Today’s status quo was yesterday’s heresy

Progress demands challenge, not compliance

Practical insight on public sector delivery, defence capability, and why well-intentioned systems underperform.

I work at the intersection of Defence, the public sector and commercial reality. Testing what we assume works, and what actually does.

My focus is delivery: how decisions are made, incentives set, risk allocated, and responsibility held. I’m interested in what works, what doesn’t, and why well-intentioned systems so often underperform.

I draw on experience across military operations, defence capability and procurement, industry leadership roles, and the founding of a boutique consultancy focused on getting difficult things done.

Challenging orthodoxy isn’t about winning arguments. It’s about improving outcomes.

If you want to make a difference you have to be willing to be different, and those who can have an obligation to try.

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.

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