On November 16 Steven de Waal is one of the speakers at the IndustryForum Government in Finland that discusses current goverment issues and explores digitalization from the public sector perspective.

Think tank Public Space Foundation

His lecture is based on his knowledge of strategic literature, both from market, political and public services perspective. He chairs a private, independent ThinkTank Public Space Foundation to stimulate and promote this mission by lectures, chairing debates, studies and publications. His disseration was in line with his mission of stimulating social entrepreneurship and active citizenship, about ‘Civil Leaders’: persons from a private position (like for-profit organizations, non-profit organizations and informal civil society) that purposefully and with leadership realize public value. This study is based on the philosophy that the modern public domain should and could be built on a strong and vibrant civil society, instead of just state or market.

” ‘Civil Leader’ : a person from a private position that purposefully and with leadership realizes public value”

Politics and public services will be disrupted by the same worldwide revolution in ICT-technology as the markets. From 2015 onwards Steven de Waal has claimed this, based on his knowledge of strategy. He has held some 200 lectures and debates both in Holland and internationally about this topic since. He sees two main areas where this disruption based on citizenpower by new technologies is impactful and for the ones with an open mind already visible: (indirect) democracies and public services. In politics in most Western countries there is the need to shift parliamentary democracy to more direct democracy, because of this new communication- and mediachannel of, between and towards most citizens.

Public Services should open up and co-produce with citizens

Just denying, as we saw incumbent marketparties do in the beginning of what often ended as their disruption, will lead to disappearance of the authority, quality and human resources of parliamentary democracy. Then Facebook manipulation, algorithms, fake news and demagogues will win in this new public atmosphere. In public services he sees the necessity of opening up to a stronger, more wilful and more knowledgeable citizen as in shared decisionmaking, co-producing with citizens, both individualy and collectively, partnering with citizen cooperatives and initiatives etc.

Steven de Waal is very keen on sharing his thoughts on this brand-new and impactful phenomenon with a public of people who are responsible, as executives and non-executievs, for the right and timely answers to these ongoing revolutionary developments.