WISE | altroverso

Why Owning Stuff Is Making You Poor, Stiff, and Tired

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jul 2, 2025

Why I Let Go of the "Ownership Dream" There was a time I believed that to own meant to win. My first car, my first office, even my first espresso machine, it all felt like validation. Proof of growth....

ESG Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

Why Your First Hire Defines Culture

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jul 1, 2025

Let’s cut the poetry: your first hire isn’t just a person, it’s a precedent. And if you get it wrong, you’ve already set your company’s immune system to tolerate dysfunction. Culture Is Not a Mood. It...

ESG Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

You’re Not “Too Small” to Have an Impact

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jul 1, 2025

Let me say it plainly: the idea that you, or your company, are too small to matter is not just wrong. It is a lie. A dangerous, comfortable, culturally sanctioned lie. And like all lies that survive t...

ESG Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

Why the Most Educated People Drink More, Smoke More, and Think They’re Healthier Than You

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jun 17, 2025

A Number Is Not a Trend, Until You Understand the Tension Behind It In 2024, 45% of Dutch adults declared they either didn’t drink alcohol or limited themselves to one glass per day. At first glance, ...

Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

How Small Businesses Can Use AI Without Losing Their Soul (or Their Sanity)

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jun 11, 2025

Let’s begin with a truth we must face without flinching: Artificial Intelligence is not knocking on the door, it’s already inside the house. And for many small businesses, it doesn’t feel like a helpf...

DIGITAL Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

Why the Decline in Spousal Support in the Netherlands Isn’t Progress, It’s Systemic Amnesia

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jun 10, 2025

Once Upon a Divorce... In 2011, a recently divorced woman stood at a threshold vulnerable, disoriented, yet cautiously hopeful. Statistically, she had an 18% chance of receiving spousal support. If sh...

DUTCH ECONOMY Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

Why the ECB’s Rate Cut Won’t Save You and How to Read It Before It’s Too Late

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jun 9, 2025

They cut the rate. A quarter of a point. No fireworks. No drama. Just the kind of movement that central banks make when they’ve run out of clearer options. Lagarde, as always, delivered it without tre...

Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

Who Guards the Guards? What Happens When the Host of the NATO Summit Has No Government

by Paolo Maria Pavan

Jun 3, 2025

The Theatre of Power Is Moving. The Hague, city of law and treaties, is preparing to host one of the most consequential NATO summits in modern memory. But this time, there is no applause. No commemora...

DUTCH ECONOMY Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

Your Financing Is Approved—Until It Isn’t

by Paolo Maria Pavan

May 22, 2025

Let me be clear: the most dangerous phrase in today’s financial vocabulary is “We’ve decided not to proceed due to political uncertainty.” I’ve heard it twice in the last quarter—once during a refinan...

DUTCH ECONOMY Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

A Bully Always Wants More

by Paolo Maria Pavan

May 10, 2025

The Beast at the Border: Why Digital Sovereignty Begins with Saying No You can put a necktie on a wolf. It’s still a predator. And the scent of weakness only sharpens its hunger. In boardrooms and pol...

Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

The Shortcut That May Cost Us the Map

by Paolo Maria Pavan

May 8, 2025

“It’s not the price. It’s the path.” On May 8th, with a handshake framed by flags and flashbulbs, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Donald Trump inked a deal that was branded as “trade relief.” Lower ta...

Paolo Maria Pavan WISE

April Inflation Hits 4.1%: A Wake-Up Call for Entrepreneurs

by Paolo Maria Pavan

May 5, 2025

The Signal Beneath the Percentage According to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), inflation in the Netherlands rose to 4.1% in April , up from 3.1% in March. That may sound like a technical...

DUTCH ECONOMY Paolo Maria Pavan

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