations on strategy, innovation and leadership.

The essay belonging to this interview can be found here: https://sparkr.ch/leadership-principles-rory-stewart/

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ABOUT SPARKR

The Sparkr Podcast is published by Sparkr. Sparkr is an agency for strategy work, innovation and leadership supporting leaders, change makers and innovators mostly in Switzerland. Learn more on www.sparkr.ch

You can follow and connect with the host Christian Lundsgaard on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-lundsgaard-hansen/

If you want to get in touch with Christian Lundsgaard to discuss an engagement as moderator, workshop facilitator, personal sparring partner or another mandate, you can book a virtual meeting here: https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min

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YOU CAN ALSO EXPLORE SPARKR'S LIBRARY OF FREE HANDBOOKS, FRAMEWORKS AND MORE:

Check out Sparkr's compact strategy handbook (in German) featuring methods and tipps for successful strategy work here: https://sparkr.ch/strategie-handbuch/

Assess your own leadership style by applying Sparkr's leadership framework (in German) here: https://sparkr.ch/leadership-spannungsfelder/

Anja Blacha is truly exceptional: In the early 2020s she became the first woman to ski solo and unsupported from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole; a feat recognized by Guinness World Records. The expedition covered 1381 km in just 58 days, facing snow storms with winds up to 100 km/h and temperatures down to -35°C while Anja was pulling a 100 kg sledge with everything the explorer needed to survive. Anja is also among the world’s top mountaineers. As of 2025, she has climbed twelve of the fourteen 8000 meter peaks without supplemental oxygen; including a Mount Everest summit without bottled oxygen in May 2025.

In the Sparkr Podcast conversation with Anja, the goal was simple: Understand what kind of mindset and self‑leadership makes her achievements possible and what business leaders can borrow even if they don’t need to survive in the literal “death zones” of this planet.

Boardrooms and C-suites rarely look like an Antarctica expedition but some of the underlying challenges can be similar: You must make decisions under uncertainty, pressure is high, the stakes are real and the easiest option is rarely the right one. In those moments, leadership is not a set of intentions. It is the quality of your decisions, your discipline and your ability to execute under pressure with a well-performing team.

So, no matter if you are climbing the corporate ladder, Mount Everest or if you’re already at the top where the air is thin, let’s shed some light on leadership lessons that help you succeed at the South Pole and in the boardroom.

You can find an article providing an executive summary of this conversation and with the key leadership takeaways here https://sparkr.ch/leadership-lessons-anja-blacha/

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ABOUT SPARKR

The Sparkr Podcast is published by Sparkr. Sparkr is an agency for strategy work, innovation and leadership supporting leaders, change makers and innovators mostly in Switzerland. Learn more on www.sparkr.ch

You can follow and connect with the host Christian Lundsgaard on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-lundsgaard-hansen/

If you want to get in touch with Christian Lundsgaard to discuss an engagement as moderator, workshop facilitator, personal sparring partner or another mandate, you can book a virtual meeting here: https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min

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YOU CAN ALSO EXPLORE SPARKR'S LIBRARY OF FREE HANDBOOKS, FRAMEWORKS AND MORE:

Check out Sparkr's compact strategy handbook (in German) featuring methods and tipps for successful strategy work here: https://sparkr.ch/strategie-handbuch/

Assess your own leadership style by applying Sparkr's leadership framework (in German) here: https://sparkr.ch/leadership-spannungsfelder/

Looking for guidance to develop your career or your personal growth strategy? Take a look at the "HOPE Framework" which gives you a (H) holistic approach to assessing your (O) opportunities for (P) personal (E) evolution. You can test the free version or purchase the full version here: https://sparkr.ch/hope/

In this episode I had the privilege to talk to the leader who enabled hyper complex projects and teams with thousands of people to succeed and literally reach for the stars.

I‘m talking of none other than astrophysicist Prof. Thomas Zurbuchen. Till the end of 2022 he was the Chief Scientist at NASA and with that arguably the most powerful scientist on the planet with responsibility over thousands of people and a 8 billion dollar + budget.

Under his leadership, NASA successfully launched the historic James Webb Telescope and landed robots on Mars - among dozens of other impressive missions.

In addition, Thomas promotes entrepreneurs, inovators and leaders to become the best versions of themselves whereever and whenever he can.

Over his impressive carreer, Thomas learnt a lot about high perfoming teams by building and leading them. In this conversation, Thomas shares his leadership lessons, decision making process, how you create an organization that learns faster than it fails and much much more.

So please enjoy this episode of the Sparkr Podcast which was recorded in front of a live audience im summer 2023 with the extraordinary human being Thomas Zurbuchen.

And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave a positive rating if you enjoy this conversation.

CHECK OUT THE "HOPE FRAMEWORK" (www.hopeframework.com)

If you want to design and lead an inspiring life and find your true north star, then you want to check out the HOPE Framework - a step-by-step guide that helps you to develop yourself and your career holistically and strategically. With the HOPE Framework you can answer today who you want to be in a year. Check out www.hopeframework.com

ABOUT THIS SHOW

Sparkr Podcast is published by Sparkr. Sparkr is an angency for change makers and supports them with strategy, innovation and project management competencies. Sparkr offers customized studies, workshops or sparring sessions - always with the goal that you can use the future shaped by digitalization, technological and social change to your advantage. Learn more on www.sparkr.ch/en.

If you want to get in touch with Sparkr to contribute to your next business event or strategy workshop as facilitator, speaker or moderator, please visit www.sparkr.ch/moderation-en

If you want to get in touch with Christian Lundsgaard for a personal virtual meeting, book one on https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min

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Bertrand Piccard is an exceptional person. As adventurer, explorer and psychiatrist he flew around the world with the Orbiter 3 balloon which was the longest flight in human history and outcompeted famous billionaire Richard Branson when doing so.

After breaking records with Orbiter 3, Bertrand Piccard set out to push the boundaries of the impossible again and after many years of perseverance and innovation, Piccard flew around the world in the first maned solar powered airplane known as Solar Impulse. Today he uses his influence and the Solar Impulse Foundation to collect more than 1000 profitable technologies who will contribute to a more sustainable future.

In this inspiring and personal podcast conversation we dive deep into what Bertrand Piccard learnt about taking risks, about getting back up after failures, making hard decisions, shifting paradigms and moving the boundaries of the impossible. Also, the power of the mind and how to train it became a recurring theme during the conversation thanks to his experience as a psychiatrist and hypnosis specialist.

Please enjoy this rich conversation which was recorded at the Swiss FinTech Awards Night 2021. The Swiss FinTech Awards are organized and made possible by Finanz und Wirtschaft Forum, Sparkr and many other partners and they award outstanding start-ups and influencers in the field of fintech.

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Sparkr is an angency for change makers and supports them with strategy, innovation and project management competencies. Sparkr offers customized studies, workshops or sparring sessions - always with the goal that you can use the future shaped by digitalization, technological and social change to your advantage. Learn more on www.sparkr.ch/en.

If you want to get in touch with Sparkr to contribute to your next business event as facilitator or moderator, please visit www.sparkr.ch/moderation-en

Adam is a professor for Marketing at the Stern School of Business at New York University and author of multiple insightful books such as „Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked“ or his latest work „Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most“.

In this conversation, Adam and myself discuss how we can create breakthroughs in our personal and professional life. But first, we explore why we get stuck every once in a while in our life and what the best tactics are to get unstuck again and prepare ourselves for breakthroughs.

Adam has done extensive research about this topic and has uncovered valuable insights to get unstuck and be successful in the transformations we want to make.

- We elaborated on the state of being stuck, what it origins can be and how to proactively avoid it.

- We discussed concrete tactics and mindsets to get ahead, create breakthroughs and get unstuck.

- And also we talked about how we as leaders in business, as parents or otherwise caring human beings can be helpful for others who are stuck.

CHECK OUT THE "HOPE FRAMEWORK" (www.hopeframework.com)

Do you want to get unstuck and thrive in your career or in your personal life? If you'd like to design and lead a fulfilled life, then you want to check out the HOPE Framework - a step-by-step guide that helps you to develop yourself holistically and strategically. With the HOPE Framework you can answer today who you want to become in a year and how to get there. Check out www.hopeframework.com

ABOUT THE SHOW

Sparkr is an angency for change makers and supports them with strategy, innovation and project management competencies. Sparkr offers customized studies, workshops or sparring sessions - always with the goal that you can use the future shaped by digitalization, technological and social change to your advantage. Learn more on www.sparkr.ch/en.

If you want to get in touch with Sparkr to contribute to your next business event as facilitator, speaker or moderator, please visit www.sparkr.ch/moderation-en

If you want to get in touch with Christian Lundsgaard for a personal virtual meeting, book one on https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min

Branding ist ein strategisches Führungsinstrument gegenüber verschiedenen Zielgruppen: von den Kunden bis zu den eigenen Mitarbeitenden. Eine starke Marke dient als Kompass, gibt Halt, Klarheit und Sicherheit. Die Marke weist die Richtung und hilft bei der Prioritätensetzung.

Nicht nur Produkte profitieren von einer starken Marke, sondern auch die Organisation an sich. Mit dem Employer Branding können Firmen dem Fachkräftemangel begegnen und versuchen, den „War for Talents“ für sich zu entscheiden.

Employer Branding beinhaltet allerdings weit mehr als eine isolierte Rekrutierungskampagne. Es geht um Kultur, es geht darum, die richtigen Leute in der Firma halten zu können und Mitarbeitende zu Fans und Botschafterinnen zu machen.

Um dieses mehrschichtige Thema zu diskutieren, ist Alex Herrmann Gast dieser Episode.

Als strategischer Sparring Partner für Marke und Transformation bewegt sich Alex seit 20 Jahren im Spannungsfeld von Strategie, Marketing und Organisationsentwicklung. Mit seinem Fokus auf Marken und Zielgruppen hilft er Unternehmen, Führungspersonen und Teams dabei, Klarheit, Resonanz und Wachstum zu erreichen.

Er war unter anderem Chefstratege bei MetaDesign und Senior Partner bei Wirz. Heute ist er aktiv als unabhängiger Advisor mit seiner eigenen Firma HRMN. Seine Expertise teilt er zudem auch als Studienleiter des CAS für Markenmanagement und Kommunikation an der Universität Bern und als Advisory Board Member. Über die Jahre beriet er schon viele Unternehmen zum Thema Employer Branding und dessen Beitrag zur Zukunfsfähigkeit von Unternehmen.

In dieser Episode teilt Alex seine Erfahrungen und Einschätzungen zum Thema (Employer) Branding. Dabei lernen wir viel über den strategischen Wert einer Marke, die Dos and Dont’s im Aufbau und Umgang mit einer Marke und wie sich Organisationen als attraktive Arbeitgeber im Arbeitsmarkt positionieren können.

Wer den Fachkräftemangel nachhaltig anpacken will oder einen Crash Kurs in strategischem Branding erhalten möchte, ist in dieser Sparkr Podcast Episode genau richtig.

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NÜTZLICHE LINKS ZU DIESER EPISODE

* Website von Alex Herrmann: https://hrmn.ch

* Artikel auf Sparkr Blog mit Zusammenfassung des Gesprächs: https://sparkr.ch/employer-branding-strategie/

* Artikel auf Sparkr Blog zum Thema Archetypen im Branding: https://sparkr.ch/branding-strategie-fuhrungsinstrument/

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LERNE DAS "HOPE FRAMEWORK" KENNEN (www.hopeframework.com)

Nicht nur Firmen profitieren davon, sich aktiv um Branding und Positionierung zu kümmern. Auch wir als Menschen sind gut beraten, ins Kennenlernen unserer Stärken, Schwächen und unseres Purpose zu investieren. Erkenne und Entwickle deine persönliche Brand mit dem "HOPE Framework" - einer Schritt-für-Schritt Methode, um die eigenen Werte und Ziele zu definieren, Veränderungschancen zu erarbeiten und die Umsetzung für die persönliche und berufliche Transformation konkret zu planen und ein Momentum aufzubauen. Erfahre mehr auf www.hopeframework.com

MEETING MIT CHRISTIAN

Wenn du einen unverbindlichen Kennenlerntermin arrangieren möchtest, kannst du ganz bequem über folgende Website ein Meeting mit Christian anfragen: https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min

ÜBER DIESEN PODCAST

Der Sparkr Podcast wird moderiert und herausgegeben von Christian Lundsgaard-Hansen, dem Gründer von Sparkr - einer Agentur für den holistischen Blick auf strategische Innovation und Leadership. Lundsgaard-Hansen ist als unabhängiger, strategischer Sparring Partner und Moderator tätig. Mehr auf www.sparkr.ch.

STRATEGIE HANDBUCH, LEADERSHIP SPANNUNGSFELDER UND MEHR AUF DEM SPARKR BLOG

Auf dem Sparkr Blog finden Sie verschiedene Inhalte zu Strategie, Innovation oder Leadership. Wie zum Beispiel das „Strategie Handbuch“ mit nützlichen Grundlagen, Methoden und Leitfragen für die Strategieentwicklung: https://sparkr.ch/strategie-handbuch/ oder ein Leadership-Framework für moderne Führungskräfte: https://sparkr.ch/leadership-spannungsfelder/

Welcome to this special episode of the Sparkr Podcast. It's the first edition of a new series called "Executive Briefings". In these briefings you learn everything you need to know about significant technologies, innovations and more. The first edition is dedicated to the 5G technology.

5G is the fifth generation of the mobile connectivity standard that will power your smartphone and entire economies in the near future. 5G will change everything and you should know about it. That's why Sparkr created this Executive Briefing.

The Executive Briefing is a series of blog posts that you can find on www.sparkr.ch/blog.

The Executive Briefing on 5G is available here: http://sparkr.ch/5g-why-it-will-change-everything-and-you-should-know-about-it/

Thanks for sharing and subscribing to the Sparkr Podcast as well as the Sparkr Newsletter. Get the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/gc9Mpn

With the Sparkr Newsletter you get carefully curated and relevant stories from the world of technology, innovation and its impact on society and business.

“Having ideas is the best thing humans do”, says Horacio “Chacho” Puebla. Chacho is the Chief Creative Director of LOLA – a creative and strategically driven advertising agency with a Latin spirit and global reach.

Their clients include top brands such as Burger King, Magnum, Rexona and new kids on the block like 9Gag. As a part of the MullenLoewe agency network LOLA has been winning dozens of awards for their creative work all over the world. Most notably, over the last couple of years, they have been awarded so many Lions from the festival in Cannes that you could repopulate the North of Africa with these noble wild cats.

Chacho is a creative pro and it was a great pleasure to sit down with him and chat about creativity and most importantly, how to hire, build and enable creative teams to generate new ideas every day.

Learning what it takes to establish a creative power house is crucial in today’s world and the future where new ideas and concepts need to be thought off at an ever-faster pace.

Therefore, I am especially thrilled to bring to you this episode of the Sparkr Podcast where it is my goal to uncover mindsets and tactics of people who are great at what they do and make their experience applicable for everybody. Let’s dive right in and talk about creativity.

For more please visit: www.sparkr.ch/blog

If you want to get in touch with Christian Lundsgaard for a personal virtual meeting, book one on https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min

In the age of Google and other powerful search tools, finding the right answer becomes increasingly easy. What grows as a challenge on the other hand, is asking the right questions to cut through the abundance, the noise, the BS and actually move the needle – be it as an innovative entrepreneur, as a CEO, strategist, team leader or personal friend. Asking the right questions is at the core of Sparkr's various business activities (www.sparkr.ch/en).

This Sparkr Podcast is really valuable for entrepreneurs who are at the beginning of building a team, a company and that are looking for investors. If you are an entrepreneur or want to go down that path, take your time to listen to the complete conversation because it uncovers many insights on how to approach and work with investors, the importance of open, sometimes tough conversations as well as the importance of reflecting on your goals and character. In this conversation you get insights from a longtime investor and founder of one of the largest and oldest venture capital firms in Europe.

For this episode of the Sparkr Podcast I initially set out to learn more about the art of asking the right questions. For that I met with successful and thoughtful investor Florian Schweitzer who started young as an entrepreneur and along the way founded b-to-v – a venture capital firm managing about EUR 330m in institutional funds, partner funds and direct investments of private investors. B-to-v’s portfolio included hits such as Facebook or Xing and now features companies like Volocopter, Sum Up or Outfittery.

As our conversation for the Sparkr Podcast evolved, it turned out that the chat we had was actually not only about asking the right questions but also about being present, seeing behind the curtain of people’s motivations as well as the importance of intuition, trust, relationships and passion. That’s why eventually I decided to title this Sparkr Podcast episode “Why every Business is People Business - The Importance of Listening, Being Present, Intuition, Passion, Trust and Relationships”.

Learn more about Florian and b-to-v here: https://btov.vc/people/florian-schweitzer/

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The Sparkr Podcast

If you've liked this format, make sure to check out the other available episodes of the Sparkr Podcast which unveil the mindsets and tactics of great minds in business, innovation and leadership.

Listen to more episodes of the Sparkr Podcast on http://sparkr.ch/podcast/

Ottmar Hitzfeld ist die Fussballlegende schlechthin im deutschsprachigen Raum. Als Fussballspieler und Trainer hat er unzählige Erfolge gefeiert aber auch bis heute unvergessene Niederlagen erlitten.

Im Sparkr Podcast erzählt Ottmar Hitzfeld was er in seiner 40-jährigen Karriere gelernt hat. Wir reden über seine Führungsphilosophie, die ihm zahlreiche Pokale eingebracht hat, wie er grossartige Teams formte, wie er gute Entscheidungen trifft aber auch was zu tun ist, wenn man als Mannschaft schmerzliche Niederlagen erleidet.

Wir reden über Integrität, Vertrauen, Authentizität und darüber wie man erfolgreich Kritik übt - keine einfache Aufgabe, wenn deine Gegenüber Oliver Kahn, Lothar Matthäus oder Stefan Effenberg heissen.

Im Sparkr Podcast bin ich im Gespräch mit ausserordentlichen und inspirierenden Persönlichkeiten, um von Ihnen zu erfahren, welche Mindsets und Prinzipien zum Erfolg führen.

Mehr zu Sparkr und dem Podcast gibt es unter www.sparkr.ch/podcast

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Der Sparkr Podcast wird moderiert und herausgegeben von Christian Lundsgaard-Hansen, dem Gründer von Sparkr - einer Agentur für den holistischen Blick auf strategische Transformationen in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Lundsgaard-Hansen ist als unabhängiger, strategischer Sparring Partner, Netzwerker und Moderator tätig. Mehr auf www.sparkr.ch.

Auf dem Sparkr Blog finden Sie verschiedene Inhalte zu Strategie, Innovation, Technologie oder Leadership. Wie zum Beispiel das „Strategie Handbuch“ mit nützlichen Grundlagen, Methoden und Leitfragen für die Strategieentwicklung: https://sparkr.ch/strategie-handbuch/

Wenn Sie mit Christian Lundsgaard-Hansen ins Gespräch kommen möchten, können Sie einen virtuellen Termin buchen auf https://calendly.com/christian-sparkr/30min