Insights
Practical thinking on leadership, strategy, governance and organisational improvement — for people responsible for building stronger organisations.
In leadership, the pressure to move quickly can be intense. But rushing can lead to rework, misalignment, and burnout. Taking the time to properly classify a problem — as simple, complicated, complex, or chaotic — leads to fundamentally different approaches. Slowing down is not a lack of ambition. It's a commitment to doing things well.
Read moreMany boards believe their job is to approve the strategy that management brings to them. That is a limited view — and it often produces strategies that are neither well-tested nor genuinely owned. The board's role in strategy is more active, more challenging, and more valuable than a single approval vote.
Read moreMost strategic plans are not really strategic. They are operational plans with a longer time horizon — lists of things the organisation intends to do, dressed up in the language of vision and direction. A genuine strategic plan makes choices. It says what the organisation will not do as clearly as what it will.
Read moreThe research on organisational change is sobering. Most change programs do not achieve what they set out to achieve. The reasons are rarely technical. They are almost always human — insufficient attention to culture, to the people who will be most affected, and to the gap between announcing change and actually embedding it.
Read morePoor governance rarely announces itself. It accumulates quietly — in decisions that were never properly tested, in risks that were never properly understood, in a culture where the board and management have stopped being honest with each other. By the time the costs become visible, they are usually significant.
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We are always happy to talk about the thinking behind our work and what it might mean for your organisation.
