Unexpected Everything as it comes

[Applause]

when was the last time

you did something unexpected

when i was 24 years old i was exactly

looking for these moments

i wanted to explore new things for

myself

that would expand my personal horizons

and take me out of my comfort zone

that’s why i ended up in africa

without any real plan i decided to

backpack the continent

because i was really curious to learn

more about various countries and all the

different people cultures and traditions

i captured many beautiful moments during

my trip

but also moments that for me were

completely unfamiliar

one in particular stands out

and i’d like to tell you more about it

and take you with me on that journey

in tanzania i passed by a maasai village

just as the warriors were coming back

from a successful lionhunt

there was a lot of singing and dancing

going on

i wanted to have a closer look

and immediately got involved in a

champion contest

many of you are now thinking what the

heck is a jumping contest

to give you an idea

the swiss national sport is schwingen

and jumping is the national sport of the

maasai

in these jumping competition maasai

warriors compete against each other to

prove their height of their jumps

but also to demonstrate their sense of

grace

the rules are simple

opponents face each other

and the messiah starts singing

they give a signal in a constant rhythm

and on the third signal

they have to jump as high as they can

the person who jumps the highest wins

and the winner was fairly chosen by the

chief

of course

they didn’t think that i’m a real

opponent and that’s why they made a lot

of jokes about me

so they offered me a reward

if i could win

it was either

a massage woman

or a cow

before i go on

i’d like to tell you two facts about

maasai culture back then

fact one

their belief is that all the cows in the

world belong to them

so although other owners must be thieves

the messiah reserved the right to take

the cows back by force or even by

killing

fact two

at the wedding the groom is expected to

pay a bribe price

the bribe price is fixed at 25 cuddles

23 cows and two bulls

of course

neither my sign or i believe that i had

any chance of winning in their national

sport

because that would be like a maasai

defeating our king of schwingen

realistic

that’s why

both of us didn’t take the offer

seriously

otherwise after hearing these two facts

i would have noticed

how the rope around my neck was slowly

but surely tightening

back to the chomping contest

since there were range hours in the

morning

my opponent got stuck in the mud

that’s why i had a huge advantage with

my running shoes something i completely

underestimated

unbelievably i won the first round

along with the warriors who can jump the

highest

special consideration is given to the

warriors who shoot the spear first into

a lion doing a joint line kill

these receive a special headdress made

from the mane of the lion

now

guess who my second opponent was

that’s right

it was the lion killer

so maybe you understand

why it felt to me like before a boxing

match

i met my opponent in the middle of the

ring

we looked deeply into each other’s eyes

the tension was massive

the sun burned down on my skin i was

drenched in sweat

the messiah started singing

the first signal came

i was ready i was really ready followed

by the second signal and exact at the

third signal my counterpart screamed

sold out that i missed the jump and the

winner was of course

then lion killer

did i expect

a man who killed a lion with justice

beer

to win a chomping contest

with such a cowardly move

no not really

but honestly i’m glad he did

since my performance was not too bad

i was invited to spend some more time

and eat with them at the maasai village

as i started to think about the menu

my hut began to spin rapidly

please something vegetarian

please

of course

my wish was not granted

on the menu was

fresh cow’s milk

with a nice shot of cow’s blood

to make it perfectly clear

starter

main course

and dessert

all in one

directly

milked

lukewarm cow’s milk

with a delicious metallic tasting shot

of cow’s blood

to get the cow splot the cow’s head is

held

and an arrow is used to score the

swollen juggler ween

granted not fatal

but still an unusual way to prepare food

afterwards the cow is bandaged and they

live on

of course till the next era comes

would i have had this experience

if i had known the maasai menu at once

nowadays

everyone knows about everything before

it even starts people search online or

in social media what they would like to

eat at the restaurant

look at pictures of the food and the

place

and of course the reviews and comments

in this case i’m 100 sure

by the milk with fresh cow’s plot i

would have chickened out even in a

michelin star restaurant

but

was it one of my most memorable meals

i can definitely answer yes it was

so

my lesson learned from this is clear

being open to new things sometimes

brings surprises that stay with us for a

lifetime

once we got back to the campfire

i learned a lot about massage culture

during a conversation with ismail

ismail is the guy on the left side of

the picture

out of the blue he said

stefan

you are such a lucky guy

you are much closer to your god

i was perplexed

why do you think that

i have heard that a white man had been

on the moon is that true

yes it’s true

now you see stefan that is exactly where

you’re much closer to your god

i wanted to explain him how the moon

landing really went down

but he was not interested in it at all

he directly switched the subject to

how far away switzerland is

how many cows are living in switzerland

are they healthy are they protected by

arms

and so on and on

ismail was satisfied with the answer

yes

a white man had been on the moon

that was all he was interested in

because it wouldn’t have helped him to

know more about it

but his real focus

were on the cows

because the cows are one of the most

important things in the maasai culture

and to survive

my curiosity has always been driven by

discovering experiencing learning new

things

by trying to solve a problem or to know

my own limits by means of

challenges or drills

up to this point i was never i was

really never directly confronted with

curiosity

from the standpoint of survival

so i was fascinated by the fact that

ismail didn’t got distracted by the moon

landing

and immediately put a specific curiosity

his survival instinct right into action

and wanted to know every single detail

about cows in switzerland

curiosity arises for various reasons and

is one of the most beautiful gifts of

being human

it helps us to be open to new things

to learn to grow

to make new friends

it makes us to question the world around

us and it makes us even more innovative

little children see the world with big

eyes

they are not afraid to make mistakes

because they are too young to judge and

evaluate they have no preconceptions and

they are unbiased

everything in the world

seems new and interesting

as we grow older

the fear of doing something wrong or

asking the wrong things growth

because we often hear

don’t do this don’t do that

stop asking those questions

the result is

as adults

we have simply forgotten to be curious

it has largely disappeared from our

behavior

and we lose self-confidence in it

we live in a digital age

and i’m sure you have all noticed

that the world around us is changing

much faster today than it used to

many of the skills we have learned in

recent years are already obsolete

new hard skills like blockchain machine

learning robotic process automation are

now in demand

tasks are becoming increasingly

automated

this means for workers they need to be

retrained and upskilled for a

significant extent over the next coming

years

and this

is exactly where we need curiosity

because it is one of the most important

drivers of learning

once we have awakened our curiosity it

is important to put it directly into

action

the more we try of course the more we

fail but the more we learn

and suddenly things become achievable

and in turn we gain self-confidence

the new confidence coupled with

curiosity

takes away the fear of the unknown

and sometimes

even let us allow to experience

the unexpected

it’s often these unexpected moments that

brings us joy

because we were expecting something but

instead something completely different

happened

so my travel experience always reminds

me

not to be afraid of missing out on

something but

to stay curious

because it helps us to be open to new

things

to learn to grow to innovate

and it’s one of the most important

drivers we need in this fast-paced

digital world

always leave a little room for the

unexpected

whether it’s a new idea a new solution

or a personal adventure

now

look in the mirror

and figure it out for yourself

but always remember

if you do nothing unexpected

nothing unexpected happens

thank you

[Applause]