Our guest in this episode is Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt, Google's first and former chief innovation evangelist, future optimist and author of the newly released book: “What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready”. Frederik is an adjunct professor at Stanford University, a future optimist and an author. As a global thought leader and as Google’s first and former chief evangelist, Frederik has built and trained vast communities of innovation catalysts, ambassadors and coaches for organizations including Adidas, Uber, Bayer, Daimler, the FBI, the German Soccer Association, Lufthansa, NASA, the NBA, SAP, CEO Digital Forum and governments from more than 25 countries around the world. Frederik's latest book, which has been released on June the 18th is called “What's Next is Now, How to Live Future Ready” and delves into the topic of how to invent a better future. “What's next is now. You decide in this moment with optimism, with openness, with curiosity, with empathy, how the next moment will turn out, that's how you can choose.” Mastering the controllable elements of our daily existence is fundamental in sculpting a future that we actively shape, guiding us towards the lives we aspire to lead. Rather than dwelling on circumstances beyond our influence, we can choose to identify the aspects we can truly manage and dedicate ourselves to nurturing those. We have the choice to approach situations with open-mindedness, warmth, and empathy. Such choices wield significant influence over both our personal and professional spheres, both now and in future. In this enlightening conversation, Frederik expands on how optimism, hope, and empathy empower us to steer the trajectory of our own personal future. From shifting our perspective by upside down questioning and revealing things we weren’t aware of to the dimensions that enable people to achieve remarkable things and to the ways we can learn by teaching others. One thing is for sure: If you’re worried about the future, the solution is not to look ahead. You need to learn that what’s next is now. By the way: What can the man who got married at Burning Man teach us about future optimism, how did he go from being a shy boy to becoming a global thought leader and how is sitting still for 10 hours on one day rewarding? 😊 – tune in!