Early in my career, success was easy to define. As a young commercial manager, it was about achieving sales targets and improving recoveries. Later it became market share and brand performance. As I reached senior management, success was measured by P&L. Every promotion simply gave me a bigger number to chase. Then, somewhere along the […]
When the Real Problem Is Deeper Than the Demand
A few days ago I was speaking with the owner of a business that has been struggling to grow revenues. Like many such conversations, we started talking about better marketing, better people and better processes.Then I asked him a different question; “What has changed in your customers?” Till then almost all our discussion had revolved […]
Are We Losing Our Communities?
I grew up playing cricket on the streets with my immediate neighbours and children from a few streets around us. Today, when I go for a jog in my neighbourhood, I still see cricket being played on the streets. But it is almost always the household help; the drivers, guards, cooks and domestic staff, who […]
Thinking Across Boundaries
Speaking with some entrepreneurs recently, I noticed something interesting. They were energetic, deeply knowledgeable about their businesses and quick to act on opportunities. But many of our conversations remained anchored within the boundaries of their own industries. It made me wonder whether, in focusing so intensely on building a business, we sometimes limit the very […]
Talent Doesn’t Disappear. It Gets Suppressed.
Staying with the theme of capability in organizations from my last post, I recall having worked with a woman who was very good at what she did. In one team, she was confident, decisive and always willing to challenge the way things were being done. Later, I saw her working in a different team. Same […]
Technology Has Changed. Why Haven’t Our Organisations?
I have spent much of my career believing that organisations need to build stronger capabilities. I still do. But I have recently been thinking about a question that perhaps comes before that. Why does an organisation have its present shape? Most organisational structures were created for a reason. Information was difficult to collect. Expertise was […]
The difference between Nigeria and Norway is not oil. It is institutions!
A recent case involving a large oil multinational’s operations in Nigeria offers a timely reminder. Internal company documents reportedly show senior executives discussing environmental risks and the likelihood of further pollution while production continued. Decades later, communities are still seeking remediation, while questions of responsibility remain unresolved. Yet the real lesson is bigger than one […]
AI Is Not the Next Internet. It May Be the Next Electricity?
I have been trying to educate myself about AI and, like many non-technical people, I sometimes struggle to separate the hype from the reality. At first, I thought of AI as the next Internet. For my generation, the Internet was the defining technology of our time. It transformed access to information, enabled global communication, and […]
A Life of Consequence
I recently watched Michael, the biopic about the life and times of Michael Jackson. Having been in school and college through much of the 1980s, Michael Jackson’s rise from a gifted young performer to one of the most iconic entertainers in history was very much part of my generation’s collective memory. We witnessed not just […]
How Great Teams Win
How do teams win? I have always been fascinated by football and have long supported a certain London club that, until this week, had not won anything meaningful in a very long time. The last time Arsenal won the league, I had a full head of hair and could not imagine myself becoming a grandfather! […]
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