Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno has worked for Philips across the globe over her 23 year-long career. She started her new job has Market Leader for Latin America 2 weeks before the COVID-19 crisis forced countries into lockdown. But Fabia has been through crises before, including a typhoon in the Philippines that devastated the country. Fabia talks about lessons learned from other cultures, trusting your gut, and how COVID-19 is speeding up transitions that were needed.

Robert Metzke, Head of Sustainability at Philips, grew up in East Berlin. He was just a teenager when the Wall fell, but that sudden, fundamental change has always stayed with him. In this episode, he talks about how climate change is linked to healthcare, embedding sustainability in every process, and orchestrating change to ensure it has a positive impact.

When we think of Japan, we tend to think of innovation. And when Hitoshi Aizawa left a 30-year career in IT to join Philips as Senior Director of Solutions a few years ago, he realized that would be needed to deal with the quickly-changing face of healthcare in Japan. In this episode he talks about helping both customers and employees make the transition from input-based models to value-based care, and thinking big by celebrating the small.

Kala has a mission. As the head of the Philips Innovation Hub in Bangalore, she works together with other hubs around the globe to positively change access to care - in her own country, which has one of the largest populations in the world, but also in Asian and African markets. Whether it's using data to improve treatment and shorten time spent in the hospital or AI to drive better outcomes, Kala's goal is to take the hub to the next level.

Portia Singh is a senior scientist in healthcare technology at Philips North America - one of the fastest changing industries on the planet. In this episode, she discusses the importance of realizing the impact of your work, and shows us how she's managed to link that with her passion for exercise and helping the elderly.

Craig Horton describes how a life-threatening event inspired him to change lives for the better, and to accomplish his goal of completing the world's most difficult running race - a week-long series of marathons in the Sahara Desert.

Maud never lost interest in working when she had kids. But as any busy working parent knows, sometimes you have to be flexible.  Maud has learned the art of how to pivot, both at home and in her role as a Procurement Engineer too.  

The things Ke Ke Qi builds may not be made of mortar and bricks, but as a Software Architect at Philips' China Digital Innovation Lab, he creates digital structures and platforms. This is how digital innovation works in the global age. Adapting to it is part of his job.

You know the expression “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”? Pradeep seems to be much more interested in the fact that it’s 9 o’clock somewhere. His job is definitely not 9 to 5, and he likes it that way.  

When you have an idea that's a game-changer, you want to make sure that it's executed perfectly. That's Kok Leng Tan's job as group leader for Function and Product Development for Garment Care in Singapore - to make sure that revolutionary ideas actually work.

Annie lives in Kenya and wants to help those who need it in innovative ways.  But how can you rise up and maximize innovation when your team is spread across the globe?

Pat wanted a good job close to home in an industry that had a future, and thought his job in order fulfillment for patient monitoring would be like any other. But when his son had a neonatal stroke Patrick's life changed in ways he'd never imagined. Including the relationship with his work at Philips.  He sat down, and wrote a letter to his colleagues. 

The second season of The Spark takes an in-depth look at work in a global, digital age. We examine the art of collaboration, working across time zones and creative thinking to help us understand how we can embrace this ever-changing world. What do all of these changes mean for us, and what do we have to look forward to? How can we take control of the work we do to turn it from "just a job" to something fulfilling and meaningful? Check out our website

Printmaker Susan Aldworth went to the hospital one day fearing the worst. From then on, her brush with death never left her thoughts. Susan looks inward at human life, but insists that these days, it’s thinkers at the forefront of health technology, like futurist Zayna Khayat, who can tell us the most about the lives we’ll live and the world we’ll leave behind. Or technologists like Kacy Harding, who urge that “technology should augment the physical and virtual world to empower us.” In this...

What do theatre, science, and art have in common? Corien Pompe paints us a picture. What’s fascinating about Corien is that ... she doesn’t question if people are connected, or how one discipline affects another. Instead, she wonders how anyone could think of them in isolation. Her ingenuity transcends the disciplines in which she works, so that she can follow her vision wherever it wanders. She doesn’t mind standing on shakey ground, so long as you give her some room in the sky. Today,...

Philips is always looking for the people who are excited about turning the world on its head. Those are the people who, if given the resources, can bring about massive changes, which, in health, can mean a world of good.In this corner, we bring you a true champion of human curiosity. Pandora’s Boxer himself, Mr. Darren Adams. One of the defects of philosophers is that they always seem to assume they know the conclusions before they’ve reached them. But Darren isn’t a philosopher. He’s an...

Simona is the 'work hard, play hard' force behind sustainability innovation at Philips. A published author, professor, and travelling lecturer, she's both inventive and sagacious in her solutions to all sorts of troubles, global and personal. Just from getting to sit down with Simona, it seems that her love of life is one of the reasons she works so diligently to preserve it. Find out more about Simona's story on philips.to/work-hard-play-cards. 

Tagrid Ceric was 17 years old in a Bosnia fraught with strife. And like most 17 year olds, her greatest frustration was not being able to go out. She ended up leaving her country to make a new start, although not for the reasons you're thinking. It was a great transition into what she teaches now: transition. As a change manager, she helps others find that inner spark, guiding them through the process of making peace with their frustrations and insecurities, so they can get to a place where...

Maarten van Herpen knew at the age of 12 that he wanted to work at a Philips laboratory. Determined to get in the door, he actually made it, and is now one of the organization's top inventors, holding innumerable patents. Maarten is inspired by inspiration itself. He grew up in a time when science wasn’t seen as cold or calculating, but when it was thought of as playful and inventive. These positive associations motivate him to push through the more challenging aspects of work so that he can...

Ana Alvarez would like to feed the whole world if she could. She sees feeding her kids, feeding the hungry, and working on healthier, safer inventions for the kitchen as different aspects of the same goal. We’ll learn about her new spin on a snack food classic; not fried in fat or oil, but in her new Airfryer. And Ana also speaks with us about hunger, altruism and the pains of being pure at heart. Find out more about Ana's story on philips.to/alls-well-that-eats-well

Jonathan Palero likes it when things get hairy. Because if everything's running smoothly, where’s the fun in that? It’s only when a problem occurs that you know you can really accomplish something, he says. And when you’ve solved it, you’ve accomplished something else. What others call troubles he calls riddles. Even the most challenging dilemmas seem to do little but draw his interest and attention. This is because Jonathan knows that you can’t start a fire without a spark. Find out more...

Peru is now a booming holiday destination. But away from the tourist trail and in stark contrast, Pavan Dadlani offers us perspective on how low resource countries like his struggle to invent health solutions. Not to mention the unrealized innovations that lie in waiting. Pavan has worked with hundreds of healthcare volunteers across the globe in countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda to bring change and innovation to peoples' lives. "Innovations like this can actually save lives," says...

Ana Molina takes us into the world of male appearance in Chinese culture. A world where your face - and 'keeping face' is your access to opportunities. Not too hard to imagine, is it? Ana gives us some psychological perspective on how we let our appearance, and the expectations placed on us, shape our identity. And how she keeps her creativity alive by "exploring everything." You can find more on Ana's story here: philips.to/the-face-of-innovation

Dionisio Nunes left a war torn Angola for the Netherlands and didn’t look back. He worked his way into a nice job but never stops looking forward, even to the point of sneaking off to departments he doesn’t belong to, to connect dots. Dionisio studies deep learning. Deeply. What does intelligence look like when it goes sneaking about where it doesn’t belong? Find out as Dionisio reveals his mind at work. You can find more on Dionisio's story here: philips.to/the-runaway-intellect