On how organisations are built, changed, and quietly undone by their own structure.
119 essays
Gold of the Desert Kings is an engaging leadership simulation promoting strategy and teamwork under pressure, but its focus on competition overlooks emotional intelligence and ethics. Coupling it with formal leadership theory could yield deeper, longer-lasting learning.
Inclusive leadership goes beyond DEI by creating cultures where difference is valued and people are empowered. Grounded in empathy and practical wisdom, it avoids tokenism through transparency, mentorship, and dialogue. Used carefully, humour can strengthen inclusion and trust.
High-performing teams are built on trust, psychological safety, clear roles, open communication, and shared accountability. Classical insight and modern research agree: cohesion, collaboration, and a common purpose enable teams to adapt and perform under pressure.
Karl Popper's theory of falsification provides a powerful framework for modern leadership. By embracing the principles of falsification, leaders can foster innovation, agility, and resilience in their organisations. This also allows the evolution of our understanding by discarding theories that do n
True strategy requires deep analysis, clear choices, alignment, and continuous learning. Leaders must avoid vague goals and instead create actionable, coherent plans that drive real value and competitive advantage in a complex business environment. A case study of IKEA shows how this approached was
Much of what passes for "strategy" is platitude dressed as direction. A real strategy is specific, actionable, and tied to organisational goals. The difference is rigorous analysis and the willingness to make hard choices.
Organisations often reward conformity over innovation. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s rejection of traditional 1-on-1s in favour of public feedback highlights the need to rethink communication, especially in remote and hybrid workplaces, to boost transparency, learning, and adaptability.
A custodian mindset in management prioritises stewardship over control. It supports autonomy, ethical leadership, sustainable resources, and agility through empowerment, transparency, learning, and clear ethical frameworks.
In workplaces that reward busyness, activity often replaces real productivity. Non-essential work drives exhaustion, not value. Time boxing, prioritisation, and delegation help refocus effort on meaningful work, improving effectiveness, creativity, and well-being.
“They don’t know what they don’t know” captures a core leadership risk. Unaware managers make poor decisions and damage morale. Organisations that embrace learning, critical thinking, and ethical judgment build more resilient and just systems.
Working with excellent colleagues is energising; managing poor performers is not. Incompetence, gaming, and legal barriers make dismissal costly, harming high performers. Strong performance management demands clarity, documentation, and strategic discipline to protect organisational integrity.
In planning, hope often crowds out critical thinking as leaders chase the next project as the imagined fix. Seen in publishing’s “green awning effect,” this bias favours new ideas over hard lessons from history. Better strategy comes from learning what already failed.
The first in a series on learning from history and its value for organisational decision-making. Today, those who draw lessons from the past risk being labelled “on the wrong side of history,” much as dissenters in business face exile for challenging dominant narratives.
This week I examine how AI improves the polish of business writing while obscuring weak logic. As decisions often rely on form over substance, AI can legitimise flawed arguments. Leaders must read more critically and recognise AI’s limits and biases.
A fixed mindset breeds stagnation and toxicity; a growth mindset supports learning, collaboration, and innovation. But it isn’t blind optimism or effort alone. Real growth requires self-awareness, discipline, and balancing the fixed and growth impulses within us.