Creativity · Curiosity · Self-Actualisation · KIDULT · Christian Wehner
AI is taking over
the analytical.
What remains
is the human.
Childlike curiosity is not a soft skill. It is a competitive advantage in the AI age. As a keynote speaker on innovation and future skills, Christian Wehner shows why the most important thing we ever learned is what we already know, and only stopped practising.
„Mr Wehner took us on an interesting and entertaining journey into an innovative future. His creative impulses were the perfect opening for our leadership workshop.“
Dagmar Grübler, RWTH Aachen
Concrete. Immediate. Effective.
No motivation bingo. No 30-day challenge promises. Just 10 concrete impulses that remind you that the most important thing you have ever learned is something you already know.
Set yourself daring challenges again.
Drive somewhere without navigation for once. Order something at a restaurant you have never tried. Small is fine. The point is to prove to your inner child: I can still do this.
Do not pay with happiness.
The next time you celebrate a success, ask yourself briefly: what am I sacrificing right now to achieve it? Not to dampen the mood. But so you know whether it was the deal you truly wanted.
Communicate like a baby.
A baby immediately says what it needs. Loud, clear, without guilt. Say no actively at least once a day. Better communication does not start with a training programme. It starts with one clear sentence.
Keep a resignation letter ready.
Write your resignation, even if you love your job. The ritual restores a sense of control. It is a way of turning fear into confidence.
Question one routine.
Deliberately choose a different approach today. A new route. A different order. Creative thinking begins exactly where routine ends.
Diversify your network.
Most networks are echo chambers. Do you have people around you who are 20 years older or younger? Seek out friction deliberately. Not because friction is comfortable. But because it thinks.
Surround yourself with creativity.
Look at art. Listen to music you would never normally choose. The brain needs input it does not expect. Give it exactly that.
Dress up again.
Clothing changes how we feel and how we think. Those who dress differently think differently. The suit can go back on tomorrow.
Brush your teeth differently.
Start in a different quadrant than usual. Those who believe they have no routines have the most. And those who do not know their routines cannot question them.
Build a paper aeroplane.
Everyone writes the name of their first job and the most valuable lesson from it on their plane. Simple, small, surprisingly connecting. Collaboration does not need software. Sometimes it just needs a sheet of paper.
Going beyond the surface.
Researchers at the University of Virginia demonstrated in eight experiments, published in the journal Nature: when faced with a problem, people almost always look for additive solutions first. They add rather than subtract. Even when subtracting would be the smarter answer. Children do not do this. They ask first: do we even need this?
Instead of asking „what is right,“ we once asked: „What is important.“
That is exactly the ability that makes the difference in the AI age and in the current skills shift. Those who embrace childlike thinking as a competence will ask different questions the next morning. In meetings, in projects, in conversations with colleagues. Different questions lead to different answers. And different answers lead to real innovation.
Those who become more open also become more collaborative. This is the difference between a team that functions and a team that wins.
Christian Wehner · SPIEGEL Bestseller · TEDx Speaker · Senior Director SAP SE
The KIDULT philosophy on stage.
Christian Wehner brings the KIDULT philosophy to the stage as a keynote. Four topics, one common thread.
Keynote 01
Innovation x Culture Change
Organisations must stop managing answers and start asking questions again. Innovation is not a process. It is an attitude. How companies build an innovation culture based not on processes but on people who learn to ask again. Practical. Provocative.
Keynote 02
AI x Future Skills
What remains of us when AI takes over the analytical? A keynote about future skills, human strengths, and the question of what machines will never learn.
Keynote 03
Leadership x Intuition
AI optimises. Intuition navigates. Those who lead do not need to know all the answers. The decisive leadership competency of the AI age is trusting your own inner navigational ability.
Keynote 04
Sales x Resonance
Any AI can sell. Resonance is different. Those who listen like a child understand more than any CRM database. How genuine resonance in sales is created and why the most human competence will become even more powerful in the future.
Frequently asked questions.
KIDULT is a concept coined by Christian Wehner. It describes the combination of childlike curiosity and adult competence. His thesis: what makes us irreplaceable in the AI age is not what we have learned during our careers, but what we have lost along the way. The ability to ask, to wonder, and to see the bigger picture.
Creativity is not a talent. It is an attitude. Those who begin to consciously question routines, diversify their network, and ask questions again without already knowing the answer are training exactly the capability that enables innovation.
Future skills are the capabilities artificial intelligence cannot replicate: genuine curiosity, creative thinking, emotional intelligence, and the willingness to ask uncomfortable questions. That is the core of Christian Wehner's KIDULT keynote.
Researchers at the University of Virginia showed in 2021 in the journal Nature that people almost always look for additive solutions to problems first. They add rather than subtract, even when subtracting would be the smarter answer. Children are less affected by this. They ask first: do we even need this?
Annual conferences, leadership events, innovation offsites, team conferences, sales kick-offs across all industries. The KIDULT concept is industry-agnostic yet resonates personally with every audience. Past bookings have come from financial services, manufacturing, retail, consulting, media, and the public sector.
After your enquiry you will receive a proposal. If you would like a brief introductory call beforehand, that is always welcome. Upon confirmation, one to three briefing and alignment calls typically follow. Christian Wehner brings ten years of event experience to those calls.
I am happy to share my fee on request. It is calculated consistently and in line with market rates for all bookings.