[19-Apr-26] My week 16-2026 highlights

You don’t always need to change your entire life to feel better

“…as the number of demonstrations has mounted, it has become clear that it is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult-level performance in solving problems such as intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception or mobility.”

This surprising pattern became known as Moravec’s Paradox, the idea that machines often do well at things people find hard, and do poorly at what is easy for us."

Interesting to see, how fast theory and reality can develop differently. Because just today a Humanoid robot outruns humans in Beijing half-marathon, beats world record.

Surprising to see the video and the speed of the robot. How does this racing end, when the human controller is pressing the STOP button, or when the battery is empty? And how does motivation work for robots, if at all?

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation: What’s the Difference?

"Intrinsic motivation describes the undertaking of an activity for its inherent satisfaction, while extrinsic motivation describes behavior driven by external rewards or punishments.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within the individual, while extrinsic motivation comes from outside the individual."

I assume we are not at the stage yet to see intrinsic motivation of robots, but external punishment, or the start signal are working already. 

"Real power in life is not in controlling the world; it is in learning how to control your own brain, your own emotions, and your own energy."

Without a robot "brain" - "Chemicals that control your motivation, happiness, calmness, and connection are not locked inside success, money, or other people — they are hidden inside your daily habits." - the chemicals are still working in the human controller's/developer's brain. But there might be simulations or similar activities in the robot control system around the corner already? Development is running fast ...

• Dan Rockwell: The Forgotten Habit
• Anders Indset (is now on Substack): AI is Blind. The next frontier of intelligence lies not in scale, but in contact with reality.

• 16 Second Brain Practices for Solo Operators (2026). Your Human Brain Is Ghosting You: How to Stop Forgetting Your Earlier Decisions. By Jurgen Appelo

• Why Unlearning Is Vital to Succeed in the AI Era. Before adopting new ideas and practices, we must first empty our cup by Gustavo Razzetti

• Why AI Is A Game-Changer For Creatives, And Why The Creative Industries Must Fight For Their Rights by Bernard Marr

[17-Apr-26] AI detector and more ...

From GROW to GROWTH model

Today I had the opportunity to participate in a 3-hour CFO simulation game. It is a dedicated Finance training for our company in the telecommunications industry. Three sessions for three fiscal years, with possible investments in towers, shops, service trucks and staffing, from HR to service desk people. Every investment had immediate effect on cash-flow, subscribers, market coverage, Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU), customer satisfaction, and employee engagement. A great experience, worth the effort and time.

The link is just one example of several available simulation tools.

"The CFO Simulation is an immersive, online business game that replicates the core responsibilities and pressures of a modern Chief Financial Officer. Participants are placed at the helm of a company's financial department, tasked with steering the firm through multiple quarters of competitive market dynamics."

Other topic. Finally I did get a response from the QUANTIC academic feedback team about my assumption that the last feedback was AI generated. In summary: "The feedback was written by a human and the AI Detector I used is well known for false positive results, I should not be worried".

As I had the feeling that it was AI written by reading and the AI detector confirmed it, I did not buy into the response. I used other AI Detectors to check the same text again. You can see the result on the picture and judge on your own.

• Best Free AI Detector in 2026

• Best free AI detector: top tools to spot AI-generated text

AND

• Andon Market: SF’s first fully AI-run retail store with $100k budget

• Companies Just Learned a Brutal Lesson About Training AI to Do Human Jobs

• Usually, Young People Embrace New Technology. Gen Z’s Attitude Toward AI Should Worry the Entire Tech Industry

AND

• Your HR platform measures engagement. But does it improve it?

[14-Apr-26] Give and get some space   

Choose Germany as your Education Destination?

After 54 years the ARTEMIS II crew has much more space in their rocket, but the design seems to be timeless, or it is just a technical requirement. Next is ARTEMIS III ...

When I have the 1st interviews with my international Internship applicants I am always asking for their motivation to come to Germany. The most recurring arguments are the financial perspective, less than 1,000 EURO per year for study fees, and the work-life balance. An interesting perspective from the outside on Germany.

And most of the students are planning to stay in Germany after finishing their studies, to work here for several years. Proper German skills are a prerequisite, better C1 than B2 level, especially in small and midsize companies. But there is many more when you look at the picture. Two side notes:

1. Especially students from China take German classes up to C1 level before they even start to study. A delay at the beginning, but it can pay off in the end.
2. More and more German companies are complaining about the "war for talent" and the alleged "shortage of skilled workers". And our politicians come up with different ideas to mitigate this through the influx of foreigners - so far the theory ...

In reality it is difficult in the moment, to find any entry position for finished students or young professional, mostly independent from the country they are coming from, but even more for the International community. All are searching (companies and employees), but they are not matching. The pain is still not high enough. 

And on top we are facing the AI battle - An AI generated CV and cover letter are checked and judged by an ATS system - both sides are losing and an improvement is not visible yet.

Some cool links to close for today:

• TED Talk: Will AI take your job in the next 10 years? Wrong question by Vinciane Beauchene | Oct-25
• Dan Rockwell: The Leader on a Donkey AND The 6 Sense-Making Questions
• pwc: The $800 billion opportunity in health and nutrition

• World’s first 100% battery-electric cruise ship unveiled with 1,856 passenger capacity

• Tanmay Vora: The problem is never just the problem. It's the response to it that defines your team.
• Roger Federer didn’t just play longer than everyone else.

  He just started playing a different game.

• Video: Increase Performance AND Fulfillment at the Same Time: INNER EXCELLENCE by Jim Murphy
• Video: Draw a circle and make it right
• Video: Draw a square with three lines
• Video: One Team = One Dream!

• Rolls-Royce to build 470-megawatt nuclear reactors to power 3 million UK homes
  

• Obvious hires aren't smarter. They ask AI better questions.

[12-Apr-26] The week 15-2026 summary 

Artemis II Astronauts Back in Houston

Two learnings from the moon mission. Some technical problems are solved already and new technology will not make it better or different. And experience is a key skill to be successful, maybe later than sooner.

Here another good example, especially when you like the SUITS series:

• Video: Introducing Donna's Replacement: The Amazing And Experienced Gretchen | Suits -- experience beats youth

Tomorrow is the 1st day of the STRATEGY exam week of my Executive MBA. During the coming two weeks the STRATEGY project can be worked out, either individually or in a team with up to four team members. As using AI is a valid option, as long as you properly mark the AI generated text, my approach will be as follows:

I did upload the project description to Gemini and raised the 5 questions that we have to answer as part of the project. You can find the result here. I will use this as a kind of sparring partner for me and to check content and completeness of my personal work. Same as you would do in a team setup, you have different characters, with different skills, capabilities, and experience. Not everybody is expert in all areas, but the sum of all is better than the individual result. 

It is the same with AI models, they are not good in all areas. Confirmed on the picture today and by several examples below:

• By the Solo Chief Jurgen Appelo
• By the AI Maker Wyndo

• [12-Apr-26] What works for you as an individual doesn’t scale inside a business

Looking forward to the coming weeks, as a fun fact - tomorrow is the 253rd of total 506 days of the QUANTIC EMBA. Party on ...

• Video: How to actually change your life

• Good Kids Don’t Grow on Trees By Frank Sonnenberg

• You Are Allowed to Outgrow Situations. 3 Gentle Reminders if You Want to Grow by Wisdom Made Easy
  

• The High Cost of Conversational Debt and How to Break Free
  The compounding costs behind your team’s recurring frustrations. And how to start paying it down. By Gustavo Razzetti

• The Beginner's Blueprint For Building AI Agents That Handle Your Toughest Business Tasks by Bernard Marr
  

• Stop using SWOT. Start using MAPS.

• 70% of CEOs think their strategy is clear. (Only 10% of their teams agree.)

[10-Apr-26] Storytelling approaches ...

A good story works in a lot of areas

Let's start with the Artemis II mission to the moon an back. A lot of good, but some surprising stories as well:

• The Moon Spacecraft’s $30 Million Toilet Has Been a Bit of a Disaster

• How an 8-year-old designed a zero-gravity indicator for Artemis II

• NASA’s Artemis II crew photographs Earthset and rare solar eclipse near Moon flyby

• [10-Apr-26] SpaceX’s IPO Would Make It a Top 10 Company Globally

Next one the 4-day workweek as another example:

• In 2019, Microsoft Japan ran a month-long “Work-Life Choice Challenge,” giving employees every Friday off without reducing pay. The results were striking — productivity jumped by nearly 40 percent, electricity use fell by 23 percent, and paper printing dropped by 60 percent.

• Germany just showed the world something powerful. A 4-day work week wasn’t just a “nice idea” it worked. 73% of companies chose to keep it permanently. Meetings dropped by 60%.

Some AI and Energy generating stories:

• The Countries Building the Most Nuclear Power

• US firm’s micro nuclear reactor could make vessels cruise for decades without refueling

• BCG: AI Will Reshape More Jobs Than It Replaces

• The 3-Tool Stack Behind My 4 Businesses (guest post)
  Why self-awareness matters more than software when building your AI workflow by Joel Salinas

• Bob Ross, AI Interns, and the IKEA Effect. On AI, learning, and the difference between watching and doing by Marcus Raitner

• The AI Maker: Choose Your AI Learning Path

Finally Interns, students and young professionals. In the last two days I had three conversations, one with a former Intern and two interviews today. For new hires I am not looking for a list of skills, I am more interested in a good story, and rare combinations of expertise and experience. To make our existing teams even better with an outside perspective. 

One key to success is to take the understandable nervousness out of the conversation, to make it less like a job interview and more like a conversation on equal footing, like you would have it in a cafe. The less professional questions sometimes cause surprises, especially when the candidates have prepared a very strict interview path.

Some helpful links for young professional looking for an entry position, either as employee or self-employed:

• Understand your personality first: https://www.16personalities.com/
• How does your country of birth compare to Germany
• NEURA: Cognitive Robotics. A new era of human robot collaboration

• 75 top Robotics companies and startups in Germany in April 2026

• Startup Insider Daily

• Land Your Dream English-Speaking Job In Germany

Have a great and relaxing weekend ...

• ORGANIZATIONS ARE PERFECTLY DESIGNED FOR THEIR RESULTS

• Gallup: Leaders Have Better Lives but Worse Days
• Dan Rockwell: Comfort Makes You Stupid

• Technical skills get you hired. Soft skills keep you relevant, promoted, and trusted — especially as AI reshapes work.

[07-Apr-26] AI is transforming everything

pwc: 2026 outlook - Global M&A industry trends

Quick and early Heads-Up: Startup Week Duesseldorf 2026. "The eleventh edition of the Startup Week will take place from September 7 to 11, 2026, marking the start of a new decade for the event. Since its launch in 2014, Duesseldorf’s startup ecosystem has grown rapidly, from around 100 startups back then to over 550 today."

As good pictures transport content much faster and easier to process, here some examples:

• [07-Apr-26] About Servant Leadership

• Versus Micromanagement

• The 20 Tallest Buildings in the World

• Population Growth in Every Country (2000–2025)

• 7 ways to learn anything 4x faster

Politicians on LinkedIn is a strange and still surprising scenario. Everybody can be there and share content, no doubt about it, but when you promote data that can easily be checked and proofed wrong, why are you doing this? I have seen a post from the German Minister of the Economy today. Her work is tough right now due to the Iran war driving the gasoline prices into crazy highs, especially in our country.

This post is making it even worse, not directly related to gasoline, maybe just a lame red herring? More than 160+ comments questioning the accuracy shared data and providing alternatives. Will be interesting to see how this story proceeds?

• Your Hyperdrive Advantage. Solo Operators Building Clunky AI Agent Stacks Now Will Claim a Whole Market Tomorrow by Jurgen Appelo

• Engineering Flowchart (so funny)

• The Missing Operating Model: How to Turn Strategy into Execution
  by Jennifer Reed
  

• What companies think change looks like: Fast, smooth and immediate.

[04-Apr-26] A picture quiz ...

Artemis 2's 'Space Plumber' fixed the toilet on ...

The top picture would be a winner in a photo quiz, not easy to assume that it is a space toilet. Possibly not easy to use in weightlessness.

• What Was The Toilet Trouble in Artemis II Mission After Take Off, How it Resolved?

• Video: Artemis 2's 'Space Plumber' fixed the toilet on ...

• Artemis II Blog and updates

Next topic is a difficult one and it is coming up on LinkedIn daily with very different perspectives, in summary --> when is all genders finally becoming all ages as well?

"Every week I see posts from people over 50 who cannot find a job, and what stands out is not their experience or their willingness to work, it is the silence after applying, no reply, no feedback, often not even a rejection.

At the same time, companies say they cannot find people, that growth is slowing down because the right talent is not available, and that is where it starts to feel inconsistent, because if both were true at the same time, we would not be seeing this pattern so often.

And I think this is the part we do not always say out loud."

To make it even worse, no appreciation for expertise and experience above 50, and the same at the opposite side of the work force - finished students and young workers do not find an entry position, due to the current situation in the industry and AI taking away the junior positions. Exactly what I mentioned in my article in the REWIRED book from Feb-26.

Companies are turning a blind eye to reality and are not seeing the obvious, especially the HR departments who are in charge of short-, medium-, and long-term resource planning, hiring and development. They ignore the status quo and have no plan, what should be done next.

• TED Talk: I let DaddyGPT parent my kids. Here's what I learned

  Stephen Remedios (Oct-25)

• Circus elephant teaches about meetings. Do what you want. Nothing goes viral by accident. By Roberto Ferraro

• World’s first solar-powered ambulance designed for remote healthcare needs

• The leaders who protect their businesses understand this one key principle: Use EBITDA to communicate. Use cash flow to operate.
  

[02-Apr-26] “Houston, We’ve Had a Problem”

For Artemis II the 1st ever real toilet in a rocket to the moon is not working (yet)

A really funny side effect of a several year long preparation, to go back to the moon - "Artemis II builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I in 2022, and will demonstrate a broad range of capabilities needed on deep space missions. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft." 

Some unpaid product placement or a small marketing effort from my side:

The tool I used to check my feedback for the Leading Organizations project, is the best according to several studies - "This article provides a meta-analysis of multiple research studies that showcase Originality.ai’s superior detection capabilities. These findings validate Originality.ai’s own AI detector accuracy study. They show that Originality.ai has outstanding performance when distinguishing AI-generated content from human-written text, demonstrating reliable third-party evidence of our efficacy."

... and fairphone just released the industry’s first ever nature report, well done!!

I wish you a great Easter time and break when you have some days off. here some material for free time:

• Can Humans Detect AI-Generated Text? 6 Studies Would Suggest They Can’t

• Why does the Balanced Scorecard help businesses link costs with actual business results?

• Video: Visualization of the distances in astronomy (Earth - Moon)

• Artemis II lifts off, sends four astronauts on historic 10-day lunar test. Artemis II marks NASA’s return to crewed deep-space exploration, with astronauts set to orbit the Moon and validate systems for future landings.

• You need to understand which AI skills you’re trying to develop

[01-Apr-26] Welcome to April 2026 

Organizations with excellent change management are 7x more likely to meet their objectives

A really helpful summary picture from Olga Cherkasova today. It covers all the well known frameworks that you need to master the people side of change!! Check her website ...

Just had to take care of a family IT ticket. Our scanner, an older model, needed a new WLAN connection setup after changing our Router some weeks ago. Manually entering a 46-digit password takes some time, but now it is working again. Ticket closed.

One more working day before the long Easter weekend with Friday and Monday off. Will be fun, I hope the chickens have laid enough eggs?

• TED Talk: How we’re turning pollution into toys, toothpaste and more by Xu Hao (Jun-25)

• TED Talk: 5 practical ways to take control of your life by Jim VandeHei (Nov-25)

• Your AI Agent Stack Is Spaghetti—It Should Be Lasagna. I'm building a three-layer AI agent architecture for my one-person business by Jurgen Appelo

• AI Changes Everything — Except This By Frank Sonnenberg

• World’s first solid-state battery-powered electric motorcycle production begins

• China’s humanoid robot captivates crowd with smooth catwalk and illusion turn

• World’s first hydrogen-powered engine for big cargo ships tested in Japan

• Which blind spot is costing you the most right now?

[31-Mar-26] Stay curious & ask questions

As AI gets more autonomous, the traditional “human in the loop” oversight model is showing strain.

Last Sunday I mentioned the topic about the AI generated feedback for my Leading Organizations project. In the meantime I raised an official question to the Academic office out of curiosity, to find out which tool is used and why the content is not transparently marked as AI generated. Still waiting for an answer.

Anyway a good fit to the Japanese Techniques and the marketoonist picture today. Asking questions helps and I hope that the AI generated feedback is double checked by a human expert in the loop.

Listening and Reading are both really valuable skills in these days with AI catching up, time to exercise ...

"The National Council of Teachers of English recommends scanning every book before reading it using an acronym called T.H.I.E.V.E.S: Title, Headings, Introduction, Every word in bold or italics, Visual aids, End of
chapter questions, Summary." taken from See words in a new way: SPEED READING by Kam Knight | Core Message (video)

• Video: Social Media Is Stealing Your Life. Here’s How to Take It Back
• Dan Rockwell: The Destruction of “Maybe”

• Only two types of people will be safe in the AI era, according to Palantir CEO Alex Karp

• Eve Simon: One of the biggest mistakes I see organizations make with AI? They wait for the perfect infrastructure before letting people explore. Firewalls. Restrictions. Tool approvals. Security reviews. All important and all incredibly slow.

• 15 Powerful Coaching Models + Behavioural Frameworks
  Used by top coaches, leaders, and high performers.

• From Blueprint to Reality: A Stronger Business Case for Shared Energy Infrastructure

• What’s in your control, really? (Use this as a guide) The 3 circles of influence

• New omnidirectional propulsion lets drones move freely in any direction midair

[29-Mar-26] The week 13-2026 summary

Great Ideas Are Dying in Silence. Let’s Change That.

"The real enemy isn’t fear. It’s conformity. And I’m starting a movement to fight it." -- Gustavo Razzetti

As mentioned last Sunday I recorded my Leading Organizations video on 20-Mar-26. The feedback from the QUANTIC Academic team was already available six days later, what is pretty fast with 470+ people in the same cohort. Reading the feedback I was feeling appreciated and had the confidence that somebody did see the video or reviewed the presentation I provided. Even some of my special parts were explicitly mentioned. In the end two sentences how to further improve for the next time. In summary 5 of 5 possible points.

Reading through the feedback several times I had the assumption that it might have been written by an AI system and not a human. I did confirm this today by using the AI Detector from Originality.ai™. 100% confidence that it was AI written, only the first sentence was from a human.

On the one side we have a very strict Plagiarism policy for the content we are providing -- Quantic takes academic integrity very seriously—we define plagiarism as: “Knowingly representing the work of others as one’s own, engaging in any acts of plagiarism, or referencing the works of others without appropriate citation.” -- but feedback seems to be a grey area?

Anyway, when most of the HR departments are now using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)  and AI tools can do Coaching in the meantime, giving feedback is a minor issue, or not ...

• The Best AI Tools For Coaches

• 10 Best AI Coaching Platforms to Transform Employee Development in 2025

• Transform Career Development With AI-Powered Coaching

• An AI coach built by an AI company

• AIMY™, the always-on coach

• Scale AI coaching to empower thousands of employees and students

My next EMBA topic is STRATEGY, with the exam starting in the week of 13-Apr-26 and the final project being due by 03-May-26.

sketchplanations: "A model is a tool, and its usefulness depends on what you are trying to do. If you’re trying to plot courses on a flat map, then the Mercator projection is extremely helpful. If you’re trying to understand how large Greenland is compared to other countries, then it’s misleading." 

Something that applies for a lot of areas, as I always say "not all technology that is available makes sense to be used" sometimes you are better of with the traditional or manual way of doing things. Can also be faster ...

Tomorrow is my next learning day, Tuesday I have my last holiday from 2025, Wednesday and Thursday I am in the office and Friday is Good Friday, the long Easter weekend. Just a two-day work week, why not?

• The Ultimate Guide to the 4 Day Work Week

• Find your perfect 4-day work week position

• The 4-Hour Workweek

Anders Indset: "Triangular Alchemy is not a management method. It is not a reinvention of “explore versus exploit,” nor a matrix distilled into a polished consulting slide. It is not a model to be implemented. It is a way of seeing—a perceptual instrument that allows us to understand organizations as living systems and to grasp their dynamics."

• The New Happy: Listening generously

• Shame vs. Guilt. What 81,000 people want from AI. Technical leaders make these 3 common storytelling mistakes. By Roberto Ferraro

• Your Worth Might Not Be What You Think. 3 Tips to Recognise Your Self-worth by Wisdom Made Easy
  

• AI Is Breaking Jobs Into Tasks, And That Changes Everything by Bernard Marr
  

[25-Mar-26] Do you assume everyone processes information the way you do? 

"Accuracy is true to intention and precision is true to itself"

When you have the feeling in a job interview that the applicants are using the simultaneous translation capability of e.g. TEAMS and read prescribed answers for potential questions coming up, then this might be accurate, but far away from precision. As always - not everything what is technically possible makes sense - and is far away from being authentic. AI is not always your friend!!

• These Moments Reveal Everything About You by Frank Sonnenberg

• Dan Rockwell: Defeat Negativity
• Eve Simon: The Productivity Paradox!

• Europe’s biggest vanadium battery goes live in Spain with 8 MWh storage power

[24-Mar-26] Start with one small change

Happiness Worldwide in 2026

"Global happiness trends show more countries gaining than losing happiness since 2006-2010 and Nordic countries again leading the rankings of international happiness. However, while people under age 25 in most countries are happier than they were 20 years ago, youth happiness has declined in several Western nations."

"To change your life, don’t try to change your whole life. Instead, try to change just one thing.

You might not believe it, but this single change has the power to ripple out and have a wonderful affect on many other areas in your life. It will start to influence your other choices. It will start to affect you and how you see yourself. And with time, you will look around at your life and marvel at how it has changed."

Spring time started last week and tomorrow the Winter is coming back to our area for a short visit. 10 degrees Celsius colder, windy and even snow is possible late in the afternoon. The flowers and trees will not be happy, but this sometimes happens in nature.

The new EMBA main topic Strategy started yesterday and I even found some time to look into the project description already. 

"The Aire Fresco company owners are faced with a critical strategic decision: whether to pursue the relatively known business to consumer (B2C) market, or whether to tackle the untapped, but potentially risky business to business (B2B) market.
Prepare a professional report that analyzes the firm’s internal capabilities, competitive differentiation, the competitive landscapes of the industry in both the B2C and B2B markets, and make recommendations as to the best option for Aire Fresco to pursue."

Frameworks like Porter's Five Forces, a PESTLE and SWOT analysis are expected to be used. The report should be around 2000-2500 words long, including a range of charts, figures and imagery. The project can be done as team or individually. Will be a good learning experience.

• Stop Balancing. Start Switching. Eight signals for knowing when to pivot between exploration and execution by Jurgen Appelo

• Dan Rockwell: Challenge All Requirements
• Structure Meetings: The principle is simple: Your agenda reflects your priorities. If decisions come last, they get delayed. If they come first, they get resolved.

• Despite all the noise , companies and recruiters are still overlooking the value of professionals over 50

• New 3D-printed robot uses wind instead of batteries to explore harsh terrains

[22-Mar-26] My week 12-2026 highlights

100 Questions to Give and Receive Better Feedback

"Icebergs make powerful metaphors because much of what matters is hidden. Despite knowing the maths, it’s still genuinely surprising and sometimes hard to believe that 90% of an iceberg is beneath the surface."

As planned I recorded my Leading Organizations video last Friday for my QUANTIC Executive MBA. It was a little bit longer than required, but I made a detailed introduction and did some marketing for the REWIRED: Leadership in the Age of AI book by Eve Simon at the end. Did fit to the content of my presentation and I did write a paragraph for the book as well.

The next main concentration topic will be STRATEGY, starting tomorrow. The same day when the last dedicated project will unlock. After the Strategy project all remaining topics will just be finished with an exam. Gives more time for the big finalization Capstone project that unlocks on 04-May-26 and has to be delivered by 15-Nov-26. All learned subjects will be included, as far as I did understand it so far. We will see shortly. First things first with Strategy now.

"The Five R’s Feedback Model

It’s not a rigid checklist. It’s a conversation starter that includes five steps. Often, we limit the feedback discussion to the actual moment, the feedback conversation. But what happens before and after is equally important. Think of the 5R’s of Feedback framework as a map to help navigate feedback conversations. When both givers and receivers use the same map, it’s easier to find common ground."

• Gallup: Accountability Is Leadership's Greatest Weakness

  Seven competencies define success, but one stands out as the most urgent deficiency

• The 25 Best Countries to Retire in 2025

• New transparent solar windows can generate power 24/7

• What’s in Your Wellbeing Toolbox? 3 Ways to Manage Your Wellbeing by Wisdom Made Easy
  

• Choosing The Right AI In 2026 Is No Longer About Choosing The Right Model by Bernard Marr
  

"It is surprising how little most small business values the customers. A positive feedback from the customer is critical to your business, and what's more important is their referral." -- Fabrizio Moreira, Ecuadorian - Politician Born: January 18, 1982

[19-Mar-26] World Happiness Report 2026

How Do Smart People Lose Their Way?

"Trends in global happiness: Nordic countries lead the happiness rankings once again. Finland is still in a group of one at the top, followed by a group of three: Iceland, Denmark, and Costa Rica. Sweden and Norway complete the top six, followed by the Netherlands, Israel, Luxembourg, and Switzerland to round out the top ten. Costa Rica’s rise to 4th marks the highest ever ranking for a Latin American country."

As always, really interesting insights in the Gallup 2026 report. Nordic countries are no surprise, but Costa Rica is. 272 pages worth reading and looking for data to reuse. Take your time. Here a TED talk that might be somehow related - I taught rats to drive. They taught me to enjoy the ride by Kelly Lambert, Nov-25

I told you on 10-Mar-26 that I passed the Leading Organizations exam with 88 of the 80 percentage required. Perfectly fine for me when you take the Pareto principle and "Done is better than perfect" into consideration. In the meantime I did read in the Slack channel of my Cohort that some people were questioning if the exam platform was presenting the right answers for all questions. There seemed to be some disagreement about right and wrong. 

Fun fact, yesterday I was reading a LinkedIn article of a Cohort member, who was celebrating a 100% exam result after spending 4 hours. Respect and congratulations, no doubt about it. But when some of the Cohort members are right with their assumption about the correct question and answer mapping, how can you get a 100% result?

Anyway, my effort-result ratio was sufficient, will be my way forward as well.

• The Human in the Middle, by Eve Simon

• Dan Rockwell: 5 Daily Responsibilities of Managers

• The Sleepy Agent Boss. My five principles for building an AI agent orchestration architecture by Jurgen Appelo

• McKinsey & Company: The future of restaurants: Precision in the kitchen, connection at the table

• Scientists make engineered bacteria convert plastic waste into Parkinson’s drug

• The hardest thing about leadership frameworks? They make it sound like progress is linear.

[17-Mar-26] Two Dan Rockwell posts ...

Always good to support colleagues

I am definitely not putting myself on the same level as Dan Rockwell, he is far ahead with respect to experience, success and daily delivery of his

Leadership Freak blog, no doubt. Two examples from the last two days, also related to the two pictures today:

• 16-Mar-26: 10 Ways to Fight Fair
• 17-Mar-26: Your Ego the Saboteur

Interested in more insightful Blogs or Newsletters, see Interesting Links on my webpage (middle column). And a quick AIDA AI summary:

A good blogger is someone who is passionate and knowledgeable about their chosen topic, engages with their audience through valuable and well-written content, maintains consistency in posting, interacts with readers through comments and social media, and continuously seeks to improve and evolve their writing style. Being authentic, relatable, and trustworthy are key qualities that make a blogger successful in building a loyal following.

The public transport strike in Duesseldorf is off tomorrow for one day and proceeds on Thursday. Good for me and my at Campus working plan, but bad for all the impacted travelers and users of the system that is supposed to be much more sustainable than the car traffic. 

YES we have the right to strike for better work conditions, but the

proportionality between impact on uninvolved customers, and the expected results seems to be out of sync now!!

• The Barbell Economy Is Reshaping Your Career. How Big Tech and Micro-entrepreneurs Are Changing the Workforce by Jurgen Appelo

[15-Mar-26] The week 11-2026 summary

Everyone's chasing the next AI productivity tool. Meanwhile, the rules that actually work have been around for decades.

On 10-Mar-25 I passed the 2,000k reader mark for the 1st time, in the meantime the counter is beyond 2,810k already. Back on 18-Mar-21 the counter was at 500k, long long ago ...

I am going back to work tomorrow, as a new Intern is starting. Due to another public transport strike on Tuesday, all Duesseldorf traffic is down, I will be working from home. Was planned differently, but you have to be flexible. Hopefully during the week my coughing will be going away and I can finally record the video for the Leading Organizations project, it is due my next week Sunday. The majority of the work is done already, so not a lot of pressure yet.

• Anders Indset: From the End of Growth to a 10× Economy?
• Video: You're Not Lazy - It's Overstimulation by The Art of Improvement

• Emotional intelligence: the 1 thing everybody misses. Your manager is already investing in you. 10 charts that capture how the world is changing. By Roberto Ferraro

• Davos 2026: Jensen Huang On The Five Layer AI Cake, The AI Bubble And Key AI Breakthroughs by Bernard Marr
  

• Age is just a mindset. You're never too old to start something. You're never too young to be an expert.

• Quantum computers still struggle with chemistry’s hardest molecular calculations 

[13-Mar-26] Next month, Friday 13th again

Africa has by far the youngest population, and living by your own values

My illness is getting better, but still causing some unplanned down-times, as yesterday. My Leading Organizations presentation is finished, I just have to wait until the coughing is getting better, to record the video without breaks.

Related to the topic we had a QUANTIC webinar today - An Entrepreneur’s Insight: Bold Moves & Smart Hires with Dr. Sara Alshareef and Lennard van Vloten. Besides a lot of interesting insights and shared experience, my two learnings:

1. Using the 16Personalities test and results for hiring and team building
2. Special advise for introverts: Book summary video: HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE by Dale Carnegie

I had a lot of discussion about hiring in the past days. With young students looking for an entry position, and EMBA colleagues being interested in executive search. Some examples:

• As you do not know, if the company you are applying for is using an ATS system, be compliant with your CV anyway.
  https://bettercv.com/cv-ats

• And map your CV with the job description upfront and improve the matching score before you apply.
  https://www.cv-by-jd.com/cv-jd-matching

• The rest is being authentic and to stand out of the mass of applying candidates, needs some time to find your personal approach here.

• I did work as headhunter in the past (2017/2018) and can just recommend to build relationships and networks as early as possible, even when a change is not planned yet. In the moment you need the support, there is no time to start building from scratch first. Especially executive research is doing their homework constantly, they know the right time to get in contact with you, don't worry.

• Proactively building such relationships is okay when you see a common topic or interest. When it is more artificial or could feel like it, better not. Especially when you are not under pressure in the moment. 

Next International Day of Happiness is 20-Mar-26 and The 2026 World Happiness Report: A Global Conversation on Wellbeing comes out 19-Mar-26.

• Video: Make people feel heard (build better relationships): HOW TO LISTEN WITH INTENTION by Patrick King
• TED Talk: What happened when I started measuring my life every day by Chris Musser, Oct-25

• The Fleet of Theseus: Handling Your Career Identity Crisis
  Your professional identity should be a saga, not a single story
  by Jurgen Appelo

• A useful way to think about organizational culture is along two dimensions: formalization and centralization

• Leaders & Their Agentic Teams by Eve Simon
  

• PwC: How incumbents can partner with start-ups to drive growth. 

[10-Mar-26] Good and bad days ...

I passed the Leading Organizations exam successfully

Yesterday was a good day and I passed the exam as planned. I finished the 1st smart case (a small test after each content paragraph) nearly a year ago during the application phase already. The last one in Jan-26. So a really long duration and still being ill, made it a little bit difficult. But with 18-years experience in leadership roles I was assuming that a lot could be answered with experience and/or some common sense.

I still did read the documentation again before starting the exam, just to search fast enough in the right place during the 5-hours open-book setup. Theory and reality are still two sides of the coin and in some cases the question and related answer did not make sense for me, even after checking in the documentation. Anyway, 88 vs. 80% required right answers was sufficient, the rest is silence.

Today the WLAN capability of our router did just crash from one to the next minute and did not come back properly since then. As the router is rented, I will order a new one tomorrow. Luckily the LAN capability was still working smoothly, so I could connect an older WLAN router as interim solution. Only challenge was to remember the password, but it was still available and visible in our mobile phones. Hopefully the service hotline is quick tomorrow?

• Dan Rockwell: 5 Positive Ways to Say No

• Exploring Consciousness by Grant Snider

• German startup targets summer 2026 for first orbital rocket launch from Scotland

• NASA Valkyrie humanoid robot built for Mars research returns to US after 10 years

• New photonic chip runs AI in trillionths using light, cuts heat and energy use

[08-Mar-26] My week 10-2026 highlights

QUANTIC Global Conference London, March 5-8, 2026 

Some month ago my plan was to go to the London conference and I did take holidays accordingly. Due to the high costs and not so good weather that could be expected early March I decided to stay home. Might also be better to join a Europe conference when I am closer to finishing the Executive MBA or when I am even done already by Dec-26.

I am ill since Wednesday, so joining the conference would not have been an option anyway. Okay, no guarantee that I would have been ill with London fully booked, but you never know. All pictures that I have seen from the conference so far are with sunny weather, so one concern less for the next time.

Illness is not really my topic and I don't know it from the previous years, as I rely on a strong immune system so far, what might also be coming from my regular use of public transport, who knows? And with our kids long out of Kindergarten and School, there are normally no illness surprises coming from there side anymore. But my wife is hosting regular handicraft courses for kids age 6 to 12, so this might be a root cause, as she became ill last Monday already?

In the meantime it is getting much better, the effects such as coughing, runny nose, hoarseness, aching limbs, and fatigue are decreasing. Just in time for the next week. I have still one week holiday, plan to pass the Leading Organizations exam tomorrow and would like to finish the presentation for the same topic during this week as well. When all goes good, we can even start to paint the kitchen, another to do on my list.

• Health is the one thing that makes everything else possible.

• McKinsey: Monthly Highlights, March 2026
• Gallup: Women Show Stronger Employee Engagement Amid Higher Burnout

• Sweden built a machine where clever crows trade trash for treats, turning these brilliant birds into tiny city sanitation workers !

• There's no deadline for success. Yet people treat their 40s like the end of the road. But I'm 50 years old, and I've never worked harder or been healthier. And recently, I spent time looking at some of the world's most successful leaders.

• World-first: US firm plans to house data centers inside floating wind turbine platforms

• Fei-Fei Li, the godmother of AI, is one of many brilliant female leaders who inspire us today and every day. The UN Women International Day on March 8th should expand it's present 365 days a year, as the consciousness which drives AI right now might not be the one which has next generations in mind.

• The paradox of effort. AI fatigue is real and nobody talks about it. Executive amplification. By Roberto Ferraro

• The 3 Steps of Success. Your Ideas Are Not Enough by Wisdom Made Easy
  

• Want a Better Work Culture? Change Your Team Conversations.
  By Gustavo Razzetti

• MWC 2026: The IQ Era Is Here, And These Are The Trends Every Business Leader Needs To Watch by Bernard Marr
  

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” — Albert Einstein taken from 100 Trust Quotes: Words to Build, Mend, and Strengthen Connections

[03-Mar-26] No need to compare ...

What leadership materials have truly resonated with you?

Was the question of my Leading Organizations professor yesterday. Here some results shared by the students:

• Video: Ray Dalio: We’re Heading Into Very, Very Dark Times! America & The UK’s Decline Is Coming!
• Video: Clip: Rory's Doorman Fallacy | Conflating Efficiency and Effectiveness

• The doorman fallacy (in the age of AI)

• Video: MULTIPLIERS by Liz Wiseman | Core Message
• Video: How to Lead With Radical Candor | Kim Scott | TED

A diverse set of answers and shared material, hopefully more to come.

I shared the REWIRED book link, here the latest message from Eve Simon, who is already back in San Francisco.

My next holiday starts tomorrow until 13-Mar-26, I had to take the remaining 2025 days before 31-Mar-26.

And some more food for thought:

• The Comfort Zone in a World That Never Rests by Magdalena Pertgen
  

• Great leadership isn't built on talent. It's built on solid architecture

• Funny video: When they install a voice-recognition elevator in a Scottish building.

• Why some people stay valuable even as AI gets smarter. (It’s not speed.) It has little to do with tools, prompts, or output.

• We live in a world where getting out alive is less cooler than going viral.

• This little graphic has been going *viral* for all the wrong reasons.
  8.1 billion humans, but 84% have never used AI - "You're not alone"

[01-Mar-26] The week 09-2026 summary

Turn Your Life Around in 7 Steps

A busy week with several interesting days:

• Germany: Equal Pay Day 2026 on 27-Feb-26 (there is still a 16% gender pay gap)
• Wuppertal: 125 Years of the Suspension Railway
• Then we had the ongoing negotiations between the USA and Iran, and suddenly the military attack this week. Seems to be a common practice, besides the Russia and Ukraine situation that is ongoing for more than 4 years now. I did ask Gemini for a deeper research about this topic and examples from the last 5,000 years, here the results.

Do you remember the Winter Olympics and the most viewed and longest taking sports competition Curling?  Some interesting and surprising insights in a 16 minute video.

Some more Trevor Noah videos:

• Trevor Noah Makes My Brain Hurt | A Bit of Optimism Podcast with Simon Sinek

• The Psycho Cyclists of Amsterdam! - Trevor Noah

• Why America Hates Change?

"As part of the joint programme of celebrations for the Gaudí Year, presented last May by the Gaudí Council, the Sagrada Família is organising a series of its own events to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the architect’s death, from autumn 2025 to Christmas 2026." supported by this video: Sagrada Familia Finally Nears Completion After 144 Years

Have a great next week ...

• The Real Reason Culture Implementation Fails (And It’s Not Communication). Your culture deck doesn’t make you a better company. Your behavior does. By Gustavo Razzetti

• Anders Indset: When the World Itself Becomes the Prompt

• What We Didn’t See At CES 2026, And Why That Matters by Bernard Marr
  

• Build Or Buy AI Agents: Why This Choice Matters More Than You Think by Bernard Marr
  

• Ranked: The World’s Richest Countries vs. the Happiest Countries

• You’re Not Overwhelmed. You’re Prioritizing Wrong. The empty jar lesson.

[27-Feb-26] Who are you? 

Mind Games. I can't stop playing by Grant Snider

In my [10-Feb-26] Leading organizations post I shared the M3K What kind of Manager are you? Test. Now the first result is available with the results from 1,500+ people, as you can see on the picture shared today. My result was Creative Manager back then, what is the smallest group with 6.1%. Very often I have the feeling that I belong to a minority with respect to Manager/Leadership style, what is proofed by the result so far.

Emotional Tetris
"Or better yet: Conversational Tetris. Oh, to be someone who deftly navigates every social situation with grace and composure. But I do the worst thing—I start analyzing my next move. Soon I miss a place to interject an idea. I get so hung up on anticipating my next move that I fail to listen. And the blocks pile up without a satisfying order. I’m left wondering why I ended up conveying nothing I actually wanted to say.

GAME OVER."

In my previous post I wrote about the Borussia Dortmund Youth academy and their way to grow talents between age 9 and 23. The long-term potential development has a much higher priority than a short-term game won on the coming weekend for example. Great in theory, but does not apply for their #1 team. They lost their last game to qualify for the next round in the UEFA Champions league last Wednesday. One day later an information to all shareholders:

"Following its elimination from the UEFA-Champions League play-offs yesterday evening and the resulting loss of planned earnings from this competition, Borussia Dortmund is now revising its earnings forecast published in the group management report as of June 30, 2025 to a consolidated net loss of between EUR -12,000 thousand and EUR -22,000 thousand (previously between EUR -5,000 thousand and EUR 5,000 thousand)."

Some interesting links for the weekend:

• Dan Rockwell

  • From Blindspot to Breakthrough

  • 7 Questions That Build Leaders

  • The Weakness Advantage

  • The Humility Advantage

• TED Talks

  • A surprisingly effective way to fight misinformation

  • Jermaine Dupri on the art of making a hit | On the Spot

• Video

  • Ask a better question: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy | Core Message

  • "How The British Took Over India" - TREVOR NOAH (from "Afraid Of The Dark" on Netflix)

  • Quantic's Master of Science in AI Engineering | The Student Experience

• MISC
  • The Six Thinking Hats of AI
  • The New Happy: How we learn it

  • Teamwork Is a Scam. Solopreneurs, Managers and Many Creatives Already Knew This by Jurgen Appelo

[24-Feb-26] Two days of learning ... 

"Steal with Pride" plus Copy and Transfer 

Today was our quarterly Spirit Day, a full day for learning, knowledge sharing and information exchange. The main topic was related to Coaching and AI, with several interesting presentations and keynote speeches. Two things I remember:

1. Silent Coaching and the GROW Model

2. Insights into the Borussia Dortmund Youth academy and their way to grow talents in their under 9 to under 23 teams

Soccer is not like managing an Enterprise company, but with some Copy and Transfer, it might be a helpful approach and a starting point for some critical thinking? We will see ...

Yesterday I did look into the Case study project for the Leading Organizations concentration in my EMBA education. The topic is around the AWAY Travel growth story and disaster in the end, because "employee experience is customer experience".

I plan to work on and answer the following question: "Using your knowledge of team building and team effectiveness, recommend how Rubio might build an inclusive culture at Away that engages underrepresented groups"

One of my 1st ideas, in the mindset of "Steal with Pride" plus Copy and Transfer - was to combine the Kotter and Tuckman model, as you can see on the picture. Pretty obvious I would say. 

A prerequisite for team building for me is to - Have time, get and take time to build and develop teams over a longer period, because this is not a one off topic. Some helping frameworks out of experience, more to come:

• Individual and team motivation

• Personal and Team values (start with your top 20 of 400, reduce to 10 and 5 in the end)

• Personality Types in the team (different cultures, countries, etc.)

• Personal Maps

• Team Agreement Canvas

• Trust Battery
  

[22-Feb-26] My week 08-2026 highlights

The Olympic Winter Games™ · Feb 6-22, 2026 are ending today

Decentralized Winter Olympics in Italy to be environmental friendly and sustainable this year - Verona: the Arena di Verona will host the Olympic Closing Ceremony on February 22 and the Paralympic Opening Ceremony on March 6.

As always after the Olympics there is an intense discussion about the Medal Table. How good did Germany do compared to the last Olympics, which countries are better and why, what should be done to improve over the next 4 years, what are short- versus long-term plans to improve or make a change, etc.?

As you can see on the two pictures of the medal table Norway is doing great in Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing (no surprise when one athlete wins 6 gold medals  alone - Johannes Hoesflot KLAEBO). The Netherlands is dominating in Speed Skating, and Germany with all activities related to sliding sports. No surprise - "Of the 17 active sliding tracks in the world, four are located across Germany. The only other countries to have more than one facility are the United States (Park City, Utah, and Lake Placid, New York) and Austria (Innsbruck and Bludenz). Canada, Japan, Latvia, China, Switzerland, South Korea and of course, Italy, each feature one active track."

So existing Sports infrastructure might be an advantage and a good argument to attract young talents and the future gold medalists, but it is not explaining everything. Funny enough that ANDERS INDSET, the Norwegian-born philosopher, deep-tech investor, and former top athlete did cover this topic in an article today. What does Norway do differently? (written in Germany, but you can translate the text in your browser).

"The Olympics are just the most visible showcase. The real success lies deeper. Cultural, structural, mental. And it is no longer limited to cross-country skiing or biathlon. That is why I already spent two years in the Viking Code tries to capture what lies behind this cultural phenomenon, in a country that does not put performance first. In the book, I deliberately did not focus on winter sports enthusiasts. Snow is not a strategy." 

• The 50/50 Rule: How to Turn Blame into Ownership by Gustavo Razzetti

• NordVPN: How to delete yourself from the internet

• Leadership & Neurology (Part 6): Listening - a forgotten art (with a neurological twist)

• MIT released their entire AI library out. And it's (Freaking) free to download

[20-Feb-26] Don’t believe the negative words they speak ...

The New Happy: The words you believe

"If you think email is too “old school,” we’re about to challenge that myth with 20+ email marketing statistics to know in 2026."

Some quick links before the weekend, have fun and enjoy:

• TED Talk: What you know that AI doesn’t by Priyanka Vergadia, Nov-25
• TED Talk: How to be a great listener by Maegan Stephens and Nicole Lowenbraun, Oct-25
• Funny video: Taking a Look at Some of the Weirdest Olympic Sports by Don McMillan

• The Coaching Habit — Book Reflection

• 8 conversations every strong team needs

• How many of these 7 signs describe your speaking?

• 8 Rules for Powerful Communication to help you master the stage

• Master influence with DISC (free test for you) 

"Once people take ownership over the decision to receive feedback, they're less defensive about it." -- Adam Grant

[18-Feb-26] Don’t let the world change you

How to Get a Reality Check ...

"Empathy connects us, but because it activates our own pain, it can become really hard to be present for the person who is suffering. That’s why we need to use our empathy and transform it into compassion, which is the experience of being moved by another’s pain and taking action towards alleviating it."

"How to Get a Reality Check. It’s always healthy to practice some uncertainty and park your ego at the door by thinking, “Perhaps I’m wrong about this.” Here are 15 ways to get a dose of reality" -- I like the "Debate as if you’re right but listen in case you’re wrong." a lot.

Just yesterday I did make the 1st version of the 2026 eBOOK available, with content until 17-Feb-26. Have a look.

And one addition to Kotter's change model from 16-Feb-26 see [18-Feb-26] Why Do People Resist Change & What to Do About It

Reality Check is a good topic for the ongoing Winter Olympics in Italy. Sometimes to the good and more often to the bad side. There are super stars like Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who is collecting gold medals like crazy. And then a bad day for the German team today. The Ice Hockey team lost in the quarter final, the women biathlon team did finish fourth, and the Slalom lady who was on the silver place after the first run, did only make it to the first slalom gate in the 2nd run. Sometimes the reality can be much harder than you can imagine. 

In all fairness we also had better days like yesterday in the Bobsleigh 2-man Competition with German teams on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Maybe we will see a similar result in the Bobsleigh 4-man competition that will be finished on Friday this week. Looking forward to it ...

• Ranked: The Biggest Buyers and Sellers of U.S. Debt (2025)

• Your Leaders Are Sleepwalking Into the Gorge. AI Productivity Theater in 2026: Leadership Must Wake Up by Jurgen Appelo

• Seth Godin: How to write a coaching/learning prompt
• Dan Rockwell: Control the Cape

• Strategy sounds sharp in the boardroom. But by the time it reaches daily decisions, it’s fuzzy.

• Jeroen Kraaijenbrink: We often search for "toxic" leadership in extreme behavior. Abuse, narcissism, public humiliation, etc.

  But in most organizations, toxicity is far more ordinary. It hides in habits that seem rational, even responsible.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs taken from 55 Reality Check Quotes That Feel Like a Slap From the Universe

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." - Bob Marley taken from 297 Quotes About Reality Check

[17-Feb-26] Purpose-Driven Leadership

Collecting some leadership topics for my next EMBA case study

One more day holiday tomorrow, to do some administration and housekeeping work, and to look into the next case study that is due to be delivered in Mar-26.

A collection of interesting material for you and my references archive below:

• Video: World’s largest electric vehicle reaches crucial safety milestone before launch

• Video: Unitree demonstration during the Chinese New Year Gala is incredible!
• Video: A flat sheet of paper seems fragile because, in its original form, it has very low bending stiffness
• PwC: CEOs, cross-sector moves are paying off
• Dan Rockwell: A Simple Two-Second Pause

• Visualizing the Critical Minerals Powering the AI Boom

• The Snare of the Slopreneur by Jurgen Appelo
  

• 6 Generations, 1 Workforce: "What flexibility means depends on who you ask"

• 7 COACHING FRAMEWORKS THAT CREATE REAL TRANSFORMATION

• The highest-performing leaders I know all have one thing in common. They work with an executive coach.

• Most people will never master AI (properly). But these 7 skills make it embarrassingly simple

[16-Feb-26] The week 07-2026 summary 

Shrove Monday today ...

Due to the short holiday and a technical issue on my BLOG platform, the weekly Sunday summary is on a Monday today. A colorful collection of topics from the last days.

I wanted to use the Kotter's 8-Step Change Model to support my storyline for the Leading Organization case study, but it did not happen as the professor did not show up. Anyway, always a good model to support change.

The carnival parade in Duesseldorf today is well known for the satire and political topics that Jacques Tilly is showing on his wagons. Interesting

• The wagons from today
• Due to some of last year's wagons: Russia is prosecuting a German carnival float builder — he responded by making another Putin float

Here some funny situations from the holiday in Boppard at the River Rhine:

• Before we even left home we did get an email from the Hotel with our electronic visitor card for the city. You could use it for some discounts and the public transport system. Small side note, due to technical issues you better print it out. Digitization on the way ...
• We stayed in a 4-Star hotel and the dinner menu was great on both days. On Sunday morning the breakfast was happening in two rooms, due to many guests, and we selected not the main room. Nothing was perfect and only one waiter and cook to handle a large number of people. The crew was old and experienced enough to be relaxed and to stay calm, what was not the case for some of the guests. Interesting to see how people are reacting to unexpected situations and circumstances. Really funny. Today we had the breakfast in the main room, all fine and as expected :-)
• Yesterday afternoon we had a river cruise to the Legendary Loreley with the ship on the picture. In the middle of winter the ship was full, with three groups from the USA, Italy and China. For some of them possibly part of a 3 to 5 Days in Europe trip? Interesting group dynamics, some explanations in 5 languages and in between loud Rock Music from the radio. An experience ...
• After the cruise I decided to use the wellness area of the Hotel with a sauna visit. Due to the carnival parade happening at the same time I was the only one there. But not alone. A lady from the housekeeping team was controlling the area twice. A husband was possibly checking for his wife if the sauna was empty, my assumption, but it was not. And finally a female guest, fully dressed did come into the sauna area to take pictures for several minutes. Funny people around ...

In summary a really nice short trip, with funny stories for my BLOG.

• The Mathematics of Everyday Life. A little maths goes a long way by Jono Hey

• Five Practices for Thinking Better with AI. Part 2 of “Why Intellectual Humility Is the Missing Skill in AI” by Gustavo Razzetti

• 10 AI Agent Platforms Every Business Leader Needs To Know by Bernard Marr
  

• TED Talk: The AI-generated intimacy crisis by Bryony Cole (Nov-25)
• Video: Stop Letting People Walk All Over You

• [16-Feb-26] The moment you stop taking things personally (about stress)

[13-Feb-26] Why does color matter this much? 

Your brain decides in 13 milliseconds if it trusts a brand. 

Interesting, what colors say e.g about emotions. I did select my BLOG and LOGO colors based on personal preferences, ORANGE and a combination of RED and BROWN. When I look at the picture and explanation, a good representation of my ideas.

Orange: Enthusiasm, warmth, adventure
↳ Ideal for lifestyle changes, bold pivots, energy shifts
↳ Combines red's energy with yellow's friendliness

My wife and I will be away for a short holiday from tomorrow Saturday until Monday. We are not running away from the hot Carnival phase, but with 60+ we have seen a lot of carnivals already and just look for different impressions. Like Contrarian Investing for example, behaving against the general trends. Means no BLOG posts in the coming days, I am pretty sure you will manage? Just in case, some interesting material to look at:

• TED Talk: The pressure that makes Olympians perform worse by Dominique Condo, November 2025

• Just in case you did not look at the book - Rewired - Leadership in the Age of AI: A Practical Playbook to Lead Change, Build Resilient Culture, and Future-Proof Teams in an AI-Driven World: The Human-Centric Way - give it a try, a small Teaser for you.

• AI Raised the Bar for My Keynote Presentations by Jurgen Appelo
  

• Harvard just made every $10K AI course irrelevant. 6 free lectures. No paywall. No sign-up. No catch.

• Innovation is often mistaken for a high-tech department or a flashy lab. But as the "60 Leaders on Innovation" report by George Krasadakis and Robin Nessensohn reveals, true innovation is a cultural heartbeat, not a specialized function. (286 pages)

• Teams rarely break all at once. They lose sharpness gradually, in ways that are easy to normalize and hard to name by Jeroen Kraaijenbrink    

Today is Friday 13th (the 1st of 3 in 2026) and tomorrow Valentine's Day

[08-Feb-26] My week 06-2026 highlights

"We are now entering a new stage. Artificial intelligence does not merely reflect reality—it produces it." -- Anders Indset

Some classic wisdom on making a successful business this week. Maybe it’s easier than it seems. Gold rush? Time to sell shovels

Also works on the stock exchange in some adjusted manor, benefit from the movement of the majority and do the opposite. Sell on good news and buy on bad news.

Talking about analogies, here one that might not be appreciated by everyone? Lindsay Vonn and the Downhill race at the Winter Olympics today. Against the opinion of the majority of experts she decided to participate with an injured knee. Her race was over after 13 seconds with a spectacular crash that might cause more injuries, we will find out shortly. As an individual you have all freedom as long as you are not impacting the freedom of others.

Coming back after a long break and career end with age 41 to participate in another Winter Olympics is individual freedom, but with an injured knee not really understandable for others than Lindsay. Then crashing in the race and impacting the other competitors coming after Lindsay, who started with #13, was impacting the freedom of others for sure.

A similar behavior that we are currently seeing more often from other US people, not only the president, a thin line between self-confidence and selfishness. You should judge on your own.

With a picture of me and the following prompt on ChatGPT: “Create a caricature of me and my job based on everything you know about me.” I got the 2nd picture today. What do you think? Try on your own.

After a really busy week with the book launch, REWIRED - Amazon best seller in the meantime, a well deserved break and time to relax today with the NFL Super Bowl LX. Our preparation is in full swing, dinner is prepared and the Snack Stadium gets filled up more and more. I will share some pictures next week.

As a necessary counter-reaction to the increase and growth of AI usage and expertise, think about lifelong learning and working on yourself. One example, how difficult learning is and the complexity of the human body and capabilities - Video: Atlas Airborne | Boston Dynamics

• Open the Book. 3 Tips to Develop a Growth Mindset by Wisdom Made Easy
  

• Why Intellectual Humility Is the Missing Skill in AI. Using AI well requires more critical thinking, not less By Gustavo Razzetti

• We Need New Leaders. Reputation is Power. Thanks to Tanmay Vora for the sketch.

• Learn to Manage Your Cash. Here's why by Oana Labes

• “Your mind is your leadership engine. Are you fueling it, or letting it idle?”

• MIT: A business model framework for the AI era that shows businesses evolving to become increasingly outcome oriented and enabled by autonomous AI.

[06-Feb-26] Time to relax a little bit ...

New Happy: "We're here to help each other."

"Thinking differently is rarely about being clever. None of this is dramatic, but over time, these habits quietly separate original thinkers from people who are merely busy reacting." by Jeroen Kraaijenbrink

One good example is the LEGO story - Everyone knows LEGO. But not everyone knows in 2003 LEGO was $800M in debt and bleeding ~$1M every single day - an interesting turn-around example.

The newhappy picture goes well with the book launch activities during this week and the preparation work before. 21 global wisdom catalysts bringing their insights and perspectives together, to support the new book of Eve Simon. Interested in some details and my chapter? See a small REWIRED simplebooklet. Have fun and enjoy ...

Next week the so called "5th season" is starting again on Thursday with the street carnival, until the following week Tuesday. I will be on holiday during this time, looking forward to it :-)

Before the short holiday, two more working days and my weekly EMBA learning Monday. This time the focus will be on the Leading Organizations project that will be opened on 09-Feb-26 and to prepare a small Leading Org Case Study about Adaptive Leadership, scheduled for Thursday.

Not to forget Super Bowl LX, on Sunday - party on ...

• Video: Best of Super Bowl Commercials 2026 ALL BIG GAME ADS
• Video: Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots | Super Bowl Game Preview

Some links for your remaining free time slots:

• Ranked: Countries Spending the Most on Research and Development

• Dan Rockwell: The “Call Five People” Rule

• Delegation is not just a skill – it is pure leverage. World-class leaders are world-class delegators.

• If you use Google products daily, your workflow can already be faster than it is.

[04-Feb-26] 24+ hours after the initial book launch

Today morning German time Best Seller Rank 1 in three different categories for the paperback version 

A not expected overnight success I would say, but the 21 global wisdom catalysts and Eve are very active in social media in the moment, what is helping a lot. Amazon has different ranks by country and book type (Paperback or Kindle edition), really difficult to keep an overview for the whole happenings and numbers. As you do not really earn money with book writing, nice to know but that's it.

Looking at the Best Sellers in Corporate Culture at 10 PM CET today, our book is #10. Very funny to see the other books, some are very old and others (like Excel) do not really fit. Anyway, we keep pushing.

For additional marketing we did plan a LIVE stream via LinkedIn today - a Zoom call/interview should have been shown as LinkedIn event. Sounds easy and straight forward, but we did a little bit over-engineer the approach and failed with the technology. Not 100% self-explaining, might be room for improvement. Anyway I found a video explaining, what needs to be done the next time. We are not giving up yet ...

Finally in the age of AI: "The new perfect is not to be perfect anymore"

• New Gallup Report: The World’s Most Important Problem 2026

• TED Talk: 1 thing you can do today to be happier | Sonja Lyubomirsky | November 2025
• Dan Rockwell: Don’t Coach the Dead

• 15 Insights into Humanoid Robotics

• I see thousands of conversations from people who don’t even know what AI means beyond ChatGPT.

[01-Feb-26] The week 05-2026 summary 

2 days until the book launch ...

Next Wednesday is the big day and the final marketing is in full swing. Everything is on GO for the book launch. Funny side effect is the Action for Happiness Daily Action for 03-Feb-26 - Do an act of kindness to make life easier for someone - in my case it is the book author Eve Simon. Just returning a favor for the appreciation and opportunity to write an article as part of the 21 Global Wisdom Catalysts, who did participate in the FutureofLeadership Salon in the past.

I started to read the book today and will proceed during tomorrow, as Monday is my weekly learning day. I am far ahead of the planned schedule in my EMBA and can spend the whole day to go through the book. So far I can say that it is a great representation of the mindset and spirit from the FutureofLeadership Salons in the past. Less facts and figures and much more about humans, empathy, the openness for a personal change and how you create your future.

"We usually treat the future as a point ahead of us, as a moment that has yet to be reached. In this view, the future keeps moving forward. It remains distant. But the future has no real effect if it is reduced to a deferred point of the present. Then it becomes a holding pattern. A not-yet that demands nothing." -- Anders Indset in his article To Future

Perfect fit and worth to read, give it a try. Below some more of less related links:

• The Art of Improvement video: The 3-Box Declutter Method (No Overthinking)

• The best leaders are great followers. How to build good habits & break bad ones. 21 lessons from 14 years at Google. By Roberto Ferraro

• The Power of Beliefs: How to Liberate Your Potential. Most people mistake their beliefs for facts. Here's how to challenge them and unlock possibilities you couldn't see before. By Gustavo Razzetti

• The CEO AI Gamble: Why Half Of Business Leaders Believe Their Jobs Depend On Getting AI Right by Bernard Marr
  

• Is The AI Job Apocalypse Real Or Overhyped? By Bernard Marr
  

• Different problems require different leadership. And some just require management.

• Everyone says leaders resist change. That's not true. They resist becoming obsolete.

• Harvard University have released free courses on AI. Here are the top 8 free courses to learn AI in 2026

• Logic gets you from A to B. Imagination builds new alphabets. In a world optimized for efficiency, creativity is the real unfair advantage.

All good matches to the book title: REWIRED A collective narrative. Leadership in the age of AI. Do I have your interest now? Keep calm, just two days to wait and then you can order the book via Amazon for Kindle or as Paperback.

[30-Jan-26] 4 days until the book launch 

Funny looking people belong here ...

The first picture has been taken at the HAVAS Duesseldorf office last Wednesday during the book launch party. It was behind the reception, welcoming all visitors and customers.

A perfect fit to the extraordinary shareholders' meeting my wife and I did visit today. We are just a super tiny little shareholder couple, but nearly everybody is treated equally during these kind of meetings. The ways of working publicly traded companies are supposed to be doing/following, are clearly described by law. A scripted approach with no flexibility, to be legally compliant and beyond all doubt.

The paragraph above sounds serious and straight forward, but the meeting was in Cologne and there is the well known "Cologne clique". People know people from e.g. a carnival, golf or tennis club, and their relationships also work in a business context. 

At the beginning of the meeting the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the CEO explained the details of the extraordinary meeting, and what the shareholders are expected to vote about. Then the audience was allowed to ask questions after prior registration. Some were nice and friendly, just to clarify the content, others were much more hostile. 

After two hours all votes had been done and the requests had been approved. The audience was invited for a lunch and some drinks, typically for Cologne with some Kölsch beer. Surprise, surprise the most critical people from the audience drinking a beer together with the company leads. Possibly just professional behavior and a way to be a good host, or a nice example for the "Cologne clique". Playing theater for the audience, like we know it from e.g. WWE Wrestling, you never know :-)

The book launch evening was really nice and HAVAS a good host for the event. A great location, tasty food and drinks. Interesting guests and a key note speech from Eve Simon, referencing topics from her book. Out of the 21 Global Wisdom Catalyst supporting her book, four could make it to the event in Duesseldorf. I was one of them and it was an interesting feeling to see something you have written in a real book on the table. First thing I had to read my contribution once again, just to remember, as the finally delivery was months ago.

Some more details in a later post when we are closer to the initial launch date on 03-Feb-26. We are still discussing last ideas to improve the marketing and spread the word globally about the new book. Here some Perplexity ideas from today. Stay tuned and be patient ...

• Ranked: Which Countries Hold the Most U.S. Debt?

• Shift your leadership: Tools, practices and perspectives to help you lead with wisdom, presence and clarity in a complex world.

• TED Talk: Let's build AI data centers in space by Philip Johnston, October 2025
• TED Talk: The award for best comedy wildlife photo goes to... by Tom Sullam, November 2025

• Why Viability Overrides Agility. Viability versus agility reveals why long-term business survival matters more than speed by Jurgen Appelo

• Oana Labes: Most business leaders think Finance is for CFOs.

  That’s why they make bad decisions.

• Dan Rockwell: 12 Expressions of Self-Imposed Stress AND Potential: A Broken Promise

[27-Jan-26] Book launch party tomorrow

Finally the big day is coming tomorrow ... 

Looking forward to the party tomorrow and the final book launch on 03-Feb-26. It was a real pleasure to be part of this project and journey. Below some links related to Rewire(d):

• Rewire The Brain: 7 Strategies to Form New Habits

• Rewired Meaning: Definition, Examples, and Translations

"We live in a rapidly changing world, where we need to spend as much time rethinking as we do thinking." — Adam Grant taken from 56 Best Rewiring Quotes to Reframe Your Thinking

• Video: Every Art of Improvement video in 2025 (4.5 hours)

• Finally Know Your Influence Style. This FREE quiz will help you discover what is your most natural style, so you can use that strength more effectively.

• [27-Jan-26] The Entirety of the World’s 8.2 Billion Population in One Chart

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now.” – Mark Victor Hansen taken from 87 Positive Thinking Quotes That Actually Rewire Neural Pathways

The next BLOG post will be coming on Friday this week, keep watching.

[26-Jan-26] 1st heads-up: Super Bowl LX

Starting to prepare my snack stadium ...

I used my learning day today to finish the Leading Organizations topic of my Executive MBA program. The exam week starts 09-Mar-26 and the required project unlocks 09-Feb-26 for the first time, to show necessary details and requirements. I assume it will be an individual video presentation again. This topic fits well to the Super Bowl LX coming up in two weeks from now, and the two quotes below of the coaches leading the two finalist teams.

“One thing I realized about culture is you can find out what your culture looks like when your family, your business, or your team is at its low point. It’s not when you’re winning Super Bowls ..." -- Mike Vrabel, American football player and coach New England Patriots

"Culture always flows downhill. It is the length and breadth of a leader’s shadow." -- Mike Macdonald, head coach Seattle Seahawks

We are already working to prepare the Super Bowl evening and night in Germany. The snack stadium is update with the LX details and we just agreed how to fill the empty spaces. Will be jummy ...

• [26-Jan-26] How to Lead Smarter With Color

• The Sassy AI Glossary for 2026. Essential and nonsensical AI terminology with 250+ definitions for the future of work by Jurgen Appelo

• McKinsey Quarterly: Change is changing: How to meet the challenge of radical reinvention

[25-Jan-26] My week 04-2026 highlights

Start Work Before Getting the Perfect Tool. Just Start, Figure It Out Later

"Publishing your work increases your luck." by Roberto Ferraro, who is responsible for both pictures today.

A good fit to my approach with this BLOG and for Eve Simon, who will be hosting a three hour futureofleadership salon next Wednesday 28-Jan-26 combined with her new book launch party. 

"Rewired is our new book written by Eve Simon alongside the perspectives from 21 global thought-provokers to provide leaders in todays AI driven complexity a lifeline to navigate the unknown." I had the pleasure and opportunity to add one article to the 21 mentioned above. The book will be available via Amazon on 03-Feb-26, only some days remaining ...

This will be a fun next week and did already start last Saturday when I did get the result of my EMBA Finance project. Once again passed with a 5/5 rating, great team work. Now I have four of the ten main concentrations finished, plus nine of the thirteen available specializations. Well on track and the next focus will be on Leading Organizations. 

Tuesday is the farewell party of four of my colleagues, who will be leaving latest by 31-Mar-26. As already mentioned the book launch party on Wednesday and Thursday morning a team breakfast. A great three day work week coming up, as I have another day holiday this Friday. My wife and I will use this free day to visit a shareholders' meeting in Cologne. Interesting to see this onsite and not just online.

• Humor Is the First Signal Your Culture Is Struggling. Lose humor, and you lose everything. Gustavo Razzetti

• The CEO AI Gamble: Why Half Of Business Leaders Believe Their Jobs Depend On Getting AI Right by Bernard Marr
  

• Is The AI Job Apocalypse Real Or Overhyped? By Bernard Marr
  

• Steve Nouri: I always look for high quality courses and Stanford University just did something rare: They put their full LLM course online. Free. On YouTube.

• The Only Moat Left In The AI Age. Why we’re flooded with AI slop, and how you can rise above it. By James Presbitero

• Companies HIRING for 100% REMOTE

[23-Jan-26] Hybrid working ...

20+ Remote Work Statistics to Know in 2026

A very good investigation and presentation of Originality.ai on the picture today.

Remote or a mixed onsite-online (hybrid) way-of-working was one of the topics in the Leadership Kickoff workshop that I hosted yesterday. The agenda, content and flow was very much appreciated by the participants. Also the all together in one room setting and the very early timing to discuss the direction and objectives for the next fiscal year. Enough time left to make necessary adjustments, get the priorities straight, and to communicate in all teams. Going forward we will be coming together again on a quarterly basis also for team building purposes.

Talking about getting priorities straight, this often causes a lot of discussion and delay in final decision making, when the time pressure is not high enough or too much options are available. TRIAGE could be a good analogy and helping approach, to be much faster by increasing time pressure to a maximum. Starting with -- The Eisenhower Matrix: Important vs. Urgent Tasks Template -- might be a good step in the right direction to make progress here? We will see ...

I have another interesting statistic from Originality.ai today that fits well to a link I shared two days ago:

• 50%+ of LinkedIn Posts were Likely AI in 2025 + Engagement Insights

• Stop asking AI to write LinkedIn posts. Do this instead

Some more AI referencing stuff:

• Anthropic: Claude’s Constitution. Our vision for Claude's character

• Mapped: AI Adoption Rates by Country

• Somehow AI related: The 9 must-read resources for leaders driving business transformation in 2026

"You can thrive and excel when you’re working remotely, if you adopt the mindset, habits and tech tools of professionals who are even more productive outside the office: Learn to think like a “business of one,” and that entrepreneurial mindset will transform your experience of remote work." - Robert Pozen taken from 25 Best Work From Home Quotes for Remote Teams

• 15 Best First Jobs to Try When You're Just Getting Started

• Who Do You Really Need? Probably More Support Than You Think.

  Take a look at the graphic in this post: Therapist. Coach. Consultant. Mentor.

• They taught strategy, performance, and accountability.
  But they left out how to actually work with… humans.

[21-Jan-26] Small differences ... 

How Strong Are Your Moral Values? By Frank Sonnenberg

One of the statements from the picture is -- Think about others’ needs or make everything all about you? A pretty good fit to the current situation in world politics, the discussion around Greenland is just one indication.

• How Greenland’s Rare Earth Reserves Compare to the Rest of the World

• Video: Mark Carney delivers historic speech at Davos, gets standing ovation | Full speech

Then there is a less serious (just for the people who are watching from the sideline) story -- Why is Ryanair fighting with Elon Musk? Children are more reasonable than Elon Musk or Michael O'Leary in the moment.

Tomorrow I will be hosting our Leadership Kickoff for the next fiscal year starting 01-Apr-26. A colleague and I did prepare the content, agenda, and flow during the day. We will be 30+ people onsite, an interesting setup. In the evening we will go out for a dinner together, to do some socializing and team building.

• TED Talk: 3 possible futures for AI — which will we choose? With Alvin W. Graylin, Manoush Zomorodi | November 2025

• Stop asking AI to write LinkedIn posts. Do this instead

• People don’t resist change. They resist uncertainty. They need clarity, guidance, and a sense of control.

• “Why is lingerie considered the hardest garment to manufacture?”

• They Copied your Work? GOOD. That means you’re the Standard Now.

[16-Jan-26] Some lights on AI ... 

"The real lesson is your worth doesn’t change because someone fails to recognize it."

Another China Lights picture and 70+ AI Adoption Stats by Industry: A Comparative Statistics Guide today. Right before the weekend my team did deliver the Finance project in time. Another big step taken forward towards the EMBA certification.

The next three weeks are reserved for our first Specialization. Mandatory is to finish three out of the available portfolio of thirteen. As I have every Monday free and reserved for my training, I did already finish 9/13 so far. Now I have to decide what to do next, as the remaining four topics are of less interest for me and there might be more interesting content to cover and to free up some future time now?

Some AI related links below:

• 9 AI Skills to Master in 2026

• AI skills will be crucial for years to come

• AI Rewrites the Advisory Playbook by Jurgen Appelo
  

And some other topics of interest, maybe there's something here for you?

• 2026: What Really Matters

• Dan Rockwell: The Multiplier Effect AND Beyond Resilience
• The New Happy: What you believe

• Teams that stay typically have 1 thing in common: Leaders who make them want to.

• Being undervalued doesn’t mean you lack value. It often means you’re in the wrong room

• How do you explain Data Governance to the business?

[11-Jan-26] My week 02-2026 highlights

Be like water, don't give up ...

Don't give up is a great topic, especially in Sports, just three examples from the last days:

• Stunned fans celebrate biggest ever FA Cup shock

• American 4-man bobsleigh team Horn goes for a wild ride at St. Moritz World Cup. Three out of four members of USA Team Horn fell out of sled during four-man World Cup opening run in St. Moritz, Switzerland Sunday.

• NFL Playoffs: Bears coach Ben Johnson on comeback win over rival Packers: 'This one meant something to us'

Some activities just finished, others are starting soon:

• Video: Best of CES 2026
• Video: The Big Ideas Shaping CES 2026 And What They Mean For The Future Of Technology

• Davos 2026: What to expect, who's coming and how to follow. The 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum convenes the foremost leaders from government, business and civil society from 19-23 January 2026.

• What if philosophy could build technology? A 20-year experiment to understand life and consciousness through science, technology, and capital.

And some more interesting material for the next week. I have my regular learning day Monday and a holiday on Tuesday:

• The 11 best emotional intelligence quotes of the year. Thin desires are eating your life. Results from our large-scale AI productivity survey. By Roberto Ferraro

• How to Get Unstuck: Five Habits to Drop in 2026. You need a better system, not just new goals by Gustavo Razzetti

• Letting AI Browse The Web For You Sounds Great Until It Goes Wrong by Bernard Marr
  

• 8 Smartphone Trends That Will Shape 2026 by Bernard Marr
  

• The 6 Education Trends That Will Shape Learning And Skills In 2026 by Bernard Marr
  

• [11-Jan-26] Cash flow isn’t something you react to. It’s something you engineer.

• How 3D-printed prostheses are bringing mobility and hope to conflict zones

• Ideas Disappear (Unless Recorded). If You Only Do 1 Thing, Do This! By Wisdom Made Easy
  

[09-Jan-26] Taking notes ...

"He who is too lazy to seek knowledge and too weak to believe is the one who means it." -- Lisa Eckhart

My personal way of taking notes is to write my BLOG, now already in the 10th year. I can capture and develop ideas, share interesting topics, combine different content, and provide references to articles and posts for later use. A helpful portfolio that I can reuse whenever it is required, just by searching in my available eBOOKs, ready for FREE Downloads.

Yesterday I did take a picture of the lighted lantern, the ones I did write about in my BLOG on 23-May-25 for the first time. All details are available in my 8th eBOOK from 2025. 

Today is Quitters Day, "a Day observed on the second Friday of January. This day marks the statistically likely point when people abandon their New Year’s resolutions. It serves as a psychological checkpoint for those who started the year with ambitious goals but find themselves struggling to maintain their new routines."

Several years ago I gave up to formulate any New Year’s resolutions, so no risk to quit anything today. Lucky me ...

• Our World in Data: [09-Jan-26] Top of the Charts: our most popular work in 2025

• All of the World’s Silver Reserves by Country, in One Visualization

• Visualized: AI Safety Report Card of Leading Companies

• What do you see first—and what does it reveal about your hidden personality traits? By Sanae Sriti
  

• Let’s talk about the 🐘 Elephant in the Room

• First time in 25 years: NASA prepares for emergency return for four astronauts from ISS

Some more note-taking insights powered by AIDA the AI assistant:

Looking to improve your note-taking skills? Here are ten innovative ideas to consider:

1. Mind mapping for visual learners.
2. The Cornell method for concise notes.
3. Color-coding for organization.
4. Bullet journaling for creativity.
5. Digital apps like Evernote or OneNote.
6. Recording key points for later review.
7. Outlining to structure information.
8. Using sticky notes for quick reminders.
9. Creating flashcards for memorization.
10. Incorporating sketches and diagrams for better understanding.

Try these approaches to enhance your note-taking experience!

Have a great weekend and maybe find some time for note-taking, enough ideas and options how to approach it above.

[07-Jan-26] Change can feel like ...

The importance of the backward step

The New Happy picture today is a good fit to the CES currently happening in Las Vegas. A lot of new ideas and technology in early 2026. But as I often say, not everything what is technically possible is helpful and makes sense in the end. Let's have a look into some examples of the latest and greatest:

• CES 2026 Live: All the New AI Devices, Home Tech, Robots, Audio, Cars and Computing

• Video: 11 Tech We Saw at CES 2026 (Media Days)
• Video: CES 2026 Just Changed Everything: Robots, AI Homes & Tech You Can Actually Buy
• Video: The Industrial AI Revolution: Siemens Keynote at CES 2026 (1 hour)
• Video: LEGO Star Wars 2026 Smart Brick Sets: First Impressions
• LEGO: How we made the LEGO® SMART Play™ system

• Siemens and NVIDIA Expand Partnership to Build the Industrial AI Operating System

"Partnering to Accelerate Digital Transformation of Industry

The combination of Siemens and NVIDIA technologies will empower industrial companies to leverage comprehensive, AI-powered technologies for next-generation factory automation—spanning every stage from product design to execution. This enables companies to make more confident decisions using real-time, data-driven insights, enhance operational efficiencies, and improve collaboration."

• LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2026: The fastest-growing roles in Europe

• Mapped: Global Inflation by Country in 2025

• SpaceX prepares world’s most powerful rocket amid pressure to meet moon goals

[06-Jan-26] Back to work tomorrow

How life looks ...

A text related to the 1st picture: 

The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard famously wrote:

"It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards."

Later (also famously) adapted by Steve Jobs to become:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.”

Last day of my holiday today and we had a meeting of the Finance project team. After some quick updates for the time since we did meet the last time, we agreed how to approach this EMBA project that has to be delivered by 18-Jan-26 latest. The advantage of team work is that you can compare different interpretations, perspectives, and approaches to the same project description. The 1st round today was already very helpful and did improve the final result a lot. We will meet again next Monday.

After the World Darts Championship is before the NFL Playoffs starting coming Saturday. This will be fun and a lot of pain for the losing teams. The last year finalist, the Kansas City Chiefs, did already miss the Playoffs this year, a big surprise. More to come soon ...

• TED Talk: This is how kids should be learning with AI by Priya Lakhani (Nov-25)

• TED Talk: Why living online is leaving us exhausted — and what actually helps by Manoush Zomorodi (Nov-25)

• [06-Jan-26] The World’s 50 Largest Economies and How Fast They’ve Grown Since 2000

• Dan Rockwell: Weight Loss for Leaders
• Gartner: 9 Must-Read Business Books for 2026

• Your Roadmap for Must-Have AI Skills in 2026

• The Solo Chief by Jurgen Appelo

• Never easy to say no but here are some nicer ways to say no

• Bill Gates-backed wind tech to showcase new way to power AI data centers at CES

[04-Jan-26] The week 01-2026 summary

Astounding Littler retains Paddy Power World Darts Championship title

What a crazy final yesterday and tournament from 11-Dec-25 until 03-Jan-26 overall. Starting with 128 players for the 1st time and with a 1 Million GBP cheque for the winner, Luke Littler again after last year. Still just 18 years old and already winning the 2nd World Championship in a row. The final with the youngest players ever, just 18 and 23 compared to the other two half finalists with age 38 and 55.

The young boys are getting familiar with the center stage and the "old" guys are retiring:

• John McDonald and George Noble inducted into PDC Hall of Fame

• PDC Players Profiles

Looking at the emotions, mindsets, mental strength and weakness, plus the physical presence of the two opponents, I was wondering how long it could possibly take to have a robot winning a Darts championship? Basketball is already in a the robot focus for a longer period of time, but also Darts is catching up:

• Video: Toyota's Basketball Robot Makes Longest Ever Shot - Guinness World Records

• Video: How I automated being good at Darts by Niklas Bommersbach

• Darts Robot: AI Accuracy, Human Entertainment?

The video from Niklas is giving some interesting insights, how complex a throw is, how to stay ahead of the game and to keep an eye on the other player. Looks like still some way to go ...

At the beginning of a new year we are often talking about resolutions, goals, and objectives. It should be SMART and You only need 1 piece to start !!  

Still two more days holiday before I go back to work on Wednesday. The EMBA break is over tomorrow and then we will have two weeks to deliver the Finance Team project. My team meets on Tuesday for the 1st time, looking forward to it. Have a great next week:

• Jim Collins (Good to Great) Concepts

• Free Give to Grow Supplemental Materials

• 7 Legal Tech Trends That Will Reshape Every Business In 2026 by Bernard Marr
  

Besides that I did migrate the eBOOK PDF into a Text file and did a simple WORD Count afterwards. It was the year of AI, People and Team(s), as you can see below. Interesting ...

• [02-Jan-26] Every ‘Word of the Year’ According to Various Dictionaries (2020-2025)

• TED-Ed: The best way to become good at something might surprise you, David Epstein | November 2025

• Godfather of AI Warns That It Will Replace Many More Jobs This Year

• Dan Rockwell: Culture Building Resolutions

[02-Jan-26] My 2025 BLOG summary

Doing the same as Spotify and LinkedIn for example

Today I did upload my 40MB eBOOK for 2025 to Perplexity and did ask for a short summary of all BLOG posts. What have been the key topics, people quoted and referenced over the year? I did get some great results and proposals for Infographics (see the picture).