“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable” – Seneca   The deep state “The deep state” or the “The blob” are both colourful descriptions of a deep network of well positioned people with an agenda. This cabal can sway governments no matter what happens at the polling booth. At first this seems like conspiratorial claptrap, the ramblings of those who have spent too much time talking about UFOs or vaccines, but their arguments are appealing. Before dismissi

“I honestly believe it is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so.” - Josh Billings   Uncertainty is a fact of life .  It permeates every part of our existence and cannot be avoided. We face uncertain health, business prospects and ups and downs in our environment. Today’s blog is about what uncertainty does to us, why we sometimes end up with bad outcomes under uncertainty and what practical steps we can take to reduce its negative impacts. Comfort with uncertainty

“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” — Ralph Nader One of the most important lessons from the CIO Chair podcasts is appreciating just how much of the decision‑making is done before a CIO signs off on anything. Our interviewees emphasised that doing their role involved shaping systems. There does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all playbook. Each institution serves different stakeholders, and has different investment aims, liability str

“Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.”  - Christian Lous Lange Each technological shift produces two predictable reactions. Fairy-tale forecasts and fear. The fairy-tale is that AI will do everything for us and when combined with robots will make humans able to enjoy leisure with a guaranteed income stream. The fear is for a world where we are physically and mentally redundant and we are so useless that we will be unable to find meaningful roles. I am going