Growth
In the FT today, Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, argues that despite recent UK GDP contractions and warnings from the OBR about diminished economic resilience, the country is poised for growth if can avoid a decade of drift. He highlights rising business confidence, backed by
AI
The future of software delivery depends not just on how fast you move but on how smartly and responsibly you do it. Software teams are delivering faster but often at the cost of quality. Sixty-three percent deploy untested code and 42 percent lose over $1 million a year to software issues.
Downtime
What's your favourite Whatsapp group? Over Covid and lockdown, many people found comfort in Whatsapp groups. It was a way to deal with isolation or the ridiculous situation we found ourselves in. Or perhaps it was to find comfort in what were extremely frightening times. I've managed to
Leadership
I was at an event last night led by some of the people behind the UK government's Strategic Defence Review. If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to do so. If you’re a CEO, you’re no longer outside the blast radius. You're in it. The review redefines what war - and therefore operational
Leadership
Morning Folks, I hope you're in a good place this morning. I have a favour to ask. Two in fact - so I won't beat about the bush. Firstly, I'm growing the newsletter readership and I need your help. Would you mind recommending the Executive Summary to a few people? Two minutes. I'd really
AI
The Executive Summary's latest pulse survey researched 150 global enterprise CEOs on their relationship with technology. Most studies focus on CIOs, but with the rise of AI, CEOs are pushing harder to drive the tech agenda themselves. Two Stats That Matter [more to be revealed]: * 68% of
Growth
For those of you who never make it to page 19 of the newspaper, the Labour government launched its industrial strategy this week. This represents a long-overdue reset as a ten-year plan to focus government support on eight high-growth, high-productivity sectors: advanced manufacturing,
Geopolitics
Ford has been forced to shut down production at its Louisville factory, with CEO Jim Farley calling it a “day-to-day struggle” to get hold of the right parts. This is not a one-off event. Farley cited global sourcing challenges and rare-earth shortages tied to geopolitical tensions as root
AI
Gartner expects that 30 percent of GenAI projects will be abandoned by the end of this year. Why? Because the fundamentals don’t hold up. Poor data quality. Loose risk frameworks. Sky-high costs and unclear outcomes. Some companies are spending up to $20 million just to test something they
Leadership
You’ve already seen the signs: * A record wave of CEO resignations in 2024 as leaders walk away from roles that no longer come with a playbook. * CEOs calling other CEOs for real-world answers - cutting past consultants and boards/ * The widespread rejection of default platforms and
Geopolitics
America is facing a hard truth - it no longer leads in mining. China controls more than 70 percent of the world’s rare earth mineral production and the US imports nearly three-quarters of its supply from there. In response, President Trump’s March 2025 executive order aims to reshore
Downtime
I have a colossal writing challenge in front of me like none I have seen. (Welcome back to the summer semester.) In 2014, I asked myself the question: "What's the most commercially valuable piece of writing you could put on one sheet of paper?" My answer was the executive summary for the
