Why I give a damn about sources

In an age where information is abundant and artificial intelligence can generate ideas, texts, and insights within seconds, transparency is no longer a detail—it is a responsibility. This book did not emerge in a vacuum. It is the result of a long intellectual journey, shaped by books, essays, conversations, and reflection. Every author is in essence someone who nourishes him/herself with the ideas of others, hoping to add on to that fertile ground.

That is precisely why I have chosen to take the space here to document, in a more extensive way, the sources that have informed this work. Not only out of respect for the thinkers whose shoulders I stand on, but also because, in this era, it becomes increasingly important to show where ideas come from, how they are formed, and which traditions they build upon.

Where AI brings speed and synthesis, I want to make room for depth and traceability. This list of sources is not a formality, but an invitation—to read further, to think independently, and to continue the conversation.

The resources below are grouped per chapter. Under the subtitle ‘citations’ you find the quoted passages in the book. Under ‘Sources’ you find the books and papers quoted, as well as more reading on the different topics mentioned.

Introduction

Citations

  • Mitchell, A. — Hadestown, “Wait for Me II”.

  • Heraclitus — “Panta rhei” (unclear whether he ever wrote this down himself, but it is referenced in Plato’s dialogueCratylus*)*.

  • Machiavelli, N. — river metaphor in The Prince (Chapter 25).

  • Shakespeare, W. — “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” (As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII; spoken by the character Jacques).

Sources

Albert, M. J. (2024). Navigating the polycrisis: Mapping the futures of capitalism and the Earth. MIT Press.

Beard, M. (2023). SPQR.

Carlton, D. (2024). Churchill and the Soviet Union. Manchester University Press.

Davis, T., & Higgins, J. (2013). A blockbuster failure: How an outdated business model destroyed a giant.

De Botton, A. (2022). De troost van de filosofie. Atlas Contact.

De Botton, A. (2022). Hoe overleef ik de moderne wereld. Atlas Contact.

De Botton, A. (2022). Statusangst. Atlas Contact.

De Botton, A. (2023). A therapeutic journey: Lessons from the school of life. Random House.

Diamond, E. P., & Skrzypek, A. (2024). The politics of polycrisis.

Lauwers, E. (2026). De groeiformule. Pelckmans.

Machiavelli, N. (2025). The prince: A bilingual edition.

Nweke, M. A. (2022). The existential and philosophical implications of the concept of man and meaning in Viktor Frankl.

Plato. Politeia.

Pittenger, C., & Duman, R. S. (2008). Stress, depression, and neuroplasticity: A convergence of mechanisms. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33(1), 88–109.

Rency Gabriella, S. Transforming trauma into testimony: Language and healing in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.

Sheehan, B. (2023). The political economy of John Maynard Keynes: A beginner’s guide. (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=4468297)

Van Loo, B. (2014). Napoleon: De schaduw van de revolutie. De Bezige Bij.

West, N. M. (2000). Kodak and the lens of nostalgia. University of Virginia Press.

Part I — Resilience on an individual level

Citations

  • Lincoln, A. — “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.” (historically unclear whether Lincoln actually said this; difficult to verify, but included because Barack Obama and several scholars attributed this quote to Lincoln in 2008)

  • Lincoln, A. — “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” (Gettysburg Address).

  • Lincoln, A. - "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me" (in his 1864 letter to Albert G. Hodges)

  • Marcus Aurelius — “When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: today I will meet people who are meddlesome, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.” (Meditations, Book 2; own translation from English source).

  • Zweig, S. — “Only he knows that no task on earth is more burdensome and difficult than to maintain one's intellectual and moral independence and preserve it unsullied through a mass cataclysm.” (Montaigne).

Sources

Butler, E. A., & Randall, A. K. (2013). Emotional coregulation in close relationships. Emotion Review, 5(2), 202–210.

Coutu, D. L. (2002). How resilience works. Harvard Business Review, 80(5), 46–56.

De Montaigne, M. (1872). Essais de Montaigne.

De Schepper, J. (2025). The body brain leader. Pelckmans.

De Wachter, D. (2025). Wachten: Een levenshouding. Lannoo Campus.

Donald, D. H. (1995). Lincoln. Simon & Schuster.

Egeland, B., Carlson, E., & Sroufe, L. A. (1993). Resilience as process. Development and Psychopathology, 5(4), 517–528.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2026, March 4). Ernest Henry Shackleton. (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Henry-Shackleton)

Goodwin, D. K. (2006). Team of rivals: The political genius of Abraham Lincoln. Simon & Schuster.

Greiner, C. (2021). The body in crisis: New pathways and short circuits in representation. University of Michigan Press.

Hadwin, A., Järvelä, S., & Miller, M. (2017). Self-regulation, co-regulation, and shared regulation in collaborative learning environments.

Herrman, H., Stewart, D. E., Diaz-Granados, N., Berger, E. L., Jackson, B., & Yuen, T. (2011). What is resilience? The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(5), 258–265.

Macaulay, T. B., & Pinney, T. (1945). The letters of Thomas Babington Macaulay. Cambridge University Press.

Macaulay, T. B. (1877). Speeches of Lord Macaulay: Corrected by himself.

Manyena, S. B. (2006). The concept of resilience revisited. Disasters, 30(4), 434–450.

Martin-Breen, P., & Anderies, J. M. (2011). Resilience: A literature review.

Pompouras, E. (2024). Becoming bulletproof. Simon & Schuster.

Sullenberger, C. B. (n.d.). Sully Sullenberger. (https://www.sullysullenberger.com)

Van Den Bosch, P., & Van Den Bosch, C. (2022). De ideale dag. Borgerhoff & Lamberigts.

Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep. Penguin Books.

Wu, G., Feder, A., Cohen, H., Kim, J. J., Calderon, S., Charney, D. S., & Mathé, A. A. (2013). Understanding resilience. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 7, 10.

Zweig, S. (2023). Montaigne. Athenaeum.

Part I— INNOVATION on an individual level

Citations

  • Segal, E. (2023, January 16). “40 percent of CEOs indicate they are not convinced their organization will remain economically viable within ten years.” Most CEOs say their organizations are not prepared to deal with a major crisis: New survey. Forbes.

Sources

Brands, H. (2023). The new makers of modern strategy: From the ancient world to the digital age.

Clausewitz, C. (2003). On war. Penguin UK.

Feynman, R. P., & Leighton, R. (2018). Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a curious character.

Historiek. (2025, July 15). Florence Nightingale – levensloop van de zorgvernieuwer. (https://historiek.net/florence-nightingale-vrouw-met-de-lamp/70027/)

Isaacson, W. (2017). Leonardo da Vinci. Het Spectrum.

March, J. G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 2(1), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.71

Mettra, P. (2023). Isaac Newton: Een reus van de moderne wetenschap.

Mintzberg, H. (1989). Mintzberg on management: Inside our strange world of organizations.

Otto, K. (2022). The rise and fall of Swissair. (https://www.key.aero/article/rise-and-fall-swissair)

Simon, H. A. (1990). Bounded rationality.

Weiner, T. (2025). The mission. HarperCollins.

Part II — Resilience & Innovation on organizational level

Sources

Boin, A., & Van Eeten, M. J. (2013). The resilient organization. Public Management Review, 15(3), 429–445.

Campbell, D., Stonehouse, G., & Houston, B. (2002). Business strategy: An introduction. Routledge.

Costanzo, L. A. (2004). Strategic foresight in a high-speed environment. Futures, 36(2), 219–235.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (n.d.). The Heilmeier catechism. (https://www.darpa.mil/about/heilmeier-catechism)

Iden, J., Methlie, L. B., & Christensen, G. E. (2017). The nature of strategic foresight research. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 116, 87–97.

Koronis, E., & Ponis, S. (2018). Better than before: The resilient organization in crisis mode. Journal of Business Strategy, 39(1), 32–42.

Sullivan, P. K. (2020). Intellectual anarchy: The art of disruptive innovation.

Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 172–194.

Think Insights. (n.d.). TRIZ method. (https://thinkinsights.net/consulting/triz-method)

Wreathall, J. (2017). Properties of resilient organizations.

Part III — Resilience on societal level

Citations

  • Roosevelt, F. D. (1933, March 4). “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (First inaugural address).

Sources

Dalio, R. (2012). How the economic machine works. Economic Principles.

Dalio, R. (2021). Principles for dealing with the changing world order: Why nations succeed or fail.

Dalio, R. (2022). Principles for navigating big debt crises.

Hallebeek, J., & Wallinga, T. (2009). Fons et origo iuris versio Belgica.

Hobbes, T. (1642). De Cive.

Hobbes, T. (1650). Leviathan.

Holliday, R. (2025). Wisdom Takes work. Randomhouse

Mak, G. (2025). De wisselwachter. Atlas Contact.

Cursus rechtsfilosofie Antwerpen (2022). (course material)

Part III — Innovation on societal level

Sources

Chernow, R. (2005). Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books.

Heberlein, A. (2020). Hannah Arendt: Over liefde en kwaad.

Isaacson, W. (2012). Steve Jobs.

Isaacson, W. (2015). Einstein: De biografie.

Marshall, C. (2018, April 4). Hear Albert Einstein read “The common language of science” (1941). (https://www.openculture.com/2018/04/hear-albert-einstein-read-the-common-language-of-science-1941.html)

Mazzucato, M. (2011). The entrepreneurial state. Soundings, 49(49), 131–142.

Mazzucato, M. (2018). Mission-oriented innovation policies. Industrial and Corporate Change, 27(5), 803–815.

Mazzucato, M. (2021). Mission economy: A moonshot guide to changing capitalism.

Meyer, T. (2024). Hannah Arendt: De biografie.

Popper, K., Gombrich, E. H., & Havel, V. (2012). The open society and its enemies.

Sen, A. (2014). Development as freedom.

In the interest of transparency, it is important to briefly reflect on the role AI has played in the creation of this book. The writing process began not with a structured manuscript, but with a continuous stream of small notes—ideas, reflections, fragments of conversations, and insights gathered from books, articles, and lived experience—captured over time on my phone. These notes were later organized, refined, and gradually shaped into a coherent narrative.

While this book inevitably builds on ideas that exist across a wide range of sources, its essence lies in interpretation. Writing, to me, is not about producing entirely new ideas, but about looking at existing ones through a particular lens, connecting them in new ways, and applying them to serve a distinct story and purpose. It is this process of reinterpretation; of adding one’s own perspective, voice, and structure, that distinguishes human authorship.

AI was used selectively throughout this process, primarily as a supporting tool. At times, it functioned as a light editor, helping to refine phrasing or strengthen sentences. It also served as a sparring partner to challenge and clarify ideas. In some instances, spoken reflections recorded during walks were transcribed or summarized using AI, allowing thoughts to be captured more efficiently.

However, AI did never generate the core ideas, arguments, or conceptual framework of this book. It was used as an assistant, akin to an intern, rather than as a decision-maker or creative authority. Full responsibility for the content, interpretations, and conclusions presented in this work rests entirely with the author.

On the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process

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