A rolling wave in a workshop room in Kigali. A group of film professionals from four countries, strangers turned collaborators. And a realisation that changed the direction of my work: the most sophisticated organisational development methodology I'd ever encountered had nothing to do with the industries that need it most. Here's what creative and gaming companies are missing — and what it's quietly costing them.

In the past months, I have been talking to a lot of people at the forefront of AI development: founders of startups with AI at their very core, AI engineers designing LLM model implementation into products and workflows - and OpenClaw enthusiasts, building 1-person-startups with the tool. Of course, AI integration is a highly technical topic. Or maybe not? Here are my main takeaways, structured into a helpful framework to give orientation for any organisation in that transformation. Some of it may not be what you'd expect.

The very first remote work experience I remember was in 1999: I was 19 years old, we still paid the internet by the minute and modems screamed their infamous dial-up tones into the room. I sent the draft of a letter via email (sic!) to someone, 100 km away, for review. We discussed it on the (land line) phone while he was making edits to it on the PC. The way towards distributed teams was paved much earlier than we initially realised. And here is one of the many accounts to recount the story.

When I introduce myself to founders as a consultant who helps series A and B startups scale, they ask me back: “Do you mean technical scaling? Or financial scaling?” My answer is “No, I help with the 3rd pillar of scaling: team dynamics.” Let’s explore what this means and why it’s a game-changer for scaling - for the better.

In our current economical logic, organisations, team leaders and working individuals have a strong tendency, to quickly "move on" and "turn the page" - for the sake of productivity. The truth is though, that under the surface, certain events keep working in us, because they remain unresolved.