Column Pieter Hemels: About Obama, Malala, Warren Edwards, and you

Column Pieter Hemels: About Obama, Malala, Warren Edwards, and you
When we founded ftrprf in 2018, we had one single goal in mind: to make the world a little bit better tomorrow than it is today in everything we do. It is a topic that evokes as much enthusiasm as resistance. ‘Oh, I wish I could do that too’ (daily), ‘Can I come work for you?’ (that not only from generation Y & Z, but also from senior management of multinationals), ‘What a leftist hobby’ (interesting: working on a positive future has apparently become ‘leftist’), ‘But that is not a business model’ (yes it is because we deliver future-proof results), ‘What a bunch of softies’ (we like to point out that we have just as many fact-based math whizzes and technical analysts working with us as creative strategists and futurologists) to ‘But how much impact do you really achieve on your own?’

Conviction x willpower = impact
That last question is especially interesting. Because, as an individual, you can make an immense difference. Think of Barack Obama. Sundar Pichai. Taylor Swift. Queen Maxima. Sifan Hassan. Jan Terlouw. Rutger Bregman. Wim Leereveld. Jessica den Outer. And what about the impact of KidsRights winners such as Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, both 16 years old when they received the Children's Peace Prize? All these people share the fact that they combine a deep conviction with a strong will to realize it: Perseverance, Ausdauer, Tenacity. The exact same formula applies to organizations: conviction x willpower = impact.

‘My name is Warren. Warren Edwards.’
At the beginning of January, I spent a few days in New York with a group of colleagues, reflecting (which in NY is a contradiction in terms) on how we as an organization can further increase our impact. We spoke with scientists, politicians, entrepreneurs, corporates - brilliant conversations with meaningful insights. However, the person who had the most impact on us was Warren Edwards1. We met him entirely by accident when, in smaller groups, we were visiting museums in search of inspiration to grow our impact. We visited the Guggenheim, where Warren works as a security officer. While on duty, he increasingly wondered about the meaning of the modern artworks he was guarding. Warren started researching these at home on his laptop and found answers. He then, with more than contagious enthusiasm, shared his insights with inquiring visitors. This happened with us. He explained what he learnt about a piece of art we were looking at and then accompanied us to a second work. A third. A fourth. Every time his story gave the artwork unprecedented meaning. It turned out that he really immersed himself in every work in the Guggenheim. He gave me the most wonderful museum experience ever (and that is saying something) and demonstrated to us what real impact is. Impact: conviction x willpower. Shall we?

1 You can easily find Warren Edwards on Instagram (w.d.edwards) and the internet, but it is highly recommended to visit him at work.

This column by Pieter Hemels, director of consultancy firm ftrprf, was published in Management Scope 02 2025.
Feedback on this column is more than welcome: pieter@ftrprf.com.

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