2025 in 5 themes

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” — Henry David Thoreau

What a year 2025 was! I wish all of you a wise 2026.

I am one of those people who has an annual process of reflection. For me, it is an opportunity to think and set some directions I am truly excited about. This year for example I would like to drink my tea without any honey and finally sort out my hedges.

Another part of reflection is trying to think through the year that’s just gone and try and capture some themes. This was my 2025 in 5 themes, would love to hear if this resonates with you.

1. With intelligence cheapening, wisdom is becoming even more valuable

I think of intelligence as the ability to reason and learn. The tools we have available in AI for example, makes our vague ramblings into glossy brochures or summarises a book succinctly that we have not read. This artificial intelligence is allowing us to complete and submit work in hours that would once take days. (The coding ability is truly magnificent and a great leveller for those who wish to start).

But as far as I have observed, wisdom, the ability to choose which challenges to focus on and being able to defer judgment is in retreat. Examples that I see are in health where people focus on supplements (and some pay £2 for salt advertised as a hydration supplement) rather than lifestyle, or trying to communicate nuanced or difficult conversations over social media, where nuance, tone and humanity get lost.

It’s also clearer that countries have forgotten basic wisdom too. Wealth requires being productive, investing in infrastructure, having children and managing spending. These are obvious at the individual level but there seems to be a lack of collective wisdom. One day, I expect we will return to that way of living, but it feels like a long journey. I think we have made that first step of the journey going from away from complacency but unfortunately towards fear and blame. Right now, in many countries we are collectively trying to find people to blame. Different politics, inherited wealth or different ethnic/religious groups, are an easy target for people who want someone else to blame. However, this is a distraction. True change only happens when we introspect and make the tough but necessary changes required to get back onto a sustainable path.

2. A diet for the mind

The great news is that people are becoming more discerning as to what they eat and when. Many have moved from Burger and Chips for lunch to lighter meals that have a more rounded mix of nutrients. This has real physical and mental health benefits, but I am concerned that we aren’t paying the same attention to what we allow into our attention.  

For example, last year, with all the world conflicts, I felt I spent an inordinate amount of time observing things thousands of miles away, that I could not influence. Looking at every small update, and seeing the biased narratives emerged, on balance, I was guilty of addiction to junk news.

A balanced food diet would be a i) limited amount of ii) well prepared food that had iii) good quality ingredients. In terms of what is available for our attention the opposite is true. There is an i) unlimited amount of ii) not even biased but manipulative information derived from iii) poor sources.

I consider poor sources, any form of social media, “breaking news” type journalism, or podcasts where there is a microfocus on “what might happen” without any context of what is happening.

If we truly want to put our mind on a diet it would require us to make some serious moves:

• During the days have short periods of consumption followed by long periods of no consumption of news or entertainment

• Only consume where you know the sources are of the highest quality and presented in a way that informs not manipulates

It costs money to find the best sources, and like a food diet it requires discipline. I'm looking forward to go on this diet for the mind.

3. Mental flexibility

The role of government, free international trade, multiculturalism, individual freedoms, international alliances, commitment to protecting the Earth’s liveability, the biological basis of sex, the role of the military versus international law etc are all being debated. For some where we have landed on these questions are out of date or wrong, for others, even debating long settled questions is unacceptable.

You can see it in the way international bodies are being treated. The institutions that once acted as the ‘adults in the room’ are out of favour. Some of that is justified — bureaucracies calcify and enforcement weakens but much of it occurs when the balance of power changes. The key point is not whether you approve or whether it is fair or logical, the point is that the furniture is moving, that is what has to be incorporated into your mental model. It requires mental flexibility.

Even democracy — which we like to talk about as righteous and eternal — can be revised, reinterpreted, and quietly hollowed out. Not just through coups and tanks, but through softer erosion. Our institutions die when polarisation makes debate impossible, where different viewpoints are used to highlight enemies, and institutions who have responsibilities stop delivering outcomes.

Democracy is fragile. Our democratic models are inspired by antiquity, but we should note, that democracy in Greece lasted shy of 200 years and Rome about 500 years. A belief that these institutions will last without serious investment in the architecture, and producing acceptable outcomes, is at best complacent and historically ignorant.

Mental flexibility, then, is not “going with the flow” it is the willingness to say: my model does not explain the direction of travel; my views are out of favour but also and with humility saying, the circumstances in which we live are changing and demanding new solutions. 

Practically, I think it starts with three moves.

• Understand that principles trade-off. Security and freedom are the most obvious ones. Other ones are representation and speed of decision-making. If you do not see the trade-offs in any position, you have not understood your position.

• Understand the direction of travel. If we look at trends, individual national security, guaranteed access to resources and national living standards are increasingly important. Equally, internation cooperation, world trade and human rights are decreasing in importance (at least from what I observe).

• Understand there is no right or stable position, but only where offsetting interests land. This flexibility is hard to handle, but guards against being too reliant on a constant set of conditions – which is fragility.

4. The bill always comes eventually

2025 was a year that I learnt painfully that bills come due. I overtrained and under-stretched resulting in a very painful achilles injury. I did not compute that per unit of training I needed an amount of rest and stretch. I also had to replace a boiler as we had not stayed on top of the servicing required.

Once I was painfully reminded of the lesson, I started to see that everywhere. A healthy body, mind and relationships need to factor in maintenance costs. When buying a car, house or when companies buy new facilities, it is tempting to thing of the day 1 cost, and ignore the maintenance costs.

The worst thing to do with these inevitable costs is to ignore or defer them.

• “I’ll catch up on sleep later.”

• “I’ll deal with that awkward issue after the deadline.”

• “We’ll revisit this risk next year.”

• “Let’s wait for more clarity.”

Waiting is sometimes wise. Other times it’s ignoring the real costs. A phrase I keep coming back to (and I used it in the neutrality piece) is: who pays for delay? (Deciders). If you are paying for the delay in health, wealth or headspace, you should think twice.

Pay your bills.

5. Manage for energy

I have noticed that people who come to a situation with energy and optimism often provide something very tangible to a meeting or project. Often, they create momentum and change the tone in the room. By energy I mean focus, excitement and a sense of “the obstacles will come but we will overcome them”, not the false urgency of an over-caffeinated or impatient person.

To be energetic it is easier said than done. Some people naturally have more energy, but I think we should ask ourselves the question, “how is our energy level impacting the room”. Here are a few rules I will be trying in 2026

1. Identify important points in my week. Key presentations, committees or social interactions, where I would want to be full of energy.

2. See how I can make sure that prior to those meetings there is at least 30mins of time where I can mentally prepare. If I have the choice I try and schedule important meetings between 9-11am and 2-4pm with lunch taken at 12.

3. Mentally prepare for the meeting including who will be there, what are the key outcomes of the meeting and think about distractions and disputes.

4. Think about sleep (enough), food (nothing too heavy) and hydration (more important than caffeine in my opinion) to at least tick off the easy boxes.

5. Socially, I will try to properly sign off from work, so that mentally the priority is to have an immersive chat, meal or activity. Also, dressing differently creates that distance between professional and social, I sometimes feel both wardrobes have converged on each other!

I wonder if anyone else has either worked on this, or would like to. Please message me on LinkedIn, I would love to hear about it.

So what?

1. Wisdom vs intelligence: There has been huge advances in artificial intelligence. AI can turn rough thinking into polished output, with minimal effort, and at ferocious speed. Wisdom is going the opposite way. Which problems we solve, deferring judgement, and holding nuance feels more valuable today.

2. A diet for the mind: We have improved our food discipline, but we still feed junk to our attention. We consume conflict and narratives we cannot influence. Perhaps a “mind diet” would have us limiting intake and raising quality: short, intentional windows of consumption; fewer manipulative sources; more primary, high-integrity material that informs rather than provokes.

3. Mental flexibility: Settled debates are being re-opened - government, international institutions, trade, borders, alliances, rights. Mental flexibility is holding assumptions lightly: seeing trade-offs, tracking direction of travel, and avoiding fragility that comes from assuming conditions will stay constant.

4. The bill always comes: Maintenance costs are real and unavoidable. Deferring or ignoring adds interest and steals choice: “later” often means worse timing and higher cost. Pay your bills.

5. Manage for energy: Energy is a practical advantage: it changes the tone of rooms, creates momentum, and makes relationships and projects easier to build and maintain. You need to plan to have energy for key moments: protect preparation time, fuel basics (sleep, food, hydration), and fully sign off so you can immerse yourself.

Next time: “What do CIOs actually care about” If you’d like to receive the blog by email, you can subscribe here: Blog | Deciders.