How do I leverage my work for societal impact in dark times?

Christine Renaud: 00:01

Welcome to The More the Brainier, the brave space where creative minds come to share and solve their most pressing burning questions. From Montreal, I'm your host, Christine Renaud, CEO of Braindate. Over the last decade at Braindate, I've seen over and over again how peer-led discussions can truly be transformative. This is why, for each of our three guests, I will guide a conversation that will hopefully help them solve their most pressing burning question.

I'm here today in the studio with Jane Gibb, our creative producer.

Jane Gibb: 00:47

Hello everybody. This month on this first ever edition of The More the Brainier, we're delighted to welcome Rekha Magon, Co-Founder and Head of Education at Boundless Life, Felix Rundel, Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer at Future Hain, and Vinod Rajasekaran, CEO and Editor-in-chief at Future of Good. Together we will delve into their burning questions and explore a range of intriguing topics, including the intersection of boundaries and guilt, the interplay of dark mode and hope mode, and the art of fostering curious conversations in divided times.

Christine: 01:37

Félix, Rekha, Vinod. Bonjour!

Hello

Christine

So glad you're here. Where are you joining from?

Felix

Berlin, Germany.

Rekha

I'm calling in from Syros, Greece.

Vinod: 01:50

I'm in Ottawa, Canada.

Felix

Has Canada been annexed yet? It's like a light-hearted question.

Christine

Yeah, it is. What do you hear from you know, from Berlin, Felix, what do

Felix

Everything and that's the problem. Unfiltered everything. I mean that is the right lead up to my burning question.

Vinod

We're ready to join the EU, Felix.

Felix: 02:15

Here we go. We wanted you all along.

Christine: 02:21

Okay, so let's jump in with Felix. Felix, you're the co-founder of Future Hain, based in Berlin and a man of many pet projects such as Science of Rave or Soirée XT, a science tech fashion arts community. In life, you're also a proud papa, an aging club dancer, and a lifelong pasta specialist. Would you tell us more about Future Hain?

Felix

Yes, hi Christine, thanks for having me on. Future Hain is a strategy studio. As you said, we're specialized on supporting science-driven organizations, science, innovation, technology-driven organizations in their challenges, in strategy communications becoming more visible, and specifically also translating between their mostly complex, highly complex work and society, the broader public.

And in doing that, we love to tap into mainstream culture, underground culture, arts, fashion, design. And that's, I guess, our special little recipe.

Christine

Would you be able to tell us what it looks like in real life or give us an example of a project you put together?

Felix

I think the beauty is in the diversity of projects. So if you go through my schedule of yesterday, I did some interviews with European quantum technology experts on where that landscape is going between quantum science and quantum technology and application, because we are mapping a strategy project for quantum hub.

Then I moved on to curating the program for a large congress, putting together speakers and questions on future resilience and preparedness. And then in the evening, working on a joint salon with the House of Beautiful Business, which we do in a very playful way with lots of artistic and musical elements. So it's that thing that I love. We don't have... the artists and the scientists sitting together at the table all the time. But this kind of bridge building in all directions and tapping into these different energies, that's what makes my job so beautiful.

Christine: 04:54

It's amazing. Let's go with your burning question.

So you have 90 seconds to tell us all about your burning question. And again, you can include any context that you think will help us to understand it better.

Felix

When I thought about my burning question, I was under the impression of this acute zeitgeist. had the German elections, federal elections, you all know, with more than 20 % share of the vote going to a far-right extremist party.

All of that happened within that one month, very hyper-speed geopolitical change and listening to the US representatives talks at the Munich Security Conference and the news headlines coming in every day without mercy. I wondered what we can do, what I can do to make much more out of my work, my communities, also these passion projects that you mentioned in terms of impact for society, for the values that we want to stand for.

Yeah, and I mentioned this dark mode is something I read in a really good comment by Tim Leberecht, co-founder of the House of Beautiful Business. Shout out to Tim and the crew, which kind of describes this feeling of not just now, but we've been switching to this darker mode where there's less certainty, there's maybe less space for hope for this, what we knew as hope. And maybe there's a need for a new type of hope navigating through that darkness. So yeah, that's my question. How can I make more out of what I'm doing?

Christine: 06:58

Time for clarifying questions from Vinod and Rekha.

Rekha

Is this a work related question? Like how could, from a work standpoint, how could you show up more? Or from a personal standpoint or a community standpoint? I think there's so many different elements in which we can show up differently or, you know, so just curious to know which area you're referring to.

Felix

Yeah, great question. I think it's work plus. there are communities connected to what I'm doing, both on the science side, both on the Berlin society side with these salon series that we're hosting, that we're co-hosting with other friends. So there are several platforms. And one thing I haven't mentioned, we founded a second company last fall, the Center for Convening Minds, which is there to bring new impulses to the business events industry.

So this is one of my special areas, trying to anticipate trends and trying to make sense of what's going on in that world of business events and meetings and making those more impactful, for example, could be a pathway. So yes, more center around work and activities than on my personal life at the moment.

Vinod

Can you elaborate a bit more on this dark mode, Felix? Because you said you read something that was inspirational. So could you just unpack that just a little bit so we better understand what you mean by dark mode?

Felix: 08:29

Sure. This is something I've been, of course, as a philosophical note and also a psychological note, how we look at the world at the moment. When I read this concept of dark mode, it reminded me of earlier years, around 2004 or 2005, think Rebecca Solnit published this Hope in the Dark, which talks about being activistic in your direct environment in a time where everything becomes much more difficult politically where you feel that there are fewer opportunities to connect with other people.

To me, that now means that I am trying to shield myself, first of all, from a learned helplessness. I think that's one major step. And then finding a way, finding strategies, tactics, rituals to, on the one hand, stay connected with what's going on and especially serving in my community, but also kind of disconnecting from this constant shelling of news, which is plunging me, us further into the dark.

Christine

And I have a question around darkness again. I wonder when I think about darkness, when I read your question, I was thinking about dark mode on Google Maps, thinking that I'm driving and all of a sudden the sun is going down, the map is turning dark. I wonder where do you think our darkness is coming from right now? And obviously the news are not anything for joy, but where is? Kind of what is the why of why are we in this situation collectively as a society in many different countries all over the world? Where is that darkness coming from?

Felix: 10:17

That's really the biggest question there is to me. I they're really great commenters on these questions. I think there's this feeling of a loss of trust, which is also showing in polls, I think roughly 70 % of people now believe that government leaders, business leaders and press purposely mislead people. At least that was a result of the Edelman Trust Barometer. If you trust these numbers, um it's also this perceived lack of or dismissal of virtues, whereas vice might become much more compelling culturally. So I think this question is way above my pay grade! Maybe the others want to comment on it in their advice.

But to me, I'm not trying to interpret this as a broader societal interpretation, it's really a very, very personal thing to me right now. And I'm trying to get out of it and learn helplessness or helplessness in general. And this feeling of being overwhelmed is a huge part in it. And I think the first step that needs to be tackled.

Christine

Thank you.

: 11:43

So it's time for you to sit back and take it in. it's time for Rekha and Vinod to share ideas, perspectives on your burning question.

Rekha, do you want to go first?

Rekha

Sure. What comes to mind for me is I think, yes, there's darkness at all times in the world. And my personal opinion is, and it might be ignorant, but I do try to kind of not even feed into it almost like just, I don't read the newspaper. I don't often listen to the news because I find then I get sucked into the darkness almost.

So I personally choose sometimes to just to focus on the good and to focus on how can I add value and serve the world in my own way, right? I believe like each of us are here for a unique purpose, you know, to add value in some way or form. really kind of whether it's work or community or family or personal.

Just looking at everything in a way of, how in this moment can I add value? How can I be of service? How can I be an instrument for the wider good or the bigger cause here and just putting my time and effort towards that?

That's how I personally kind of approach the world. And I think, I believe it's like a snowball effect, right? Whatever you focus on snowballs, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. If I myself and everyone individually can start focusing on the good, on the positive, how can we serve, how can we add value, I think then collectively we can start to see a change in just society and where everyone is going because we're all kind of taking ownership of our own immediate stage and our own immediate circle.

Christine: 13:46

Mm-hmm. Totally. Vinod?

Vinod

Yeah. This is a really good question and I've got so much to weigh-in on. But I'll think I'll start with this: you know with the sort-of the exponential rise of information um there's also the exponential rise of misinformation and exponential rise of random polarising opinions and you know you mention disconnecting Felix but social media by design is a behaviour modification system, that is what it is meant to do, it is meant to modify behaviour systematically over and over again. And so, I think that disconnecting is one of the things to do.

But the question is even deeper for me what I mean by that is that it still feels that you're looking for answers outside yourself and you mention salons and business meetings and communication strategies and I think all that is good but my question is what's the inner change that you're working on? Right? And because what we practise at the small scale sets patterns for the whole system right, I think in all of this all the complexity of the world, all the darkness and the change, what is the inner re-engineering we need to do in this time and moment?

Yes, there are humanity level tensions of all-kinds but I would encourage you to reflect on what is the inner change that I'm working on?

Christine: 15:32

Thank you, Vinod. I absolutely love this. something I came across a couple of weeks ago, I was watching a documentary with my family on dogs. So we are definitely a family of dog lovers, and we were all watching this amazing documentary on dogs. And they were talking about the survival of the kindest as a biological principle that is not often talked about.

We always hear about the survival of the fittest, but actually when you think about dogs, for instance they survived and they thrived because they were, it's the kindness of the wolves that basically thrive and survive next to humans. And not because they were biting our hands when we were feeding them, but because they're kind and thoughtful. And that actually, this is a principle that is not just applicable for dogs, but in general in life, that there is a bias for the kindness.

And I think that I totally relate to what Rekha and Vinod were talking about in terms of our own being our community, that small scale impact that we can create. And I think that focusing on that and also being aware that some of the changes we expect or we want might come in many, many, many years. And we might not even be a witness of that. Some of those systemic changes, we might be part of it in our small scale, but never see the end of it. And I think that's something we might have to reconcile with.

So thank you everyone, Felix, you're granted speech again. I would love to hear your takeaways and any stuff or is that you imagine.

Felix

Thank you all, Rekha Vinod and also Christine, about the dog analogy. Too bad that I'm a cat person and my red Tomcat is the fiercest and the baddest. I wear his scar every day. No, he's lovely.

But honestly, I want to thank you for giving me that advice that reaches quite deep. You you go in the same pattern. My natural reaction, I think, is what I learned is how can I do more, how can I, you know, more activity, more moving around. Whereas you're telling me to look into my inner constellation and working on that and everything else will radiate from there. So I will definitely take that to heart. And yeah, thanks again.

Christine

Thank you, Felix. It's such a blessing to have you here and have these discussions with all of you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you all for listening. Also, many thanks to Jane Gibb, our creative producer here at The More The Brainier, and to Chris Leon and Jenya Sverlov, our delightful sound engineers.

Jane

Next week we'll hear from Vinod Rajasekaran, CEO and Editor-in-Chief at Future of Good. Through his burning question, we'll explore the art of fostering curious conversations in divided times.

This podcast was brought to you by Braindate, the world's leading technology that turns your event into a knowledge-sharing feast, leaving your participants transformed by each other. If you have any contributions, you can share them on Braindate's LinkedIn page, where we'll post the episodes.