
Dr. Jan Vlietland is an expert and thought leader in the area of Agile (Business) management and the Responsive Enterprise. He achieved his Doctorate at the VU University in Amsterdam about the Agile organization. He currently manages large organizational transformations and helps companies to ...
Dr. Jan Vlietland is an expert and thought leader in the area of Agile (Business) management and the Responsive Enterprise. He achieved his Doctorate at the VU University in Amsterdam about the Agile organization. He currently manages large organizational transformations and helps companies to deliver services as Lean startups. Jan also writes and speaks about management of the 21st century and the future role of technology.Jan was fascinated by technology ever since his childhood. Through the playful use of computers he learned the art of software development. Being a student he developed and sold software to universities. During his study at the technical university he studied technological developments and the increasing importance of technology in everyday life. His study resulted in his Master and next his doctorate at the VU University in Amsterdam. His doctorate targeted the rollout of the Agile way of working at large enterprises. Jan is still connected with universities that develop the Agile body of thought.Jan founded the company Search4Solutions in 2008, to bridge the gap between science and practice. Through Search4Solutions he helps companies to transform to Responsive Enterprises; companies that quickly adapt to swift changing market demand. Supported by his solid theoretical foundation Jan is always working with companies that go through a period of rapid organizational change.During his doctorate Jan increasingly moved to lecturing, workshops and training. Jan also writes articles and blogs. With his unique mix of leadership, innovation and Agility, he can captivate others from boardroom to operational level. Through his extensive professional experience Jan also brings a unique practical perspective.
We invited Ashley Cooper to give a talk as part of our open program series of lectures at the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), University of Cumbria. The lecture entitled ‘Documenting Climate change on the front line’ was timed to include many of our overseas students on the MBA programme that we run in partnership with Robert Kennedy College (Zurich, Switzerland).
Ashley talked about his thirteen-year journey to document the impacts of climate change on every continent on the planet. Visually the presentation was both stunning and provocative, and Ashley's grasp of the subject of anything connected to climate change was convincing and very powerful. Ashley was able to put across complex issues in a simple way, and also in a way that totally engaged the audience as well as encouraging and motivating them to act within their organisations and their local communities around the world.
We had tremendous feedback from both students and staff and also videoed Ashley's presentation so that we are able to use it for future student courses and for wider dissemination. I have no hesitation in recommending Ashley as an extremely knowledgeable and confident speaker who can engage, move and motivate diverse audiences.
“Jan Vlietland helped us to develop a common view about project management in our Agile and complex world of Financial Markets. He did so by a 1 day tailored workshop for our domain team of project managers and delivery managers. His theoretical knowledge combined with his experience about the world of Financial Markets was very valuable. He has provided for us a clear foundation to build on.”
“Jan Vlietland has provided a guest lecture for our Agility @ Senior Management Level training about Scaling Agile. He has enthusiastically explained recent research results with illustrating examples. He uses a lot of inspirational propositions which invites interaction with the audience. The session was appreciated by a score of 8 out of 10 by the audience, being senior managers of large organizations.”
“Jan held a presentation / workshop about Agile/DevOps. Jan his excellent ability to connect with the audience, resulted in a valuable interactive session. The session opened the eyes of many of us about the complexity of the topic and the steps we need to take as department.”