Inspirations

There's no Ghost in the Machine

Graham Birkenhead • Mar 25, 2025

The phrase 'the Ghost in the Machine' has long fascinated me, and occasionally has me exploring philosophical rabbit holes as I try to make sense of it - and test it against real world situations. In short, the phrase ‘ghost in the machine’ was coined by Gilbert Ryle - a British philosopher - in 1949. He was responding to the ideas of René...

Marketing without Trust is Just Noise

Graham Birkenhead • Mar 11, 2025

For as long as humans have been around, the ability to decide who to trust - and who not to trust - has been a crucial part of our survival tool box. Individually, we human beings are relatively weak creatures, but our strength comes from forming social groups, to work, problem solve, and live together. And that requires communication and the...

The Fine Art of Not Saying Nothing

Graham Birkenhead • Feb 17, 2025

Feedback is a crucial element in engineering and science, ensuring that systems function optimally within known boundaries. Thermostats regulate temperature by adjusting heating output. Vehicle cruise control maintains speed but adapts to other traffic. Biological feedback loops—such as homeostasis and insulin regulation—help the body stay in...

Trust under Pressure

Graham Birkenhead • Jan 28, 2025

It's that time of year for the release of the latest version of one of the most insightful annual studies; a study that really helps make sense of what we see happening around the world, and which should be part of any company's PESTLE consideration. Each year, the Edelman Trust Barometer surveys thousands of people across the globe (this...

Yesterday's Logic

Graham Birkenhead • Jan 14, 2025

Peter Drucker said: “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence—it is to act with yesterday’s logic”. Well, we are in a time of turbulence - as per normal - although this quote feels particularly poignant just now. We see so many companies trying to operate today with yesterday's logic. A lot of the cultural norms and...

Forewarned is Forearmed

Graham Birkenhead • Dec 3, 2024

I wrote recently about how only 1% of companies had some form of strategic plan that they actively followed - and there were consequences to that; a similar situation exists for managing risk. I also recently wrote about using PESTLE for identifying opportunities and threats to the business; those threats could constitute external risk. Most...

Interesting Times

Graham Birkenhead • Nov 12, 2024

1605 As has been the case throughout history, whenever times get interesting - there is opportunity as well as threat; we need to be on the lookout for those opportunities so we can seize them, and we need to be prepared to mitigate any threats. Strategy is an ongoing process of achieving your goals using resources available to you while...

Beowulf in the Boardroom

Graham Birkenhead • Oct 29, 2024

Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in gear-dagum, þeod-cyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon! What would his advice be for today's business leaders?