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The thing about getting older is that you see patterns repeating. DIFFERENT MOVIE, FAMILIAR PLOT. I was having a deep and meaningful discussion with Chatty (ChatGPT) about robots taking over the world and how AI is commoditising consulting work. You know – why pay for a consultant when you can drop a “Build me a strategy” prompt into your AI tool of choice, and it gives you a 54-page, McKinsey-looking deck in two minutes flat? And I suddenly realised – I’ve seen this movie be

It’s 7pm on the bridge. Rain is coming in sideways, heavy enough to blur the horizon. The deck is slick. The wind has picked up. The radar shows a fast-moving cyclone just off your starboard side — close enough to matter, far enough to give you one chance to get the call right. The ship is fully loaded. Schedules are tight. Turning back isn’t an option. You’re choosing who has the wheel. 1️⃣ OPTION 1: The ‘old hand’. 20+ years at sea. Hundreds of crossings.They’ve misjudged s

A while back, I watched as a junior team member poured his heart into a client report. He researched like a mad scientist, triple-checked sources, and even asked multiple colleagues for feedback. When he finally hit “send” with a thump of the keyboard, you could see it in his face - he was proud. Like a kid handing in a school project he knew would land him a gold star. Then his manager returned from leave. She had valid feedback - she’d seen this kind of thing a hundred time

“Computer says no”. Or words to that effect. That’s what the teller at <Anonymous> Bank said to me 2 weeks ago when tying to complete a simple transaction on behalf of someone I’m legally authorised to act for. I'm an appointed Guardian and Administrator. It’s like Power of Attorney, but with more paperwork and process. And - of course - it comes with the emotional weight of having to act in this capacity. So, after submitting my authority documents three times…After re-expla

Believe it or not, we’re all chameleons — not mules. Just last week a client said to me…“The trouble with behavioural profiles is that they don’t change.” As an Extended DISC practitioner, I had to admit — he’s half right. Extended DISC shows your natural style — who you are when no one’s watching. You know, like when you dodge the team lunch to triple-check a spreadsheet (for fun), or colour-code your inbox like it’s an Olympic sport. But it also shows your adjusted style —

Conway’s Law. No — not the crime of blasting Deborah Conway and Do-Re-Mi on your car stereo (showing my age here). I’m talking about the little-known “law” that says: Any system an organisation designs will reflect its internal structure. Coined in 1967 by computer scientist Mel Conway — and still catching organisations out nearly 60 years later. Translation? If your org chart looks like a tangled bowl of spaghetti… your customers are probably choking on it. We’ve all felt it

“This is a robbery! Put the cash in the bags and nobody gets hurt.” The bank robbers were calm. Confident. Almost relaxed. Then, with their pockets stuffed full of cash, they walked out - smiling at the security cameras. Their faces, completely uncovered. Why? Because they were smart. They had wiped lemon juice on their skin, making themselves invisible to the cameras. No, this wasn’t Walt and Jesse from a lost episode of Breaking Bad. This was real life. It was 1995, and a m

PowerPoint gets a bad name - but it's just a tool. In the right hands it can be a great communication device.

“Can you just make it—I dunno—shorter?” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard this about communication content. Just recently, I was asked (more than once) to trim-down longer customer communications to meet a brevity objective. Makes sense, right? People are time-poor. They just want to get to the point. But here’s the problem—when you strip things down too much, you also strip out the story and the value. Suddenly, the message doesn’t engage, doesn’t persuade, and—ir