Techno-optimism: space colonization

According to archeologists, Earth met with a major asteroid around 65 million years ago. That asteroid and the effects of its impact on our planet killed off the dinosaurs, the only descendants of these magnificent animals being the birds. The asteroid brought about an extensive winter due to the amount of material thrown into the … Read more

Techno-optimism: clean and free energy

Many worry about us destroying the planet and changing the climate. I think there’s little doubt that humans are an important factor. The rate at which the temperature is increasing seems to be much faster than during earlier periods. Also, it will cause migration of people as some parts of the world have simply become … Read more

Techno-optimism: artificial intelligence

One of the reasons I feel that we need a revival of techno-optimism is the way the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the last years has been met by society. Rather than celebrating the enormous technological breakthroughs that were made and the immeasurable benefits this will provide to all of us, everyone seems to … Read more

From Agile to RADICAL: Conclusion

One of the most important challenges for humans is to deal with change. Our natural inclination is to keep things the same. This has worked incredibly well for most of human history where your life would have been quite similar to that of your parents and grandparents. Even if there were wars, famines and infectious … Read more

From Agile to Radical: conflict

Within the Nordics, Sweden is known to be one of the least conflict-oriented countries and cultures. I love living there and believe it’s the best one of the five that I’ve lived in. However, there are times when the avoidance of the elephant in the room becomes a bit much. Being Dutch and coming from … Read more

From Agile to Radical: purpose

All companies start with a purpose. They’re formed to solve a customer problem and, in that sense, their purpose is to solve the problem so that part of the value of the solution can be captured in revenue. They need revenue and free cash flow as they go bankrupt otherwise. Over time, as companies grow, … Read more

From Agile to Radical: organizational culture

The final aspect of the Radical paradigm we’ll discuss is the notion of leadership. Leadership is a highly overloaded and overhyped term and many are using the concept in all kinds of ways that may not be accurate. For all the hyperbole, the fact is that leadership, the ability to align groups of people around … Read more

From Agile to Radical: evolution of goals

One of the topics that often comes up in the startups I’m involved in is sales. As companies seek to scale, they need to move from founder-led sales to hiring sales leads who can help increase their reach in the market. The challenge is that salespeople tend to be likable, smooth-talking individuals who don’t always … Read more