Insights
Thoughts on business, industry, leadership, and organisational effectiveness.
Three Questions That Send Most Capital Requests Back
Brick despatches at Michelmersh fell another 9% in the first half of this year, leaving volumes more than a quarter below the 2022 peak. Revenue
Fifteen Years, or One Year Fifteen Times
National Highways opened bidding on Monday for a road maintenance framework worth up to £7.96bn, covering the 4,500-mile strategic network, collapsing ten area contracts into
When a Goal Admits Too Many Right Answers
Ninety-seven per cent of the senior leaders at one large technology company told their annual engagement survey that they clearly understood the company’s priorities and
Nobody in That Room Can Move the Oil Price
At seven tomorrow morning the Office for National Statistics publishes its first estimate of what the UK economy did between April and June. Economists have
Every Legacy System Was Once a Temporary Fix
Six months from now the UK’s copper telephone network stops carrying calls. Around 1.5 million lines are still on it, roughly 350,000 of them at
The Employee You Cannot Afford to Lose Is Your Biggest Risk
Sixty-one per cent of UK businesses have no comprehensive plan for who takes over their senior roles, and 22 per cent of those admit succession
The Tax You Pay on Low Trust
Every time a decision needs a second signature that adds nothing except reassurance, you are paying for low trust. Every report written mainly so that
The Efficient Business Breaks First
Cut the spare capacity and an operation improves on every number that travels upward. Fewer people carrying the same output. Less stock on the shelf.
Your Best Week Should Be Boring
The Soviet satirist Mikhail Zhvanetsky had a line about heroism: the heroic feat of one person is usually the crime of another. He added the
The Founder Risk Your Due Diligence Does Not Cover
Of the 431 venture-backed companies that shut down between 2023 and early this year, 70% gave the same immediate reason: they ran out of capital
Most Plans Are Just Growth Forecasts Wearing a Strategy’s Clothes
The UK private sector shrank for a second month running in June. S&P Global’s flash composite reading came in at 49.4, a fourteen-month low, with
The Operating System Your Business Is Missing
When I first took on building the installations function at a fibre business years ago, there was, in effect, no internal operation to inherit. Scheduling,