Tania de Jong

Being Human in an Age of Machines – The mental health challenge

“Things are getting better and better and worse and worse, faster and faster, simultaneously.”

What does it mean to be human in an age of increasing technological acceleration, global unrest and growing disconnection?

We live in troubling, divisive and uncertain times. Yet we talk more to boxes and screens than one another. Rates of loneliness, social isolation and mental illness are increasing, and we are numbing our fear and anxiety through a range of distractions and substances. One in four Australians now have a chronic mental illness. One in seven are on anti-depressants and suicide rates are increasing. Climate change, complex issues, social media and concerns about the future are causing significant additional anxiety, particularly amongst younger people.

If we cannot raise our consciousness and keep up with the accelerating pace of change, is the cost going to be ever-increasing rates of mental illness? How can we collectively heal our trauma and state of anxiety and despair? Together we can find new ways of building resilience, adapting our minds, our emotions and our perspectives in a rapidly changing world. What kind of future do we want for our children and grandchildren?

Key Learnings

• The current mental health statistics and what to do about them
• How to raise our consciousness and build a collective future
• How neuroscience can help us change our brains and reconnect to self and others
• Ways to empower your people and communities to find meaningful purpose so that they can unleash their full potential
• How to include diverse voices, foster curiosity, generosity, understanding and a true sense of belonging
• Why psychedelic-assisted therapies could help humanity heal from trauma

Unlocking Human Potential in an Age of AI, Disruption and Disconnection

We are living through one of the most extraordinary periods of transformation in human history. Technology is accelerating. Artificial intelligence is reshaping work. And yet, at the very moment we are more connected than ever, we are also facing a crisis of disconnection, disengagement, depression and untapped human potential.

What if the greatest competitive advantage in your organisation is not AI, strategy, or data, but the human voice, creativity, compassion, community and the courage of your people?

In this powerful and deeply experiential keynote, Tania de Jong invites leaders to rethink what it means to lead, innovate, and thrive in a rapidly changing world. Drawing on decades of experience across business, social enterprise, and the arts, she reveals how organisations can unlock collective intelligence, build truly inclusive cultures, and harness the full human potential of their teams.

Key learnings include:

• How to create psychologically safe cultures where every voice is heard and valued
• Why diversity of thinking and ‘positive human collisions’ is the key to innovation, adaptability, and future readiness
• The hidden cost of silence in organisations and how to transform it into creativity and contribution
• Practical tools to unleash courage, collaboration, and purpose at every level of leadership
• How music and the arts can become powerful catalysts for connection, critical thinking, wellbeing, community and high performance

This is not a traditional keynote. It is an immersive experience that combines storytelling, science, and the power of the human voice to shift mindsets and inspire action. Because in a world defined by disruption, the organisations that thrive will not just be the most efficient or the most advanced. They will be the most human. Tania de Jong does not just speak about transformation. She enables it.

How Do We Build Resilience, Harmony and Hope in an Extraordinary Era of Collapse?

We are living through a time of profound disruption — social, ecological, psychological and systemic. This keynote explores how we can respond with courage, creativity, and compassion, and build the inner and collective resilience, harmony, and hope needed to navigate uncertainty and shape a wiser future.

Key learnings include:

• Why it feels like everything is breaking down — and what’s really happening
  • Explore the deeper drivers behind our current sense of collapse, including accelerating complexity, loss of trust in institutions, social fragmentation, and burnout. Reframe “collapse” not only as a crisis, but as a powerful moment of choice, re-imagination, and renewal.
• From survival mode to conscious evolution
  • Many individuals and organizations are stuck in fear, reactivity, and short-term thinking. This session looks at how we can move beyond survival mode and consciously evolve — developing the emotional, psychological and ethical capacities required for the next chapter of human civilization.
• Reclaiming our innate creativity as a resilience superpower
  • Creativity is not a luxury — it is essential for adaptation in times of rapid change. Learn how music, the arts and creative thinking help regulate nervous systems, unlock innovation, restore meaning and enable new solutions to complex “wicked problems.”
• Rebuilding critical thinking, wisdom, and discernment in a noisy world
  • In an era of misinformation, polarization, and technological overload, resilience depends on our ability to think clearly, hold nuance, and question assumptions. This keynote explores how we can rebuild critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and intergenerational wisdom — personally and collectively.
• Healing disconnection: from loneliness to belonging, hope and harmony
  • Social isolation and mental distress are some of the greatest hidden crises of our time. Discover how fostering authentic connection, compassion, and shared purpose builds stronger, healthier communities — and why belonging is foundational to resilience, hope, and harmony.
• Leadership for turbulent times: courage, empathy, and moral imagination
  • The leaders we need now are not just strategic — they are human, values-driven, and emotionally intelligent. Explore what resilient leadership looks like in times of uncertainty, and how leaders can model hope, ethical courage, and collective care.
• Building communities that care — and systems that serve life
  • True resilience is collective. This session examines how communities, workplaces, and societies can be redesigned around cooperation, inclusion, and care — creating harmonious systems that support wellbeing, creativity and long-term flourishing rather than extraction and burnout.
• Walking each other home: choosing unity over division
  • At the heart of resilience is remembering our shared humanity. This keynote invites audiences to move beyond ‘us versus them’ thinking and rediscover empathy, kindness, and shared responsibility — essential ingredients for navigating and cocreating a more hopeful future together.

Audience takeaways

Participants leave with:

• A clearer understanding of the forces shaping our current global moment
• Practical tools to build personal, emotional, and creative resilience
• New ways of thinking about leadership, community harmony, inclusion and collaboration
• Renewed hope, agency and a sense of shared purpose

Voices of Innovation – The Power of Positive Human Collisions

Every voice matters. We are all creative.

What if your organisation could awaken the potential of your people, through the development of a creative and collaborative voice? Your people are an amazing resource of untapped potential, who together have everything that is required to enhance innovation and creativity and solve challenging problems through the power of positive human collisions.

In this presentation, Tania delivers learning methodologies to empower your organisation with the skills to build an inclusive culture where innovation can flourish, and opportunity is found in diversity. Tania also provides tools to assist teams in developing resilience and learning from failure.

Audiences will walk away from this presentation inspired to implement positive human collisions in the workplace and their communities, and the ability to create a pipeline for innovation. They will also gain insights into how creativity boosts performance, inspires leadership and ignites transformation.

Key Learnings

• How to build a collaborative, purpose-driven and innovative culture
• Insights into harnessing diversity and creating opportunity
• Enhanced creative thinking and how to develop agile growth mindsets
• Tools to develop your resilience, performance and leadership
• Integrating feminine power with masculine wisdom

Thinking Outside the Box and Creating New Futures

It’s an uncertain and chaotic time. Everything appears to be falling apart, and it’s time to build something new. The systems and institutions we used to rely on are no longer trusted. How can we thrive and collectively create a more peaceful, healthy, and grounded future? We will need to think outside the traditional boxes, redefine what it means to be human and build bridges of understanding to create a better world for our children and grandchildren. Curiosity, resilience, and imagination are key.

• What’s happening and why are we in such a state of chaos?
• What can we individually and collectively do about it?
• What skills will we need to create a more peaceful, healthy, and grounded future?

Human Intelligence 2.0 – How to Manage Change in Troubling Times and Build a Collective Future

It is no ordinary time in the history of civilisation. The world is moving faster than we can think; so we have to change our thinking!

The transformation upon us means at least three things…Fear, Change and Opportunity.

We live in troubling times and face a host of wicked problems, risks and systemic challenges beyond the reach of existing institutions and traditional authority structures. Problems like climate change, increasing mental and chronic illness, scarcity of resources, automation of jobs and Artificial Intelligence, unethical governance, increasing division and growing inequality call for unprecedented collaboration among different organisations, sectors, communities and nations. More than ever before, we need to foster collective leadership and understanding, lateral thinking and inspiring initiatives to manage the massive transition ahead.

What if you could fast-track your thinking about change and the future? As the pace of change accelerates, we are increasingly asking individuals and organisations to become more agile. How can organisations develop creative, inclusive, resilient and innovative cultures and develop the agility, empathy, generosity and Human Intelligence 2.0 skills required to manage, survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world?

Key Learnings

• Fast-track your thinking about change and the future
• Human Intelligence 2.0 tools to develop innovative cultures and leaders that exemplify service, resilience, curiosity and empathy
• How to develop more right-brained, creative and collaborative thinking to solve wicked collective problems
• Insights into harnessing generosity, diversity and inclusion to build communities that care
• Case studies to inspire action

Creativity and Innovation – How to Harness Them in Your People and Organization?

• We are all creative – building creative confidence and self-belief
• Dealing with failure and developing resilience
• Using neuroscience and your right brain to super-charge your work and life
• Tools to unlock your individual and organizational creative potential
• How to develop a culture where creativity and innovation can flourish
• Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship within your organization

Being Human in an Age of Machines: The Mental Health Challenge

“Things are getting better and better and worse and worse, faster and faster, simultaneously.”

What does it mean to be human in an age of increasing technological acceleration, global unrest and growing disconnection?

We live in troubling, divisive and uncertain times. Yet we talk more to boxes and screens than one another. Rates of loneliness, social isolation and mental illness are increasing, and we are numbing our fear and anxiety through a range of distractions and substances. One in four Australians now have a chronic mental illness. One in seven are on anti-depressants and suicide rates are increasing. Climate change, complex issues, social media and concerns about the future are causing significant additional anxiety, particularly amongst younger people.

If we cannot raise our consciousness and keep up with the accelerating pace of change, is the cost going to be ever-increasing rates of mental illness? How can we collectively heal our trauma and state of anxiety and despair? Together we can find new ways of building resilience, adapting our minds, our emotions and our perspectives in a rapidly changing world. What kind of future do we want for our children and grandchildren?

Key Learnings

• The current mental health statistics and what to do about them
• How to raise our consciousness and build a collective future
• How neuroscience can help us change our brains and reconnect to self and others
• Ways to empower your people and communities to find meaningful purpose so that they can unleash their full potential
• How to include diverse voices, foster curiosity, generosity, understanding and a true sense of belonging
• Why psychedelic-assisted therapies could help humanity heal from trauma