Kenneth Mikkelsen

Leadership Without Truth: What Camus Saw and HBR Never Understood In 1946, Albert Camus was invited to give a series of lectures in North America.

Today, in the world of Harvard Business Review, LinkedIn gurus, and power-hungry politicians, truth is no longer something pursued — it is packaged, monetised, and sold.

Three steps to clarity. Five skills of high performers. Seven ways to lead through uncertainty. How to close the deal - and win!

Nick Cave: ‘I don’t know where I would be if my son hadn’t died. Grief turns you into a person. Before, I was incomplete’ The Australian singer has lost two children and many friends and family members in recent years. But he has emerged stronger. He expresses this resilience in an album full of hope, titled ‘Wild God’

Just because.

We speak often of AI as if it were a future event. | Kenneth Mikkelsen We speak often of AI as if it were a future event. But it is already here—not just in machines, but in the fabric of our being. What Karl Ove Knausgaard captures with devastating clarity in his recent...

A recommended read.

On the smallness of old men obsessed with power.

A play: The Theater of Leadership Development

Leadership is not a performance.
This piece rips off the mask.
Seven acts. No buzzwords.
Just truth, care—and a quiet rebellion.

open.substack.com/pub/houseofb...

Henri Bergson on Time A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes

Henri Bergson on Time.

The Theater of Leadership Development By Kenneth Mikkelsen

A piece, a play, a poetic slam:

Something is about to unfold. Not on a stage, but in a mirror. Seven acts. A lens, slowly turned. Not a manifesto. Not a toolkit. A philosophical unmasking of the leadership industry—its myths, its performances, its polished evasions.

The Secret History of the War in Ukraine This is the untold story of America’s hidden role in Ukrainian military operations against Russia’s invading armies.

Excellent journalism on the war in Ukraine.

Adam Entous conducted more than 300 interviews over more than a year with government, military and intelligence officials in Ukraine, the United States, Britain, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Turkey.

This is a LONGREAD.

No child dreams of becoming an accountant, an insurance salesman, or a CEO.

Children dream of courage and beauty, justice and goodness.

It is not until later they end up in a box on LinkedIn.

I hope you will find the inspiration again, Jonathan. What you have accomplished so far with the podcast is unique and admirable. I’m sure it impacts people even though it sometimes feel hard to do original work that requires an effort from the audience to process, internalise, and appreciate.

I’d be happy to have a conversation with you. The last five years I’ve been working on a new book about the most important existential themes in our lives and worked alongside the greatest philosopher we had in Denmark since Kierkegaard. So a conversation could go in many directions I’m sure. ;-)

I can understand than. It clear to me that is not a project ones just does. Please reach out if you need any knowledge resources for various topics. I have a very large digital library of books and articles I can share and maybe also ideas for good people to talk to.

Thank you, Jonathan. I have throughly enjoyed listening to your podcast over the last year. It is beautifully crafted and narrated. Have you decided to stop making it or will you at some point continue exploring new topics?

New poem.
On the house.
For modern times. 🎪

In 1958, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel ‘The Leopard’ was published.

The central idea is captured in the famous quote: "If we want things to stay as they are, they must change."

How would a poem in Lampedusa’s spirit sound today?

Fear + Ignorance = Hate.

The Situation, March 3, 2025
Stop defaming Neville Chamberlain by comparing Trump to him:
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Anyone concerned with current world affairs should watch the documentary “The Trouble with Being Human These Days” with Zygmunt Bauman(1925–2017).

Link to the documentary: vimeo.com/154973102 (paid access).

The collage is homemade. Photo credit: Samuel Sánchez for El País.

YouTube video by ExistentialMovement EXISTENTIAL MOVEMENT : BRINGING WISDOM TO A TURBULENT WORLD

An oasis in the known universe needs to be looked after with care.

Join us if you agree that we need to get better at this.

youtu.be/h7SwEGryo-M?...

Bloody marvellous … one of the best novels I’ve read in a while.

Philosophy Eats AI AI’s ability to create value rests on the philosophy determining how and what it learns.

AI models invites leaders and managers across the organisation to ensure philosophy is deliberately embedded within the development and execution of AI strategies,” states this new article from @mitsloan.bsky.social.

True, but let’s not make philosophy the bitch of business.

The one with historical experience knows that hubris always goes hand in hand with nemesis. The regulator of arrogance is justice. At all times, they struggle to restore balance.

If you despair over the state of the world right now, know this.

On love.

Who would have guessed that driving a Tesla is now like driving a Beetle in 1939 Germany?

When the Unnatural Becomes Natural Artificial intelligence will redefine some of our deepest assumptions about the makeup of the world around us.

Ai, ai, ouch.

Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds.
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets…
— Macbeth

As always a delight to read Alan Lightman.

Empowering Affected Interests Cambridge Core - Political Philosophy - Empowering Affected Interests

Empowering Affected Interests by Archon Fung and Sean W. D. Gray.

This book reimagines the democratic project for a globalised world in which states can no longer satisfy democratic ambitions.

Free PDF download.⬇️

cup.org/4bttpKW

The Death of "I Don't Know" As AI serves up certainty like fast food, we're becoming intellectually obese—too full of answers to hunger for deep understanding.

“Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder,” said Socrates.

But if AI accelerates our access to answers, do we risk diminishing the messy, frustrating, but essential process of grappling with uncertainty?

www-psychologytoday-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.psyc...

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

– George Orwell, 1984