The Sonophilian

A sense of togetherness in a virtual world. During the global lockdown that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, messages of unity, compassion, understanding, and trust were widespread and continue to be so, even as many institutions and events reopen. Whether in education, in banking, in healthcare, in business, the concept of remote work slammed into our lives with a sledgehammer-like force, knocking us into a very alien reality. Karen Kusch, a partner at Kusch Consulting, has 20 years of corporate experience in the field of future work and global collaboration, so for her, this scenario hits very close to home.

As the conversations surrounding AI evolve and move past the all-encompassing, purely fear-inducing images of the Terminator, Trent predicts that AI will undoubtedly replace many blue-collar jobs, white-collar jobs, and many professions in between. Trent McConaghy wholly believes, however, that we must separate the idea of our work from the more pressing issue of leading a meaningful life.

“I am not a huge believer in this slogan that robots will take our jobs… Automation is a tool to bring efficiency and make certain processes better. If a process is great and you automate the process, then you might come to the next level of greatness. Of course, you will not save businesses just with automation; you might improve or reduce certain tasks, augment them… Start with the business question: what do we want to change? What do you want to use?” - Anastassia Lauterbach

“There are three main essential insights I've gained. First, development is closely linked to the ability to shape things yourself. Let people do instead of limiting their creativity by setting strict limits. Second, good cooperation is important. Until now, humanity has worked best when it worked as a team. Third, respect individual needs and personal goals, particularly because in large companies like ours, more and more attention is paid to diverse teams. That's why it's all the more important to consider the wishes and goals of each individual in order to achieve the greatest possible success.” - Holger Seier

“Creativity, especially in my work, is really about connecting the dots to see the bigger picture. Sometimes it's important to step just one step back and see what is happening, how things are happening, why they're happening, and how they can be addressed. Creativity is really using all your senses and knowledge together with your experience and experience from others, from other disciplines and with diverse backgrounds. It’s essential to have an open, broad mind and see the different dependencies. But also to execute – to pick up the ideas and bring them into something

"Creative leadership is a force that must come into play in order to overcome unexpected obstacles. Success comes from having a constant creative drive. Turning the creativity of the world, which everybody has some inside them, is the most valuable asset when it comes to making an impact… I think that’s probably the most important feature of being successful in life, because you have to keep an open mind and take into account all sorts of components and aspects of living and thinking and coming up with new ideas all the time. That's what I found in Sonophilia. It's agroup of people that are just outstanding.” - Jeff Burton

"Creativity comes from listening. It's not about wanting to own the value, but it is the love with which you give anything of value away", says the Sonophilian Jan-Peter Doomernik, who is building resilient and future-oriented infrastructures at the Enexis Netbeheer, one of the Netherlands’ most critical providers.

“Creativity is the energy you put into leaving the legible world that you're in, and exploring the less legible, uncharted, poorly explored realm that likely contain the framing, the solution you need to make progress and go forward. The combination of creativity and critical thinking, when applied to any problem stage, will allow you to determine where to explore, how to explore it, and how to move forward in a way that progresses and aligns the journey of those that want to do so.” - Andy Zmolek

“I've always gone into a job, thinking: what positive impact am I having? I think, especially in these days…having really high quality journalism gives people a sense of perspective on the world that is based on facts. Truth is so important and so meaningful, and that's a huge passion point for me.” - Christopher Keller

“It's about being there as a human,” she says, “having a holistic approach, not only thinking about a great project which can make a lot of revenue or… business success, but it's a way to really elevate people's purpose, people’s wishes, people's dreams and meet people who are on the same level with you. You directly connect and click and start working in that moment. Collaboration or futuristic thinking for me starts at this very human place… Sonophilia was where it all started.”