Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius
Fionn Dobbin. Photography by Marcis Rukis
EXCHANGES
N WIND introduces Exchanges – a series of conversations between bright minds.
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# TRUST
N WIND x Age5 Exchanges
For this issue Fionn Dobbin, one of the founders of the Age5 transformation design agency, sat down for a talk with Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius, the CEO of Kaospilot, a Danish educational organization. Kaospilot describes itself as a “hybrid business and design university, providing a multi-faceted education in leadership and entrepreneurship.” It is first and foremost a higher education institution. Unique teaching methods are applied within to create better leaders and entrepreneurs for an increasingly complex world. Initially founded by Uffe Elbæk, the current leader of The Alternative party in Denmark, Kaospilot stems from a social project & youth organization called the Frontrunners, a platform against youth unemployment, which recognized the necessity of providing a dynamic education for young people in the dawn of a new and changing era. Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius bore witness to the transformation, having started his Kaospilot journey as a student when he enrolled in 1995. In their discussion, Fionn & Christer discuss creativity, leadership, trust and the future of entrepreneurship. Fionn Dobbin (FD) What was it like for the
organization to shift from an organized movement against youth unemployment to becoming a full-fledged educational powerhouse working with high-ranked corporations and building future leaders? It is almost as if these two things were worlds apart. Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius (CWL) Absolutely. Kaospilot expanded from working with just a select number of students every year to hosting courses, workshops, and programmes for professionals, as we realized that diversification is essential to achieve our targets, to not only prepare people for the future but to also create it. FD Is there a key to building better leaders? How do we aim to achieve that?
CWL We are reasonably agnostic when it comes to defining what makes a remarkable leader. The most important part is not pushing a universal agenda—we ask for opinions, find out what our students think are essential leadership qualities and help them achieve that. In that sense, we do not have sacred views on what is undoubtedly better. Instead, we look at effectiveness, for instance, helping students understand their goals and use less effort to achieve their goals. When it comes to working with companies, we do not only work for them; we work with them. When we create leadership programmes, we ask them for the traits, skills, and attitudes that they consider desirable and help them integrate that into their daily operations. FD After understanding the pains and gains of the clients and students, what sort of steps do you take to unleash their full leadership potential? CWL On the one hand, we have an open space where we help people improve their creative thinking and enhance their abilities in a free environment. On the other hand, as a school, our mission is to make the students a better version of themselves, so we have a set of ideas we like to nudge towards our students.
