The Intentful Company - A Series

A growing series about action, clarity, and contradiction in modern organizations.

Few companies show real intent.

Most simply act or react. They survive - but they fail to define!

And by “define” I don’t mean “change the whole world” but “pick a niche and define it”. It can be small.

What holds them back is not always carelessness.

Often it’s craftsmanship. Knowledge.

Knowledge of how intent can stay at the core of the company.

How intent helps make decisions, shape the company, the product, the offering.

When intent is lost, everything becomes generic. Meaningless.

Many things are required for a company to be able to pull through with intent.

Many of those things or aspects will be covered in this series.

This is not a series about values.

Not about tools.

Not about culture decks or agile rituals.

It’s a series about intent.

About what happens when companies act without it.

And what becomes possible when they reclaim it.

Not purpose.

Not mission.

Not a slogan.

Intent is something smaller. And deeper.

It shows in what we choose not to do.

In how we prioritize. In how we decide.

In what we allow to stay vague - and what we dare to make clear.

I wanted to call this series “The Enlightened Company” first.

Kant defined enlightenment as “the exit from self-imposed immaturity.”

(”Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit”.)

And while I grew up with this deeply engrained into my brain, I found it too judgy and dripping with gravitas.

I looked back at my writings and found an old article I wrote, called

“Elements of Intentful Companies”.

That’s the framing I prefer - and what I will pick up from.

Why intent?

I think intent (potentially followed by grit) is the number one ingredient that makes the difference.

Here is the lemma:

Intent × Grit = Your Greatness

The difference between a random company and a great company.

One you want to work in.

Almost every company starts with great intent.

Few keep it up.

Those who start intentful and master the art - stay intentful through growing up.

They express intent in every corner.

They don’t end up in random everyday toil - busyness without outcome. They wouldn’t let it happen.

They become great.

Those who lose it, not so much.

Intent can easily be measured from the outside:

You know it when you see it. 😉

From the inside, it’s harder to sense intent.

Corporate theatre gets between us and our instincts.

Us humans, we are 80% dogs - so we adapt. Silently.

We get blind to noise, rituals, and motion that only satisfy the status quo - not intent.

The struggle may feel the same.

But the outcome - and the sense of fulfilment (or satisfaction, if you prefer less drama) - doesn’t.

While grit is necessary, it can easily become the enemy of intent. An opposing force.

That tension is real - and worth exploring.

You just need to care whether what your company does … makes any sense.

This is a growing series. It will be published in “real time”.

You can read, follow, comment, or just observe.

We lack places with good discussions.

X is dead.

LinkedIn is a graveyard of AI-generated attention-grabbing.
(I get it - no judgment. And I’m guilty myself)

This is a piece of work that will grow and emerge.

Tons of topics backlisted.

Some posts will be sharp.

Some will need sharpening.

But all of them are written with intent.

Subscribe. Read. Think. Disagree. But don’t pretend this doesn’t matter.