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If you’re hoping for a play-by-play of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure at Manchester United, you’ve come to the wrong place. The term “red teaming” has nothing to do with football.    Instead, I’m talking about Bryce Hoffman’s 2017 book: Red Teaming: Transform Your Business by Thinking Like the Enemy , described as: "A revolutionary new way to make critical and contrarian thinking part of the planning process of any organisation, allowing companies to stress-test their strategies,

I don’t know about you, but I can't hear The Rolling Stones' Start Me Up without picturing Bill Gates and his Microsoft pals throwing some shapes at the Windows '95 launch. Aside from the second-hand embarrassment it gives me, it also goes some way to explaining why I hear strains of Keith Richards’ legendary guitar riff whenever the word “startup” is uttered.   In his 2011 book The Lean Startup , author Eric Ries defines a startup as: “any human institution designed to cre

Rarely does a day go by in recent times without the words "Elon Musk" popping up on our newsfeeds. And, for better or worse, his influence on our lives is unmistakable: Teslas are commonplace, Twitter is now known as "X" and half of all active satellites in orbit right now are from the SpaceX stable. But amongst the controversy surrounding him, there remains a fascinating tale about someone who was prepared to challenge conventional wisdom and refuse to take "no" for an answ

Why do we measure things? That might seem like a silly question until you consider just how much we do it. From population data and GDP to steps and screentime, we measure almost every aspect of our lives. And the reason we do this is always the same – to make things better. But what if our obsession with measuring things is actually making things worse? Watch my short explainer to find out more: The metric minefield A metric is basically a system for measuring something and

When you think about the word "failure," what comes to mind? Embarrassment? Shame? Catastrophe? It’s unlikely the term conjures up any positive connotations.   And yet, Matthew Syed’s 2015 book Black Box Thinking asks us to consider failure as a starting point for making things better.   Black box thinking is a mindset named after the black box recorder fitted to every aircraft. Just as the black box in an aeroplane is there to be salvaged after a crash – to review flight da

When’s the last time you checked social media? Or were distracted by an incoming email alert? Or answered the siren call for your third frothy coffee of the day mid-task? It’s a wonder we ever get anything done!   But that’s life as we know it – teeming with distractions. You’re lucky if you get 20 minutes to think straight on that *very important project that must be completed today.*   Thankfully, author and professor of computer science Cal Newport has a solution: "deep wo

Philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers once argued that anything we use to help us think or remember becomes more than just a tool – it’s part of our " extended mind " . Ancient civilizations extended their minds with clay tablets. Our parents’ and grandparents’ generations relied on notebooks and filofaxes. Today, we have supercharged access to information through the incredible processing power of our digital devices. The possibilities for our extended minds should be a

If you’ve only heard of Adam Grant from his excellent WorkLife podcast and thought his talents end there, think again… Not only is Grant a successful organisational psychologist and TED talk extraordinaire, he’s also a New York Times bestselling author boasting a back catalogue that’s been translated into 35 languages. His books include Option B (with Sheryl Sandberg), Give and Take , Originals , and Think Again . Or to give its full title Think Again: The Power of Knowing

When things go wrong, humans love to find someone to blame. It often seems to make sense, because it feels both fair and effective — people who screw up get punished and everyone learns not to make the same mistake again. But what if we’ve been getting this all wrong? Pointing the finger of blame might feel satisfying, but it can stop us from learning. And when you consider that we all make mistakes, that’s a lot of valuable learning we could be missing out on. Fortunately, t

If you think Marmite divides opinion, wait until you spend some time in the company of capitalism. Is it the greatest concept in the history of human civilisation? Or is it the root of all that is unfair in the world, helping the rich get richer at everyone else’s expense? It’s probably a topic best avoided at dinner parties. But, how well do we actually understand how economies work? In his book, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism , Yani

Remember the time they changed the recipe of your favourite chocolate bar for no good reason? After sticking with its familiar squares of purple-wrapped chocolate for more than 100 years, the folks at Cadbury felt the full force of public fury back in 2012 when they rounded off the corners of Dairy Milk – with many decrying “cultural vandalism” over what was perceived to be the chocolate’s new, sweeter taste. The kicker? The recipe hadn’t changed! Watching from the sidelines,

Have you ever signed up for a free trial offer, only to find yourself still paying for it several months later? If it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone – welcome to the world of "nudge". “Few books can be said to have changed the world,” said the legendary psychologist Daniel Kahneman, “but Nudge did.” Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein’s book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness had a huge impact following its release in 2008. Within a

Gym memberships, vegan diets, keeping a diary, reading challenges, Dry January… At this time of year, many of us will be in the early, optimistic days of putting into practice our New Year’s resolutions. Hopefully some might last the course, and this year you really will become that healthier, happier, more productive version of yourself that you committed to on January 1st. If experience is anything to go by, though, it’s likely that at least some of these good intentions wi

As company mantras go, Amazon’s "always day one" is a thinker. Does it infer progress is slow? That you’ll perpetually feel out of your depth? Perhaps a Groundhog Day of sorts, drowning in a sea of acronyms like ACS, ASIN and HOTW… On the contrary, those three words are considered to be inspirational. It’s the reason you’ll find "still day one" and the like on the LinkedIn posts of Amazonians celebrating their five, 10 and 15-year work anniversaries. It’s not a meaningless mo

Do you often find yourself endlessly scrolling your social media feeds for no apparent reason? You may have asked yourself "Why am I doing this?" The answer to that very 21st century question is likely to be a single naturally occurring chemical – dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter – a chemical that brain cells use to communicate with each other. It is released into the brain when we experience something pleasant or new and plays a big role in motivating behaviour. In t

If you were listing the innovators who had the biggest influence on the world in the past 50 years, the name Steve Jobs would likely come close to the top. You might be tapping out this list on the Notes app of your iPhone, or dictating it to Siri through your Apple Watch. Even if you don’t have a house full of products with a shiny fruit-based logo, Jobs’ impact transforming how we use computers and consume music, news and film in the 21st century is undeniable. 11 years on

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a lot of talk of folk leaving their jobs in record numbers. Professor Anthony Klotz from Texas A&M University dubbed this "The Great Resignation." It sounds dramatic – but did it actually happen? My explainer video below explores this question in greater depth... I’m fascinated by what the future of work might look like (something we also considered in the iluli explainer on Universal Basic Income ). The pandemic has accelera

Picture a successful leader at the helm of a great company. What are the qualities that define them? You might now be thinking of a larger-than-life extrovert – someone who thrives on attention, has the charisma to command a room and likes to make a big noise. And it’s certainly true that some of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs are a good fit for this description. But what if I was to tell you that leading a company to greatness required the opposite qualities to this?

What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? It’s probably not a question you’ve had much cause to ponder until now. And if the question seems an unlikely one, you may be even more surprised to learn that, for Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, the answer can be found in economics. Or, to adopt the word they coined to title their seminal 2005 book and describe their field of study – Freakonomics. All of us know that economics is important but, if we’re being

What do hedgehogs, foxes, birds and frogs have in common? Give up? Well, they’re all used to explain the importance of having range. David Epstein’s 2019 book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World makes for a fascinating read, introducing various analogies to explain why having a breadth of knowledge and experience is so vital. Predicting the future Let’s start with the hedgehogs and foxes. Referencing Philip Tetlock’s well-known nicknames, Epstein explains t