Author Arjen Van Berkum

8 april 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

This technology era needs leaders that fail

95 % of everything changes. Constantly. What is the most fundamental change of this decade? Probably the blurring lines between functional and theoretical technology. A lot of theories that seemed unattainable in the past, are now being developed into – sometimes astonishing – functional designs, smart solutions. The transition time between theory and real life applications is becoming shorter. Our ecosystems are more or less enforcing this evolution to take place and society seems to quickly adopt the new developments that this evolution brings along. But are we able to live up to that accelerating cycle? Will the human capital of our businesses be up to speed in time? No, at this point not yet. We need to drastically modernise our education system, that incorporates the societal and entrepreneurial consequences of this technology era. After all, if the future is about talent, the battlefield will be the schools and universities.

1 april 2015 by Arjen van Berkum 1 Comment

Integrated consciousness is every leader’s next challenge

Two famous books I’ve read contain a lot of knowledge on some theories in relation to the economy, the society and the labour market. For a long time, those books have kept a lot of smart minds busy analysing and finding evidence to either defend or contradict the statements made by the writers Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Brilliant minds in their time. In my opinion those books should be mandatory in our education system for some basic understanding about the mentioned subjects. Nonetheless, I think we are heading towards a new era that will invalidate both theories – or at least for a greater part. Still, if you take some crucial core elements out of both theories and you put them together with today’s developments in technology and information management, we could end up with a new theory, a next level. Let’s call it ‘integrated consciousness’ for now. Are you wondering what I mean by that? Read on!

26 maart 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Test your technology maturity in the evolution of 2015

TechVision2015 © Accenture Technology Vision 2015

In February Accenture released their Technology Vision 2015, which can provide leaders of organisations relevant ideas to stretch boundaries in their journey to become a digital business. What was standing out for me in the first place, was the alliance of the trends. It shapes the ideal business. The Internet of Me is the demanding party that forces the delivery of results in an outcome economy. This economy is built in a platform-based ecosystem, that runs on software which continuously learns and adapts and is operated by a workforce that entails the flawless collaboration of humans and machines. It starts with people and it ends with people. Although society saw technology often as the evil destroying monster in the past, it is now (hopefully) starting to realise that it is in fact our salvage. The vicious circle of people can connect through ideas; innovative thoughts. Around it there are the technologies, platforms, tools, devices and interfaces that help those people operate, innovate and improve.

16 maart 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Leaders know how to let their company sell a naked product

Golden circle - Simon Sinek (TED) Times of excessive margins are history. Every entrepreneur, CEO or CFO knows that by now. Organisations need to operate with lower budgets, costs need to be decreased to acceptable levels for business continuity. Companies have been confronted with this unruly reality for a few years. What is causing that reality? What changes would create a new balance for business continuity? Recognising this profound uncertainty, every organisation should stress the importance of making decisions when the time is right. In this article I hope to give you some insights on how to deal with the current turbulent market circumstances and the constantly changing customer’s demand.

27 februari 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Do you dare to let go of company rules?

Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Semler has built a global empire by engaging to two things: trust and constantly asking himself how he – as an employer – could contribute to his employees’ happiness. He even developed innovative schools to institute this mindset. The idea was to start teaching people this way of thinking as early as possible – in kindergarten.

Nowadays his employees choose their own hours, salary and boss. What? Yes, they really do. Besides that, they have the opportunity to learn how to make choices and how to take responsibility. Bureaucracy has been diminished to a minimum. Less company rules and supervision appeared to be a great recipe for productive and happy employees. What can we learn from this innovative success story?

Author Arjen Van Berkum

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