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Pseudo Work – how did we end up being busy doing nothing?

Dennis Normark

travels from Denmark

Dennis Normark is a well-known and highly sought after Nordic based anthropologist, author and speaker.

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5 out of 5 stars

"The staff in our department were really excited - Normark made it dazzling, entertaining and present"

Novo Nordisk, Sihz Lund-Hansen See all references
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About Dennis

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Dennis Normark is a well-known and highly sought after Nordic based anthropologist, author and speaker. He is available for bookings throughout the world - online and offline.

As the author of, ´Pseudo work’, he and his co-writer Anders Fogh Jensen set out to discover how we ended up being busy doing nothing. Hundred years ago wise men concluded that by now we would be working 15-hours a week. We still work for dear life and it is time to think an act differently. It is time to confront one of the greatest taboos of our era: Pseudo work

Furthermore Normark is the author to 4 books focusing on Culture and Cultural differences. He has become known for his finely tuned ability in scientific communication and for not being
afraid to popularize his field of research.

Dennis Normark has established himself as an important consultant and speaker in the business world. He is known for his appearances on numerous TV and radio shows mainly in the Nordic region. He is brought in due to his extensive professional knowledge of people and cultures, as well as his ability to communicate that knowledge in an entertaining and easily comprehensible manner. The latter ability has grown out of his extensive experience in the world of theatre as an actor, playwright, and director.

He works with international organizations such as Novo Nordisk, Leo Pharma, Deloitte, Coloplastetc.

See keynotes with Dennis Normark
Keynote by speaker Dennis Normark

Pseudo Work – how did we end up being busy doing nothing?

Never before in history, have we had so much “streamlining”, efficiency” and “digitalization” with
a promise of releasing more time for the core task – and never before have we spent more time on
unnecessary things than now. At least according to Dennis Normark who together with
philosopher Anders Fogh Jensen in 2018 publishes the book "Pseudo Work – how ended up being
busy, doing nothing.

Based on interviews, statistics and research, Normark focuses on all the unnecessary tasks we fill
the working hours with. All those meetings, reports, emails, registrations, PowerPoint
presentations, metrics, policies and other self-employed tasks that prevent us from creating value,
innovating and, above all, creating a meaningful working day.

The talk is a provocative and eye-opening insight into the tasks we waste each other's time with,
and the simple changes employees and managers can implement to pull the rug away under
administrative redundancy and delusions about what is actually important.
We are all busy, but what are we really busy with?

Keynote by speaker Dennis Normark

Bureaucracy – the corporate cancer and how to overcome it

Over the last decades organizations have become ever slower and more complex, leaving
frustrated disengaged workers unable to innovate, dehumanized and create the value they love to
create. The reason is that our organizations have added layers of complexity and bureaucracy that
everybody knows are not helping anybody, but because almost all corporations install the same
mechanisms, rules and staff functions they are equally weighed down by it. However, this is not a
model for the future, and everybody knows it, but nobody knows how to solve the mystery.

Dennis Normark has studied and written about the work added on top of the real work, that takes
away our resources but as no value. He has named it Pseudo Work, and, in his talks, he pulls the
blanket underneath the mistaken importance of all the processes, hopeless initiatives and
compliance we burden ourselves with, because we lack the imagination to think it can be any
other way.

His message is that bureaucracy is not unavoidable just as bureaucrats are not despicable people.
They are all the victims of a frozen mindset, and unfortunate rationales that no longer provides us
with the benefits they used to do. They are not a business deadweight and the companies who
know how to challenge it, will have the competitive advantage of the future. The good news is
that we can fix it with hacks, organizations change, and new roles that will reinstall real work in
the organization and get rid of the “fake”.

Watch speaker Dennis Normark in action

Pseudowork 5 min teaser

See keynotes with Dennis Normark
Non-binding request for Dennis Normark

Send a simple request. You’ll get a quick reply with fees and availability

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Dennis Normark
Dennis Normark

5 out of 5 stars

"The staff in our department were really excited - Normark made it dazzling, entertaining and present"

Novo Nordisk, Sihz Lund-Hansen See all references

Keynote topics with Dennis Normark