Flip the Script workshop at INCOSE

Yesterday I was invited by INCOSE The Netherlands (International Council on Systems Engineering) to give an interactive 1.5-hour workshop titled "Flip the Script." 

Systems engineers are trained to design systems within given requirements. In my workshop I invited them to take a step back: what mental models lie beneath those requirements, and what happens when you flip them? For anyone working on the energy transition, healthcare, mobility, or other societal challenges, this can offer a perhaps uncomfortable but useful mirror.

After introducing my work in Africa and Asia and my PhD research, I introduced our polycrisis in 4 quizquestions and the mental models underneath it: shareholder value, narrow goals, short-term efficiency, and infinite growth. 

We then explored what it means to flip this script, and how that translates into business design, by playing the Future Entrepreneur card game and exploring 32 examples.

That led to real conversations about our own organizations: are they still behaving like Business as Usual, or are they already acting like a Future Entrepreneur?

I could feel the energy in the room to spread the word: with the right business model design, businesses can in fact contribute to a future worth living in.

Looking forward to seeing where these connections will take us.