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Was it a coincidence!? I think not.   No sooner did I return from an evening’s discussion at  The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)  on the importance of narrative, in policy, politics and life, than I turn on the radio and hear  Matthew Syed  discussing the power of story telling.   An echo of the night before, the morning after.   Is it written in the stars? Has someone scripted a tale about tales, in which I am an unwitting narrator, hero or villain? A

I spent last week in Edinburgh and it has taken me the weekend to digest the lessons learned and unlearned. How to make sense of a trip where I rubbed the brass foot of David Hume on the Royal Mile for luck. Holding the toe of a Scottish Enlightenment thinker, famed for his rejection of religion and superstition in favour of rationality and reason, seems perverse.  But I was giving a presentation that day at the Library of Mistakes and divine inspiration from the human philos

40 years ago today, on the 28 th  January 1986, at 11:39:13 a.m. EST the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its launch. The seven crew members aboard were killed, and the disaster led to a 32 month halt in the Space Shuttle program. The painful details are now well known. The proximate cause of the catastrophe was the failure of O-ring seals in a solid rocket booster. Freezing temperatures on the morning of the launch had stiffened the rubber O-rings, redu

I am enjoying the excellent Tim Harford* and his latest episodes of “More or Less” (see links below), with a focus this week on The Stats of the Nation. On Wednesday he covered Sex, Drugs, (Crime) and Empty Homes. This covered the rather startling revelation that according to Police data (for England and Wales) crime overall has increased 25% over a 10 year period, with violent offences up 85%. But we should celebrate. As, hidden within these concerning metrics is good news;

1) Boxes As we move into 2026, I am looking forward to reading in more detail on how UK Company Boards have been not only been “assessing and monitoring” their culture, but also evaluating how the desired culture has been “embedded” across the organization. For those who have been slumbering and missed it (shame on you) revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code in 2024 included enhanced culture requirements, re-enforcing it as a core component of corporate governance[

Last night, as dusk descended over Bodmin Moor, I watched one of natures most spectacular phenomena; a mumuration of starlings. Tens of thousands of birds flying together in (seemingly) synchronised, ever-shifting patterns. Scientists have long studied the spectacle, to try and understand both the causes of the behaviour and the flock’s mesmerising coordination. In the 1930s, ornithologist Edmund Selous proposed that starlings might possess telepathic abilities. By the 1980s

In a speech on 5th November the UK FCA let off a few fireworks, encouraging Chief Risk Officers to take more risks.   https://www.fca.org.uk/news/speeches/rebalancing-risk-growth-role-chief-risk-officer And I quote: “ 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘐𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 –...

It is not often I get to make a presentation during an event book-ended by the excellent Dame Margaret Hodge and Flora Page KC.   So I had to make the most of my short slot at the ICAEW's Global Ethics Day event, to grab attention in the mid afternoon lull.   https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/nov-2025/applying-the-building-blocks-of-ethical-culture   Upon being challenged in my intro, (unsurprisingly) no-one in the audience volunteered to being less e

I enjoyed talking at the excellent Skillcast seminar yesterday on the topic of Culture beyond Compliance If you missed it, fear not as the full recordings, takeaways and slides are available to access here: https://lnkd.in/evnuVM7u And my session is here: https://lnkd.in/e-sFBJMr It is not often I talk at an event which is book-ended by myself and the fascinating Alex Wood, a former fraudster turned educator and BBC presenter. If that combination has lured you in to view the

I doubt I will attend two events in one day with Andrew Bailey again, and with deference to him that is probably for the best.   Navigating London when the events overlap, & staying ahead of the Governor’s Limo, required a quick exit and taxi.   And no, I didn’t try and cadge a lift.   𝗙𝗠𝗦𝗕   The 1st event was held in Bloomberg’s cool London HQ. You arrive into “the vortex”, a lobby of swirling wood from where you are whisked up to the heavens.   You pass an artwork calle

𝘈𝘥𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. (𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳) 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴𝘦.   Rarely have I made a book dog-eared as quickly as I managed with James Healy's excellent “BS at work”.   OK, i admit i spilled a bottle of water on it, which helped pucker the pages. But I think it lends added character & patina of use. As ever the back pages are also filled with my scribbled notes and page references.

As AI seeps into more corners of our working and waking lives the roles for those who seek to better understand human behaviour do not shrink, they grow.   The liminal space between the person and the machine extends as the tentacles of AI spread.   When new technologies arrive (steam, electricity, computing, internet, AI) they don’t just substitute tasks; they create new layers of interface, challenge, inquiry and complementary work.   I am not just talking about “prompt eng

Many years ago I had a boss who came into my office and wrote on the whiteboard “KISS”. I don’t think he had taken a shine to me, rather it was a reminder to Keep It Simple Stupid. I do not recall what I had done to excite his ire. It was probably after a tense meeting with Senior Management and one of my frequent bouts of  YeahButEry  and  WhatAboutEry .   LinkedIn Post #1 I was reminded of this when I saw a LinkedIn post last week extolling the virtues of simplicity[i], ref

There is much cited phrase that anthropology “makes the familiar strange and the strange familiar.”   In homage to the first half of that sentence I set off on a different type of walk this weekend. Avoiding my usual cross country routes, the Kentish footpaths, hedgerows and apple orchards; instead embracing the functional main roads, sprawling developments and industrial units. Not accepting the world as accustomed. Unlearning. It doesn’t take long to realize that England is

A new report from a House of Lords Committee claims that a “𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱” 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 from the regulators needs to be addressed & the leadership of the FCA and PRA need to do more to “𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀”. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/697/financial-services-regulation-committee/news/207595/culture-of-risk-aversion-among-financia

On the windswept coastal path in North Cornwall[i], between Trebarwith Strand and Tintagel, are abandoned quarries carved into the cliffs[ii].  From the 15th to early 20th century workmen excavated slate for sills, tiles and walls. Some of the stone did not travel far, building the hedges that divide local fields and the stiles that staddle them. Today these undulating crossings are worn smooth by the tread of feet over hundreds of years. Quiet sentinels of long forgotten pas

➡️ Is knowledge of social psychology valuable to understanding the performance and resilience of companies? ➡️ Is corporate culture a key differentiator and important to an organization’s results and an investor’s asset selection? ➡️ Is it vital to be curious, keep learning and to bring together different areas of expertise and academic disciplines? Of course you would expect me to say yes. It’s my confirmation bias. And you may think it’s fluff, and not important when compar

𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞 – “𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐧’𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭” In 11 days time the final PRA and FCA requirements on Operational Resilience come into force (for financial services firms). Doubtless everyone has now dotted their I’s & crossed their T’s, on t

A Key Financial Services Summit Earlier this month I went to a key Financial Services Summit in London[i] - focused on the topic that the regulators tell us is a critical risk at the root cause of nearly all crises, failures, scandals and conduct issues. Not only that – the subject has proven itself to be existential for some Banks, leading to institutional collapse, bailout or takeover[ii]. To add even more salience and urgency the topic is also central to performance, resil

Lean into your boots as it’s going to get bumpy.   ACT 1.0 – Back on top The first snows of the season have fallen silently over the mountains, jagged peaks turned to ghostly silhouette. Sounds muffled, air brittle. The intrepid strapped into their boots, clicked down on bindings, breath misting the early light. Pristine slopes awaiting. Anticipation heightened by an extended wait. Seventeen long years since they have been allowed to ski from this upper station[i]. But who ar