
About
(Jurgen's little bio)
(Looking for my media kit? Go here)
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."

For keynotes, presentations, or workshops, contact me.
The Maverick Mapmaker
View all-
The Truth About Writing with AI (And Why Critic...
Mention writing with AI in any creative community and watch the pitchforks come out. But I have an answer to every objection.
The Truth About Writing with AI (And Why Critic...
Mention writing with AI in any creative community and watch the pitchforks come out. But I have an answer to every objection.
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I Started Drawing Maps
Are you developing yourself as an M-skilled worker? Because the alternative—betting everything on a single domain—is looking riskier by the day.
I Started Drawing Maps
Are you developing yourself as an M-skilled worker? Because the alternative—betting everything on a single domain—is looking riskier by the day.
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Using the System Against Itself
A handful of AI companies and autocratic regimes are racing to control artificial intelligence—the technology that may reshape how we work, govern, and organize society.
Using the System Against Itself
A handful of AI companies and autocratic regimes are racing to control artificial intelligence—the technology that may reshape how we work, govern, and organize society.