The Real Problem

Most business problems aren’t what they look like on the surface.

These posts explore what’s really going on inside businesses under pressure, why the same problems keep coming back, and what actually fixes them.

The examples are sometimes familiar names. The lessons apply wherever people are working hard and wondering why it isn’t working better.

No theory for its own sake. No consultant wisdom. Just practical thinking from 25 years of working inside businesses under pressure.

If something here sounds familiar, you’re probably not alone.

A picture of two packs of BrewDog beer cans stacked on top of each other. Four different types, from left to right, Elvis Juice, Punk IPA, Hazy Jane and Wingman

A Downwards (Brew)Dog

Just after the pandemic, I was a regular attendee of weekend yoga classes at the gym, with the primary goal of becoming more flexible. If you’re ever in need of a thorough stretching, I would highly recommend it!  Stretching your business, and expanding, is unfortunately not something that can be […]

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A picture of two books. The one at the front titled Systematic Safety by E. Lloyd and W. Tye. The second is obscured behind it, without the title on full show, it begins 'Aircraft'

How Aviation Learned to Learn

For much of the twentieth century, flying was dangerous in ways we now struggle to imagine. In the 1960s and early 70s, commercial aviation accidents were frequent enough to be accepted as an unfortunate reality of progress. Aircraft were improving, but not fast enough to keep pace with the complexity […]

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Camera angled along a long set of shelves containing DVDs

The Blockbuster Bust-Up

When I asked my teenage daughters what they knew about Blockbuster, they just stared at me blankly. Which is odd because not that long ago it was everywhere. Then gradually, it wasn’t. When Netflix began to grow, the threat looked obvious. A cheaper model, no late fees, films delivered straight […]

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