Last week I was at Amsterdam Business Forum 2025. It felt like a mirror held up to the times. I collected 16 leadership takeaways from Peter Hinssen, Sanna Marin, and Simon Sinek in this article. Hinssen drew the macro picture: the technological tsunami that keeps reshaping everything. Marin embodied the leader who acts with integrity even when realism and politics clash. Sinek dove deep into relationships, trust, and emotional courage that hold teams together when everything changes.
Read on for a load of inspiration. And if you want more inspiration, from the same conference, I also shared my insights about collaborating with different generations in the workplace. In the same article, you can also learn about the science of happiness.
Lead image credits: Photo by Kelly
Peter Hinssen: Living in the Never Normal
Peter Hinssen opened the Amsterdam Business Forum with the same mix of humor, energy, and uncomfortable truth that defines his books. His talk revolved around one core idea: we no longer live in “the new normal.” The world has tipped into the never normal—a permanent state of disruption.
He started by tracing his lifelong obsession with technology, showing how each innovation shifts from strange to ordinary and then to invisible. “They always follow the same pattern,” he said. “The place gets slow and then really fast, and it becomes normal.” He reminded the audience that mobile phones were once rare, then suddenly everywhere. That pattern now repeats with AI, quantum computing, and automation—only much faster.
“Innovations always follow the same pattern. The place gets slow and then really fast, and it becomes normal.”
In other words, we overestimate the rate of change at first, then correct our estimations and underestimate the rate of change.
“How did I go bankrupt? Two ways: gradually, and then suddenly.” – Ernest Hemingway
That, he said, is how disruption happens—not in slow motion, but all at once. These “Hemingway patterns” explain everything from collapsing business models to geopolitical upheavals.
To illustrate, he recalled working with economist Carlota Perez, who mapped industrial revolutions through history. Each one took decades to unfold. Now, Hinssen said, “the waves just get bigger and bigger.” Peter illustrated this with the pace of protein research:
“Before DeepMind, researchers found 75,000 protein structures in 30 years. After DeepMind, they found 2 million more in 18 months.”
Hinssen called it a moment of “data outpacing expertise.” People who understand systems, he argued, will outperform deep specialists. In his words:
“Welcome to the new world. We’re going to see people who understand data outperform deep specialists in their field.”
But the biggest danger, he said, isn’t AI itself—it’s our inability to adapt fast enough. “We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.” That imbalance is his definition of the never normal: a world of constant instability, yet overflowing with opportunity for those who dare to reinvent themselves early.
“You have to innovate when you can, not when you need, because if you wait until you need, you’re going to be too late.”
He warned that most companies act with “yesterday’s logic” in a world moving at tomorrow’s speed. Drucker’s insight still holds: “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence itself, but to act with yesterday’s logic.”
“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position; certainty is an absurdity.” – Voltaire
He quoted Voltaire, linking 18th-century philosophy to modern leadership. Uncertainty, he argued, isn’t something to eliminate. It’s something to weaponize. It’s the central skill for leaders in the never normal: turning volatility into advantage. He challenged the audience not to retreat into fear or risk aversion but to leverage uncertainty. You can say, ‘This is scary, I’ll protect myself,’ or you can say, ‘Can we leverage uncertainty and use the never normal as an advantage?’”
Hinssen ended with a call to action. The never normal isn’t a phase—it’s our new habitat. The pandemic didn’t pause it; it accelerated it. The goal now is not stability, but adaptability. His closing argument landed like a challenge: stop pretending the chaos will end. “What if this is not a transition? What if this is the new planet?” he asked. If that’s true, the most dangerous mindset is nostalgia—clinging to how things used to be. Sadly, that is what many populist leaders are promoting.
Sanna Marin: Optimism as a Leadership Strategy
The former Finnish prime minister didn’t talk about power or politics first. She talked about optimism. “Optimistic leadership,” she said, “couldn’t be more topical.” Her message wasn’t abstract. It came from leading a small Nordic country through global crises—a pandemic, a war next door, and a historic NATO accession—all before turning 35.
“Optimism is the fuel of any successful leader.”
That line set the tone. She defined optimism not as wishful thinking but as belief backed by action. “Without profound belief that this product, idea, or political reform will make a difference,” she said, “that change is not going to happen.” She insisted that optimism only has value when it touches reality. A leader must first look truth in the eye—no denial, no sugarcoating. “I’m not speaking about optimism that rests on false beliefs or high hopes. I’m speaking of an optimism grounded in prudent reality and deep understanding.”
She reminded us that optimism doesn’t mean looking away from horror. It means refusing to surrender hope in the face of it.
“We have very clear reason to be pessimistic,” she admitted, “but we have no other choice but to remain optimistic.”
She said that the required energy and stability for optimism and action comes from strong values:
“Because compromising your core values will only cost you your integrity—and without your integrity, you will eventually lose your ability to lead.”
From there, Marin went global. She mapped her leadership lessons onto Europe’s current crises—from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to rising authoritarianism. Her analysis cut through comfort. “International rules-based order is being challenged systematically, with determination and impunity,” and “What we need now is not hesitation, but decisive action that is firmly grounded in the new realities.”
“If we are willing to compromise the rules-based international order just for one minute, we will eventually end up in a more difficult and costly situation.”
And she warned of what happens when values turn negotiable: “We would openly admit that our principles were not so important for us after all.” What makes Marin’s perspective powerful is her refusal to separate politics from ethics or leadership from emotion. She discussed integrity as stamina—the ability to stay true even when compromise looks easier. It’s what kept her moving through sleepless nights and impossible decisions during Finland’s NATO negotiations.
Her approach also matched the Amsterdam Business Forum’s theme of “Optimistic Leadership.” In a world described by Hinssen as “never normal,” Marin’s answer was not control but conviction. For her, optimism is both leadership strategy and survival mechanism.
Marin’s optimism feels radical because it’s disciplined. It isn’t the shiny, LinkedIn version. It’s the kind that exists because the world is burning, not despite it. Her talk balanced the urgency of war and climate crisis with the humanity of hope.
The Cost of Courage
Sanna Marin wasn’t re-elected. Despite leading Finland through COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and the fastest NATO accession in history, and despite pushing through 98% of her government’s promised reforms, Marin lost her seat of power.
That paradox says a lot about leadership today. She did almost everything a democratic leader is supposed to do—deliver results, maintain stability, and protect values—yet voters wanted something else.
Her loss was a reflection of how modern politics punishes emotional honesty. Marin led with conviction and transparency. The result shows how hard it is to be a hopeful leader in cynical times. The more open she became, the more critics labeled her naïve. Yet she proved that principled optimism can coexist with performance. Few leaders can say they achieved nearly every goal while facing simultaneous global shocks.
In a world obsessed with polling and short-term gains, Marin’s story is a reminder that integrity doesn’t always win elections—but it does build legacy. She left office with her head high, still young, still outspoken, and still deeply respected abroad.
Simon Sinek: The Courage to Be Available
Simon Sinek walked on stage with his usual calm warmth. He zoomed in on human leadership—no need to be a template of perfection—just your human self.
“Many leaders are afraid to say, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I made a mistake.’ What distinguishes the great leaders from the good leaders is their ability to say, I made a mistake.”
He described how admitting uncertainty rekindles the thrill of early careers—that mix of fear and excitement when you’re doing something new. “We’re choosing to do this, and I have no idea what to do,” he said. That honesty, far from weakness, becomes a magnet for collaboration. “Make yourself available—be available to admit when you make a mistake. Be available to admit that you need help or ask for help.”
“We don’t build trust by offering help,” he said, “we build trust by asking for it.”
It’s a kind of vulnerability; however, Sinek pointed out that this can sound weak. Last year at ABF 2024, Brené Brown promoted vulnerability, but Sinek proposed the word “availability”—a simple, practical openness that builds trust.
Next, Sinek compared corporate teams to the military units he studied, where psychological safety isn’t a slogan but a survival rule. “We don’t even like to give credit to somebody else. Yet in the military, people will give their lives for each other. I wanted to understand that.”
Trust is love in practice—the willingness to be both open and supportive.
He suggested leaders could learn from that—not to blur professional boundaries, but to remember that attention is oxygen. Most employees don’t need endless feedback or perks; they need to feel seen. “Courage is external. The trapeze artist has the courage to try because of the net. The skydiver has courage because of the parachute. All we need is one person who says, ‘I believe in you.’”
People don’t need certainty—they need belief.
That is the essence of leadership: creating nets for others. When leaders show up as human beings who care, teams find the courage to experiment, fail, and grow.
“Optimism is the undying belief that the future is bright. But it’s not naïve—it can accept darkness.”
Optimism, to Sinek, is emotional realism. You can tell your team, “This is the hardest thing we’ve ever done,” and still lead with hope. What poisons teams is not fear but false positivity—pretending everything is fine when everyone knows it isn’t. “Toxic positivity is when you don’t even believe yourself. You’re putting on an act.”
Finally, Sinek turned to the heart of his new obsession: friendship.
“Friendship is the ultimate biohack. It fixes anxiety, depression, even loneliness—but very few of us are actually good at being friends.”
That’s not sentimentalism. It’s biology. Friendship releases oxytocin, a bonding hormone. Sinek illustrated this with a story about a friend who texted him, ‘Do you have 8 minutes?’
He challenged the audience: Would you cancel a meeting because a friend needs you? Or would you cancel on a friend because of a meeting? Most people choose the latter. “We’re pretty shitty friends,” he said, half-smiling.
He and his friend created this “8-minute rule” as a code for real connection. When one of them sends that text, the other drops everything to give undivided attention. No meetings, no multitasking. Just presence.
In a time when technology accelerates faster than our emotions, Sinek argued that the most revolutionary act might be slowing down long enough to listen: being available.
Adaptability, integrity, and availability for agile growth
As the lights dimmed at the Amsterdam Business Forum, the takeaway was that we can’t control the future—but we can design our response to it.
Hinssen reminded everyone that the future doesn’t arrive gradually anymore; it “happens suddenly.” Marin proved that optimism isn’t a luxury but a discipline. And it is best grounded in values. Sinek showed that leadership starts, quite literally, with friendship. In short:
- Adapt like an engineer.
See patterns, anticipate change, and “innovate when you can, not when you need.” - Decide like a stateswoman.
Face reality honestly, act decisively, and anchor choices in values that outlive elections. - Connect like a friend.
Make yourself available. Build trust through honesty and attention.
This triad—adaptability, integrity, and availability—defines what Agile Growth (Wendbaar Groeien) literally stands for. Growth that bends without breaking, moves without losing meaning, and connects without control.
I had great fun at the conference, inspired by the speakers and the group of Bright6 people I was with. I already have a ticket for next year!