I had time to think about what the key tasks of leadership are when my startup was suddenly annihilated by the pandemic.

Having realised, I can see that Sir Keir Starmer just doesn’t have those particular skills.

The next Prime Minister is going to be appointed because of a consensus that the wheels of Government move too slowly.

But how to get them spinning faster?

Here’s part two of my Baker’s dozen of ideas for getting Government going again.

We’re about to have a new Prime Minister. That now seems highly likely.

And the reason couldn’t be clearer: there’s a consensus, across the board, that Keir Starmer has moved too slowly on too many things.

So what needs to change under his successor?

Well, a big part of it is the way Government works.

Here’s a Baker’s dozen of ideas…

The DfT funded Mini Switzerland without a published funding pot or transparent criteria.

Good!

Being able to react to an idea with pace and agility is exactly what we need from Government in an era when the public doubt the state’s ability to deliver.

Too much procedural fairness can stifle outcomes - without actually being fairer.

Mini Switzerland succeeded because it was created by a multi-disciplinary team with leadership, empowerment and purpose. We can do this more often!

HR teams have a golden opportunity to help organisations develop the cultures needed for the modern world.

It means unlearning a lot of the current norms - and developing new ones.

They need to become the champions of empowerment, flexibility and lifelong career development.

HR has a bad reputation, often with justification.

How did we end up where we are?

What does a good people culture look like?

And is it possible in transport?

Spoiler: the answer to the last question is ‘yes’.

"Advisers advise and ministers decide!" It's said constantly. And it's just plain wrong.

Today's blog post is about how the culture of the civil service drifted so far from other organisations, and why the commonly-held belief that it inherently needs to be different is just wrong.

It explains how modern central Government culture is all based on a decades-old misunderstanding of a court case about a wartime food factory in Liverpool.

What's the biggest obstacle to high quality services in our country?

It's may not be fair to say the Daily Mail but it is the Daily Mail Test.

Organisations are so scared something will go wrong that they suffocate their people in controls and rules.

Most organisations use management consultants in the wrong way for the wrong reasons.

Today’s post is about how I learned the right way to use them - and includes real-life examples of getting it wrong.

AI is happening.

I don’t buy into the argument that humans are finished, but I do think that the world of work will radically change. My worry is that transport won’t keep up with the pace of change.

Here’s what I think will happen and what we need to do.

We treat AI like it’s new. But this isn’t the first time aggressive capitalists have pushed a new technology into an uncertain world: it happened with trains 200 years ago, and 100 years ago it happened with cars.

Those experiences taught us the danger of unregulated technology before. Now we need to choose again.

The biggest barrier to progress in transport isn’t politics, funding, or structures — it’s decision-making. But decision-making processes are human-made, and we can rebuild them. Drawing on lessons from Amazon and others, I share four simple tools that any transport organisation can start using tomorrow to move faster and more effectively. I

Company restructures often aim to weed out inefficiency. Too often, they make it worse…

How as the turkey? Kids like their presents? In all the festive family fun, don’t forget to get Resolution Ready! Here’s my final five ideas. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

No sooner is the turkey digested than it’s time to make New Year resolutions. Here’re another five bites of inspiration

five bite-sized doses of inspiration for ways to get your organisation moving forward faster