6 Ways to Thrive in a Changing World

Six Ways To
THRIVE IN A
CHANGING WORLD
- 2020 Workbook -
MOONLANDER
Think Tank

The future will bring unprecedented change. Only by
developing the skills to navigate this change, we’ll be able to
thrive. This meta skill adaptability is the focus of this paper.
First, we’ll discuss eleven future trends that will shape the
decade ahead. Then we’ll present the six skills to thrive in a
changing world, and action steps for your growth. Throughout
you’ll ﬁnd exercises that help your apply the learnings.
This paper blends a scientiﬁc approach from in-depth
interviews with business leaders and entrepreneurs, with
personal observations in the real world, to help individuals and
organizations prepare for and adapt to a changing world.
Enjoy the work!
Abstract
MOONLANDER2

This paper is for you if you are curious about the future and
your role in it. It’s also for you if you want to take an active
role in designing your work and ensure quality of life.
We believe the future is ﬁlled with opportunity. We are
excited to share tools that empower you to
CreateTomorrow and thrive. Let’s get started with the
eleven trends that shape the decade ahead.
Hello Friend!
MOONLANDER
Moonlander Think Tank
uses crowd sourcing to
develop future ideas for
people and organizations.
Alex T. Steffen (author) is a
management thought leader
and best-selling author for
leadership & innovation.
3
Thanks for picking up this paper. We’re excited about the future.

3
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11 Trends That Shape The Decade Ahead
MOONLANDER4
Complexity and interdependency increase in all
areas of life, making it harder for leaders and
individuals to make qualiﬁed decisions.
Economic cycles are becoming harder to predict,
putting unprepared people at risk of losing their
career and livelihood.
Technology, ﬁnance, business, government, and
communication all decentralize, requiring a
fundamental redesign. Demonetization and
dematerialization require new paradigms for how
we exchange value.

1⁄4 of adults in the developed world are
suffering from a mental health condition such
as depression or anxiety.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death
and closely related to stress. We’re also facing
a social isolation epidemic. Our economic
model needs an audit.
OECD countries are ageing fast, putting a
strain on retirement funds and the younger
generations.
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5
4

We’re observing a leadership vacuum on a national
and organisational level, leaving few charismatic and
able leaders in the driver seat.
The education system doesn’t prepare the next
workforce for tomorrow’s challenges. At the same
time, there's unlimited access to free learning
resources, which are a worthy alternative to the old
educational system.
The divide between the rich and poor is increasing
globally, creating friction and political shifts.
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8
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6

Automation and robotics are changing the job
landscape and require massive re-skilling, up-
skilling, and on-the-job training efforts.
Free use of digital services continues to be
expected by consumers. As tech giants
dominate the supply, data privacy becomes a
public concern.
The internet is continuing to provide marvellous
possibilities and tools for building an abundant,
sovereign life. Top talents who leverage this
resource often leave the talent pool for good.
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11
10
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While most of the 11 trends appear negative, they can be a tremendous
OPPORTUNITY - as long as you know how to respond.
How Can You Prepare For An Uncertain Future?
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In the past, the world belonged
to a small elite who owned land
or resources. Later, it belonged
to those who owned information.
While most privileges are restricted (gender, skin color, nationality), mindset
privilege is accessible to anyone! This grants you immense powers over
your experience at work and at home. You are now in the driver seat.
Those paradigms are fading. Mindset
privilege is the awareness, creative
capacity and the spirit required to
change your current reality.
The future
belongs to
those who
are able to
ADAPT
THEIR
MIND
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“Win over your mind and you win
over the world.“

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
MOONLANDER

MOONLANDER
What The Experts Say
Outdated EducationLeadership VacuumRising Complexity
"Why is it diﬃcult
to thrive in a
changing world?”
We have asked 34 business leaders on their future outlook. Here are their top 3 responses:
10
Typical observations:
Paralysis
Overreaction
Ostrich-effect
Lack of vision
Inaction
Disputes
Powerlessness
Brain drain
Pseudo-science

These are our top
strategies to thrive in
a changing world:
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Creative Autonomy Smart Work HabitsChange Muscle
Our 3-Step Formula to Thrive
11
Typical observations:
Possibilities
Enthusiasm
Action
Adaptability
Perspective
Collaboration
Efﬁciency
Cost savings
Upward spiral

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CreateTomorrow Insights
The best results are created at the
intersection of creative autonomy, a
trained change muscle, and smart
work habits.
The best organisations and
individuals learn to fuel each skill
with the next to create a ﬂywheel
that empowers them over and over.

Do you look at the
future as a thing or as
an ACTION?
MOONLANDER

The six 20th Century Skills
Get a university degree
Get a safe job
Be loyal & move up the ladder
Work hard
Own information
Extract resources
Motive: Gain SAFETY
The Skills We Required In The Past
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The six 20th Century Skills The Six 21C Skills
Get a university degree
Get a safe job
Be loyal & move up the ladder
Work hard
Own information
Extract resources
Motive: Gain SAFETY
1. Learn and unlearn every day

2. Develop personal resilience

3. Gain creative autonomy

4. Smart work habits

5. Interpret information

6. Train your change muscle
Motive: Navigate UNCERTAINTY
The Skills We Require In The Future
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And What Now?
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Notice how all of the 21C Skills are internal? We’re led to
believe that the solutions to our problems are external. The
truth is, you have all the answers inside.
What makes any given situation or action meaningful,
signiﬁcant, and lasting is not the what. The what is arbitrary,
and replaceable.
Here’s an example: Many companies build computers or
phones. It is the how that makes a difference. It is the how
that justiﬁes Apple Inc’s higher prices for their customers.
It is the how that lets you thrive in a changing world.
17

MOONLANDER
An outdated mindset
can be a costly
LIABILITY.

What That Means For You
An analogy from nature: flying fish can
adapt quickly by using their fins for wings
when they need to escape from predators.
Flying fish have existed for 240 million years.
Next, we’ll break down the six 21C skills
into action steps, you and your team can
successfully transform your workplace.
MOONLANDER
The commonality among the 20th century
skills, is getting something. A black or white
position of either lack or wealth.
The commonality among the 21C Skills is
building something. A position of power no
matter your access to scarce resources.
Getting resources will not cut it in the future.
Shifting paradigms may cause you to lose
them again in the blink of an eye. In order to
thrive means to stay adaptable.
19

The Six 21C Skills to
Thrive in a Changing World
3. Learn & unlearn every day
4. Build smart work habits
5. Filter information
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31
37
38
47
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1. Develop Personal Resilience
1. Mental hygiene: to clean up stuck energy,
that has built up in your nervous system,
meditate regularly. You wouldn’t leave your
teeth unbrushed for a month, would you?
2. Reduce news and social media consumption
to avoid ingesting polarising and distorting
pictures of the world. Creating tomorrow
requires constructive information.
MOONLANDER
3. Learn how to change your emotional
state at will. Your ability to State Change
puts you in control of your emotions and
reaction patterns more often, instead of
leaving you a slave to them. See the
exercise below.
4. Learn to see brick walls, i.e. setbacks, as
a way to test your desire to succeed.
Do you want to be in a motivated, constructive and optimistic mindset, independent of the
conditions in your external environment?
21

“Brick walls are there to
show you how much you
really want something.“

- Randy Pausch
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MOONLANDER
Changing Your Emotional State
Movement
Drink water
…
Tough day? Ask yourself: “What can I do right now to positively inﬂuence my emotional state?”
Methodology Resource Positive HabitPhysical
Focus questions
…
Motivational video
Music you love
…
Call a friend
…
Something you can do in under 5 minutes
23
Examples

The Six 21C Skills to
Thrive in a Changing World
3. Learn & unlearn every day
4. Build smart work habits
5. Filter information
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31
37
38
47

2. Gain Creative Autonomy
1. Do you want to be in the driver seat of your life
and create your experience? Treat your
(working) life like a startup business. You’ll
have to make smart decisions on strategy,
personal brand, valuation & ﬁnances,
partnerships, etc in order to thrive.
2. Learn to recognise and distance yourself from
sources of draining and negative energy.
Whether a carping coworker or a frustrating
process that makes you feel like you’re hitting
your head against a wall. Attempt to change
your reality. Vibrate higher to become more
proliﬁc, creative and effective.
MOONLANDER
3. You can probably remember a project you
wasted a lot of time and energy on, due to
lack of clarity or intent. You can gain
effectiveness by knowing your intention
before you act out any plan. The Know Your
HOW exercise below gives you a simple tool
to do that.
4. Do you have sceptical superiors crossing your
plan to grow? Find ways to gain their trust.
Ask for new freedoms and responsibilities in
small increments and then go above and
beyond in your delivery.
25

MOONLANDER
Know Your HOW
Your why gives you direction. Your how gives you a competitive edge. Ask yourself: “What am I doing
differently, that makes my work memorable and unique?” Here’s Apple’s example. Now create your own.
Your WHY Your HOW Your WHAT
Empower
creatives to
do their best
work.
Smartphones
Laptops
Streaming
Minimalistic & stunning design & UX
Low user involvement (updates, backend)
Useful innovation (magnetic power cable)
26
Examples

MOONLANDER
Are you creating a
WAKE, like the wake of
a ship, whose positive
impact can be seen for
miles?

MOONLANDER
The Responsibility
Process
Unlocking your natural ability to live
and lead with power
Suggested Reading
by Christopher Avery
28

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask
yourself what makes you COME ALIVE and go
do that. Because what the world needs is
people who have come alive.“

- Howard Thurman
MOONLANDER

3. Learn & Unlearn Every Day
3. Acquire useful digital skills such as digital
marketing and data analytics. Those are the
foundation for your competence and
competitiveness in the future.
4. Actively reflect about experiences of friction in
your (work) life and determine which of your
habits and beliefs have lead you there.
Exchange those for better ones. The Perfect
Workday exercise below has helped hundreds
of people drastically improve their lives.
MOONLANDER
1. Train your street smart, out-of-the-box,
contrarian mindset. Book smarts (= theorists)
create a perfect map of an imperfect world.
Street Smarts are able to respond effectively
to real-life challenges because they have seen
them first-hand.
2. Practice taking on different perspectives and
roles. Argue a topic from a standpoint you do
not call your own to get the bigger picture.
A large part of what we consider knowledge is constantly being updated. The lifetime of knowledge is
falling. Staying curious to the changing world around you gives you a tremendous advantage.
31

MOONLANDER
The Story of The Chinese Farmer
Once upon a time, there was a Chinese farmer. One
day he lost a horse, which ran away. All the
neighbors came by that evening and said, “that’s
too bad, isn’t it!?” And the farmer said, “maybe.”
The next day, the horse came back and brought
seven wild horses with it. And all the neighbors
came around and said, “that’s great, isn’t it!?” And
the farmer said, “maybe.”
The next day, the farmer’s son was attempting to
tame one of the horses. While riding, he broke his
leg. And all the neighbors came around in the
evening and said, “that's too bad isn't it!?” And the
farmer, of course, said “maybe.”
The next day, the conscription officers came around
looking for people for the army. And they rejected
his son because he had a broken leg. The
neighbors came by that evening said, “isn't that
wonderful!?” And he said “maybe.”
The point, according to the zen teacher Alan Watts
is “to try to live in such a way that nothing is either
an advantage or a disadvantage”.
Because the whole process of nature is an
integrated process of immense complexity. This
means it’s really impossible to tell, whether any
event is good or bad, because you never know
what will be the consequence of the (mis)fortune.

MOONLANDER
“You are free when you can
choose how you live.“

- Unknown

MOONLANDER
Perfect Workday
Morning
Ask yourself: “What does my ideal workday look like? Where can you be myself/creative?” The
resulting story gives you a reference, an anchor, for your future life and work experience. People
who have completed this exercise claim increased clarity and a feeling of empowered drive.
Noon Afternoon Evening
Dinner circle
Video
Excel
Negotiation
Colleagues
Family members
September 1
September 30
34
Examples

MOONLANDER
How Will You
Measure Your Life?
by Clayton M. Christensen
Suggested Reading
35

4. Build Smart Work Habits
1. Action is the effect AND the cause of
motivation. Despite limited information, take a
baby step towards your goal to break the
pattern of self-doubt.
2. Consider the cost of inaction, emotionally,
physically, and ﬁnancially at various time
horizons like six months, twelve months, and
three years down the road.
MOONLANDER
3. Kill overwhelm and focus on what’s important
with tools like OKRs and the Eisenhower
Matrix.
4. Invest in learning a soft skill you may need in
the future such as negotiation or emotional
intelligence. Think of skill clusters such as
entrepreneurship skills. Stretch yourself by
learning patience, or “how to fail and keep
going”.
Simple systems and processes are great for making your work easier. The problem starts when
systems grow to a size where they reduce your creative capacity. The new paradigm: the simple
platforms you build for yourself beat manpower & engineering (hard work).
37

“From the inside, the hamster wheel
looks like a career ladder.“

- Graﬃti in Berlin
MOONLANDER

MOONLANDER
Your simplified OKRs
OBJECTIVES
Ask yourself: “Can I supercharge my goal setting, linking a huge vision to measurable action?”
KEY RESULTS
PLANS
Aspirational
Qualitative
Time Bound
Measurable
Quantitative
Difﬁcult
Actions/Initiatives
High level
Important
Learn more
39

MOONLANDER
The War of Art
by Steven Pressﬁeld
Suggested Reading
Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner
Creative Battles
40

5. Filter Information
3. Recognise your own bias as it can impair
the quality of your decisions. We’re all biased
but we can overwrite this flaw with
awareness and fact-based reasoning.
4. Develop macro decisions to avoid (micro)
decision fatigue. See the Macro Decisions
exercise below.
MOONLANDER
1. Many people are unable to tell the uncut
gems from the pebbles. Look for opportunity
in the chaos. Train your ability to single out
what's useful for achieving your goals from
all the the “noise”.
2. Learn scientific derivation and train your
reasoning skills to avoid falling for superficial
knowledge and manipulative information.
Ownership of information alone is not enough in a world in which almost all information is freely available.
Interpretation, visualization and predictions make information valuable.
42

MOONLANDER
Look closely at
what's hidden
BELOW THE
SURFACE!

MOONLANDER
Macro Decisions
Macro Decisions
Ask yourself: “What general rules can reduce (micro) decision fatigue and improve my life?”
Capsule outﬁt
No meetings before 10am.
No emails on Sunday.
No coffee/sugar before lunch.
Micro Decisions
What will I wear? Does this suit the occasion? …
Am I prepared? What time do I have to leave? …
Find quality time with family. Weigh priorities. …
Ability to focus. Fighting an energy low.
44
Reduced stress Recurring sources of stress
Examples

MOONLANDER
Factfulness
by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna
Rosling Rönnlund
Suggested Reading
Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World -
And Why Things Are Better Than You Think
45

6. Train Your Change Muscle
1. Train your idea muscle. Ideas are the
currency of the future. Try this fun game:
pick one topic each day for a week and
come up with 10 ideas how to solve it. Eg.
10 ways to find more clients/speed up team
review/connect with my coworkers.
2. Train your change muscle. When the big
change hits, you want to be prepared. Do
something out of your comfort zone every
day. Be sure to create a sense of urgency
among seniors who haven’t yet discovered
their mindset privilege.
MOONLANDER
3. Our social nature makes us thrive. Nurture
your relationships and build a power-
network for learning and support. Meeting a
new person, be the first to extend trust and
vulnerability. You can build a meaningful
connection fast that way.
4. Identify change agents around you and
across divisions. Create circles to discuss
and plan healthy steps to improve your
situation. Learn the leadership skill of Kind
Confidence (see slide 53).
The only constant in life is change. Unless you’re used to change, making a change is difficult.
47

Case Study: Allow Your Team To Thrive
MOONLANDER
In 2002, Frank van Massenhove became head of the
Belgian Ministry of Social Affairs. What he found was a
textbook public office: five levels of hierarchy, low
employee retention and productivity, low attractiveness
for highly skilled talent, high costs and high burnout
rates. In short: no place of innovation and no place for
a thriving workforce.
By applying five simple steps, he transformed the
ministry into a showcase organization. First, he
reduced the hierarchy levels from five to two. In the
second step, he made his ministry virtually paperless,
established flexible working hours and granted all
employees a budget of ten percent for innovation
projects. Third, he created a role called "Absurdistan."
Their responsibility was to find out where and how one
could improve previously cumbersome ways of working.
Fourth, work was measured by outcome rather than
attendance. In the fifth step, a large part of the meetings
was abolished, which saved everybody time and nerves.
The overall result? Employee retention, productivity and
customer satisfaction all increased drastically, while
costs have dropped significantly. Operational decisions
are made in the team. 93 percent of applicants now
want to work in van Massenhove's division, formerly it
was 18 percent. Low-skilled employees account for only
two percent of the workforce, initially it was 30 percent.
This is a fabulous example of how de-bureaucratization
and implementation of holistic strategies are creating
success stories.
48

MOONLANDER
The Cost of Inaction
6 Months 1 Year 3 Years
YOUR EMOTIONS
YOUR LOST REVENUE
YOUR REPUTATION
…
Ask yourself (or your boss): “What is the cost of not asking for the promotion OR starting that company OR …”
49

MOONLANDER
Where Good Ideas
Come From
by Steven Johnson
Suggested Reading
The Natural History of Innovation
50

MOONLANDER
Are you a
BRIDGE,
connecting two
opposite river
banks?

Six Timeless Skills We’ll Need in The Future
4. Trying to influence someone? Use stories,
metaphors and analogies to explain your
ideas. People will forget your words, but they
will never forget how you make them feel.
5. Never decide while under stress. Stress
literally makes us less intelligent. If you feel
triggered, take a breath and wait until cortisol
levels have lowered, before moving on.
6. Get to know who you really are. As long as
how other people see you or expect you to
be collides with your own self-image, the
friction will likely keep you from thriving.
MOONLANDER
1. Movement, sleep, healthy nutrition, and water
are the building blocks of a strong body and
mind. Good fuel gets you farther. Don’t let
convenience harm your engine.
2. Reduce smartphone use. The science is
clear. Create triggers to remind yourself to
stop scrolling on social media. Turn off
notifications when doing deep-work. Take
media holidays and use the time for real life
connections.
3. Master personal finance to escape financial
prison and remain in a creative space.
52

Take The Free Test
Do you work in a curious organization?
We have interviewed 34 business leaders and gathered data from a
recent study by BCG, to determine the factors that support an
innovation culture and drive business success in the future.
Take our free test to learn what areas your team can improve.
MOONLANDER
5 Minute Workplace Quiz

MOONLANDER
“Action is the eﬀect and the
cause of motivation.“

- Mark Manson

MOONLANDER
Start a CreateTomorrow Circle (CTC)
Ask yourself: “Who in my organization wants to explore ideas for improvement.” Create a gathering and
begin discussing ways to support each other in achieving more creative autonomy, training your change
muscle, and developing smarter work habits.
Change Makers Idea Bank
55
Tom
Maria
Develop common vision
Evaluate goal setting methodology
Examples

CreateTomorrow Seminar
1. Mindset Privilege: Think in Possibilities
2. The Key 21C Workplace Skills
1. Gain Creative Autonomy
2. Train Your Change Muscle

3. Build Smart Work Habits
3. The 21C Leadership Tools
1. State Change: gain control over your emotional state
2. Kind Conﬁdence: a modern leader’s winning skillset
To request more information, drop us an email at
info@alextsteﬀen.com
MOONLANDER56
For change agents: learn how to build an innovation culture and drive business success in the future.
2020
launch
-30%

The Author
Alex T. Steffen (30) is a leadership expert and speaker for
business innovation. He advises executives at Fortune 500
companies and SMEs to think differently and teaches
them how to anticipate and manoeuvre radical change.
Change X named him Management Thought Leader.
Alex knows from ﬁrst hand experience the pain points of
established companies as well as the innovation culture in
pioneering startups. This unique perspective, makes the
TEDx speaker and best-selling author a leader in the ﬁeld
of organizational development.
Alex’ clients include senior leaders from Accenture, SAP,
Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Huawei, and more. Alex is
the bridge that spans the communication and innovation
gap, to drive business results in the future.
MOONLANDER
I advise those who
create tomorrow.
57

Stay In Touch
Visit Alex' website
alextsteffen.com to
discover more insights.
Subscribe and get Alex'
LinkedIn articles on
business innovation.
Subscribe Now Visit Website
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paper with a friend.
#CreateTomorrow
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Moonlander Press, Berlin
Copyright © 2020 Alex T. Steffen
All rights reserved.
Illustrations & photography by unsplash.com

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