stars insights

stars Insights
Network Management: The New Imperative for Next-Gen Leaders
15 December 2024

Your network can be your greatest asset or your greatest missed opportunity. Next-gen leaders are increasingly recognizing that they cannot lead in isolation; their success is intertwined with the strength of their network. In many cases, a trusted network can bring fresh insights, provide support during crises, and offer opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

We are very pleased to share the article Network Management: The New Imperative for Next-Gen Leaders‘ by Ralph SCHONENBACH, stars Alumnus; San Francisco, United States.

Ralph SCHONENBACH, ‘Relationships Matter: From Selv-Discovery to an Enriched Life‘, published in July 2024.

stars Insights
AI and Human Jobs
5 December 2024

Through our partnership with Developing Leaders Quarterly (DLQ) you regularly receive a selection of free articles from the most recent issue of this booklet series, which provides multiple perspectives from thought and practice leaders around a critical leadership challenge or theme. This time the focus is on AI, aptly titled Augmented Intelligence.

• AI-and-Human-Jobs
  In this article, global thought leader Thomas H. Davenport explores the future of work in an AI-driven world, dispelling fears of mass job losses. Initially worried about automation, his research shows that AI will enhance, not replace, human capabilities through collaboration. Tom promotes “augmentation,” where humans and AI work together as a smarter strategy for organizations. While generative AI raises concerns, the shift will be gradual, with many roles still needing human input. He urges leaders to embrace AI for empowerment, preparing workers to thrive alongside machines.

• Embracing-AI-in-the-Workplace
  Eve Psalti, who serves as Microsoft’s global senior director for Artificial Intelligence and cognitive services, illustrates how AI revolutionizes business while enhancing human creativity. She highlights use cases from her practice such as Kroger’s AI for personalized shopping, Walgreens’ AI chatbot for healthcare, ASOS’s AI-driven visual search, and TikTok’s AI for content discovery. Eve argues AI should handle routine tasks, freeing humans to focus on innovation and strategy. She emphasizes the need for ethical AI, continuous skill development, and keeping a “human in the loop” to ensure AI serves people, not replaces them. 
  
  
• The-Triad-of-Intelligences
  Rimma Boshernitsan, a Silicon Valley futurist, envisions a future where machine intelligence, planetary wisdom, and human intuition converge to create an ethical, transformative world. While AI drives industry with data precision, its lack of nuance highlights the enduring importance of human intuition and nature’s wisdom. Rimma advocates a “co-intelligent” approach, where AI enhances human capabilities while aligning with natural principles. She emphasizes using AI responsibly to foster sustainability, equity, and innovation, ensuring technology serves humanity without compromising the planet.

stars Insights
Angela Merkel ‘Freedom: memoirs 1954-2021’
26 November 2024

Angela Merkel’s highly anticipated biography ‘Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021’ is published today. Michael Schindhelm has known her since the early 1980s and remembers in the following article a motto that was to guide Merkel (and him) into Western society.  Please, click here for the article ‘Go into the Great wide open‘ by Michael Schindhelm, Filmmaker, Curator, International Advisor for Culture and Arts; Member, stars International Board, Lugano/Singapore.

stars Insights
Innovating Innovation (in partnership with Developing Leaders Quarterly, DLQ)
19 March 2024

• Innovating Innovation – The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Munich’s UnternehmerTUM
  This amazing success story of Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem, written by the company’s founder and CEO Helmut Schoenenberger and two members of his team, is a must read. Last year, they produced 700+ start-ups and were responsible for one third of the entire VC funding of Germany. More than 150 corporate partnerships – most of them with SMEs and family offices – assure connectivity between companies and the start-up universe, which has so far created nine unicorns. Most recently, UnternehmerTUM launched a pan-European initiative called Rise Europe, designed to lift Europe’s innovation capability by connecting 20 start-up hubs across the continent.
• Hacking Our Way to Innovation – How Facebook Reimagined its Client Relationship Practices and Helped Global Brands to Innovate
  Former Facebook LATAM Executive Agustin Couto and his co-authors share an remarkable project of cross-functional and cross-organizational collaboration. “Innovation hacks” bring together stakeholders from marketing, communications, sales, strategy, finance, product, or sometimes even HR or manufacturing – both from the customer and the Facebook organization. Together they explore strategic challenges and develop custom innovative solutions that drive the growth of Facebook’s clients. It’s an exemplary lesson in business ecosystem
• Corporate Innovation: Quo Vadis?
  Michael Nichols, who leads the Corporate Venture Capital arm of Mann+Hummel, a global leader in filter systems, shares his experience with Corporate Incubators and Accelerators. He discusses challenges and success factors and warns of the widespread practice of “Innovation Theater” – rituals like pitch events, hackathons, agile sprints, etc., that often create only the pretense of innovation and ultimately work against a real culture of innovation.