Paolo Maria Pavan You Are Part of a Watershed, Not a Bubble I once visited a region in the Netherlands where the land had a history of flooding. The fields carried silent scars of water that had overflown its boundaries, seeping into homes, gardens, and roads.... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 18, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan When “No” Disappears in Business The Room Without Walls Years ago, I visited a small family business in Friesland. Everyone was smiling. Every idea was “brilliant,” every request “no problem.” It felt warm,until you noticed the invoi... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 15, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Speak to Your Team Like Clients A Tale of Two Conversations Last week, I overheard two calls in the same office. The first: a client on the line. The manager’s tone was warm, patient, precise, every word weighed like gold. The secon... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 14, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Slowness as Ecological Leadership When my grandfather ran his company, he was known for two things: never missing a handshake and never rushing a decision. He read contracts slowly, not because he doubted himself, but because he respe... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 13, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan The Danger of Being Your Business’s Single Point of Failure The Parachute That Never Opens Years ago, I met a small business owner who proudly told me, “Nothing moves without me.” He meant it as proof of his dedication. Two months later, he was hospitalised af... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 12, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Inclusion Is More Than a Buzzword The Teacup in the Corner In the corner of my office sits a chipped porcelain teacup. It belonged to my mother. No one drinks from it. It’s just there, visible, silent, and part of the room. Years ago,... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 11, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Lean Infrastructure as ESG Logic The Shelves in My Grandfather’s Workshop When I was a child, my grandfather’s workshop had only three shelves. Not four, not five. Three. One for tools, one for materials, one for the work in progress... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 8, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Policies: Not Optional, Just Overdue One rainy Thursday in Amersfoort, I walked into a café run by a brilliant Ethiopian woman named Hana. Her espresso was perfect. Her books, chaotic. When I asked how she handled staff absences, she sai... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 7, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Gossip, Loyalty & Micro-Company Decay A few years ago, I walked into a 12-person startup in Utrecht for what was supposed to be a financial audit. Instead, I found a funeral. Not a real one, something quieter, more insidious. There were n... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 6, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan The Hidden Footprint of Remote Teams In early 2021, I visited an old friend, a self-proclaimed digital nomad running a remote-first consultancy from his renovated farmhouse in Drenthe. We sipped coffee by a wood stove while he explained ... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 5, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Founder Burnout = Governance Breakdown In 2017, I met the owner of a small restaurant in Rotterdam, Mediterranean kitchen, fiftyseats, full most nights. His name was Karim. The food was honest, the reviews glowing, the staff loyal. But tha... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 4, 2025
Paolo Maria Pavan Scalable Leadership: Hard Truths for Small Business Owners Years ago, I sat across from a baker in Milan whose croissants were the talk of the street, but whose staff turnover was the talk of his accountant. “They leave as soon as they learn the ropes,” he co... ES ESG IT NL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE Aug 1, 2025
