Curious · Courageous · Concrete
Grounded leadership for your next transformation
I lead change that helps people and organisations grow — curious, courageous and concrete.
I am an AI practitioner: I run my own AI operating model every day.
€320M · 2,500 FTE
Shared Services restructured, about 10% cost reduction
$40M+ ACV · 500+ FTE
Engagement turned around, CIO trust rebuilt in 6–12 months
€50M p.a.
SIAM operating model built at HCL
New series · from 19 October
Building my AI operating system
A preface and twelve posts, one every three days until 21 November: how I built the AI operating system I run every day — what worked, what broke, and the patterns I would reuse.
What sets me apart
What I bring to the room
What I steer is rarely the technology; it’s the organisation and the people around it.
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Courage and trust in high-stakes rooms
The deadlocks, the politics, the negotiations nobody wants to chair. I’ve been in them before, and I can steer them — building the trust that holds when the room is hard.
Radical transparency — the true thing, said plainly, before you’re forced to.
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Capability that outlasts me
I’m hired because the result has to survive the exit, not end with the engagement. I build the organisational muscle — and the people — that keep delivering once I’ve gone.
Build the rescue muscle before the fire, not during it.
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Restructuring with humanity
Hard outcomes — cost, org change, layoffs — delivered so the organisation survives and even thrives. A €320M restructuring, overachieved, the team intact and still motivated.
Challenging people is caring for them — the tough talk, done fairly.
When to call
That’s my room
If any of these is happening to you right now, it’s the kind of situation I’ve steered before.
“Our HQ and our site or offshore teams can’t stand each other.”
Two groups that need each other and don’t trust each other — the divide I’ve bridged before.
“One person is quietly holding a critical account together.”
Continuity resting on someone doing two jobs unofficially — and you know it’s fragile.
“The person the client trusts isn’t the one with the budget.”
Trust and commercial authority split across people — a structural risk most miss until it’s late.
“The plan says cut them all, and something in me says that’s wrong.”
A restructuring where the humane call and the spreadsheet call aren’t the same.
Writing
Latest from the blog
Frameworks, pattern languages and honest reflections — a timeline of recent posts, oldest on the left, newest on the right.
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· Leadership
Barrel Riding — When the Rough Plan Is the Only One That Fits
Bilbo’s escape from the Elvenking’s halls is not elegant.
Read 3 min
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· Leadership
Sting Glows Blue — The Early Warnings Your Dashboards Don’t Show
Bilbo’s sword Sting has one magical property: it glows blue when orcs are near. Not when they attack — when they approach.
Read 3 min
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· Leadership
The Burglar’s Role — Why Thorin Didn’t Hire a Fourteenth Dwarf
There is a detail in The Hobbit that is easy to read past. Thorin’s company doesn’t recruit Bilbo despite him not being a dwarf.
Read 3 min
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· Leadership
The Arkenstone — The Treasure You Must Not Trade Away
Under the Lonely Mountain lies a hoard beyond counting — gold, gems, mithril. And in the middle of it, one stone unlike the rest: the Arkenstone, the Heart of the Mountain.
Read 3 min
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· Leadership
The Lonely Mountain — Go-Live Is Not the End of the Story
Here is a structural fact about The Hobbit that most readers forget: the company reaches the Lonely Mountain — the destination, the goal of the whole quest — with nearly a third of the book still to go.
Read 4 min
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· Leadership
There and Back Again — Bringing the Journey Home
Bilbo’s own title for his memoirs was “There and Back Again.” Not “How I Helped Kill a Dragon.” The destination gets second billing; the return gets equal weight with the adventure.
Read 4 min
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· Architecture Notes
Why I am writing this
I have spent a long career in IT, designing operating models and running transformations where systems and organisations meet. Since October 2025 I do that independently, with my own small company.
Read 2 min
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· Architecture Notes
Four inboxes, one vault — and an assistant inside it
In January my day started with a checklist: clear the OneNote inbox, the OneDrive inbox, Google Drive, iCloud. Four places where notes, receipts and half-finished thoughts landed, all to be visited before I could think about anything else.
Read 5 min
I build systems that help humans flourish.
A change that’s dangerous, and people you can’t afford to lose? That’s my room.