Regaining Control Of Your Culture

Culture almost never stays the same across the lifespan of a company, particularly a growing one. To an extent, this evolution is inevitable – scale tends towards bureaucracy; maturity tends towards efficiency over radical innovation and risk taking – and sometimes it is even desirable. But other times, leaders can wake up one day and […]

5 books for leaders during LGBT Pride

A central feature of inclusive leadership is the capacity to understand the people you lead, and empathise with their experiences. That’s hard to do from a distance. Most of us will have LGBT employees, in many cases in large numbers, and any effort to be inclusive of them will necessarily begin by listening to them. […]

How to go hybrid without losing key talent

When the pandemic prompted lockdowns last year, businesses were forced to begin a remote working experiment at a scale that would have seemed unfeasible just weeks before. The verdict of that experiment? For the most part, we’ve been able to function perfectly adequately and productively from home, in some cases more productively. But the office […]

Plastic Waste: What You Can Do

It’s hard to watch a nature documentary these days without feeling just a little guilty. Rightly, David Attenborough and co no longer just show breathtaking, slo-mo HD videos of the natural world; they also show the extent to which we’re collectively trashing it. The guilt can be professional as well as personal. After all, business […]

3 simple ways to reduce your plastic footprint

It’s hard to watch a nature documentary these days without feeling just a little guilty. Rightly, David Attenborough and co no longer just show breathtaking, slo-mo HD videos of the natural world; they also show the extent to which we’re collectively trashing it. Plastic pollution is having a devastating effect on marine ecosystems, and is […]

Why actions speak louder than words

C-suite headhunting agency

A year ago this week, a white police officer choked the life out of a black man on a cold Minneapolis pavement. It took 9 minutes 29 seconds. Bystanders filmed it and tried to intervene, as the man being murdered repeated “I can’t breathe”, but the policeman’s knee remained on his neck. George Floyd’s killing […]

What Liverpool’s decline says about elite performance

I try not to talk about football too often – far too many people know far more about it than I do – but one of the big soccer stories of the year is worthy of a few humble comments. Here’s why: Liverpool FC’s topsy-turvy performance this year – in stark contrast to its Premier […]

The trouble with team reshuffles

There are similarities between leadership in business and in politics. Like Prime Ministers, CEOs have to balance the often-conflicting needs of different stakeholders and present a convincing vision to the world. Like Prime Ministers, CEOs can end up on the front pages when they get it wrong. Popularity doesn’t win the race But there are […]

Data is no substitute for sense

The phrase ‘data-driven’ is becoming a pet peeve. Like ‘action-oriented’ or having a ‘growth mindset’, it’s a little too commonplace for its own good. And not to ruin the party, but I’d rather not be driven by data, thank you very much. This is not a Luddite position. There’s no denying how powerful data is. […]

7 books for the curious CEO

set of books

Busyness is a necessary condition of leadership, but there are some things you should never be too busy for. Family is one; proper conversations with colleagues and customers are another. For us, reading makes the list too – or listening to radio, podcasts or audiobooks, if that’s how you learn – because it’s only by […]

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We demystify challenges by fresh thinking and seeking continual improvement. Browse our content here.