The Freedom Trap
How Self-Evident Rights Become Self-Imposed Chains
Writing.
Essays, frameworks, and field notes from nearly four decades of building, backing, and selling businesses.
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This Wasn't Fast-Food Pettiness. It Was a Lesson in Operational Signalling.
Most people saw corporate point-scoring. What it showed is that authenticity is not the opposite of strategy. In hospitality it is the strategy, executed through operational detail.
When Identity Becomes Ideology at the Top
"The segment is maturing." "We may need to review the positioning." "Customer behaviour is shifting faster than expected."
The Tide Is Turning. Now Finish the Job.
This week's Conviction was meant to be a non-political piece, and that article is still coming. I'll publish it on Monday. But when the European Parliament passes a landmark migration bill by nearly two to one and half the hemicycle stands up and cheers, that's not something you sit on until next week. Some things need to be said while they're still warm. This is one of them.
The Hospitality Industry Is Solving the Wrong Problem (And It's Costing Millions)
The industry obsesses over guest experience scores while the operation behind the swing door runs on duct tape and exhausted middle managers. You cannot build the first on top of the second.
Running on Empty: Australia's Energy Betrayal
The Middle East is on fire. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. Global energy markets are in freefall. And Australia, the world's second-largest LNG exporter, is rationing petrol at regional service stations and sitting on 26 days of diesel reserves.
Return OF Capital. The Question Every Hospitality Investor Asks First.
Not what the return will be. Whether the money comes back at all. A structural reset is separating the operators built on financial foundations from those built on optimism and atmosphere.
Your Signal Is the Message. McDonald's CEO Just Proved It.
It was not the message that failed. It was the signal. The internet did not debate the food, it debated belief.
The $600K Leadership Mistake I Made While Building My Third Business
Eight years in, able to command a room, and somewhere between the second business and the third I had started asking for permission again. Not fatigue. Dissociation.
Programmers Chasing a Payday: The Investor Trap in Basement-Built SaaS
You’re not funding innovation. You’re funding exit-bait. Here’s how to spot fake leverage and protect capital from basement-built SaaS traps.
Stop Worshipping the Genius Dev: Build a Business That Survives One
Still worshipping your “genius dev”? You’ve built a bottleneck, not a business. Here’s how to scale without crashing the whole thing.
Your Culture’s Not Broken. Your Leadership’s Out of Alignment
Most culture problems are leadership problems in disguise. If your leadership actions don’t align with your organisational purpose, expect drift, doubt, and decay. This article shows how alignment, done right, becomes the lever for clarity, culture, and results.
