In today’s episode of The Future is How, I am thrilled to be joined by my friend Kalle Ryan. Kalle is an award-winning writer, poet, and founder of Poetic, a creative consultancy dedicated to crafting compelling narratives, solving communication challenges, and unlocking creativity for organizations of all sizes.

Before founding Poetic, Kalle refined his storytelling and communication skills at Google and Meta. At Meta, he led internal communication strategies that connected employees globally through creative content. At Google, he drove Cloud9, EMEA's innovation hub, launching initiatives to foster employee creativity.

In our conversation today, we dive into the captivating world of creativity and storytelling, covering topics such as:

• What sparked Kalle’s love of storytelling

• The tale of "Bringing Batman to Work"

• The pivotal role creativity played in propelling Kalle’s career to new heights

• Viewing the world through a creative lens

• A creativity practice inspired by Pam Houston’s concept of "glimmers"

• Using your creativity to live more intentionally

• The essence of great storytelling: making people feel

• Building human connections through stories

• Kalle’s perspective on AI tools and why he remains optimistic for the future of creatives

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Where to find Kalle Ryan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalleryan/

• Website: https://kalleryan.com/

• Poetic: https://poetic.ie/

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Where to find Frederik Pferdt

• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/fgpferdt/⁠⁠⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/frederikgpferdt⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/frederikgpferdt/⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.frederikgpferdt.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Intro

(03:02) Kalle’s future bio

(07:26) Our obsession with dystopian fiction and why we should be more optimistic

(11:23) How Kalle fell in love with creativity and storytelling

(16:33) Kalle’s story about integrating his creative self with his corporate self

(22:30) Why viewing the world with a creative lens allows for greater opportunity

(23:47) A creative exercise borrowing from Pam Houston’s “glimmers”

(29:47) The creative practice of one word at a time stories

(32:05) A moment to pause and reconnect with your creativity

(35:39) The power of storytelling to live more intentionally

(45:30) The role of storyteller in first nations of Australia

(46:20) Storytellers today

(47:40) The merits and shortcomings of AI for creativity

(57:08) Closing

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Music: Andreas Horchler

Art Design: Stefan Schuster, Dino Hohos, Flo Dietrich

Production: Jordan & Adam Bornstein