How To Make A Few Million Neurons Fire Like A Wild Crescendo

The other day I had one of those stimulating, insightful, and refreshing conversations with a wonderful and super inspirational person. A conversation and person I′d like to share with you… well, actually I have to share with you… all of you! Now!

After Rita King and I had started our online video call (yep... it still is the Age of Unreason and COVID-19... unfortunately...), more than 1.5 hours flew by in super-sonic speed, my neurons fired in all directions and started growing into a gradual mental crescendo straordinario, energized by discussions about science, purpose, Italy, coaching, ratio and emotions, Disney creativity technique (one of my favorite techniques I apply when coaching), the imagination age (more below), pairing as an effective approach for teams, etc.

Now you wonder who is Rita?

Allora…

Rita is a futurist who works as Co-Director and EVP Business Development at Science House, a strategy consultancy in New York, with senior leadership teams around the world to take ideas from mind to market and design organizations that can get things done.

She has served as Innovator-in-Residence at IBM and futurist at NASA Langley’s think-tank. Rita is currently a futurist at the Science and Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences, for which she invents technologies, novel characters and story architecture.

She is a Salzburg Global Fellow with a focus on art, science and culture, and a LinkedIn influencer. Features by her or about her work have appeared globally in The New York Times, CNN, TIME, Fast Company, etc.

The Imagination Age

Rita′s concept of the Imagination Age - a way to navigate between the Industrial Era, which is fading, but not gone, and the Intelligence Era, which is coming, but not here – is one of her brainchildren which makes you reflect deeply on how intelligence will evolve, what defines being human, what roles will AI-powered machines play in the future, and how to think about and apply responsibility and ethical values. 

The Cathedral

On a final note, Rita works and lives at their headquarters in NYC, a seven-story townhouse occupied for 35 years by Abraham Lincoln's granddaughter, Mary Lincoln Isham. She refers to it as a cathedral of the imagination. Love it!

Want to know more about Rita and her work? I bet you do…

Have a look at her profile, find out about what she′s up to right now, and get also inspired and energized.

Happy learning. Happy growing. Happy living!

Andreas

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Andreas von der Heydt is Director of Talent Acquisition & Recruiting at Amazon. Before he held various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert as well as a management and personal growth coach. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Currently he lives with his wife and daughters in Seattle, USA. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His latest book is about what makes a future leader. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles only reflect his personal opinion.

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Other recent and popular articles by Andreas:

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photo credit: Christoph Burgstedt, istockphoto

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