Insights

Thinking you can use

Practical writing on running and growing a business, from someone who has done it at scale. No theory for theory's sake; everything here ends in something you can do.

July 2026
The AI context gap: why ChatGPT keeps giving you someone else's answers

Generic AI gives generic output. The gap between impressive-sounding and useful is context.

July 2026
Your competitors are using AI. Here's how to respond without becoming slop

The right response is not louder AI. It is quieter AI and louder humanity.

June 2026
Cumulative friction: the risk that never makes headlines

The most expensive problems are not dramatic failures. They are small taxes, compounding quietly.

May 2026
The acquisition question nobody asks early enough

Most integrations stall because nobody decided how integrated the acquisition should actually be.

April 2026
Evidence before opinion: diagnosing a business in twelve weeks

A repeatable method for understanding what is really happening, and getting the organisation to agree.

March 2026
The maths of a fractional executive versus a full-time hire

What senior leadership actually costs, and when a fraction beats the whole.

January 2026
Five signs the founder has become the bottleneck

The patterns that show up in almost every owner-managed business at a certain size.

November 2025
What to steal from big companies (and what to leave behind)

Enterprise discipline is a toolkit, not a religion. Take the tools, skip the bureaucracy.