Dan Ilett

Dan Ilett is the founder and editor of The Executive Summary, the three-times-a-week CEO newsletter read by over 1,000 chief executives. He came up through journalism, writing for the Financial Times on technology and enterprise, and was founding editor of CoinDesk, the world's leading crypto news brand and host of the Consensus conference. He also founded Greenbang, which reached 50,000 readers and was quoted by the United Nations and European Commission. His advisory has shaped $1bn in closed deals, working with IBM, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Cognizant, Equinix, UK Government and SEB on AI, storytelling, commercial performance and organisational change. He chairs the City CIO Club and advises companies through The Proposition.

Sad Ads Friday Downtime

Sad Ads Friday

This week’s weak political leadership debates have dominated headlines with party messaging that is so bad, it makes business advertising look good. Almost. This week’s corporate ad gems were found in the FT this morning. 1. SEB First up, it’s Swedish bank, SEB. Where this one is going, I

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
Views from the City: CXOs on the election Geopolitics

Views from the City: CXOs on the election

I’ve been collecting opinions from readers of The Executive Summary on the election. It appears confidence from city folk in political leadership and business-friendly policy has never been so low. What do you think? — “Brexit has ruined the City. The Tories have done themselves no favours

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Taxis to be allowed back to Bank... maybe Geopolitics

Taxis to be allowed back to Bank... maybe

The City of London Corporation has voted to allow taxis to access Bank junction for a trial period starting in Spring 2025, pending approval from Transport for London. The Court of Common Council made the decision, and City Corporation Transport Officers will draft an experimental traffic

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
City Munchies: Los Mochis Downtime

City Munchies: Los Mochis

The Executive Summary: Location – rooftop bar overlooking the City with a great view of St Pauls. Located next to Liverpool St station. Experience – Very laid back, slick service, stylish and lively. Food – A standout menu with something for all, combining Mexican-Japanese flavours.

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
The opportunities from uncertainty Wellbeing

The opportunities from uncertainty

I used to media train the folks at Pimco and was always impressed by their research and strong point of view. Pimco is one of the largest investment management firms in the world with $2 trillion in assets. To put that in context, Samoa’s GDP is $0.8 Billion. The company’s Secular Outlook

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
Growth strategy: the UK needs one. Growth

Growth strategy: the UK needs one.

A report from the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance highlights one of the biggest macroeconomic issues few are talking about in the run up to the election – productivity. The report says: * GDP per capita has experienced weak growth over the past 14 years. Its

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
Growth Blockers Q2 Growth

Growth Blockers Q2

Morning everyone I hope you had a great Father’s Day. I’ll tell you about mine in another post… This week, we’re building the Growth Blockers survey for Q2. The feedback on our Q1 Growth Blockers report was great. One fintech CXO even said: “I read your report and it was exactly what is

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
Are we putting too much faith in efficiency technologies? (Yes.) AI

Are we putting too much faith in efficiency technologies? (Yes.)

There is a belief that shifting to renewable energy and transitioning from physical to digital work methods will diminish the adverse impact of human activities on the environment. In his book “Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization,” journalist Ed Conway from

Dan Ilett · 2 min read min read
10 Best Michelin Star Restaurants in London Downtime

10 Best Michelin Star Restaurants in London

Whether you’re seeking a power lunch spot with colleagues or an evening of fine dining with clients, these best 10 Michelin-starred restaurants are sure to impress. Luca Restaurant Cuisine: Italian Some restaurants have a special hum and energy that make you feel right at home the moment

Dan Ilett · 4 min read min read
When sausage rolls go offline: The hidden cost of outages AI

When sausage rolls go offline: The hidden cost of outages

Last week, I was with AI-outage-prediction company Hortium at the Retail Technology show at Olympia. Why was that? WhatApp, Instagram and a string of retailers including McDonalds and ultimate champion dealer of the sausage roll, Greggs, have all suffered outages over the last year that

Dan Ilett · 1 min read min read
72% of UK tech and services firms struggled to hit Q1 sales targets Growth

72% of UK tech and services firms struggled to hit Q1 sales targets

Hi guys As promised, today we’re launching Growth Blockers UK: Q1 – What is stopping top-line growth in tech & professional services? So the headline executive summary for you: * 72% of CXOs said their companies were not hitting targets in Q1 * The majority cite slow buyer decisions and

Dan Ilett · 3 min read min read