Igor Schwarzmann Writing contact me

Advisor & Strategist

Culture × Tech

Systems & Narratives

For What's Coming

20 years across Health, Automotive, Luxury, FMCG & Finance across Europe, US & Asia

EVERYTHING TO SOMEONE NOT SOMETHING TO EVERYONE

EVERYTHING TO SOMEONE NOT SOMETHING TO EVERYONE

Work

Category Entry × AI Strategy
European Luxury Home Appliance
Lead Strategy & Research · Germany
Brand Strategy × AI & R&D
European Toys Manufacturer
Lead R&D + Strategy · Germany/China
Local AI × Open Source
Berlin District Government
Strategy & Prototyping · Germany
Category Growth × Cultural Strategy
Global Vision Care Company
Lead Research & Strategy · United States
Cultural Trends × Gen Z
Global Beverage Company
Senior Cultural Advisor · Germany
Brand Strategy × Wellness
American Luxury Automotive Brand
Lead Strategy & Cultural Research · United States
Foresight × Innovation
Global Pharmaceutical Company
Sprint Lead · Denmark

Writing

Highlights
Essay · Jun 18
What Kind of Complexity Should We Afford Ourselves?
Cowan's More Work for Mother, turned on AI: appliances didn't save labor, they let us choose new complexity. Treat AI as a dishwasher, not a god.
Strategy × AI × Custodianship
The Custodian Shift
What happens when the most important role carries the least prestige?
Strategy × AI × Organizational Design
Strategy-as-Protocol
Making Strategy Executable, Transparent, and Creative
Essay · Apr 10
Brain Dead — How I Built an AI-Operated Knowledge Vault
Architecture, data model, and decisions behind an Obsidian vault where AI agents do most of the writing.
Latest
Note · Jul 1
Introspection Tax
The disproportionate time, space, and attention cost of the self-articulation AI-augmented work demands, and the premium it creates for those who can pay it
Concept · Jun 16
Agency Deficit
Organizations rarely suffer an information deficit. They lack the agency and time to act on what they already know. Applied right, that is where AI adds value.
Essay · Jun 14
Sovereignty Is the Ground That Stays Under You
Europe keeps demanding AI sovereignty without naming a game it can win. Stop chasing a frontier champion. Compete for the open, local floor instead.
All writing →
Essays, concepts & notes

Podcast

Health × Cultural Shifts
From Mass Medicine to TikTok Therapy — with Cyril Maury (Stripe Partners)
Spotify · Apple Podcasts
Creativity × Productivity
Unlearning Productivity: The Radical Act of Doing Something Pointless — with Christie George
Spotify · Apple Podcasts
Strategy × Niche Markets
Everything to Someone: How Niches Are Becoming the New Mainstream
Spotify · Apple Podcasts
Culture × Digital Space
Third Places in a Filter World — with Kyle Chayka (The New Yorker)
Spotify · Apple Podcasts
All Episodes
FtR Pod
Spotify · Apple Podcasts