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Beating the big firms: Part 2 AI

Beating the big firms: Part 2

The holes in AI messaging Hi guys Sorry it’s late this week. Half term and kids running around. (Quite nice really, but they’ve been banned from their computers today for being naughty.) Now with all the noise about AI, this week I have a test for you. I’m not seeing a credible benchmark,

Dan Ilett · 3 min read min read
Welcome to the Executive Summary. Leadership

Welcome to the Executive Summary.

The Swiss Army Knife of Leadership Tools Welcome to The Executive Summary. This is my email to the CEOs I know. It covers strategy, leadership and communication – and whatever is the flavour of the day. One concept per email. The Executive Summary doesn’t follow the news agenda. I did that

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
The Executive Summary: Episode 1 Leadership

The Executive Summary: Episode 1

Welcome to the Executive Summary… This is my email to the CEOs I know. It covers strategy, communication and leadership. You’ll find hacks, trends, recommendations, introductions and the bleeding obvious all laid out in a few short paragraphs. It’ll will also serve you with a diverse array

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
Beating the Big Four Growth

Beating the Big Four

And other major consultancies… Hi guys, Taking out the incumbent can seem overwhelming, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know. I’ve led a number of projects either in brand comms or bid sales – to replace the existing supplier to a customer. Often big, hefty organisations that look

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Biting the hand that feeds you Growth

Biting the hand that feeds you

Paws for Thought: Insights on Pet Care Pricing A month ago, I had to take my dog to the vet. She had an infection of the womb called Pyometra. The vet looked at me and said: “This is very serious. We need to operate on your dog now to remove her womb or she could die. Pyometra kills a lot

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
WEF Selfies, Sweet Investing & 25 Teaser Topics Downtime

WEF Selfies, Sweet Investing & 25 Teaser Topics

Get involved… Hi folks How has 2024 been treating you? Did you tune into the World Economic Forum with avid interest? Or did you just see your mates taking selfies there? I’ve left this edition a couple of weeks into the year to give you (me) time to wake up. There’s more optimism in the

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
The last one... Downtime

The last one...

Sushi shops, micropublishing and divine interventions This is the last post for 2023 and it’s no place for the standard annual wrap up. Instead I wish to say a huge thank you for reading The Executive Summary this year. When I lived in Japan, I used to love the tiny sushi shops that could

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Are you going into space? Downtime

Are you going into space?

The $1tn industry you shouldn’t ignore So here’s a Sunday evening curveball for you. Have you ever thought of working in space? Not as an astronaut, but leading your industry there to create new products or services. The pharmaceutical industry is already developing drugs in space to take

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
The trouble with tenure Leadership

The trouble with tenure

Succession vs success… There are many new faces at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28) this year – and herein lies an underlying problem in tackling multi-decade projects: CEO tenure. This is not just for sustainability, but leadership and teams in general. It’s well known that

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Is private equity about to change course? Growth

Is private equity about to change course?

Investors look for greater revenue potential A shift in value creation priorities is changing investment decisions… Private equity investing is based on majority share ownership of companies where the investor – or general partner – can make active decisions in the company they have

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
Pessimist or optimist? Wellbeing

Pessimist or optimist?

Glass half full or empty? What are CEOs thinking today? It’s not pretty, according to Deloitte and Fortune in their 2023 winter CEO survey (104 CEOs). Here are the key takeaways from Fortune (paywall): * 48% of CEOs are pessimistic about the global economy * 36% expect growth to be strong.

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Breathing Space Wellbeing

Breathing Space

Breathing Space The operating environment 1 – The interest rate shows no sign of coming down, putting pressure on sources of funding and customers’ ability to buy. This is a huge challenge for growth and survival as UK insolvencies hit their highest numbers since 2009 2 – The Bank of

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read