Theory of the World
A personal archive of ideas, models, and perspectives on our complex world.
Perspective over time. Across disciplines. Beyond convention.
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Use a keyword, theme, title fragment, or idea to move beyond the newest essays and into the full body of work.
Featured Essays
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The Hidden Ledger of Digital Waste
The Hidden Ledger of Digital Waste By Dr Riaan Steenberg The modern internet keeps a ledger most people never see.
Who Owns Your Digital Waste
Who Owns Your Digital Waste By Dr Riaan Steenberg Every digital action leaves residue. Searches, clicks, unsubscribes, locations, abandoned forms, old…
When Organisations Become Bureaucracies
There is a delicate time between when a business stops growing and when it becomes a bureaucracy.
Innovation and the Phoenix Checklist
The CIA developed the Phoenix Checklist to enable their agents to think through situations and face all angles.
Systems Vs Goals
Are goals and systems in competition or are they complimentary? A goal is an objective to get something done. A system is a set…
What Colour Is Your Strategy
As we are getting to the end of the year, many are starting to look towards strategy for the New Year.
Reading Map
Choose a path.
This archive is not only chronological. It is a field guide to recurring questions about meaning, learning, leadership, enterprise, systems, and the work of becoming more capable.
Begin with the self
Start with the newly separated Theory of the World essays: identity, meaning, inner freedom, fear, and renewal.
Read the newest edge
Move into the most recent essays when you want the current signal and the latest public argument.
Enter the deep archive
Older essays are not background noise. They hold early versions of ideas about teams, systems, management, and personal agency.
Open a territory
Choose a larger field when you want breadth instead of a single next article.