• Net Zero and The Law of Horse Manure

    Net Zero and The Law of Horse Manure

    Catastrophic predictions that spell dark days for humanity are nothing new. The Times predicted in 1894 that in 50 years time, every street in London would be buried under nine feet of horse manure. It was the crisis of all crises. There was, to be fair, some evidence for this. As urban populations rapidly increased… Read more

  • The Gravitational Pull Of Business As Usual

    The Gravitational Pull Of Business As Usual

    The interior secrets of black holes are guarded by a one-way light-trapping boundary called the event horizon. This horizon is the point, according to NASA, that the gravitational influence of the black hole becomes so intense that not even light is fast enough to escape it. A very different horizon exists in many organisations, except… Read more

  • Poor Service Isn’t Always An Accident. It’s Often By Design

    Poor Service Isn’t Always An Accident. It’s Often By Design

    In markets without much competition, organisations can deliver bad service not because of poor design and management, but simply because they can. Benjamin P. Taylor shared a great thread on Twitter this week outlining the experience of attempting to get some housing support for an elderly relative. I say ‘great thread’ when I really mean… Read more

  • The People Vs The System – and Why The People Rarely Win

    The People Vs The System – and Why The People Rarely Win

    What if we overstate the effect of the people in our organisations, and we spend too much time addressing what they feel and think without addressing the more complex, systemic problems that influence how they perform or behave? Read more

  • How Do You Solve A Problem Like The NHS?

    How Do You Solve A Problem Like The NHS?

    There comes a point when numbers get so big as to become near incomprehensible. Almost five million people are waiting for health treatment in England alone. Almost 1.2m of them have been waiting at least six months for ‘vital appointments’. Some within the NHS say that in reality that number is far, far greater –… Read more

  • The Hawthorne Effect: Why Employers Need To Be Cautious In Post-Pandemic Planning

    The Hawthorne Effect: Why Employers Need To Be Cautious In Post-Pandemic Planning

    In lockdown you can’t really experiment as people have constraints. There are too many variables at play. But now we have the opportunity to test out the best of multiple worlds; home, roam, office, wherever. Read more

  • Why We Stigmatize The Poor And How To Fight It

    Why We Stigmatize The Poor And How To Fight It

    Stigma functions as a form of power which is why we need to treat it seriously. When it is left unchallenged it can lead to the exploitation, control or exclusion of others. More positively, stigma is not a one way street -it can be understood, tackled, and reversed. Read more

  • The Difference Between Good And Bad Organisations

    The Difference Between Good And Bad Organisations

    Both good and bad organisations make mistakes, but the good ones are better at learning from them. Read more