"What will the world and Germany look like in seven years’ time?" This was the question posed by Dr. Martin Sonnenschein, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and speaker at the TRANSEARCH Business Lunch at the end of April.
His credo is: The solutions are already in our heads!
To remain future-ready, we now need to put them into practice. Above all, this requires courage and a proactive willingness to change. In his contribution to the book "Next.2030", which he – an entrepreneur and member of several supervisory boards – wrote together with 33 authors and which deals with topics such as energy transition, digitalization, biologization, geopolitics and AI, he emphasizes the principles that are essential for this.
Dr. Sonnenschein spoke about the opportunities that crises present and how we can take advantage of them. He emphasized that we, as a society, have the capacity to change and to turn change into opportunity. This does not just mean solving problems like climate change, infectious disease, energy and supply chain constraints. Above all, we have to start with ourselves and our behavior!
According to Dr. Sonnenschein, the answers to humanity's biggest questions are already in our heads. We just have to start accepting them and implementing them without fear of loss. He identifies five principles that can help us do this:
1. The end of small-picture thinking:Stay the course! If leaders don't agree, it's all for naught. We need a common narrative that includes freedom, equal opportunity and prosperity for all, including future generations. Small-picture divisiveness is distracting and leads to misallocation of resources.
2. Listen to the youth! The youth are putting pressure on us, and we should be grateful to them. We have achieved our prosperity at the expense of future generations and the environment. We should give young people more respect, responsibility and leadership.
3. Risk getting fired! Act independently, stand by your convictions, and take a stand for the cause! Of course, this involves the risk of losing power in the process of transformation and even having to "leave" in the end. Executives and politicians have to face this risk.
4. Be flexible! Adaptation ensures survival. Be open to new technologies and adapt your skills. These will be instrumental to a successful future. Confidence in your own abilities and a willingness to work for the common good play an important role in your willingness to leave your comfort zone.
5. Communicate! Clear and direct communication at all levels is necessary to align as a society and achieve our 2030 goals. Guide the change yourself and don't delegate responsibility for messaging and shaping the narrative to the press. Maintain opinion leadership and deliver your desired message to society! An independent press is important, but the content must come from us!
Dr. Sonnenschein ends his presentation with the following conclusion: We are facing enormous challenges. No stone will be left unturned!
The TRANSEARCH Business Lunch was once again a successful event where top-class business leaders came together to discuss important topics. We would like to thank Dr. Martin Sonnenschein for his inspiring and eye-opening presentation and all participants for the stimulating and lively discussion as well as Markus Bischoff (DEKRA Club Restaurant) for the excellent catering.
Through the TRANSEARCH ChildFund Foundation, a large amount of money was collected to support children and mothers in Ukraine. We are happy that we could make a small contribution in this way to help the people there. On our homepage www.transearchchildfund.org you can see for yourself what you can accomplish with your donation!
