Wow! When I hung up my full-time CDO hat at the end of 2024 and decided to dedicate this year to going solo, starting my advisory practice and kicking off some long-imagined personal projects, I couldn’t have predicted how rewarding and life-changing that decision would be.
Turns out, 2025 was in many ways the year of the snake.
Juggling many balls in the air at the same time hasn’t been easy necessarily, and I apologize to anyone whose messages I’ve answered later than I wanted to. I also learned a lot about myself going back into entrepreneurship mode after almost 15 years of full-time employment. It feels very different this time around starting ventures, yet at the same time oddly familiar. And some old demons came to visit as well. Hello, old friends!
Entrepreneurship has changed my life. It’s a privilege I now get to work with many entrepreneurs and leaders to support them as they’re scaling or reorienting their companies.
Thank you for being here, reading my irregular updates/musings, and listening to Poets & Thinkers in your spare time. It means the world!
And in this tumultuous time especially, I wish you and your loved ones peace and a wonderful start into 2026 – the year of the horse.
Going solo and starting my own advisory firm felt both scary and exhilarating at the beginning of the year. Now, one year in, it feels less scary and even more exciting.
My mission is to help leaders step into their creative courage to lead through pivotal, transformative moments in their ventures. Aligning business strategy, culture and product execution is more important ever. While AI is all over the map, it’s applying this technology in meaningful ways to solve real-world problems in the most elegant way that creates real value. And for 2026 the predictions are already out: We’ll see an even bigger number of people tap into their entrepreneurial mindset and start companies.
It’s been very rewarding to work with Omar at Please, Gordon at Design Executive Council, Liam at Source, André and Taylan at Flyway Health, many great teams in the latest Dogpatch Labs / NDRC cohort, and get to know the folks at PeakSpan Capital more closely. Thank you all for your trust, it’s a true pleasure to work with each and every one of you.
I couldn’t be happier, prouder and more grateful for how this experiment shaped out. Season 1 was originally supposed to be 12 episodes, ended up being 15. A massive THANK YOU to all my guests! You’ve enriched my own thinking as we’ve together explored what a more future of humanistic business leadership might look like. The feedback from listeners has been inspiring and encouraging.
Production for Season 2 is way under way with amazing new guests like Christina Goldschmidt, Tim Leberecht, Andy Allen, Sean Wolcott, Jerry Colonna and more… I can’t wait to share the next episodes with everyone – starting early January 2026 (so make sure you subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts ;)
Aside from getting to teach another year of EGR380/381 “Creating value in the real world”, I’m especially proud of the 2025 cohort of our eLab summer program. I’m constantly amazed by the great ideas and the passion our students have for creating impactful ventures.
Finally, one of my highlights was being part of panel discussion on applying the “design critique” as a tool in the entrepreneurial journey at Princeton’s Innovation Forum. It’s these kinds of transdisciplinary conversation I enjoy the most.
John and I are having a lot of fun expanding our initial idea of exploring the personalities of punctuation marks as a way to teach kids (and grown-ups) about the power of language.
We’re currently finishing up our first book (called The PUNXionary, because why should only the words have their own book!) and are considering ways to get it into the hands of kids, parents and teachers. So, if you’re either experienced with traditional children’s book publishing and/or an agent or self-publishing expert or animator or work at Scholastic, Pixar, Disney and a grammar nerd, we’d love to hear from you!
I’m opening a few more advisory slots for Q1 and Q2 next year. So, if you’re a founder, CEO, corporate leader or investor who’s facing pivotal moments (or know one) at the intersection of strategy, culture, product and customer experience or wondering how to unlock the next level in creating value with your venture, send me a quick email to connect. I’d love to learn where it hurts and how I can help.
My Princeton colleague Derek and I have been working on developing a platform to help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful ventures. Most startup advice out there is anecdotal and often focused predominantly on venture-backed founders. But what if you’re thinking about starting a coffee shop, taking over a family business or simply bootstrapping your company?
We’re condensing all our research, thousands of hours of class material and Derek’s immense body of work into a single platform to help anyone who’s thinking about starting a business learn the skills they need (when they need it). Research-backed, proven tools, delivered in bite-sized, free self-guided sprints. More on this very soon!
In early 2024, I signed a contract with a publisher I hugely admire to turn a children’s book manuscript I’ve been sitting on since 2018 into a book. Working with the absolutely remarkable Marc Majewski, we’re making strides to publish in 2026. And I can’t wait until we can share more!
I’ll be spending more time in Montréal, working with some exciting new clients and overall enjoying this wonderful city that reminds me so much of Berlin. Lots of inspiring artists, exceptional creatives, world-class AI research – and most importantly outstanding food!
So, if you’re in Montreal next year, hit me up. (And if you’re in Ireland, I’ll be there, too)
The Year of AI Everything: This article of reflections and predictions for 2026 by the brilliant Danielle McClune is required reading.
Designing Net-Positive Futures: I spoke on the DXC podcast about how (design) leaders need to act as ethical navigators to ensure technology delivers positive outcomes for humanity.
Creative Courage in Big Tech: I had a wonderful time chatting with Seb (Knox-)Agertoft on his podcast “Humans in the Loop” about my life and career so far, humanistic considerations for AI, and my hopeful vision for the future.
“AI’s Real Adoption Curve: Design Is the Diffuser” (FigBrew interview): Andrew Hogan (Figma’s Head of Insights) and I have had several conversations about this topic, and we finally managed to record one.
Kudos to you for making it all the way to the end. Please share your feedback, questions or any topics you’d like me to touch on.
And if you liked what you read, please subscribe and send this newsletter to someone you care about and who would appreciate the content.
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