A colleague once told me that he tried to stop putting sugar in his coffee. It wasn’t his first attempt. He had tried several times before. He knew it would be better for his health. He knew that he didn’t really need the sugar. He also knew that many others […]
When the wrong KPI can be the right KPI
466 posts
It often starts almost imperceptibly. An invisible line in the room. A meeting at a company. Someone leans back in their chair and says: “The problem is that management doesn’t understand reality.” Someone else nods immediately. A few minutes later, the room has been divided into two invisible camps. Us […]
An art student sits in front of his laptop, staring at an image that an AI generated in four seconds. It’s a landscape in the rain. The light reflects off the puddles with almost absurd precision. The color tones feel well thought out. The composition is strong. The student zooms […]
The strange thing about truly elegant ideas is that they almost always seem obvious only after someone has already thought of them. Like when someone turns a ketchup bottle upside down before putting it back in the fridge. Or when someone puts a receipt in a shoebox right after the […]
The most interesting thing in a meeting is often never said out loud. Everyone has been there. Someone shows a PowerPoint with thirty-two slides about “future collaboration strategy”. The words are well chosen. The diagrams are nice. No one objects. People nod politely. The coffee is lukewarm but professional. Then […]
Few things move as slowly as people who think they understand each other. It might sound strange. One spontaneously thinks that misunderstandings should arise when people speak different languages. But the really dangerous misunderstandings often arise when everyone uses the exact same words and nods around the table in agreement […]
It often starts with a meeting that smells of coffee and efficiency. Someone says, “I have an idea.” Then something strange happens quickly. One person leans back and asks about the budget. Another wonders if there’s already a competitor doing the same thing. A third points out that “we actually […]
The most important thing on the page is often what is not there. Imagine a poster where every millimeter is filled with text, colors, symbols, logos and exclamation points. Someone obviously wanted to say everything at once. The result is almost always the opposite. Nothing sticks. The eye does not […]
There is something fishy about perfect things. There are hotel rooms that are so perfect you almost feel uncomfortable. Everything is white, straight, quiet and polished. The pillows lie as if they had been raised in the military. Not a grain of dust is visible. Not a scratch. Not a […]
Imagine the following scene. A young manager walks into a meeting and says that the organization should stop optimizing what already works and instead start experimenting with something that is not yet yielding results. The room falls silent. Someone coughs a little strategically. Another starts talking about budget discipline. After […]
A programmer stays up late at night and posts code on the internet because it feels interesting. Some others start using it. Someone improves it a little. Someone builds on it. Suddenly half the internet uses the same basic technology and billion-dollar companies start making money on something that was […]
There is a particular type of meeting where someone leans forward, looks seriously at the PowerPoint and says: “We need to make sure that this initiative is strategically important and has a structure that we can present to everyone before we move on.” It sounds very sensible. The problem is […]
There are few things that feel as strangely satisfying as throwing away an old box that you’ve been moving around between storage units for ten years without ever opening it. You lift it. You look at it a little uncertain. You feel a slight twinge of guilt. And then something […]
Imagine someone telling you that you are not creative. That you miss that little something extra. That spark that some seem to have and others don’t. Most people accept it pretty quickly. You place yourself in a compartment. Creative or not creative. But what if the problem is not that […]
Imagine waking up tomorrow and everything you read confirming exactly what you already believe. All articles nod in agreement. All analyzes point in the same direction. All the comments seem to be written by people who think just like you. It almost sounds like the dream of a rational society […]
There is something almost comical about how much time organizations spend on strategy and how little actually changes. People gather, analyze, discuss and formulate. Everyone agrees that something needs to happen. Nevertheless, most things continue as usual. It is rarely due to a lack of will. It is due to […]
Imagine a big dinner where everyone contributes something. Someone brings bread, someone cooks a stew, someone arranges music and someone brings wine. The atmosphere is good. There is community, laughter and the feeling that this is something we are doing together. In the middle of the dinner, someone stands up […]
It always starts the same way. A meeting is booked with good intentions. Someone has thought that this is important, that this will create direction, commitment and maybe even a little energy. But somewhere along the way something happens. The presentations get longer, the discussions shorter and the participants quieter. […]
You sit there late one evening and look at your account. Three months ago it was full steam ahead. Customers were calling, invoices were being sent, everything felt like it had finally loosened up. Now it’s quiet. The calendar is empty. And somewhere in the back of your mind there’s […]
There’s something strange that happens as soon as people gather in a meeting room. The language changes. The words get longer, the sentences more complex, and the content… well, the content gets lost somewhere along the way. Suddenly we’re talking about strategic initiatives, synergies, transformations, and frameworks. Everyone nods. No […]
There is a special kind of frustration that arises in complex projects. Everything is slow, nothing happens as planned, and finally someone thinks that more power is needed. More pressure, clearer decisions, faster pace. Someone says, let’s go now. And it feels good … for exactly five minutes. Then something […]
Imagine a leader who walks into a room and subconsciously thinks that everything is about them. How am I perceived? How do I compare to others? Am I in control? Will this affect my position? It is not always immediately noticeable, but it is felt. Decisions become cautious, conversations become […]
Imagine a room full of people who are extremely up to date. They have read all the reports, listened to all the podcasts and been to all the conferences. They know exactly what is happening in the world. But still nothing happens. When they are about to create something new, […]
Imagine a factory where everything works perfectly. The processes are optimized, waste is eliminated, and every step is carefully improved over time. The results are stable, the quality is high, and the efficiency is impressive. And yet something starts to rub. Someone asks an uncomfortable question. What if we are […]
You have assembled a brilliant team. An engineer from Germany, a designer from Italy, a project manager from Sweden and an entrepreneur from India. The skills are sky-high, the ambitions are too high. You sit down in a room to be creative. Silence ensues. Someone says something cautiously, someone else […]
Imagine a meeting where everyone agrees that they will collaborate. There is a good atmosphere, everyone contributes, tasks are distributed and deadlines are set. The project moves forward and everything feels correct. And yet something strange happens. Once the result is ready, it feels like something we have already seen […]
Imagine that you have built the perfect system. Everything is optimized. No unnecessary steps, no redundant resources, no variations. Every part does exactly what it is supposed to do, in exactly the right way. It is efficient, neat and almost beautiful. And it breaks down immediately when something unexpected happens. […]
Imagine if creativity is really about taking things apart. Imagine sitting in a meeting where someone says, “We need to get more creative.” Everyone nods a bit seriously. Someone suggests a workshop. Someone else is talking about innovation. It will be big, almost festive. Then someone raises their hand and […]
Imagine that you are standing on a beach and picking up plastic. You fill a bag, then another. You feel good. You make a difference. Then you look out over the ocean and realize that what you’ve just done is roughly equivalent to a drop in a very large, very […]
Imagine if your company tried to get you not to buy their products. Imagine opening a magazine and seeing a full-page ad from a clothing company. The headline goes something like this: “Don’t buy this jacket.” You blink. Reading again. Is it a joke. Did someone make a mistake? No. The […]