A friend and client, C.E.O. of a chemical company, wrote in reaction to our last blogpost: “Sometimes with brutality, 2020 has placed the values of Life back to the centre of our reflection. I believe that the Future will be different and I wonder if those hastily...

In 2004, James Surowiecki (head of the Business Column in The New-Yorker), published a book which still fascinates us nowadays: “The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations”....

Over the past 30 years or so of coaching and advising leaders at all levels, we have been struck by one frustratingly constant observation: the majority of change initiatives end in failure. Not all of them make the headlines, obviously, and some are only partial...

Put yourselves into the shoes of an employee: A lethal pandemic has hit the World. Your business and political leaders have no clues how to react to it. A wind of panic blows… You are faced with a “Cornelian Choice”: Do I report sick or “at risk” so as to protect my...

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was a brilliant scientist and science-fiction writer. One of his famous quotes is “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread, winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means “my...

It is 312 BC and the Roman army understands with despair that they don’t have a single chance to escape the trap laid by their Samnites opponents. They are surrounded and blocked at the bottom of a valley and throw their weapon downs. Refusing to listen to his...

Costa-Gavras is the film producer who most impacted my youth. His movies offer a disturbing reflection on totalitarian regimes from extreme left to right. In “Section Spéciale”, he relates a historical feat of World War II, displaying the dynamics between French...

I recently wrote here an article warning on the fact that Webinars and Distance Learning were not to be discarded of course but would partially or totally fail to address the Ethos and Pathos critical components of any experience intending to produce a lasting impact...

This post has been written by Michael Newman who kindly offered to publish it here   Who do we try to save and who do we let die? The dilemma has become familiar in stories from intensive care units on the Covid-19 frontline. Most doctors never expected to have...

  Daniel Kahneman was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize of Economics, for his work proving that “Emotional Memory” lasts much longer than “Factual Memory”. Prof. Antonio Damasio earned his fame as top neuroscientist for demonstrating that  people move from intention...

I am wondering these days if anyone will still want to hear about joining a webinar in the future, since we have been flooded by them for the past 6 weeks. I confess to have taken part to two of them (with friends I enjoy working with, The Futures Agency, StratX and...

For 25 years, I have advised leaders on how to adapt their style to disruptions and, like everybody else, I never thought I would witness what we see with Covid-19. The past two months, I have observed the “Corona-Leaders” who rose to the occasion and make a huge...

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli Historian and Professor and probably the most listened to futurist and thinker of the XXIst century. Here is an article (free viewing) he just wrote for the Financial Times (20th March 2020) in which he elegantly summarized in this...

Stanley McChrystal is a former Army general whose unusual leadership style earned him several victories in the war against unconventional opponents such as the Taliban in Afghanistan. In an excellent NYT article, he drew a comparison between battling unpredictable...

I recently had dinner with a friend, CHRO in a large multinational. A strong idealist, considering his mission to be to develop and prepare their employees for the shock of the Disruption Economy, he was surprisingly annoyed. “Didier, how do you create an HR Community...

The reason for talking about “Engaging a Community” is that it becomes increasingly relevant in the Disruption Economy! The Disruption Economy will strongly impact the way we consider Strategy, Organization and Leadership. As I like to explain, it will demand to...

Dear readers, dear friends, I owe you an apology for letting our blog down in the 2nd part of 2019! This is due to a lot of (wonderful) work. Since mid-August I am on a 7/7 rhythm. As this will slow down in 2020, I will get back to my weekly habit of sharing...

“No progress without transgression!” claims Hamilton Mann, Thales’ Digital Marketing & Digital Transformation Director, “Every innovation is a disobedience to a rule, a norm, a habit, a process, a way of doing things, an established thought, a belief system that...