BilboConsult

Blog · Track

Leadership

Transformation, crisis and governance — frameworks, pattern languages and the Hobbit series, from forty years in the difficult room.

A timeline of this series — oldest on the left, newest on the right. 15 posts.

  1. Finding Your First Client — An Academic Paper Born from a Real Consulting Launch

    I have never been a very academic person. I haven’t studied at university, and I haven’t published an academic paper before.

    Read 4 min

  2. From Reflection to Jerisjärvi — Presenting at VikingPLoP 2026

    Six months ago, I had never written an academic paper. I had never presented at a conference. And I had never started a company.

    Read 2 min

  3. April, May, and a lot of forward motion

    April and May are turning out to be months I’ll remember for a long time. A lot has happened, more is coming, and I’ve been bad at writing about any of it.

    Read 2 min

  4. The Intentional Living Engine — Why Your Life Needs an Operating Model

    I’ve spent 40 years helping organisations design operating models — the systems, processes, and governance that make things actually work.

    Read 6 min

  5. An Unexpected Journey: People Development at the Foot of the Himalayas

    It is a curious thing about adventures: they do not arrive as adventures.

    Read 5 min

  6. The Unexpected Journey — Why Good Companies Resist the Change They Need

    Last December I posted an advent calendar on LinkedIn: twenty-four short reflections, each pairing a leadership principle with a moment from The Hobbit.

    Read 3 min

  7. The Tookish Side — The Unlikely Heroes Already on Your Payroll

    Tolkien gives Bilbo two inheritances. From his father’s side, the Baggins: respectable, predictable, suspicious of anything that might make you late for dinner.

    Read 3 min

  8. Riddles in the Dark — Walking Into the Meeting Everyone Said to Avoid

    The most famous chapter in The Hobbit has no battle in it. Bilbo is lost in the dark, deep under a mountain, facing a creature that means to eat him.

    Read 3 min

  9. Navigating Mirkwood — The Middle of Every Transformation Is a Dark Forest

    Before the company enters Mirkwood, Gandalf gives one instruction and then — infuriatingly — leaves: “Don’t leave the path.” Inside the forest there is no light and no sense of progress, and the path seems pointless.

    Read 4 min

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. 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

In order

  1. Finding Your First Client — An Academic Paper Born from a Real Consulting Launch
  2. From Reflection to Jerisjärvi — Presenting at VikingPLoP 2026
  3. April, May, and a lot of forward motion
  4. The Intentional Living Engine — Why Your Life Needs an Operating Model
  5. An Unexpected Journey: People Development at the Foot of the Himalayas
  6. The Unexpected Journey — Why Good Companies Resist the Change They Need
  7. The Tookish Side — The Unlikely Heroes Already on Your Payroll
  8. Riddles in the Dark — Walking Into the Meeting Everyone Said to Avoid
  9. Navigating Mirkwood — The Middle of Every Transformation Is a Dark Forest
  10. Barrel Riding — When the Rough Plan Is the Only One That Fits
  11. Sting Glows Blue — The Early Warnings Your Dashboards Don’t Show
  12. The Burglar’s Role — Why Thorin Didn’t Hire a Fourteenth Dwarf
  13. The Arkenstone — The Treasure You Must Not Trade Away
  14. The Lonely Mountain — Go-Live Is Not the End of the Story
  15. There and Back Again — Bringing the Journey Home