• 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

  • Do We Believe In Our Own Customers? 

    Do We Believe In Our Own Customers? 

    Yesterday I checked myself in for a Digital Detox. I left less than 90 minutes later. I’m in Sri Lanka – and my usually reliable travel research had failed me.  The resort we arrived at was truly beautiful but the rules on display froze my heart:  No mobile devices were to be used other than… Read more

  • How Do We Know Our Organisations Are Really Succeeding?

    How Do We Know Our Organisations Are Really Succeeding?

    Every day, organisations promise to make the world a better place. How do we know they are really succeeding? The National Health Service we are told is the world’s best healthcare system.  Yet the NHS has a poor record on one fairly important indicator – actually keeping people alive. We often hear that housing associations prevent homelessness , but… Read more

  • Three Simple Ideas To Stop Change Failing

    Three Simple Ideas To Stop Change Failing

    “The essence of transformation isn’t incremental. Transformation means ‘radical change’. And few companies truly countenance that because it’s, well…too radical.” – Anne McCrossan Maybe we are being too ambitious. Perhaps the hype of business change is becoming all consuming, leading us to aim for things our leadership can’t possibly deliver. In my last couple of posts… Read more

  • How To Become A Disobedient Organisation

    How To Become A Disobedient Organisation

    Imagine being given $250,000 for deliberately breaking the rules. No strings attached. That’s exactly what MIT are doing. Recognising that societies and institutions lean toward order and away from chaos they have launched an award and cash prize that will go to a person or group engaged in an extraordinary example of disobedience for the benefit of… Read more

  • Digital Transformation is Failing. Why?

    Digital Transformation is Failing. Why?

    “A key reason why true mobile working isn’t being implemented is because of management culture. The case for mobile working has been proven; it is the people who are the biggest barriers.”- 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends report The way we work , it seems, is no longer working. What we’ve long suspected – that… Read more

  • How Not To Involve Customers

    How Not To Involve Customers

    In 1985 one of the biggest brands in the world nearly destroyed itself – by listening to what customers said. Coca-Cola developed a product dubbed “New Coke” that was slightly sweeter than the original. Almost 200,000 blind taste tests were conducted and most participants said that they favoured New Coke over both the original formula… Read more