Skip to content
dr.Pep
dr.Pep
knows better
  • Single Sentence Summaries
  • Baking
  • AI & Data
  • Recent posts
Copyright © 2025 Pepijn van der Laan.
All rights reserved.
Clayton M. Christensen – Competing against luck

Clayton M. Christensen – Competing against luck

When working on innovation, always ask yourself: “What job does my product/service do for its user?” as a first test.

Good thought starter and a great tool to point out failures afterwards, but usually hard to get “the job” right before launch

Adam Grant – Originals

Adam Grant – Originals

If you want to change the world, apply creative, unconventional thinking in a strategic way.

Surprisingly practical advise on how to drive change (make it safe for others, build coalitions, pick the right moment, be courageous yet receptive).

Simon Sinek – Leaders eat last

Simon Sinek – Leaders eat last

Go for servant leadership: it’s in line with the chemistry of our brain.

NIcely crafted narrative around Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin to support a well established concept.

Simon Sinek – Start with why

Simon Sinek – Start with why

Live by Covey’s 2nd habit: ‘Begin with the end in mind’

Energizing expose of a well known leadership truism.

Liz Wiseman – Multipliers

Liz Wiseman – Multipliers

Most corporate cultures stifle learning and cross-fertilization of ideas.

Useful archetypes of desireable (‘multiplier’) and undesireable (‘diminisher’) behaviour.

Dan and Chip heath – Switch

Dan and Chip heath – Switch

If you want to realize change: have a compelling rationale, make it intuitive to grasp, and make it easy to do.

Just remember the metaphor of the elephant, the rider, and the path.

Salim Ismail et. al. – Exponential organizations

Salim Ismail et. al. – Exponential organizations

Prioritize long term accelerating growth over short-term gains.

Diamandis’ Abundance concept applied to companies. The book peaks early on: the howto guide is not sufficiently specific.

David Maister – The trusted advisor

David Maister – The trusted advisor

Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / (Self orientation)

Much needed message in this age of voxpop: you need to earn the right to share your opinion.

Stanley McChrystal – Team of teams

Stanley McChrystal – Team of teams

Without mutual understanding of different perspectives teams cannot be effective, because people you don’t trust are never truly on your team.  

Background: the US couldn’t win the war in Iraq in 2003 because the compartmentalized army organization could not react adequately to changing circumstances and an agile enemy.

Erin Meyer – The culture map

Erin Meyer – The culture map

Be aware: cultures differ greatly in ways of (1) communicating, (2) evaluating, (3) persuading, (4) leading, (5) deciding, (6) trusting, (7) disagreeing, and (8) scheduling.

All too recognizable national archetypes dissected. Valuable guide to international collaboration.

Newer Posts
Tags
AI (17) Analytics (6) Art (14) Biology (7) Brain science (6) Business (10) China (8) Culture (50) Data (6) Data science (8) Design (6) Economics (34) Economy (16) Entrepreneurship (25) Ethics (18) Evolution (9) Hacking (6) History (88) Innovation (68) Intelligence (7) Investing (7) IT (13) Japan (6) Journalism (12) Leadership (32) Linux (8) Management (8) Marketing (11) Mathematics (8) Philosophy (18) Physics (14) Politics (65) Psychology (12) Retail (6) Science (48) Silicon Valley (11) Sociology (13) Start-ups (7) Startup (14) Statistics (18) Strategy (10) Technology (64) Ubuntu 20 (8) USA (42) War (9)
Archives
Copyright © 2025 Pepijn van der Laan.
All rights reserved.