Duena Blomstrom — Essays on AI, Humanity, Tech and Human Debt (Page 2)

Listen Up all Human Debt Fighters - Let's Take Genuine Empathy across AI & Humans Ideas, Debate, Creation, Depth & Purpose Back: They're under attack

The Execution Illusion

Most systems report execution. Few organisations can prove it. What looks like progress may be something else entirely.

Living through the Polycrisis

WWIII started, Fascism is rampant and unchallenged, history effectively dead. AI Bros are buying and selling morality and the same guys get the contracts while the Epstein Files are disqualifying humanity. UCLA calls it a lack of narrative coherence. We can't see ahead. Not really. Not anymore.

What the Future of Humans at Work Needs

That doesn’t mean everyone is ready or willing to embrace the change. For evident reasons I write and speak about a lot, accepting change…

DevOps Knows Better but Doesn’t Do Better (Yet?)

If I had a dollar for every time that a tech leader with their heart in the right place, stopped their efforts to better the developer’s lives -and ultimately productivity- because they were told off by HR, I’d afford to donate our software forever.

How We -May Have- Killed Agile and What to Do to Revive It in 2025

2025 Is it the year where we sort out this death of Agile debate?

Agile by Heart not McKinsey PowerPoint

"Looking at the frontrunners in Agilty - Google, Spotify, GM or Amazon - none of the Big 4 consultancies can say "yes, that's me, I wrote this magical 50M- strategy-deck" Duena Blomstrom 2018

Nobody Gets Fired for Buying IBM - But They Should

A classic enterprise phrase hides a deeper truth: decisions made to avoid blame quietly accumulate Human Debt. This essay revisits why “nobody gets fired for buying IBM” was never about safety - and why courage, not risk aversion, is the real competitive advantage.

Building a Future where Humans Vibe and AI Codes

Putting devs back at the helmet will be hard - let me spell it out to the techies -at the risk they hate me for it: when it comes to this pivotal moment in the life of your craft, you can do better than this outrage and help build the next era of tech

Mindless “AI or DIE” Will Worsen Your Human Debt™

Forget AI in the computer industry (where indeed the discourse is complex as its appearance shakes the very foundation of software crafting, engineering, product and design alike), what about it everywhere else? How does it affect every other employee in every other industry and what’s first...

Why DEI Must Stay: The Differents, the Regulars and the Intersections

Navigating multiple views of neurodiversity whilst designing ways to maintain high levels of empathy for all has been exceptionally difficult in the ever more divisive -and divided- fractured organisational landscape of today. Speaking to smart people-leaders has helped me see new facets of...

Is Psychological Safety Dead?

We may have killed Psychological Safety y’all and it may not return until the “new guard” takes over completely. This sadly, is not an overstatement or click-bait, but...

Human Debt™

The RTO Trap: Ignoring Data and Humanity Will Cost Companies Their Best Talent - Do They Care?

Let's be clear once more: this whole "return to the office" (RTO) charade is absolute insanity. In this (exceptionally indignant and mercifully short) episode of our Secret Society for Human Work Advocates and Human Debt Fighters Podcast, Dr. Allessandria Pollizzi and I break it down in much...

Forget "Founder Mode" - try "Human Mode"

I’m very lucky. I get to speak to incredible people who tirelessly think and feel all day. Some of these conversations are recorded and you can find them in our podcasts. Here’s what you may have missed on there of late: Karen Ferris and I spoke about her new “Be Remarkable” book on resilience...

FinTech / Emotional Banking 1.0

Oh no, “Agile is Dead”! Again.

I've been trying to avoid joining the "Is Agile dead?" conversation that pops up repeatedly, as it has once again on LinkedIn in recent months. It's tempting to get caught up in this debate, but it happens so frequently. Let's be honest—whenever there's a major change or new initiative in a...

Open Letter to all the Frightened NeuroSpicy Leaders Still in the Closet

(Cross posted to both newsletters if you're both in Technology and HR Leadership) Can you believe it? They have a name for it all. The unfitting. The eternal hardship. The awkwardness. The uncertainty that we ever do the exact right thing or worse, the inability to do but the exact right thing....

Becoming an EQ Shop to Stop the New Burnout Wave

Isn’t life quieter when I’m not "in your ear" moaning about the lack of Agile and the lack of care about the roaring HumanDebt like I used to do THREE times a week a few months ago but barely once every few weeks nowadays? You’re welcome :) Is this blessed (semi) silence from my part caused by...

(Long) Stories of Life, Books and Resilience

Hey y’all - long time no talk, loads happened so grab a cuppa so we have a heart-to-heart - (if you subscribe to both newsletters you'll see this in two copies, apologies, but I assure you that it will be back to different (and hopefully less personal and dramatic!) content next week. Let me...

Good Behaviours and Components of Psychological Safety Explained

Police Brutality Causes International Social Activist and Influencer Duena Blomstrom not to Attend St. Paul "Elite Business 2024" Keynote and Gala

A detailed public account of one of the most severe incidents we experienced is temporarily withheld due to ongoing legal proceedings. The case involves documented misconduct, institutional failures, and harm inflicted during a period of targeted harassment and extreme trauma, all of which...

There Is No Such Thing as Leadership Skills

“Leadership Skills! Come buy your leadership skills here! AI-proof/ML-enabled/McK-sanctioned/visionary-du-jour-inspired packaged for insta-leadership right here!” Let’s face it, you can’t walk the corridors of Canary Wharf or the trendy Barbados new ad-hoc WeWorks without being lured by some...

Can 2024 - be The Year of Self-Care?

If anyone missed me, I apologise for the silence. We launched not one, not two, but seven different podcasts at TechLedCulture, and invitations have gone out for three more extraordinary hosts to join us. We can not wait to unveil all we’ve been to. If you haven’t subscribed to them, please do...