Substack: Transformative Thinking
Weekly short pieces on Transformative Thinking
Every week I publish a short video essay on my Substack — on reframing, abundance, AI and how work is changing. A recent one, Jubilee or War?:
Transformative Thinking
A handbook for reframing life and work
You can’t always change your situation. But you can change how you see it, and that changes what you do.
Transformative Thinking lays out a simple four-step Reframing method and applies it to more than forty everyday challenges, from perfectionism and saying no, to running meetings, managing teams, and dealing with regulators.
The pieces are short. Dip in wherever you like, or read straight through. If something in your life isn’t working, this book shows you how to think about it differently, and then how to act on it.
The first half is ready now, and it is yours free.
Download the first half (ePub) →
The method also runs as a free course of 82 videos and as a coach you can think with.Cornucopia: Exploring humanity’s shift to abundance
A series of podcast monologues
How do we live abundantly? I explore the shift from a world of scarcity to a world of abundance. From a world of lack to a world of plenty, from surviving to living, and from struggle to possibility and freedom.
Each episode, recorded on a walk, explores a concept in economics, ecology, psychology and philosophy.
Listen on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and other providers.
List of episodes on rss.com.
Listen interactively in English →
Luister interactief in het Nederlands →
Reframing – The Art of Thinking Differently
Reframing is a simple but powerful technique to think differently: an easy, four-step process that generates creative approaches for your own life and work. Reframing helps us to innovate, to approach the world from a fresh perspective and to overcome engrained patterns. Reframing allows us to develop strategies for dealing with our current challenges instead trying to solve problems which no longer exist.
‘Reframing offers me the opportunity in my work to pole vault over obstacles that have become hardened and tough over time and seek solutions from a new vision of possibility and abundance. It is the only tool I know that shifts an individual from acting as problem solver to enabling visionary change.’ (Sonali Ojha, Founder & Director, Dreamcatchers Foundation)
Reframing can be purchased at the publisher Boom and on all Amazon sites (the Kindle edition is cheaper).
Abundance
Each chapter describes a condition of scarcity existing in the world today: scarcity of natural resources, of the material goods we have, in our economical systems, and in the choices we make in our lives. I show that each of these situations of scarcity is actually created: we have painted ourselves in a corner, and we now realize that we are stuck. In fact, we live in a world of overflowing energy, of abundant and renewable natural resources, and of human ingenuity. The result of actions based on a belief in scarcity is shown by the absurdity of many of our current lifestyles and economic choices. The main problem of humanity is the overflow of energy and the abundance of resources. Looking at the situation from this perspective allows us to reframe the situation so that scarcity dissolves.
This reframing from scarcity to abundance is first described for the economic problems of scarcity found in the capitalist system where we produce in order to consume and consume in order to produce. Then I show how to reframe the scarcity found in the natural world, in the lack of natural resources and in agriculture. I also show how we reframe the psychological scarcity which comes from seeing ourselves as having infinite desires.
Abundance can be purchased as a paperback and e-book on Amazon.
Read Abundance interactively →
Read the first chapter below by clicking Read More
…Thinking about money and value
How is value – both that which is valuable for human beings and that which has financial value – created by means of resources, work, and ideas? Human beings can decide to spend their energetic surplus according to their own choices. A human being is a homo creator who gives shape to his or her life by making conscious choices for themselves and for their community.
Thinking about Money and Value (published in Dutch; English introduction) I have selected 23 key texts of economists, philosophers, bankers and sociologists that give us insight into this question.
Read the Introductory chapter in English below by clicking Read more.
…Dawn Changes Everything
“I am the sound of children’s babble, the lullabies of mothers and the naked whispers of men.“
Dawn Changes Everything is a collection of miniature mediations on the magic that everyday situations evoke in us. In turn ecstatic, playful, nostalgic, and erotic, these pieces of poetic prose explore time, memory, and our sensory experience of the world.
Dawn Changes Everything is available as paperback and e-book on Amazon
Click Read More for a selection of pieces
…Interactive lectures and workshops
Transformative thinking in three steps:
1. Analyse why we do things now
2. Radically change our thinking
3. Experiment with a radical new approach
Reframing: we challenge our current assumptions to generate radically new approaches.
Reframing AI : we rethink and redesign our workflow from performing tasks to managing AI-augmented output.
Paradigm Shifts: we identify internal or external shifts and design approaches to fit the new paradigm.
Simplify: we ruthlessly examine our current workflow in order to work smart, not hard.
Shaping our Future: we explore how to turn our core individual or corporate purpose into impactful action.
Climate Positivity: we investigate how we can impact the climate crisis at scale through our professional role.
Interactive lectures combine a slide presentation with several rounds of pair discussion and plenary debriefs. They last between 45-75 minutes, can be given live or online, and scaled from dozens to hundreds of participants.
Workshops follow the same topics and structure as interactive lectures but have much deeper analysis and group discussion. They include preparatory research into organisational priorities, sector shifts and future strategies, and have the most impact at pivotal points for teams or organisations. Workshops are better live but can be given online, take 2 to 6 hours, and are scalable from small groups of 6 to dozens of participants.
Worldwide clients include tech: Nokia, Amazon AWS, Oracle; consulting: EY; PwC; banks: Rabobank, Handelsbanken; pharma: Amgen, teva; service: JustEatTakeaway; housing corporations; secondary education; government: European Commission, Dutch ministries, municipalities; and business schools: AOG School of Management, Nyenrode University.
Reframing AI
Reframing AI: Becoming Centaur
Almost everyone is confused about AI, because of the many conflicting claims about it and the speed at which it keeps changing. Karim clearly explains the scientific basis underlying the current models, how they work, what they can and cannot do, and what that means for your workflow and the value proposition of your team and sector. Participants leave with a working understanding of AI models, two fundamental paradigm shifts in the way we will work in the future, and two design questions to design their own customised interaction with AI models for their workflow. The session works on several levels, from beginners who get introduced to the key points to advanced users challenged to expand their ambition.
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