We are all going to die, the question is how we lived

In times of Corona, we talk about saving lives. That’s however not what we’re doing, we rather prolong life, since all of us will ultimately die. That may seem like a dark view on things, but it’s really not, it’s just reality. So the question is not if we’re going to die. We are. The question is how we lived.

Some people start to think about whether they live meaningful lives as they face existential crises like Corona. I would argue that it’s always important to live a meaningful life, whether you face a crisis or not. If you feel the need to change what you invest your time in just because you face the possibility of dying soon, the question is whether you’re living the life you want to live?

I believe that a deliberate life with deliberate decisions has a higher likelihood of being a rich and meaningful life that contributes to a better society than an unconscious life that you live day-by-day. The way I believe we can go about making the most of the days we live is by doing three things:

1) Choose to choose – Chose to live a deliberate life where you make clear decisions

2) Identify your values – They set out the direction for the life you want to live

3) Learn and innovate – Make the journey through life in the direction of your values all about learning and innovating, testing new things

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What will you make of this fall?

I find both summer and Christmas to be great periods to think through what you will make of the coming 6 months. With this, I want to share how I think about the fall, and perhaps some of you give your fall an extra thought or two. I encourage you to have the ambition to make this fall the best 6 months in your life so far. Wouldn’t that be great? Also, I really hope that you will find this positively challenging instead of stressing out about what you will make of the fall. You are amazing.

I’ve structured my thinking for the fall in five dimensions:

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Every IT department needs a tech scouting strategy

Do you agree that things change all the time? It may seem like a ridiculous question, but despite most companies agreeing to this, they still act as if they don’t. If you agree that things change all the time, then follows that the only long-term sustainable strategy and competitive advantage for any company and individual is to learn things faster than the world is changing and translate that learning into meaningful innovation. That is the only long-term sustainable strategy. There is nothing else. Everything else has a due date, such as a great CEO, amazing infrastructure, great customer relationships, a great product etc. All of that will go away at some point, but learning & innovation will always be there. This is why we need to take this seriously and why every IT department needs a tech scouting strategy.

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A Christmas gift about personal leadership

As the world continues to change at an accelerating pace, the number of options for what you can do with your life, time and energy will increase at the same pace. Personal leadership has never been more important, or as Singularity University puts it: “Your fate and destiny will be in your own hands as never before” (ref).

Some years ago I wrote a book about personal leadership called “Opportunities”. I first wrote the book with 300+ pages, and then I asked myself how many people will read 300 pages about personal leadership? I then re-wrote it to 23 pages, and since then many people have read it.

As a small Christmas gift I’m sharing the e-book for free via this link for you to perhaps read or share further with someone you think might want to read it.

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Our book in summary – Marketing goes Digital

It’s been a while since I posted something. I’ve been busy publishing the book Marketing goes Digital. It’s been really great fun writing a book, and now I’m back at the blog.

The book aims to cover what it takes to be customer-centric in a rapidly changing digital world by looking at how to do marketing today from A to Z based on 12 business practices. In this article I summarize the book, but the book provides more tools and in-depth understanding of each section. If you find it interesting you can get it at MarketingGoesDigital.com.

Let’s go through the 12 practices one by one…

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The most important pillars for personal and organizational success

In a rapidly changing world where the number of options to choose between for how to spend your time are countless, it’s easy to get spread very thin trying to do everything, running faster and faster in the hamster wheel at work and at home. The field of leadership, both personal as well as organizational, is important to stay on track and focus on what actually matters to you. In this post I’m reaching far, trying to summarize what the four most important pillars are for personal and organizational success in an increasingly rapidly changing world. These four pillars are the recipe for success in life in general, but can be applied to any area, for example digitalization that is currently on many people’s mind. I hope you’ll find the thoughts valuable.

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Innovate – A customer-focused innovation model

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Strategic leaders must not get consumed by the operational and tactical side of their work. They have a duty to find time to shape the future.

– Stephanie S. Mead, CMOE

As the world is changing at an increasing speed, learning and innovation faster than competition is the only long-term sustainable competitive advantage. Innovation is a huge topic with many books written about it, and I have no ambition of covering it in full. That said, in this post I’ll go through an innovation model that ensures you put people first and use digital technology only as the means to improve people’s lives, not the end itself.

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