Writing on the web since 2003

I bring you three articles that circle around a single question: how do you get things done through other people? Whether it’s handing off tasks to your team, thinking about the relational structures that underpin your organisation or building the kind of…

I’ve been thinking a bit about a pattern I keep seeing in the founder-led scale-ups I’ve worked with over the years. It goes like this. Founders hire a “professional manager” to bring structure as their companies grow past the a number of people – usually 20 to 50. That manager arrives with all the creds. They talk about governance frameworks and reporting cadences and accountability matrices (I am aware that I talk…

This week’s Build seems to have inadvertently landed on a theme around the uncomfortable gap between corporate rhetoric and reality. These three articles share a common thread about the limitations of aspiration when confronted with the messy complexity of real organisational life. They challenge us to move beyond comforting abstractions that founders tend to rely upon on towards harder, more honest…

I’ve just completed two organisational design projects with founders looking at creating the first leadership teams for their businesses. That means I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about role clarity. Which got me to noticing the complete absence of it in so many scaling businesses when I first come across them. Let me give you an example. Last week I had a half hour intro call with a founder who told me her team was “totally…

This week’s selection from my inbox explores three different perspectives on how systems resist founders’ best intentions. I bring you insights about birds that teach us about adaptive leadership, the art of saying no without burning bridges and why brilliant ideas fail when they clash with existing systems. A strand that connects all three of this week’s recommended articles is the fact that founder success isn’t…

I’ve been thinking a lot about control lately. Not in some grand, philosophical way but more in the “why did I just spend 20 minutes researching the optimal way to load a dishwasher” kind of way (and yes, I really did that without catching myself). During my reflections I’ve noticed something about many founders – they’re often truly obsessed with knowing everything. They want answers. They want certainty. They want to feel like…

In this week’s Build I’ve got an exploration of three perspectives on the foundations that shape how founders can work and lead. Rishad Tobaccowala examines the difference between rulers and leaders, Phil Adams looks at how authentic values create competitive advantage and Mike Fisher warns about the hidden costs of cultural neglect. Together these articles make a compelling case that the so called “soft” stuff – values, culture and…

Build #90 – Time to chase curiosity Hey Reader, Happy new year and welcome to 2026! This week’s Build features an article I wrote for Extra Brain’s Founder’s Block newsletter earlier this month. If this is your kind of thing, you can get regular insights from the talented bunch of people (and me) at Extra Brain by subscribing to the Founder’s Block newsletter here. I’m a consultant. People come to me with problems. Or at least they think they do. But really what they come with are the…