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About

 

Redesigning the future of work—no hype, no hierarchies, no hegemonies. Aiming for open systems, responsible autonomy, and decentralized power.

Check out this Substack: The Maverick Mapmaker 

Jurgen Appelo is a radical synthesist, resolute unfixer, and unabashed rule-breaker. He not only brings together diverse perspectives in organization design and development—he tears them apart and rebuilds them for the Age of AI, without permission.

As an author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Jurgen helps leaders stop managing like it's 2001 and start rewiring their organizations for AI-driven leadership, autonomous digital agents, and algorithmic management. Through stories, games, tools, and practices, he shatters conventional thinking and gets his audience to experiment with human-AI teamwork, anti-fragile structures, and the unpredictable nature of customer and employee experience.

Inc.com recognized him as a Top 50 Leadership Expert and Top 100 Leadership Speaker, but he's most interested in redrawing the boundaries between opposing worldviews: human ingenuity and artificial intelligence, inspiring leadership versus strong governance, organizational stability with relentless innovation, and individual growth fuelling collective success.

His books tackle everything from the role of agile managers (Management 3.0) to change and transformation (How to Change the World), and from employee engagement (Managing for Happiness) to innovation and intrapreneurship (Startup, Scaleup, Screwup). Even his novel Glitches of Gods explores the chaos of human-machine interactions. His latest work, Human Robot Agent, plunges into the AI-powered future of leadership and algorithmic management.

As founder of The unFIX Company (and previously founder of Management 3.0 and co-founder of the Agile Lean Europe network), Jurgen keeps pioneering the future of work.

"A good leader doesn’t create productivity but refrains from destroying it."

My Books

The Maverick Mapmaker

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  • It's Not Always Cold in the True North

    It's Not Always Cold in the True North

    AI cannot interpret corporate bullshit or fill gaps with common sense like humans do.

    It's Not Always Cold in the True North

    AI cannot interpret corporate bullshit or fill gaps with common sense like humans do.

  • The Future of Consulting

    The Future of Consulting

    The consulting industry is heading for the same seismic disruption that transformed travel agencies over the past two decades.

    The Future of Consulting

    The consulting industry is heading for the same seismic disruption that transformed travel agencies over the past two decades.

  • The Four Tensions of Sociotechnical Systems

    The Four Tensions of Sociotechnical Systems

    Every team faces the same fundamental question: How do you balance freedom with coordination, spontaneity with discipline, performance with agility, and self-actualization with shared purpose?

    The Four Tensions of Sociotechnical Systems

    Every team faces the same fundamental question: How do you balance freedom with coordination, spontaneity with discipline, performance with agility, and self-actualization with shared purpose?

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