Why modern organisations urgently need new vocabulary when an old archetype is returning
For nearly two hundred years the jester has been treated as a historical curiosity — a relic of medieval courts, abandoned and irrelevant. Yet in today’s hyper-volatile, politically charged, and complexity-ridden organisations, something unexpected – or perhaps long anticipated – is happening: the Jester is re-entering the scene — and he’s here to stay.
Not as a clown or comedian. Not even as a licensed truth-teller. (What is “the truth” anyway? And whose truth would that be?) But as a contrarian playmaker, an idea-flow catalyst, and a creator of conditions where insight becomes possible.
When hierarchy, stress, and groupthink block honest exploration, the 21st-Century Jester steps in. Through wit, paradox, situational humour, and subtle provocation, he keeps creativity alive and prevents organisational thinking from getting stuck. And when a new strategic archetype returns, our vocabulary must evolve with it. So here are three new terms I have introduced in my forthcoming book — concepts that capture the emerging dynamics far better than the old language ever could.
1. jesterish (adj.)
A quality of behaviour, insight, intervention, or event that is playfully subversive yet sharply meaningful (Jester-like)
A jesterish remark may sound absurd at first glance — but it unlocks a new angle, exposes a hidden assumption, or reframes a stubborn problem in an unexpected way. It embodies the essence of bisociation: combining independent contradictory frameworks to spark fresh insight.
You may encounter:
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a jesterish question that breaks a deadlock
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a jesterish comment that reveals a hidden contradiction
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a jesterish proposal that looks foolish but proves brilliant
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even a jesterish spreadsheet that exposes the real problem
Jesterish thinking isn’t foolishness.
It’s catalytic wisdom disguised as play.
2. The Satire Trap
The Satire Trap occurs the moment someone takes a jesterish statement literally — and reacts with outrage, defensiveness, or baffled silence.
Instead of perceiving the playful intention and the underlying insight, they respond to the surface meaning.
And in doing so, they reveal the very blind spot the jester was pointing at.
The Satire Trap becomes more common when:
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situational humour disappears
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stress narrows perception
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hierarchy suppresses interpretation
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people lose the ability to “listen between the lines”
Recognizing jesterish signals — and avoiding the Satire Trap — will be an essential organisational skill in the coming decade.
3. The 21st-Century Jester
The modern jester is not a moralizer or a truth-teller. He is a contextual disruptor and serendipity enabler. Or when referring to Alex Pentland’s theory of Social Physics – Jester is an orchestrator of idea flows. His core purpose is to keep idea flows alive, destabilize habitual thinking, encourage originality. He introduces productive paradox when teams become stuck inside a single frame. Or as I prefer to summarise it:
“The Jester doesn’t find insights — he creates the conditions for others to discover them.”
And equally important:
“The Jester cleverly kills the ‘Not Invented By Myself’ syndrome.”
This alone makes the role indispensable. By weakening ego-driven ownership, the jester opens space for collective creativity and shared discovery — the essence of authentic serendipity.
Why These New Words Matter
We have entered an era where linear logic is too slow, static structures are too rigid, and conventional innovation practices no longer deliver. We have entered the Postnormal Era. What organisations need most is not more rules — but better conditions for emergent insight.
That is the domain of the 21st-Century Jester.
His return is not a cultural curiosity. It is a structural necessity.
Which means our vocabulary must keep up.
Welcome to a world that increasingly requires the jesterish action, warns against the Satire Trap, and embraces the re-emergence of the 21st-Century Jester — freshly released from the sin bin, ready to rewrite the game.
