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Leadership comes with challenges—but what happens when the pressure at the top becomes overwhelming? In this episode of IAF Continued Conversations, hosts Marike Groenewald and Clinton du Preez sit down with leadership expert Jennifer Miksch to explore one of the most pressing issues in modern workplaces: burnout.
Together, they discuss how to recognize the early signs of burnout, practical ways to respond, and what leaders and organizations can do to foster healthier work environments. From balancing heavy workloads with family responsibilities to embracing a mindshift away from glamorizing overwork, this episode challenges the “hustle culture” and reimagines leadership with empathy and balance at its core.
Don’t miss the practical exercise at the end of the episode—a simple yet powerful tool you can use to start building resilience and clarity in your own life. -
What does it take to create an education system that truly fosters individual freedom, intellectual autonomy, and equal opportunities for all? In this thought-provoking episode of IAF Continued Conversations, hosts Rainer Heufers and Arpita Nepal welcome two inspiring experts, Michael Strong and Parth Shah, to explore the building blocks of a liberal education system.
From the power of school autonomy and parental choice to the transformative role of the private sector in education, this conversation dives deep into innovative approaches that challenge traditional models. Hear how low-cost private schools in India are empowering families, and how Socratic Practice in the U.S. is reshaping critical thinking.
Join us for a global perspective on how education can be reimagined to nurture both freedom and excellence—whether you’re an educator, policymaker, or lifelong learner. -
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In this episode of IAF Continued Conversations, hosts Bettina Solinger and Sven Gerst sit down with historian and political thinker Stephen Davies to discuss the shifting landscape of global politics and his thesis on “The Great Realignment.” This conversation builds on Davies' 2018 work with the Cato Institute and explores how his predictions hold up in today’s volatile political climate.
Together, Bettina and Sven delve into the concept of “The Great Realignment,” unpacking the new poles of political discourse and the forces driving these changes. What defines the populist wave we’re witnessing around the world? Is this realignment merely a reaction to contemporary issues, or is it a structural shift in global politics? And how does it differ across regions—from Europe’s “illiberal democracy” movements to Latin America's longstanding populist trends?
Stephen Davies shares insights on the drivers of this realignment, considers whether populism is here to stay, and reflects on Europe’s shifting dynamics following the EU elections. To cap it off, he recommends an essential read for liberals today.
Tune in for an engaging discussion on the forces shaping our political future, only on IAF Continued Conversations. -
In this episode of IAF Continues Conversations, our hosts Arpita Nepal and Rainer Heufers guide us through the fierce tech rivalry between the United States and China, exploring how this competition is shaping the future of global innovation. Joining them are Alexander Brown, Senior Analyst at MERICS, and Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, who bring insider perspectives on the policies, markets, and diverging paths of these tech superpowers.
From China’s ambitious "whole-of-nation" approach to the United States' landmark CHIPS Act, the episode unpacks the policy tools each nation wields to boost its competitive edge. Are local governments and national mandates effectively steering innovation, or do political tensions risk stifling progress? Arpita and Rainer dive deep with their guests into strategic sectors like MedTech and semiconductors, exploring the role of government intervention, market forces, and the broader global impact on regions from Europe to Southeast Asia.
Tune in as Arpita and Rainer navigate this complex landscape through a liberal lens, questioning whether open markets or national interests will ultimately drive the tech breakthroughs of tomorrow. Don’t miss this thought-provoking episode examining what lies ahead in a world where tech, policy, and power collide. -
In this insightful episode of IAF Continued Conversations, hosts Marike Groenewald and Clinton du Preez engage with leadership expert Trisha Lord to unpack The Thinking Environment, a transformative framework designed to foster deeper understanding and collaboration. Together, they explore its 10 powerful components—like Attention, Equality, and Appreciation—and how these elements create an atmosphere where fresh ideas flourish, everyone’s voice is valued, and conversations become more effective.
Learn how this framework can improve decision-making, build stronger teams, and cultivate trust—essential tools for navigating today’s complex challenges. If you’re curious about how to inspire creativity, promote inclusion, and drive innovation through better conversations, this episode is a must-listen! -
Launching our refreshed podcast format with none other than Tom Palmer, we dive right in to examine the state of liberalism in 2024: How is populism shaping politics today? From Russia, Ukraine, China, Venezuela, Hungary - How do current geopolitical challenges affect us, and how do we see the future? As well as discussing the world's current hot spots and their interconnections, we will also look at successful developments.
Tune in and join Bettina Solinger and Sven Gerst for an in-depth discussion with Tom Palmer on the state of liberalism and beyond! -
In today's episode of IAF TALK Bettina Solinger has gathered the experts from our seminar "The Future of Market Economy" around a big table in the Academy to have an intensive talk about markets and the environment, and to tackle some important questions: why property rights are important for innovation, why some ideas that are brilliant on the paper but won't work in reality, how developing countries are dealing with climate change and, of course, if the economy is actually able to protect the environment.
In this talk we are meeting Arpita Nepal, Rainer Heufers, Dr Tom G. Palmer and Prof. Dr Andrew Morriss who are not only bringing lots of expertise to the table but also present different perspectives from their experiences. We are learning from many practical examples from around the world why the protection of the environment and fighting climate change is such a complex task - and why we are still optimistic. -
After finishing a 12 day seminar at the IAF that has looked into entrepreneurship with more than 25 participants from all around the world and we will discuss why entrepreneurship in general matters, what we have learned throughout the seminar about entrepreneurship in specific countries. And then thirdly, what policymakers can do to boost and accelerate entrepreneurship in their respective countries.
In this episode of IAF TALK we going to meet Jyoti Sachavirawong and Julian Kirchherr.
Julian works as a manager in the consulting industry. He is also associated with Utrecht University in the Netherlands where he works as a researcher, and in both of these jobs he does a lot of work together with start-ups but also with policymakers to boost entrepreneurship. So this is very much a topic he is very passionate about.
Jyoti is a business consultant, and I has been working on advising companies on how they can enter a market. She provides advice on marketing and communication strategy. But prior to that, she was fortunate enough to have had spent several years in the liberal family working with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation office initially in Malaysia, working on women empowerment issues, and subsequently moving on to work at the regional level on economic freedom and human rights. -
Today’s episode is very special – not only because Education is a tremendously important aspect for every person’s development towards self-determination, prosperity and happiness in live but also because we would like to commemorate the late Dr Stefan Melnik who has contributed immensely to IAF, in fact he helped build and develop IAF to where it is today. Education has always been a theme very close to his heart. And this is why we would like to share with you a talk of four wonderful experts on Education that we recorded a few years back:
In this episode we are meeting Professor James Tooley, who is best known for his work on low cost private education. He has worked in various parts of the world bringing together insights from his research and has published on low cost private education in – amongst others - the book “The beautiful tree”. Ekta Sodha actually is an entrepreneur who is active in the field of education, an edu-preneur perhaps, who runs a number of low-cost private schools in India. Manali Shah, who is also a facilitator at IAF and has worked for the CCS, the Center for Civil Society, in Delhi, who actually pioneered in India the idea of voucherizing the school system. And of course Dr. Stefan Melnik who has been an independent consultant specialising in training programmes for executives. He designed and directed workshops on human rights, the market economy, environmental issues, basics of liberalism, secularism and of course education reform – often but not exclusively at IAF. Stefan also moderated this discussion. -
“All politics is local” is a prevailing phrase – not only in U.S. politics. Apart from the strategic meaning it implies a liberal view of politics – starting off from the individual, who should be instrumental in all decisions that affect their life. Looking for solutions at the local level, involving responsible individuals and making use of decentralised local competences and knowledge are important principles to get local government politics close to citizens, encourage their participation, communicate with them more effectively and make government more efficient. However, in reality local politicians around the world are facing huge challenges to implement such principles due to administrative, legal, financial, political and practical problems.
In this episode of IAF TALK we are meeting Petra Franke and Kylie Hatton who facilitated our seminar on "Local Politics and Citizen's Participation" and share the insights and key learnings from the seminar. -
For liberals private property is a defining characteristic of a free society. In our seminar "Liberal, Property and the Environment" we explored how the concept of private property might conceivably be a solution to problems as diverse as pollution, land degradation, overfishing, deforestation, species extinction and waste. Can enforcement of robust property rights help to protect the environment, rehabilitate areas that have suffered considerable damage, and promote the aim of achieving sustainability in the use of natural resources? Would the poor and disadvantaged sections of society stand to benefit? To what extent would successful “green” and “blue” growth policies benefit from efforts to apply and foster a property rights-based approach to economic growth and well-being?
In this episode we will meet Dr. Emmanuel Martin, an Economist from France, and Sven Gerst, a PhD Student in Political Philosophy at the Department of Political Economy at King's College London, who facilitated this seminar and who will not only give us an insight into this important topic but also share their impressions of a very special excursion with eye-opening experiences and the key learnings from this seminar. -
In a world dominated by competing messages, brands and ideas - how will your message resonate with your voters or supporters? Why is it so important to have a clear communication strategy and how can you actually prepare for communication in a crisis?
In this episode we are meeting Kylie Hatton from South Africa and Wulf Pabst from Germany, both long standing experts on communication and strategy as well as politics, who facilitate our seminar on “Communication: Strategy and Skills” and share their key take-aways and main learnings from the seminar. -
This year we have been celebrating the 25th anniversary of the International Academy for Leadership (Internationale Akademie für Führungskräfte - IAF) and together with its founding director Jörg Dehnert, his successor Birgit Lamm, and the current director of the IAF Bettina Solinger, we're taking a trip down memory lane and learn how it all started in 1995, what challenges they faced over the years and what makes it all so special at IAF.
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Using Apps for finding a shop or restaurant or looking for some friends nearby is already a reality and millions of people all around the world are using those conveniences every day. Still, this is just the first step of possible developments and changes of our cities. By using “big data” and digitalization our cities can turn into smart cities and help us to manage today’s and future challenges of growing cities in fields such as administration, urban planning, environment, economic development and others. Transparency, participation and better decision making should be among the chances of smarter cities as well. However - and especially from a liberal perspective - privacy protection and keeping autonomy of one’s own data must be taken into consideration.
In this episode, hosted by Armin Reinartz, we're meeting Leah from South Africa who is the political head of Johannesburg's Department of Economic Development and gives us an insight in her work, Rashed from Bangladesh who is an architect involved in various urban projects with the government designing streets and addressing how people want to use them, and Marco from Mexico is especially focussing on smart regulations and smart legislation regarding urban development and city transformation and advises local and federal governments in Latin America to promote reforms. -
"Have your program worked out doesn't mean that you are prepared" says Marike Groenewald, one of our guests in this podcast episode. Audience participation and engagement depends on the “way of being” of a facilitator. But what does it need to create a liberal environment in training sessions and events, where an audience is able to participate fully and think well for themselves?
In this episode we're meeting Marike Groenewald who is the founder of Anew, an organisational and people development consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa. Marike also served for nearly eight years as the Director of the DA's Young Leaders Programme, the party's flagship year-long leadership development course and the only programme of its kind in the world.
Trisha Lord, Trainer and Coach lecturing in advanced Coaching Skills, has trained with Arnold Mindell in Process Facilitation; and is accredited by Nancy Kline as a Faculty Member, Consultant and Coach in delivering the Thinking Environment. Trisha is also based in South Africa. -
Populists seem to be on the rise around the world and their opponents from different political camps seem to have difficulties to find the right antidote to fight that new (?) political force. Some place their bet on facts to fight lies, others on copying some of the populist features or trying to tackle what is perceived as the underlying causes that play into the hands of populists. But what is populism and why is it so dangerous for liberal open societies? What do populists have in common and how to deconstruct populism?
In this episode of IAF TALK we're meeting Sven Gerst, Secretary General of IFLRY (International Federation of Liberal Youth) and Political Philosophy PhD Student at King's College London, and Radu Magdin, Global Analyst, Consultant and Trainer, who facilitated our international seminar on the topic. -
Campaigning is a core function of any political party. It is the way through which parties connect with voters to garner enough support to get into government, and to ultimately implement its vision for a better future. Often the lack of a proper campaign structure and operation stands in the way of a party being able to turn its vision into votes.
With the rise of the internet, big data and social media, traditional campaign methods have undergone radical change making it easier to communicate instantly with millions of potential voters. And yet, many liberal political parties across the world struggle to connect with voters in a world that is more connected than ever before. Furthermore, the prevalence of right-wing parties and increased populism across the political spectrum begs the question, how are progressive and liberal parties to respond to this change in a way that makes the world freer and respects the interest of the individual.
In this episode of IAF TALK we're meeting Jonathan Moakes, political administrator and strategist, and Warwick Chapman, technologist and executive director, both from South Africa and both highly experienced with managing campaigns, strategies and tools.
Hosted by Clinton du Preez, who himself was appointed the Deputy National Campaign Manager for Training for the Democartic Alliance’s 2019 general election campaign and after which he returned to be the Acting Director of the Development and Learning Department. -
Digitalisation has opened up a world of opportunity. Today we have access to vast amounts of information, inconceivable 20 years ago. The cost of communication with others has plummeted and is now marginal. The majority of the world’s population has cheap access to the means of communication, hardware, software and the associated services. As far as freedom of expression is concerned, this no longer tends to be the privilege of professionals. Other rights have become easier to enjoy because of digital media: the right to freedom of assembly, the right to education, the ability to enforce and protect one’s right to property more effectively, the right to freedom of belief.
But digitalisation and the way it has been implemented also pose serious challenges to freedom as we know it. They are in the news. They include attempts by various governments to control or cordon off the internet, efforts to abolish the principle of net neutrality, the use of social media and associated technologies for hybrid warfare, an increasing readiness to engage in “fake news” and exploiting susceptibilities in this regard, a compartmentalisation of news driven by user preferences, surveillance of internet use, internet security, and restrictions imposed by dysfunctional rules on copyright, to mention only a few.
In this podcast episode we're meeting Majida Lubura (Serbia), Sukarn Singh Maini (India), Kristo Enn Vaga (Estonia) and Nicolas Martinez (Bolivia) who are sharing their experiences and personal stories of how they are benefitting from using a free internet but also how they are encountering enormous challenges.
Hosted by Dr Stefan Melnik. -
Innovation is not only about robots, artificial intelligence or futuristic concepts but there are many ideas on how to be innovative as an individual or as an organization. But what is needed to stay innovative and create a company culture that is constantly innovative? In this episode of IAF TALK we're having three guests who are exchanging on the topic and give a couple of practical examples: Marike Groenewald, a leadership developer and coach from South Africa; Rainer Heufers, founder and executive director of a consulting firm that provides strategic counseling, public policy consulting, leadership training from Singapore and Armin Reinartz who is the Director of the Global Innovation Hub of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom based in Hong Kong.
This IAF TALK is hosted by Katja Manuela Egger, Consultant for Learning and Development at ABB Switzerland. -
In the first episode of IAF TALK we're meeting Milosz Hodun, International Officer of Nowoczesna party in Poland, and Ines Holzegger, International Officer of YUNOS (youth organization of NEOS party Austria), who give us an insight into the latest political developments in their countries and how populism is affecting the situation.
Hosted by Sven Gerst, Secretary General of IFLRY (International Federation of Liberal Youth) and Political Philosophy PhD Student at King's College London.
