“Alan facilitates fundamental rethinking.”

“If you’re stuck in a complex situation, feeling that you have no viable options left or that you’re just turning in circles, a fundamental rethink with someone like Alan may be the only way out.”

The cornerstone of such a rethink could be an essential dialogue in which you discover the very essence of the situation and how to get unstuck.

Working with Alan, you can experience the value of uncompromising stringency of thought paired with his cultural and ethical neutrality. Together, you can reach a fast-track, to-the-point resolution.

Essential Artificial Intelligence

For organisations and individuals in positions of particular responsibility, Essentis provides particular expertise in the area of Artificial Intelligence which is impacting increasingly pervasively, uncontrolledly and often subversively on virtually all facets of knowledge-related work.

Alan contributes his expertise to the fundamental rethinking of management practices when dealing with AI and especially the latest generative AI with its Large Language Models (LLMs):

• securing competitive advantage through AI
• mitigating inherent and emergent risks related to AI
• addressing and undertaking AI-induced, AI-supported and/or AI-necessitated
  • strategic development – including competitive pressures in the choice and crafting of products, services and markets
  • operational development – including process efficiency, cross-functional synergies and data management
  • cultural development – including decision-making, the handling of euphoria, subterfuge, naivety, anxiety and aversion as well as dealing with misconceptions and cognitive biases.

Ten of Alan’s clients and professional colleagues were asked how they see his core attributes. The condensed, cumulative results are as follows:

• “Alan is a 360° thinker.”
• “His analytical skills are outstanding; he is very fast at grasping the core of the issues.”
• “Alan is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met.”
• “In strategic matters, brilliant!”
• “As his client, my corporate interests were at the centre of his attention. His ethics are unquestionable.”
• “He listens carefully and contributes to solutions in an integrative fashion.”
• “I value him as a critically-minded sparring partner who helps to validate strategies, ideas and concepts.”
• “Alan has excellent knowledge of natural sciences and also languages.”
• “The working atmosphere which he creates is pleasant, focussed, constructive and solution-oriented.”
• “Whilst upholding a rigorous sense of logic and rationality, Alan attends carefully to people’s feelings and needs.”
• “He questions and reflects in depth very consistently, has an excellent memory and a pragmatic, creative approach to solution-finding.”
• “I can unreservedly recommend his expertise in matters concerning corporate health – and especially in the accurate analysis and stringent alignment of the central premises of an organisation’s vision, strategy, culture and ethics.”

9^th January 2023

When tackling a complex situation – possibly riddled with what are often termed ‘wicked’ or ‘messy’ problems – it is not uncommon to find differing perception- and thinking systems at-play among those who were somehow involved in creating the situation and also among those who are attempting to solve it. These differences can lead to a distinct lack of a common notion concerning

• the problem itself, keeping in mind that wicked problems by definition cannot be precisely formulated
• what has already been attempted (and how) in terms of resolution approaches,
• progress having been made towards a possible way forward,
  and
• promising next steps to be taken.

This situation, metaphorically reminiscent of the Tower of Babel, may feel disheartening when recognised – possibly after a too long period of struggling in vain to overcome the ‘language differences’. In my latest article (online / pdf) I write about how the perception- and thinking-systems of those engaging with the situation are rooted in their deep-cultural and ethical dispositions. I continue by discussing how, consequently, the contribution of cultural and ethical neutrality has proven to be highly instrumental to recognising and navigating such differences and ultimately enabling one to reach the hidden essence of the situation and thus allow one to fundamentally rethink and find a clear way forward where none was apparent at the outset.

Have you experienced such situations?
How did you eventually manage to overcome the stifling complexity and intricacies?