Articles

We love to talk about leadership, culture and behaviour, the tricky stuff that can make or break a business. Some of it is geeky and some of it is more general, and all of it is rooted in organisational psychology, neuroscience, biology and organisational design.

If there is something you want more of, or disagree with, let us know. We like to rethink and relearn.

The Science

What Is Human Behaviour and How Does It Form?How habits, memory and workplace triggers shape the way leaders behave. The Science of Rapid Leadership ChangeWhy patterns form in milliseconds, and how leadership change can happen in ninety minutes. The Ants Don’t Get Wiser, But The Colony DoesWhy an organisation ages like an ant colony, and where the real leverage sits. The Limp: How Patterns Form in OrganisationsSprain an ankle and the limp outlasts the injury, which is how an organisation ends up defending behaviour nobody ever chose. The Org Chart on the Wall Isn’t the One That Runs the CompanyThe hidden network of power and loyalty that decides how a company runs. The Science of Memory ReconsolidationHow a twenty-year pattern becomes editable, and the short window that lets it change.

Founders & Scale-ups

What Leadership Trouble Costs a Scale-UpWhy the behaviours that built the company start to break it at fifty people. Why Co-Founders Fall Out, and Why Success Makes It WorseWhy most start-ups fail from founder conflict, and why success makes it worse. The Founder Who Can’t Stop Doing the WorkWhy a founder’s own doing becomes the company’s ceiling, and how to move past it. Why Scale-Ups Fail When Founders Run on AutopilotWhat runs a founder on automatic long after the company has outgrown it.

Defensive Behaviours

How the Body’s Oldest Defence Dismantles Our Best TeamsWhy the threat reflex shuts down your best people, and what safety buys back. The Gift of Micromanagement and the Moment It TurnsWhy micromanagement is a gift that overstayed, and the moment it turns costly. The Hidden Cost of Defensive Behaviour in Senior TeamsHow the quiet objection nobody voices ends up costing the decision. What Good Is Reactive Behaviour? The Light and the Dark SideWhat reactive behaviour protects, and the point at which it starts costing. Why Stress Makes You Say No to the Right ThingsWhat a 2025 study found about pressure, refusal, and the caution that caps growth. Why 70% of Leaders Are Stuck on DefenceWhy seventy to eighty per cent of leaders default to defending, and what that pattern costs.

Leadership

Leadership ArchetypesTen protective habits leaders keep running long after the threat has gone. Nobody Learned to Speak From a BookHow leaders pass on behaviour by example, and why a programme can’t outvote what they model every day. The Job of a Leader Is to Open Up SpaceWhy a leader’s real job is to open up space, and what closes it.

Proof

How One Session Revealed What Three Years of Programmes MissedHow one session found what three years of programmes missed at an 8,000-person telecom. A Comparison of Everything on OfferThe coaching and training market described fairly, including where SSC is the wrong answer. We’re Not CowboysHow a company said the right things and expelled everyone who tried to change it. What Mr Smith SawA boardroom story about the decision everyone wanted and no one would make.

The Numbers

Quantifying Organisational Drain and ROIA calculator that prices defensive leadership as lost payroll and weighs the return. The Ten-Trillion-Dollar SubtractionWhy removing disengagement recovers the ten trillion dollars Gallup says it drains each year. How Much Does Human Behaviour Cost Your Business?What human behaviour costs a 1,000-person business each year, worked through with Gallup, McKinsey and Crucial Learning data.