Today’s status quo was yesterday’s heresy

Progress demands challenge, not compliance

I work on, and write about, public sector delivery, defence capability, procurement, and why well-intentioned systems underperform, alongside some reflections as my journey continues to unfold.

I’m on my third adventure. The first was the military, the second was industry: from multinationals to start-ups, and eventually spending 15+ years running my own company. We fixed things that were urgent or broken. Telecommunications, logistics, satellites, oil and gas, IT, catering. Most of our work happened somewhere across the public-private divide and we punched well above our weight.

I woke up one morning and didn’t want to do it anymore, but idleness is not my happy place. I still need to make a difference, to contribute.

Here’s something I learned along the way.

If you want to make a difference you have to be willing to be different.

That means questioning accepted wisdom, being open to uncomfortable perspectives, and accepting that today’s consensus is often tomorrow’s mistake. In complex public systems, progress rarely comes from compliance alone.

I still do some consulting and training, on both sides of the public-private boundary. I’m not interested in building another business. I am interested in interesting problems where I think I can make a difference.

I’ve gone back to school. I’m a graduate researcher exploring economics, management, technology and AI. Opinions, with rigour.

There’s not much point knowing stuff, and having opinions, if you don’t share them. I’m writing more.

From here, you can explore my writing, advisory work, and reflections — practical, critical, personal, and grounded in experience.

I’m happy to help if I think I can make a difference, and equally happy not to if I can’t.

You can follow the next adventure, personal and public,
here or through a variety of channels.

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Insightful ideas and real-time reflections

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