
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
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Enough with the Playbooks and Frameworks!
Playbooks and frameworks are like lawyers. You don't need them until you've built something valuable.
Enough with the Playbooks and Frameworks!
Playbooks and frameworks are like lawyers. You don't need them until you've built something valuable.
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Stop Hiring Experienced Candidates
Stop looking for job candidates with "experience." It's the people with experience who built those awful socio-technical systems in the first place.
Stop Hiring Experienced Candidates
Stop looking for job candidates with "experience." It's the people with experience who built those awful socio-technical systems in the first place.
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Why Ravens May Rule the Future of Work
A new breed of professional is emerging: the M-skilled raven who masters multiple domains and orchestrates them into unprecedented value.
Why Ravens May Rule the Future of Work
A new breed of professional is emerging: the M-skilled raven who masters multiple domains and orchestrates them into unprecedented value.