The Extra Words

Is the person you're networking with even real? What if the company contact you thought was genuinely connecting with you on a human-to-human level in a B2B setting simply does not exist? This scenario is becoming commonplace. When a company creates a virtual persona and giving a complex system a full name, photo, and even a LinkedIn profile, they aren't just streamlining for efficiency. They are engaging in a deliberate misrepresentation of professional identity, undermining every claim of authenticity. This form of deception exploits the very foundation of trust that platforms like LinkedIn are built on. The deception lies not in the use of AI, but in the human decision to exploit the social contract. When a company can't put a real person forward, what does that signal about the value of their team? The relentless pursuit of systemic efficiency is colliding with the ethical imperative of authenticity. Undisclosed efficiency is rapidly turning into a compliance risk (hello, EU AI Act). In this article on Faux Human Ecosystems, we explore why and how companies must consider radical transparency over synthetic advantage.

Some people are driven by goals. Others by questions. Most business frameworks only recognise the first group. What happens when our systems misread motivation? What if the person who keeps asking why is motivated differently? We’ve learned to detect goal-driven energy: needs, emotions, actions. But there’s another level we rarely register: curiosity without a goal, exploration without urgency. So, it seems, our motivational models may be precise but incomplete. This is what “The Lateral Motive” explores: why our frameworks miss half the story, and what becomes visible when we start paving the desire paths people actually walk.

The Most Urgent Precision Work Isn't in the Cleanroom. It's in the Narrative. Brainport's success is an undeniable miracle of engineering. But on an Austrian mountain top recently, I was reminded how fundamentally illegible this miracle remains to the world around us. Simply explaining what Brainport is, and which companies are part of it, is not nearly enough. Certainly not in Europe, not even in the region itself. People see ASML expanding with new buildings and they encounter foreign workers in daily life. They see the consequence. They do not see the Hidden Choreography of specialized firms whose synchronization enables the growth of an industry and the growth of a region. This disconnect is more than a communication gap. It is a strategic failure of institutional maturity that carries an accumulating cost: the comprehension deficit. If we, the architects of this technological powerhouse, cannot translate nanometer precision into compelling human consequence, we risk losing the community support and political stability needed to operate.

What we perceive isn't necessarily what is real; it's what our mind allows us to experience as real. The recurring gap between what is promised and what is perceived, led me to develop a systemic framework I call the Perceptive Influence Model — PIM for short, or 'Perceptie Invloed Model' in Dutch. It is not just a marketing tool. It's part of a broader practice: a way to explore the distance between intention and interpretation. Whether applied to a brand, a public institution, or a hiring process, it extends into collaborative research and brand diagnostics. It is less about managing perception and more about understanding it. It serves as a shift from projection to reflection.

Can we expand our 'Cultural Operating System' by embracing linguistic differences? And what's the tangible business benefit of an expanded vocabulary? There are words in every language that have no direct translation. They don't just describe reality; they encapsulate complex concepts, feelings, or states of being uniquely rooted in cultural experience. These linguistic differences act as small, powerful windows into how communities think, feel, and organize their world. Language, therefore, doesn't just describe our reality; it fundamentally shapes how we perceive, value, and organize our society. It's more than just words; it's the backbone of thought itself. This realization is key to unlocking the true potential of multicultural collaboration and forming successful, profound partnerships across borders.

Services are no longer competing to win you over; they are competing to lock you in. Prices rise not out of necessity, but because they can. Advertisements return because the model demands them. What begins as rebellion against old incumbents ends as a reshaping of incumbency itself. The platforms that once styled themselves liberators become the new rulers, wielding the same economic power by different means. The disruption phase is not an illusion; it creates real value. It democratizes access. It forces incumbents to innovate. It drives cultural, technological, and behavioral shifts that outlast the golden years.

Neuroscience has shown that our memories do not stand alone like neatly stacked files. Instead, they cluster into constellations. Similar experiences fuse into unified sentiments. That is why a single song can bring back not just one afternoon, but a whole season of life. This is especially powerful in what researchers, such as cognitive psychologist David Rubin, call the ‘Reminiscence Bump’; the period in our teens and early twenties (roughly 10 to 25) when experiences are most vividly etched into memory. During this time, our brains are particularly adept at forming lasting memories, which is why the music we listen to during these years often has a profound impact on us later in life.

Trust is a fragile currency. It takes time to earn, yet it can evaporate in an instant. Dishonesty is the quickest way to kill it, and obfuscation often functions as the proverbial smoking gun. The moment people feel left out of the conversation, being ignored, when their voice no longer seems to matter, the erosion begins. Doubt is the first fissure, disengagement the widening crack, and betrayal the collapse. Those who feel betrayed rarely return as partners. More often, they become and remain obstacles. Regaining trust is not just difficult; it may be impossible.

We let ourselves get captured. Not physically, but psychologically; by forces that benefit from our division. We react to provocations, defend against narratives, and need to organize our thinking around agendas. We're distracted by the noise of conflict while the real issues are swept under the rug. Consensus-based decision-making leads to greater commitment and more durable outcomes because the process itself builds trust and collective ownership. What would it look like when we'd apply this process to larger conflicts? Instead of trying to defeat opposing viewpoints, what if we focused on understanding the underlying concerns that give rise to them?

There's a moment when the curtain falls away from complexity, revealing the elegant machinery underneath. It’s part of my daily professional life, and it’s very rewarding to see a “Wizard of Oz”-like revelation, when all elements fall into place and all starts to make sense to everyone involved. In a personal setting, it recently happened to me, holding two identical documents: pre-sales offers from competing energy suppliers that differed only in logo and color use. Everything else, from layout and typography to phrasing and discount calculations, was mirror-perfect. This couldn’t be coincidence. This seemed choreography.

What we see in the audio industry echoes patterns in many other sectors. Televisions, mobile phones, cars, appliances: the same script unfolds. Established business models encounter disruption from cost-down engineering, rapid manufacturing, and agile new entrants. Faced with this pressure, companies tend to work on survival strategies. They often pivot toward services, mostly bundled as subscriptions, or they move upmarket and embrace the identity of a luxury brand. This article is not merely about changing technologies or generational habits. It is about industrial strategy in a multipolar world, where supply chain control and ecosystem dominance determine winners and losers

The quest for “better visibility” may start with a simple digital presence, leading to getting caught up with the performance marketing whirlwind, only to discover it leads to paying for the privilege of spending more time at becoming a marketeer. Performance marketing says: "Cast wide, sort later." Strategic brand building says: "Be so clear about your values that quality prospects identify themselves." The businesses getting this right aren't chasing more customers. Instead, they're using methodologies where the right customers find them.

“So… what is it that you do?” A simple question. Until it isn’t.   For those of us whose work doesn’t fit neatly into categories, answering it can become surprisingly complicated. In this article, I explore the paradox of roles that resist tidy titles. I share two deceptively simple questions I often ask to uncover deeper purpose, and reflect on the Japanese concept of Ikigai; a compass for aligning passion, skill, contribution, and value.

The true shape of company culture extends far beyond formal structures and job descriptions. The unspoken rules, coffee break conversations, and silent leadership; informal relationships at work are the real drivers of success and retention.

Why celebrate dubious achievements while ignoring fundamental flaws, misconceptions or marketing spin? The reasons go deeper than politeness or professional courtesy. The cost of silence is always higher than the discomfort of truth. The real question isn’t whether your industry has uncomfortable realities. It’s whether you’re brave enough to talk about them before they become tomorrow’s headlines.