Podcast Summary: "Klaus Schwab: The Compass"
Podcast: Der Große Neustart
Host: Sibylle Barden
Guest: Professor Klaus Schwab
Release Date: January 3, 2026
Episode Overview
This pivotal episode launches the second series of "Der Große Neustart," welcoming back Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and long-time architect of the World Economic Forum. The conversation explores Schwab’s current focus and vision: guiding humanity through the transition from the Industrial Age to the Intelligent Age. Schwab serves as both a chronicler and a “compass,” illuminating challenges around truth, trust, identity, leadership, and the evolving frameworks necessary for navigating dramatic societal change, especially as artificial intelligence and other technologies rapidly reshape our world.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Intelligent Age: Defining the Transition
[03:06] – [05:58]
- Schwab compares today’s era to the shift from agricultural to industrial societies: “Everything will change again. But... two hundred years ago we had three, four generations to adapt to the change. Now we have a maximum of maybe ten, possibly fifteen years.”
- He frames his new mission: to demystify the present transformation for a broad audience—not as a technologist, but as a guide to its human impact.
- The Intelligent Age is driven by a host of new technologies, not just AI, but also blockchain, biotechnologies, and life sciences, upending how we live, work, and relate.
2. Truth and Trust in a Fragmented World
[00:00] – [09:21]
- Schwab repeatedly laments the contemporary crisis of truth: “We do not have anymore the same opinion what truth really is... there’s only one truth, but it’s today more and more interpreted in different ways.”
- Loss of shared reality leads to a breakdown in dialogue and trust, he argues, tracing much of this to technological change, especially new media and social platforms: “Media strive to create as many clicks or as much echo as possible, which means to adapt the truth to the appetite and taste of your audience.”
- This has direct consequences for democratic institutions, governance, and personal identity.
3. Identity in the Intelligent Age
[09:21] – [12:49]
- Schwab: Identity now is subject to disruption on two fronts: how individuals form identity (with weakened institutions such as family, school, and church) and what it means to be human in the age of AI (“Suddenly we have a competitor, we have artificial intelligence... And this is also one of the reasons why we have this polarization in the world”).
- The traditional “transmitting belts” of identity are eroding, forcing new generations to self-define amidst contradictory realities.
4. Leadership and Human Values
[12:49] – [14:30]
- In the new era, Schwab stresses “emphasizing our human dimension”: empathy, love, passion, and social service.
- He expresses optimism that this crisis could prompt humanity to become “more human,” focused on values long neglected.
5. Governance in the Age of Acceleration
[14:30] – [17:52]
- Traditional democratic systems, predicated on periodic elections and representative decision-making, struggle to keep pace.
- Schwab’s Swiss perspective: regular referenda and more direct engagement could ensure governments stay in step with changing realities: “You have to engage the people already into the decision-making process... by engaging all those who will be affected by the decision.”
- Governance must center stakeholder involvement to remain legitimate and effective.
6. The Evolution and Challenge of Stakeholder Capitalism
[17:52] – [21:16]
- Schwab addresses the backlash and misuse of concepts like ESGs and SDGs (“In certain cases companies making big announcements, which were not followed up at the end... sometimes the fault of circumstances”).
- The culture war persists: “For me it’s clear, a company is not just an economic unit, it’s a social organism.”
- Schwab’s prediction: the younger generation’s values will ensure that “the Stakeholder concept will not only survive, it will be essential to be even financially... successful.”
7. The Need for a New Vocabulary & Conceptual Frameworks
[21:16] – [23:44]
- Schwab discusses the necessity of inventing new language to name and understand emerging realities, as he did with “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” “social entrepreneurship,” etc. “To make people really understand the change has happened, there’s something new, you need also a new vocabulary.”
- This linguistic innovation is pivotal for integrating new ideas and promoting collective understanding.
8. Reflecting on Predictions and Acceleration
[23:44] – [26:14]
- The pace of change, especially the rise of AI, exceeded even Schwab’s foresight: “We are now in the exponential phase of technological development... I underestimated the revolutionary appearance of artificial intelligence.”
- The shift is so profound that Schwab coins “Intelligent Age” to replace industrial terminology: “It’s not so much physical, it’s much more related to thinking to intelligence.”
9. Adaptive Regulation, Scenario Planning & The Compass
[26:14] – [33:47]
- Schwab urges for “adaptive legislation” and “sandbox” approaches for policy-making in the face of unknowns.
- The need for factual, multistakeholder dialogue is paramount—as issues are deeply intertwined and cannot be solved in silos.
- Schwab views his own role as an orientation point—a compass—to guide practical and ethical reflection during times of rapid change.
10. Rethinking Stakeholder Capitalism for a Fragmented World
[33:47] – [35:51]
- The era of universal liberalism and globalization has ended. Schwab warns: “If we do not have a platform anymore to determine our future, then of course our future... breaks into different pieces.”
- Global problems, from AI to climate, require global cooperation—now harder in a fractured milieu.
11. The Schwab Academy & the Future of Learning
[35:51] – [42:15]
- Schwab’s next project is the Schwab Academy, aiming to foster public trust and serve as a nonprofit platform dedicated to learning, cooperation, and lifelong education.
- Today’s universities, he argues, “do not fit anymore as they are structured now into the intelligent age... We have to move from learning for life to lifelong learning.”
- Schwab sees common, intergenerational learning—not just top-down instruction—as essential for relevance in the Intelligent Age.
12. Models of Leadership: Five Dimensions & Resilience
[42:15] – [49:14]
- Schwab’s leadership framework: purpose (soul), intelligence (brain), empathy (heart), ability to act (muscle), and resilience (nerves).
- Leadership today, he says, demands “the courage to walk on untested grounds.” Most leaders possess some, but “very few people” embody all five (“if I have made a mistake in my life... it was to be impressed by someone, because in one or two of those dimensions he had a ten and I didn’t see that in other dimensions he had only a two or three”).
13. Standards vs. Ethics, and the Collective-Individual Balance
[49:14] – [54:57]
- Schwab prefers ethical self-motivation over imposed standards: “What is much more important than circuit standards is to create in each individual the ethical attitudes...”
- He relates the need for balance between protecting individual rights (Western tradition) and the collective (Eastern tradition).
14. Public Service & Loss of the Future Narrative
[54:57] – [60:25]
- Schwab’s orientation: public service means acting for the common good, not just private interest.
- Concerned that contemporary society has lost its ambition for the future, resulting in “a much more selfish... level.”
- Demographic trends (declining birthrates, etc.) mirror this loss of collective, future-oriented vision.
15. Personal Motivation, Partnership, and Purpose
[60:25] – [66:23]
- Schwab’s own journey was marked by idealism, luck, and commitment to his mission, even at the cost of more lucrative career opportunities.
- The importance of his decades-long partnership and marriage: “a perfect symbiosis... you cannot run a place like the World Economic Forum... if you don’t have a strong partner by your side who shares your goal.”
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Facing Truth’s Fragmentation:
“We do not have anymore the same opinion what truth really is… as long as we do not have a common understanding of what’s happening, we cannot have a meaningful dialogue.”
— Klaus Schwab [00:00] -
On the Speed of Change:
“Two hundred years ago, we had about three, four generations to adapt to the change. Now we have a maximum of maybe ten, possibly fifteen years.”
— Klaus Schwab [03:41] -
On Identity in the Intelligent Age:
“Young people are much more forced to search for their identity and to define their identities themselves compared to older generations...”
— Klaus Schwab [10:44] -
On What Makes Us Human:
“If we cannot argue anymore it’s our intelligence which distinguishes us... it’s our humanity. And then we have to think what does it mean to humanity? It’s empathy, it’s love, it’s passion and so on.”
— Klaus Schwab [13:23] -
On Leadership Qualities:
“You just have to bring to the table five different aspects. Soul… brain… heart… muscle… and nerves. Nerves play today very important role. You have to have the resilience and you have also to have the courage to walk on untested grounds.”
— Klaus Schwab [45:27] -
On Global Governance in a Fractured World:
“This notion of liberal globalization has broken down... if we do not have a platform anymore to determine our future, then of course our future, if I may say so breaks into different pieces.”
— Klaus Schwab [34:18] -
On Intergenerational Learning:
“If I have a problem with my digital devices, I would go to my grandson who would fix it immediately... the old have to learn from the young.”
— Klaus Schwab [40:38] -
On Purpose and Legacy:
“When you feel you do something which is useful and you like it. Stick to it.”
— Klaus Schwab [61:33]
Recommended Listening Timestamps
- [03:06] Schwab defines the “Intelligent Age” and its urgency
- [09:34] Analysis of identity in today’s era
- [13:03] Qualities required of leaders
- [14:36] Governance models for the Intelligent Age
- [18:15] Realities and misuses of the stakeholder concept and SDGs
- [23:44] Reflection on the pace of technological change, especially AI
- [35:51] The Schwab Academy and Schwab’s vision for learning
- [42:15] Schwab’s five-dimensional model of leadership
- [49:14] Ethical self-governance versus imposed standards
- [54:57] The balance between individual and collective rights
- [60:50] Schwab’s personal narrative and the value of sticking to one’s mission
Tone and Style
The episode is reflective, erudite, and personal. Schwab’s calm, deliberate intellectualism is matched by candor and humility. His vision combines realism about the complexities and perils of the present with a constructive optimism—that if we act thoughtfully, driven by ethical leadership and renewed cooperation, a more humane future is possible.
Closing Thought
Sibylle Barden closes with gratitude, highlighting not just the magnitude but the sincerity and heart that Schwab has brought to decades of global leadership:
“It was never about the room. It was always about you. You are the compass.”
— Sibylle Barden [66:47]
For those seeking to understand the future of leadership, governance, and human values in an age of technological upheaval, this episode offers profound orientation—and a gentle warning: to shape the future, we must first return to truth, trust, and our shared humanity.