Book a lecture with Anders Fogh Jensen about pseudo-work 

Why are we working so much? Remove redundant work and free up time for a better life. We have never had this many efficiency improvements and digital solutions to free up more time for our core values, and yet we have never wasted as much time on unnecessary things as we do now. That is according to philosopher, Anders Fogh Jensen, and anthropologist, Dennis Nørmark, who published the book “Pseudo-work - How we ended up being busy doing nothing” in 2018. Based on interviews, statistics, and research, Jensen examines the redundant tasks that we perform to fill out work hours. All the meetings, reports, e-mails, recordings, Power-Point presentations, measuring, policies, and other made-up tasks, that prevent us from fulfilling our actual job functions or from having more leisure time and a better life. This lecture provides provocative and eye-opening insights on the tasks that we waste each other’s time with, and the somewhat simple changes that could be implemented by both employees and managers to get rid of these managerial redundancies. This requires breaking with the heritage from the industrial society of being paid per hour and instead thinking about the things that are important. We are all busy, but what are we actually busy doing? 

Book the lecture here.

About the book
In April 2018, the book “Pseudo-work - How we ended up being busy doing nothing” by Dennis Nørmark and Anders Fogh Jensen was published. (Available for purchase here). The book challenges one of the most untouched areas of our work life: the tendency to spend work hours doing something that does not create value, is of no use to anyone, and does not make any sense. The book is contesting pseudowork because it limits our personal growth, actually valuable work, happiness, and our ability to tackle the real problems we are face, instead of working on unimportant tasks that we make up for ourselves and each other, just to keep on running the rat race of pseudo-activities. Only for the purpose of being able to tell others that we are busy and very important.The book is an invitation for individuals, leaders, organizations, and societies to look at the work they spend hours on through a critical lens, to find that its actual content is beyond questionable, and that it fills their employees with frustration, worry, and meaninglessness.

5 HEARTS, Politiken: 

"A significant and vigorous book" - Svend Brinkmann

4 STARS, Jyllands-Posten

5 STARS, Børsen

"Dennis Nørmark and Anders Fogh Jensen’s contesting of the jubilant depiction of management culture and its ability to slow down any type of value creation deserves more than just ruffling some feathers."

- Georg Metz, Dagbladet Information

Statements on Anders Fogh Jensen as a lecturer

It was incredible, and we got really positive feedback from the audience. - Den Frie Lærerskole

Thank you for a very complete lecture, where stories about the past, present, and future were interweaved in an exciting talk about meaning in a changeable time, where development and innovation are common topics. Anders is a knowing, entertaining, and compelling lecturer who ranges widely in his appeal. We would definitely recommend him as a lecturer! - EUC Nordvest

At a network-meeting for directors in Executive Cognito, Anders Fogh Jensen held an exciting and wonderfully challenging lecture on corporate culture and pseudo-work. It was very thought-provoking to hear that the bigger the organization is, the better the growth conditions are for pseudo-work. Would definitely recommend. - Henrik Specht, Executive Cognito 

Anders Fogh Jensen is a talented lecturer, and it was a very thought-provoking lecture. It made me reflect upon some of the almost absurd control systems many people experience at their workplace. We also got to talk about that casually after the lecture. It was also important to gain perspective on what is actually the core of one’s work. In this way, the lecture gave us a reason to reconsider our values. - Trine May Knutzen, Høje Taastrup Provsti