Articles

The Software Tax AI

The Software Tax

Would you rather have more hospital beds for people or the latest version of Windows? Ooh, tough one. As patients lie on trolleys in hospital corridors, teachers buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets and councils close libraries, the government is paying billions a year for

Dan Ilett · 5 min read min read
Apocalypse Selling: Is it Irresponsible to Fearmonger? AI

Apocalypse Selling: Is it Irresponsible to Fearmonger?

Microsoft’s AI chief Mustafa Suleyman recently told the Financial Times that artificial intelligence will automate most white-collar work within 12 to 18 months. “I think we’re going to have a human-level performance on most, if not all, professional tasks. So, white-collar work, where

Dan Ilett · 5 min read min read
Unmeasured Productivity: AI Investments are Flying Blind AI

Unmeasured Productivity: AI Investments are Flying Blind

Your People Are Already Using AI Microsoft research shows 52% of knowledge workers hide their use or AI from their managers. Data is flowing to external systems without governance. Contracts are being drafted, code is being written and emails are being sent through tools your IT department

Dan Ilett · 6 min read min read
Carry on Governing Geopolitics

Carry on Governing

The British have a new hobby, which in cultural terms is right up there with conkers, bunting and Bake Off. Scalping prime ministers has become such a national pastime, it could get its own TV show. Working titles: "Don't lose your seat", or "One in, one out". The British have always been

Dan Ilett · 5 min read min read
Selling to the C-Suite: Listen. Create. Engage. Growth

Selling to the C-Suite: Listen. Create. Engage.

Good morning On Thursday 26th February at 10am, I'm running a free webinar on selling to the C-suite. It's the course I have given to a number of Fortune tech companies to help them shift the narrative to get better engagement. Believe it or not, these companies face the same challenges as

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Update: Bust IT Leadership

Update: Bust IT

Can't sleep? Watch this. Better than knockout drops. Hi guys I hope you're enjoying your week. I'm having one of those days where none of my technology works. I am locked out of my email and several other accounts, so am waiting for a brilliant tech support person to fix all my troubles.

Dan Ilett · 4 min read min read
SPADness: Are Advisors to Blame for Government Cockups? Geopolitics

SPADness: Are Advisors to Blame for Government Cockups?

You have to ask, how can UK governments keep getting it so successfully wrong? With 13 major U-turns under its belt and counting, this government has realised its inexperience is costing it voters. The blame - at least a good portion - has landed on the record number of special advisors

Dan Ilett · 5 min read min read
How to Fire Someone Leadership

How to Fire Someone

Over Christmas, I read The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. My friend Todd Wade, an excellent Chief Information Security Officer, gave it to me for my birthday. It's a warts-and-all account of how hard it is to be a CEO and the junk you have to deal with as part of the job.

Dan Ilett · 3 min read min read
Greenland, Jobs and Labour Chaos Geopolitics

Greenland, Jobs and Labour Chaos

The World Economic Forum in Davos dominated international attention with a tense backdrop of US-Europe friction. President Trump launched a new Board of Peace initiative aimed at Middle East conflict resolution but did so without major allied support, raising questions about diplomatic

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
The Agents Working Against You AI

The Agents Working Against You

We have entered what the industry is calling the "Agentic Wars." In December 2025, Meta paid over $2 billion to acquire Manus, a nine-month-old startup that had built something Silicon Valley now considers essential: an AI that doesn't just talk, but acts. ChatGPT and its peers answer

Dan Ilett · 4 min read min read
The Quality of Your Thoughts Wellbeing

The Quality of Your Thoughts

Being a CEO is highly stressful and sometimes you have to wonder why you took it all on. Hiring the wrong people, not hitting the number, deploying the wrong project - and having to ask 'have you done it yet' about 100 times a day. If everything works, the team did it. If one thing goes

Dan Ilett · 7 min read min read
That's a Wrap for '25 AI

That's a Wrap for '25

I can't face another bar, restaurant or event. I don't know what it's like in your industry, but in mine, it's all about network. For the last three weeks, it's been black-tie dinners, pub meetups, parties, lunches and glaze-eyed breakfasts. I gave up drinking alcohol a couple of years ago

Dan Ilett · 4 min read min read