Jerry Michalski

A long-time futurist, strategist, technologist and (amateur) social anthropologist, Jerry offers unique context that can help your organization thrive in the Day After Tomorrow. Jerry helps organizations understand trust and become more trustworthy, by exploring their language, their processes and their intentions. Over the years, he has advised and consulted to organizations small and large, from IBM, Target, Suncorp and the Wharton School to Blogger (now part of Google) and eGroups (which became YahooGroups).

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About

Jerry Michalski

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Past speaking engagemens
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In the middle of that journey, Jerry realized that the word “consumer” made him squirm. He paid attention to it, and the word opened up a useful critical perspective that we have “consumerized” most human activities, to our detriment (and amusement). Then “consumer” led him to the concept of trust. Now Jerry helps organizations rethink their approach to trust, leading to new product and service ideas, as well as larger strategic insights.


Separately, one of the 4,000 startups that briefed Jerry during his time as a tech analyst had mind-mapping software called TheBrain. Jerry started using it in 1998, then later started publishing his Brain freely online at JerrysBrain.com. When appropriate, Jerry presents using his Brain as a backdrop, a unique experience that shifts conversations. Curating a single mind map for over two decades has taught him important lessons about memory and knowledge management. He uses that context to inform insight and strategy sessions.

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Jerry Michalski

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How to Design from Trust

Have you ever used Wikipedia? Remember the day you realized how it works? That any fool on the planet can change a page in our collective encyclopedia? Did you have the thought: well, that’ll never work! Congratulations, you’ve used a system Designed from Trust. Same thing applies if you’ve ever used a ride-sharing system, or done any crowdfunding or microlending.

All those systems begin with this premise: assume good intent. The reason so many of them feel like they shouldn’t work at all is that most of our present systems were designed from mistrust, and we’ve normalized that mistrust in humans; we’ve internalized it.

The Future of the Consumer

In the Day After Tomorrow, “consumer” will only be an insult. How we see matters. For many years now, we have been seeing our fellow citizens as mere consumers. While this has accelerated the growth of consumer society, creating the appearance of plenty while endangering our existence (and opening plenty of controversy), it has also broken trust between “consumers” and companies.

Just as importantly, treating people as mere consumers has stunted companies’ ability to innovate. Seeing people as mere consumers limits our thinking of the kinds of interactions, we might have with them, the roles they might play, the needs they may have, and more.

Will AI Save or Kill Us?

Software has become quite smart. So smart, that some people imagine a world in which software runs most things and people can sit back in the life of leisure they were promised years ago. Others are not so optimistic. They imagine a world in which software is far less friendly and far more lethal. During his talk, Jerry shows that both visions are coming true at the same time.

How Not to Drown in the Info-Flood

Information overwhelm: an all-too-common disease of the times. We’re all trying to keep our noses above water in the modern info-flood. Some of us opt out, shutting down news services, social media and anything else that threatens us. But then we’re also giving up the flows of information that build relationships and inform our strategies. Others cope as best we can, but our software tools betray us. Everything we install or subscribe to seems to add to the torrent, not tame it. There goes our attention, our time, our capacity to think.

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For me, the real power of a nexxworks tour is the unique group of people you meet and travel with.

Lieve Pattyn
Sales & Marketing Director EG Stada Group

The tour founded relationships with interesting people I otherwise would've never met.

Ann Viaene
Founder Sparkz

The mix of speakers and content was perfect.

Wouter Blomme
Chief Development Officer at Upgrade Estate

It was truly an eye-opening experience that both enriched my network with amazing people and helped me shape the further direction of my career.

Peter Vindevogel
CEO The Park

The things you hear, see and learn are a source of inspiration and motivation for the future. We have already implemented some of these in our current strategy and operations.

Emile Maes
Head of Retail Filou & Friends

Nexxworks helps to facilitate innovative out of the box thinking. They will expose you and your teams to a different level of thought leadership, which in turn will help you and your people develop a different thinking ethos for the future.

Paul Roberts
CEO Digital Ventures Cartamundi

The nexxworks inspiration series helps us to imagine the future together with all the teams worldwide, and make the bridge to our day-to-day challenges as well.

Veerle Lauwers
Director Digital Strategy & Transformation at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

The nexxworks inspiration sessions were that mindblowing, that I invited my global team to taste, smell and learn via a similar experience.  

Mona Nair
Vice President, Skin Health & Head NA R&D at Johnson & Johnson

Meeting today’s companies and speakers brought us refreshing energy and perspectives to our challenges today.

Margaret Mitchell
Global VP People & Organization at Mars.inc

This experience showed how short-term planning and long term planning are both needed. The China visits were truly inspiring in how they execute on that. 

Tom Ward
Chief E-Commerce Walmart US

It’s so important to step outside the day-to-day business. We are the only ones who can moderate this back to our teams and translate what we’ve learned to accomplish our daily goals. 

Kathryn McClay
CEO at Sam's Club

To new travelers, I hope you feel some of the same excitement, anxiety, and concentration. May you learn the way we did. 

Kosta Peric
Deputy Director Financial Services for the Poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

We’ve seen great concepts and initiatives from other companies, that made us think outside the box.

Hannelore Raes
Co CEO at AGRISTO NV

We want to make sure that the wonderful company that our family started, remains relevant in a fast-pace changing world.

Filip Wallays
Co-CEO at AGRISTO NV

I view the nexxworks membership as a combination of inspiration, practical insights, and networking with peers.

Ivy Vanderheyden
VP Marketing L&R at Wolters Kluwer

You can find

Jerry Michalski

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Jerry Michalski

thoughts in words

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How the nexxworks Youth Tour changed my life
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May 22, 2023
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China’s long-term thinking is a myth
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May 17, 2023
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When Automation Goes Wrong
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May 30, 2023
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