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It’s not just about knowing more. It’s about being more. When we talk about the future of the knowledge economy, the first question that comes to mind is whether we should still call it that. Relatively soon, all knowledge, expertise, and the know-how to apply them - accelerated by the combined explosion of AI and robotics - will reside with machines. We tend to downplay the impact of AI on work, focusing on the automation of rote tasks while humans would focus on those that

The Call for Resilience The past few years have been especially unpredictable as we dealt with COVID-19, geopolitical disruptions affecting the global economy, very discernible effects of climate change, the polarization of societies, and the rise of artificial intelligence. Drucker once said, “A person can perform only from strength.” Most organizations know their strengths, having nurtured and strengthened them through sound corporate strategy work and execution. But will t

One of my best summer reads was Andrew Ross Sorkin’s excellent 1929, which I highly recommend. It is a remarkably well documented account of the 1929 crash and the beginning of the Great Depression, seen through the people who were at the center of it on Wall Street, in the White House and on Capitol Hill. What struck me is how an increasingly sophisticated and democratized financial system, combined with greed, intense lobbying by the business elite, often in the name of nat

One of the questions I've been asked most often throughout my career is: "What is leadership?" About ten years ago, I settled on a definition, and I've stuck with it ever since. Leadership is the ability to inspire others around you to take action and drive change. The implication is simple: if nobody takes action, if nothing changes, you haven't really led. Pierre Le Manh, Founder and Principal, NeuronVentures

Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Chairman, 1979-1987. He raised rates to break inflation and was hated for it, until he was proven right. "Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally." It's one of my favorite quotes, from John Maynard Keynes. Keynes could have been writing about corporate life. I have seen bad decisions go unchallenged because everyone agreed, because they sounded okay, because they ticked the b

A leader's intent states what a leader expects, clearly enough that a team can act on it without waiting for instructions. Mine fits in three words: Solidarity, Substance, Standards. Each of the three holds two ideas that pull against each other. Most leadership teams are good at one of the two. The expectation is to hold both. Solidarity - collective ownership and personal accountability A leadership team takes collective ownership of the success of the whole organization, a

Marine Le Pen leads the Rassemblement National, a French far-right party, and she leads the polls for next spring's Presidential election in France. Last Sunday on 60 MINUTES - the CBS news show - she said France is "the least racist" country in the world, suffering no discrimination. This topic is personal to me. So I wondered if there is a rigorous way to establish a ranking of countries by level of "racism" or "discrimination". As always, let's get the data. First, there i

Let's take a closer look at facts and data. What happened in China (Chart 1): China's AI and chip index lost 40%, about $480B, in four months. In January, Zhipu and MiniMax became the first AI labs in the world to go public. Small investors asked for 1,800 times the MiniMax shares on offer. By May, Zhipu traded at 17 times its IPO price. Then it all reversed. On 22 Oct, MiniMax was worth less than at its IPO, 88% below its peak, Zhipu 77%. Why? 1. China's economy: The governm

Several LinkedIn charts this month rank "best and worst education systems" using the new PISA 2025 results. Most are sloppy at best. One plots Russia, which did not take the test. Another puts "China" on top, when the OECD tested four wealthy regions, not the country. Some use a cost-of-living axis that says nothing about education. So, to get the facts right, I checked the data, in accordance with one of my leadership principles - "Substance: accurate facts and critical thin

Ben Page shared a chart this week linking stagnant UK incomes to the pressure on "neoliberalism". I took up the challenge and looked at twelve rich countries. The US and the UK are both usually labelled "neoliberal". Yet between 2007 and 2024, real disposable income per person rose 31% in the US and 10% in the UK. Here is the full comparison (OECD, Chart 1): - US +31% - Sweden +26%, Denmark +25%, Canada +24% - Australia +18%, Germany +17% - France +13%, Netherlands +13%, UK +

Inflation, high interest rates, mounting debt, unsustainable deficits etc... all this is intensifying public anxiety. In almost every country I know, economic problems and disagreements over how to solve them exacerbate divisions. The solution we so often hear these days? Let's make the "rich" pay, of course! But it's not that simple, starting with... Who are they, these "rich"? What does "rich" even mean? So, let's take a look at the data. All figures annual, in dollars. 1.

Over 30 years of leading companies through change, I have learned that a strategy, project or initiative needs a clear definition of success: what should improve, by how much, by when and at what cost. Without it, supporters point to the number that improves, detractors to the one that doesn't, and the debate never ends. Today, I was reading a New York Times article on US tariffs and thought it was a great illustration. In April 2025, on "Liberation Day", the White House set

"The US has even more debt than we do relative to GDP, and they are doing fine so we are fine too." You hear this in the UK, Spain, Belgium and even more so in France. But does this argument make sense? Well... no!! Let's compare France to the US, for example. Look at the charts below. On the debt/GDP number itself, sure, counting all levels of government, French public debt reached 116% of GDP in 2025, and US debt 124%. It has increased more or less at the same pace for at l

When mortgage rates rise sharply, homes become hard to afford even if home prices stop rising. For example in the U.S., the monthly payment has risen 77% relative to income between 2020 and 2025. Like many of you, I worry about the cost of buying a home, for ourselves, for our children or for someone we love. So today's Wall Street Journal op-ed celebrating the rise of mortgage rates, "Hurray for Higher Mortgage Rates", caught my attention. It basically argues that higher rat