Orientation & Direction (Map)
That which leads
On strategy as one of the most human words we have: 'that which leads', and the three quiet things a real sense of direction rests on.
Latest
Learning & Practice (Flywheel)
Tell the truth. Keep notes.
Six habits a newsroom trains into you - tell the truth, keep notes, think critically, be fair, protect what's private - and why they turn out to be the essence of ethical work.
Creativity & Climate (Engine)
The Netflix Challenge
On Nash's old pyramid of how we spend our time, why we move to escape when meaning goes missing, and the quiet waste of every evening we don't get back.
Creativity & Climate (Engine)
He couldn't cross the road
On the many intelligences we carry, why we reward the few that are easy to measure, and the subtle waste - mottainai - of every gift we never think to grow.
Communication (Wiring)
Why watermelons are a problem
A project can be Green on the outside and Red underneath. Watermelon reporting isn't really a reporting problem — it's what happens when telling the truth becomes personally expensive.
Communication (Wiring)
Your call is very important to us
On why people always move to your behaviour, not your words - and why that's not cynicism, but exactly how trust works.
Idea to Value (Physics)
It nearly cost him the business
On what hierarchy is actually for, and why flattening the org chart rarely fixes the thing you're annoyed about.
Learning & Practice (Flywheel)
The shed at the bottom of the garden
On Oscar Wilde, a 2,500-year-old wheelwright, and the truth that the things most worth knowing can't be taught, only earned.
Communication (Wiring)
But I told them
On the four levels a message gets stuck at, and how to tell whether you actually landed it or just let go of it.
Communication (Wiring)
Distribution is power
On why distribution - not the idea - is the real lever, and the difference between a channel you own and one you rent.
Learning & Practice (Flywheel)
Teach, don't read the slides
People hand a workshop teacher the things they can't get back — time, energy, attention. On why running one is teaching, not facilitating, and the craft that difference demands.
Creativity & Climate (Engine)
Protect the dreamers
On protecting the fragile beginnings of ideas, in others and in yourself.