Nick Skillicorn

I noticed at an early age that my superpower was curiosity. I was fascinated by new ideas, gaining new knowledge and trying new things. At school, I even had several teachers tell me I was asking too many questions (not the last time I would find people trying to keep the status quo). In 2005, I joined the world's largest management consulting firm, and have since then gained more than a decade's experience in strategy, delivering transformational programs and executing innovation frameworks. But I noticed that just delivering projects the way they had always been done was not satisfying. There was no room for creativity. In fact, creativity was actively discouraged. Instead, I was told to focus on keeping my head down and giving the right answers. Does that sound familiar to you? When the company did work with new ideas, like in brainstorming sessions, it ended up being a waste of time as none of the ideas ever went anywhere. Even worse, I noticed that the majority of training which was available around creativity and innovation was actually wrong. The facilitators and motivational speakers only cared about what happened during their workshop. They did not care about whether the company and their people actually improved their performance after they left and got back to their desks. In my mind, this was scandalous. So I became obsessed. I am obsessed with finding out how creativity actually works from a scientific basis, how and when the best ideas get formed, and what it takes for these ideas to actually deliver value as innovations. Since then, I have worked with many of the world's largest multinational companies, governments, exciting startups and creative individuals to take their performance to the next level. It has been an incredible journey, and I feel privileged that every day I feel like there is still so much more to explore and people to help.

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I am helping one of the world's fastest growing Fintech startups design and improve their Operating Model, to help all teams innovate faster and being their best possible performance while also making it the best place to work. Have been the active Accountable Lead for the Operating Model Design & Rollout team, tasked with updating the foundations of Klarna's Operating Model to help them scale and continue their hypergrowth journey while fixing some of the issues which previous growth brought. Also a Competence Lead within Business Operations, responsible for coaching multiple more junior Klarnauts on their career development journey, and identifying ways to improve the overall competence.