As a student I elected to study journalism. I was taught how to discover, craft and tell stories. I was motivated to understand what was behind the choices people made, to gain different perspectives, to hold the powerful to account and to spark critical discussions. Investigative journalists like Woodward and Bernstein were my inspiration. My first job after graduation, however, was with a PR agency. I never felt at peace there but it taught me some valuable lessons about life.  If you wish to work in the service of the highest bidder, to become a master of deception, quick fixes, short cuts and shady deals are all part of it. Each day, I observed how political, economic and corporate interests shaped […]

A company has to be something. It has to matter. In a connected, network era, leadership is exerted in a 360-degree social, global and ethical context. Increasingly, companies are asked to take a stand to stay relevant and trustworthy in the eyes of its stakeholders. This involves engaging in a larger conversation about why it exists and how it affects people’s lives and society at large. There is a growing focus on purpose in organisations. More and more companies say they are trying to change the world for the better. It has become somewhat fashionable for leading organisations to blow their own trumpets and wave purpose flags from their glass and steel buildings. One session at this year’s World […]

In April 2012, Hans Joergen Wiberg presented an unusual idea at a startup event in Denmark. Wilberg, being visually impaired, had identified an opportunity to help blind people cope with everyday tasks. This relied on mobile phone cameras and connecting the blind with sighted volunteers. His simple idea caught on. Today, the Be My Eyes app pairs more than 30,000 blind people with nearly 400,000 sighted helpers globally. What if it were possible to equip modern leaders with a similar set of fresh eyes? What would they see? Could unexpected discoveries make them abandon current constructs of the world?   Leaders, like anyone else, are habitual beings that protect their worldview and the meaning they […]