Zhanna Kryuchkova
In the spring of 2018, we had a conversation with Oleksiy Botvinov — an outstanding pianist and founder of the classical music festival Odessa Classics. We spoke about music and business. More precisely, Oleksiy spoke mostly about music, while I focused on business. We touched upon the themes of systems and chaos. Oleksiy reflected using examples from Rachmaninoff’s works and Bach’s Goldberg Variations; I used examples from business management across various industries. And even though we were playing different “parts,” our thoughts flowed in the same direction.
We reached a shared conclusion — in both music and business, it is often easy to confuse mediocrity with genius: one hasn’t grown into the rules, the other has already outgrown them. One moves blindly, the other experiments with virtuosity, and it’s difficult to tell who is the amateur and who is the innovator.
Western business education gave me an essential insight: structure is necessary for any endeavor. Without it, a business doesn’t stand a chance — not only to grow, but even to survive. At the same time, I believe that coincidences are never truly random. Lao Tzu believed that “something” is born from “nothing.” I’m drawn to brilliant improvisation, sudden insight, and the spontaneity of an unconventional decision that arises from nowhere. After all, this is what we call the spirit of entrepreneurship. That spirit is inseparable from who I am — it’s in my nature.
That evening, Oleksiy Botvinov and I joked that our discussion lacked a third participant — a philosopher. Later that autumn, a wonderful creative evening took place featuring three key figures: a philosopher, a pianist, and a businessperson. That evening, in turn, inspired me to listen to Brahms, Ravel, Saint-Saëns — and to read Mikhail Shishkin’s The Light and the Dark.
Without me even realizing it, the idea of a creative evening grew into something much bigger. Within half a year, the need to philosophically reflect on life as a creative act led to the decision to launch a new publishing project — a journal dedicated to philosophy, science, business, and art.
That’s how the Huxley project was born.
Our authors and contributors are philosophers, entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers, and artists — people who share a spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship.
I firmly believe that certain events can change us and make us see familiar things in a new light. A series of such encounters led to the creation of this publication, and I hope that Huxley will become a guide to the world of new ideas and meanings that are emerging before our eyes.
Dedication to Huxley Magazine
Garry Jacobs
CEO of the World Academy of Art and Science, President of the World University Consortium, Full Member of the Club of Rome
The accelerating speed and complexity of global change today pose serious challenges for individuals and nations around the world — but also present unprecedented opportunities for rapid social progress. Ukraine is no exception.
Only people with open minds, capable of independent thinking and unburdened by past experience, entrenched orthodoxies, and prevailing beliefs can successfully navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities.
This calls for new sources of understanding and inspirational leadership in the form of ideas, values, individuals, organizations, and social movements.
The launch of Huxley — dedicated to exploring new ideas and alternative perspectives across various spheres of life and thought — marks a departure from traditional journalism and offers a fresh outlook.
It has the potential to become a source of emerging ideas and higher values essential for effective leadership on both national and global levels.
Garry Jacobs