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Insights and Edge
An insight is valuable because it changes what you see. When you see differently, you choose differently. And choice is where growth begins.
Growth often starts at the edge of failure. It isn’t always linear, sometimes it’s messy, uncertain and a little uncomfortable. Postcards from the edge are a series of reflections, lessons and small moments from us, our clients and other folk who have been in the thick of it— thoughtful, honest, sometimes wry, always human.
Stories
Nudge Nudge, Think Think, Fail No More
The Way Out. Nudge, Nudge. You sense something before you can explain it. A customer segment feels lighter. A member of staff seems different, and not in the holiday-brochure way. A competitor is behaving oddly. A green shoot appears somewhere you were not expecting one. You cannot put it into a spreadsheet yet. You just know. It's an intuition. It's a nudge. And two nudges make a think. A think twice. Because when patterns appear. They need thinking about. Measure twice. Cu
3 min read
The Cobbler's Kids Are Always Worse Shod
The enemy within. You know the proverb. The cobbler's kids have no shoes, because the craftsman is busy putting shoes on customers' feet, and neglects putting them on their own children. It's a cautionary tale. And an all-too-common outcome for many small business owners. Why? The small business reaches a number. It's not a fortune, but it's enough. Enough to stay fed. Enough to stay watered. Enough to keep the doors open and the customers coming back. And that number, quietl
3 min read
Killing Creativity
The external enemy. She started the bakery because she was good at it. Properly good. The kind of good where people cross town for a sourdough that tastes like someone actually cared. Twelve years on and she spends her Tuesday evenings filling in forms. Not baking. Not seeding dough. Not even speaking to customers. She's busy, seeking compliance. This is not a story about one baker. It is the story of 5.6 million small businesses in the UK, who employ 16.7 million people, 6
4 min read
The Leader's Lore
Someone, somewhere in your organisation, is telling a story right now. It may not be accurate. It is almost certainly becoming lore. And it’s what they believe to be true about the organisation you lead. Not the polished version that appears in strategy documents or carefully crafted presentations. These are the stories people quietly tell each other about what truly happened. The moments when things could have gone either way. The decisions that revealed something about the
2 min read
The Invisible Producer
Being on a Board is like being in a band. If you are in tune. It’s hit after hit Out of tune, and it’s just a noise no one wants to hear Enter the Producer. Invisible but indispensable at those inflection points bands sometimes reach. Great musicians don’t automatically make hits. You can put world-class musicians in a room and still end up with something muddy, with too many ideas layered on top of each other. No one is quite sure who’s leading, who’s writing what for wh
2 min read
Last Night a Statue Saved My Life
There was a time when I realised I couldn’t lead anymore. A drought of inspiration and a lack of self-investment led to an almost Severance-like persona, ‘innie and outtie Andy’. Work divorced from meaning. All output, no human whole. We’ve all been there. Many of you are there right now. But inspiration sometimes comes from the strangest of places. One minute, you are bowling down the boulevard of boredom, heading into the corporate cul-de-sac, and wham, there it is: the
2 min read
When You Need to Navigate
Bernini understood when to slow his hand. Some forms needed patience, time to study the stone, notice the grain and imagine what could emerge if he worked with care rather than force. You’re no longer shaping a first version of yourself, but a deeper one. A future self-others trust, follow and quietly admire, not because of speed, but because of substance. You are experiencing moments when movement alone isn’t enough. This is often the point where experience has accumula
2 min read
Every Solopreneur needs a Chewbacca
Solopreneurs are a particular kind of human. Brave, driven, and often quietly carrying more than anyone realises. At their best, they’re independent, fast-moving, and deeply purposeful. They trust their instincts. They make decisions quickly. They care intensely about what they’re building. That same independence can slip into isolation. Momentum can turn into overreach. Confidence can harden into stubbornness. And too often, everything stays locked inside their own head. Th
2 min read
When You Need to Sprint
Bernini didn’t wait for perfect marble. He worked with what was already there cutting, shaping, responding as the form revealed itself. The sculpture emerged through motion. When you can sense a future version of yourself taking shape: capable, confident, admired by others, but still rough around the edges. You don’t need to stop and contemplate the block. You need to start carving. Not because everything is clear, but because enough of it is. You have ideas, energy, and
2 min read
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