The working thesis
Eight things the mess has taught me, at work and everywhere else.
Each one comes from something I’ve lived. Each one shows up in how I work, what I build and what I talk about.
Before strategy, before new tools, I want the real picture: your systems, your compliance, your people and what’s actually working. Most organisations are surprised by what they find, and it’s rarely all bad news. It’s why I built Key360™, and it’s where every piece of work I do begins.
You’ll know it when you ask five people “how are we tracking?” and get five different answers.
Where you’ll hear it: Key360™ · Take the frequency read
Every time I’ve learned more, I’ve found more I didn’t know. That used to worry me. Now it’s how I know I’m in the right place. Being steady isn’t knowing how it ends. It’s knowing that whatever happens, you’ll be okay.
You’ll know it when the more research you do, the less sure you feel.
Where you’ll hear it: Talk: The Dynamo and the Crohn · Read: The Constant
I once built a business for someone that only ran with me inside it. The work was solid. What I loved was the building, not the running, and I hadn’t seen it. Most workplaces pay for certainty, so we rarely practise being wrong. It’s a skill, and it can be learned.
You’ll know it when someone pushes back and your first instinct is to defend, not ask why.
Where you’ll hear it: Talk: The room nobody trains you for · Read: The Room Nobody Trains You For
AI has collapsed the gap between having an idea and building it. For most of history, the cost of building made the decision for us. Now can and should are different questions. I run every idea through three: is it possible, is it reasonable, is it meaningful?
You’ll know it when you’re building something because you finally can, not because anyone needs it.
Where you’ll hear it: Talk: You don’t need to learn all of AI · Read: Now That You Can, Should You? · The three filters
Years ago, a manager stopped a room full of fast-moving people with one question: “Why do we need to grow?” Nobody had a real answer. You can’t put an old head on young shoulders. Every generation solves one thing and loses another, and the answer is usually in the mix of ages in the room.
You’ll know it when the quietest, longest-serving person in the room asks the question nobody can answer.
Where you’ll hear it: Talk: You can’t put an old head on young shoulders · Read: What Only Time Teaches
We mostly know what to do. We just don’t do it, and the gap isn’t information. It’s human. Someone swapping Fanta for water isn’t a headline, but it changes their life. The one task that now takes an hour instead of a day matters more than the launch event. I measure the steady stuff.
You’ll know it when everyone’s done the training and Monday looks exactly the same.
Where you’ll hear it: meforme™
Every build I run has layers: user experience, compliance and risk, data, and someone whose job is to grill it. Pushback isn’t the problem. It’s the stress test that makes the idea survive the real world.
You’ll know it when everyone agrees too quickly and you’re not sure why that feels worse.
Where you’ll hear it: Talk: Love your naysayer
At Vision CRC I worked on a concussion device that should have made it and didn’t. Brilliant people and good science weren’t enough, because the order was wrong. Proof before pitch. Foundations before scale. Compliance before growth.
You’ll know it when you’re building the roof while the foundations are still being argued about.
Where you’ll hear it: My story
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