Jim Lafferty spent 30 years leading in some of the world's most volatile markets. His secret weapon? A test so simple your mother could apply it.

What if the smartest person to pressure-test your strategy isn't a consultant or an MBA — but your mum?

Jim Lafferty didn't follow the traditional path to Fortune 500 leadership. He started as a fitness instructor, built his career across Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland and beyond, and learned that in volatile, uncertain markets, simplicity beats sophistication every time.

In this conversation, Jim shares:

The Mother Rule — If your strategy is so intellectual that the person buying the diapers doesn't understand it, you don't have a strategy. You have muddled thinking.

The Bumblebee Principle — You can coach almost any skill, but you cannot coach desire. Jim explains why he'd rather hire someone who shouldn't fly but does than a polished graduate who lacks fire.

A Principle Isn't a Principle Until It Costs You Something — Jim recounts the night he was offered a $7 million bribe, and why saying no hurt more than he expected.

The Church Sampling Story — How Jim secured Vatican approval to distribute products at 3,500 Polish church services — and grew the business 35% in a single year.

Getting Fired with Dignity — What it means to leave standing on your feet, not on your knees.

This is leadership without the polish — raw, practical, and forged in markets where complexity isn't a theory but a daily reality.

Connect with James:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-michael-lafferty-2737071/
Website: https://jamesmichaellafferty.com/

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You cannot just be a leader that takes a can of digital paint and paints over the analogue cracks of your business. It will not survive the disruption that's coming.

In this episode, Marco Ryan, former Chief Digital Officer at BP and co-author of Rewire or Retire: AI for Leaders, challenges us to rethink how we lead in an AI-driven world. Marco argues that AI isn't fundamentally a technology issue—it's a leadership issue. And the choice facing every leader is clear: rewire your approach or retire gracefully to let others lead.

We explore why most executives are "nearsighted" when it comes to AI, how to find the AI whisperers already in your organisation, and why wisdom and judgment don't always sit at the top of the table. Marco shares practical advice on using AI as a "strategy buddy" and explains why digital curiosity—asking "what if?"—matters more than technical expertise.

Whether you're overwhelmed by AI or just getting started, this conversation offers a clear-eyed look at what leadership demands in the age of artificial intelligence.

If this conversation pushed your thinking, subscribe, share it with a colleague who’s wrestling with AI strategy, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Then tell us on LinkedIn: where will you rewire first?

Marco Ryan is a Non-Executive Director, author, and former Chief Digital Officer at BP with over 30 years of experience in digital transformation and board-level leadership. He has held senior roles at Wärtsilä, Thomas Cook, and Accenture, and is currently Cyber Leader in Residence at Lancaster University Management School. Marco is the co-author (with Alastair Lechler) of Rewire or Retire: AI for Leaders and 51 Essential AI Terms for Leaders.

Links & Resources

• Marco's website: marcoryan.com
• Book: Rewire or Retire: AI for Leaders – available on Amazon

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Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro
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Welcome to the Arkaro Insights podcast. This episode is based on original content developed by Arkaro. At Arkaro, we're committed to innovation in everything we do—including how we share our insights. We've utilised advanced AI technology to transform our written expertise into this conversational format, making our content more accessible and convenient for our busy B2B audience. What you'll hear is a two-person discussion generated through AI voice technology, designed to deliver our insights in a more engaging way than traditional reading. As we continue to evolve this approach, we genuinely value your feedback. Thank you for listening to Arkaro Insights, where professional expertise meets innovative delivery.

Full article: From Technical Fixes to Adaptive Solutions: How Arkaro's Approach Transforms Technical Problem-Solving Cultures

The greatest obstacle to transformation often hides in plain sight. For technically brilliant B2B organizations—especially in agriculture, food, and chemicals—it's not technical capability that stalls strategic initiatives, but the failure to recognize when you're facing an adaptive challenge rather than a technical problem.

Drawing on insights from Mark Blackwell at Arkaro, we explore this critical distinction that determines success or failure in organizational change. Technical problems exist in what systems thinker Dave Snowden calls the "complicated domain"—where cause and effect relationships can be discovered through expert analysis. These challenges respond to the sense-analyze-respond approach that engineering cultures excel at. Adaptive challenges, however, live in the "complex domain" where solutions can't be predetermined but must emerge through experimentation and learning—requiring a probe-sense-respond mindset.

The consequences of misapplying technical approaches to adaptive challenges appear everywhere: strategy implementations falter despite solid analysis (with only 28% of executives able to list three strategic priorities), Integrated Business Planning systems struggle despite perfect process design, innovation initiatives stall despite structured methodologies, and customer-centricity programs fail to change organizational behavior despite comprehensive market research. The root cause? Technical leaders trying to solve adaptive challenges requiring cultural shifts and behavior changes using the same toolkit that made them successful with technical problems.

Arkaro's four-step methodology offers a path forward: Understanding (moving beyond problem definition to challenge recognition), Co-creating (shifting from expert solutions to collective learning), Enabling (building adaptive capabilities alongside technical skills), and Sustaining (embedding these capabilities for future challenges). Through their "do-it-with-you" approach, Arkaro works alongside organizations to build internal capability while solving immediate challenges—creating a bridge between technical excellence and adaptive leadership.

Take an honest look at your organization today. Where might your established technical expertise actually be hindering your ability to adapt to complex, ambi

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Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro
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Niels van Hove joins Mark Blackwell to explore how AI is transforming S&OP and IBP from bureaucratic box-ticking to decision-centric planning. Discover why planners waste 50% of their time on low-value tasks, how automation and augmentation differ, and Niels's bold vision for AI-powered "decision avatars" that could revolutionise executive decision-making.

____

Is your S&OP process more painful than productive — a "monthly trip to the dentist" as our guest puts it? 

Niels van Hove, globally recognised thought leader in integrated business planning and human-AI collaboration, joins Mark Blackwell to discuss how AI is reshaping supply chain planning. Niels has defined the current era as the "third wave" of supply chain planning technology, and he argues that the competitive advantage lies not in technology alone, but in creating a culture of human-AI collaboration. 

In this conversation, we explore: 

- Why planners spend 50% of their time on data crunching and low-value work — and how AI can free them to focus on what matters 

- The critical distinction between automation (handling repetitive tasks) and augmentation (advising on decisions) - Explainability versus trust — Niels's contrarian view on whether we really need to understand AI to use it effectively 

- Decision avatars: a vision for AI-powered executive teams that can debate scenarios and recommend options at unprecedented speed 

- Practical advice for CEOs looking to modernise deteriorating S&OP processes 

Key insight: "Anything that can be automated will be automated. The competitive difference will be in human-AI collaboration." 

Niels challenges listeners to take personal accountability for learning with AI rather than sitting back and demanding explainability. As he puts it: "AI is here to stay and will only get better. You can't sit back and say, show me how it works, without showing any interest yourself." 

About our guest: Niels van Hove is an expert in IBP, S&OP, and the emerging field of human-AI collaboration in supply chain planning. He advocates for decision-centric IBP — working backwards from decisions rather than focusing solely on forecast accuracy. His work emphasises that future planners must adapt to collaborate with AI or self-select out of the role. 

Resources mentioned: 

 "The New Machine" by Nada Sanders

Roger Moser's work on decision intelligence

Dick Ling's foundational work on S&OP

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Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com

📧 For business enquiries: [email protected]

How can your organisation use AI without it going wrong? With 95% of organisations failing to see a return on their AI investments, this question has never been more pressing for business leaders.

In this episode of Arkaro Insights, I'm joined by Ray Eitel-Porter, co-author of "Governing the Machine: How to Navigate the Risks of AI and Unlock Its True Potential". Ray has spent over eight years helping companies implement AI responsibly. He previously led Accenture's global responsible AI practice and currently advises multinational companies and the public sector. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the Intellectual Forum, Jesus College, Cambridge.

There's a common misconception that AI governance blocks innovation. Ray challenges this view head-on. For him, AI governance is precisely what allows organisations to innovate confidently – the framework that helps you scale AI whilst knowing the right questions have been asked and the right safeguards are in place.

We explore the striking gap between executive ambition and workforce reality: 80% of executives believe AI is core to their strategy, yet only 15% of employees share that belief. Ray shares practical examples of how organisations have closed this gap, including a UK public sector body that transformed workforce trust in AI from 25% to over 90% through effective training.

Ray brings the discussion to life with case studies from PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Shell, showing how AI governance can reinforce brand values and enable responsible scaling across global operations.

We also tackle the shadow AI challenge – up to 90% of employees using personal ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini accounts for work – and why technical controls alone cannot solve this problem.

Looking ahead, Ray explains why AI agents represent the next frontier of governance risk, and why automation bias – our tendency to over-trust accurate AI – may be the most counterintuitive danger of all.

A key message: AI governance isn't just for large corporates. The principles scale down to SMEs. Where a multinational needs sophisticated platforms, a smaller business might achieve the same ends with clear ownership and an Excel spreadsheet.

About the guest

Ray Eitel-Porter is co-author of "Governing the Machine: How to Navigate the Risks of AI and Unlock Its True Potential", available from Amazon. Connect with Ray on LinkedIn.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayeitelporter/

About Arkaro Insights

Arkaro Insights is the podcast for B2B executives seeking tools and techniques to thrive in a complex world. We cover change management, innovation, and commercial excellence – with particular expertise in the agriculture, food, and chemicals industries.

Visit www.arkaro.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.

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Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com

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Do you believe creativity requires complete freedom? You're not alone — 70% of people think the same. But Yale research reveals the opposite: constraints actually enhance creative output.

Dr Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice, joins Mark Blackwell to explore why creativity is a learnable process of decision-making, not a gift reserved for geniuses.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why the most creative teams spend 53% of their time on problem framing, not idea generation
• How to match your mood to different creative tasks — use grumpy mornings for critical evaluation, upbeat afternoons for brainstorming
• When to tap weak network ties versus strong ones in the creative process
• What AI can and cannot do creatively — and why top human performance still outpaces machines
• Three practical actions leaders can take to unlock team creativity

Links & Resources:

• The Creativity Choice by Dr Zorana Ivcevic Pringle: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Choice-Science-Making-Decisions/dp/1541704320
• Dr Pringle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zorana-ivcevic-pringle/
• Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence: https://www.ycei.org/
• Read the full article: https://arkaro.com/creativity-choice-decision-making/
• Subscribe to Arkaro Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/arkaro-insights-6924308904973631488/

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Dr Vlad Glaveanu shares three essential lessons for executives navigating AI: embrace constraints, foster playfulness, and keep ethics at the centre.

Read more on: https://arkaro.com/ai-leadership-creativity-constraints/

_________________________

How should leaders think about AI and creativity? In this episode, Mark Blackwell speaks with Dr Vlad Glaveanu, Professor of Psychology at Dublin City University, founder of the Possibility Studies Network, and editor of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible.

Vlad introduces Possibility Studies — a new field exploring how individuals and societies engage with what could be — and explains why constraints are essential to creativity rather than obstacles to it. He makes the case for "slow AI", arguing that the waiting and incubation that drive real innovation are at risk in our rush for instant answers.

The conversation covers:

• Why there is no creativity without constraints 
• The ethics of possibility — just because something could be, should it be? 
• How AI is reshaping our conception of creativity 
• The "bad idea brainstorm" technique for building psychological safety 
• What managers should prioritise when entering new markets or launching products

Vlad closes with three takeaways for any executive managing a team in the age of AI: welcome constraints and resistance, foster playfulness and trust, and never delegate to AI the business of humans.

Guest: Dr Vlad Glaveanu

• Professor of Psychology, Dublin City University
• Adjunct Professor, University of Bergen
• Founder & President, Possibility Studies Network
• Author of Wonder and Creativity: A Very Short Introduction

Resources mentioned:

• Possibility Studies Network: possibilitystudies.net
• Possibility Bots (Ron Beghetto)

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Most organisations plan strategy with the outside world in mind, then implement it using unchanged internal structures. The result? Good teams with clear intentions still end up working at cross purposes.

In this episode, Rich Allen, author of User Needs Mapping, shows us how to shift from "inside out" to "outside in" thinking—anchoring change on what users actually need, then designing teams to deliver value with less friction and greater flow.

We explore why strategy so often stays trapped in slide decks, never translating into sustainable change. Rich introduces User Needs Mapping as a practical, visual technique that helps organisations identify users, define their needs, map capabilities, and align team boundaries accordingly. Drawing on principles from Wardley Mapping and Team Topologies, the approach makes visible what's usually hidden: unclear ownership, excessive handovers, duplicated effort, and cognitive overload.

Rich shares a compelling case study from Blue Lagoon, where co-created maps revealed that what seemed like a single "booking" need actually concealed multiple distinct user journeys. By refactoring team boundaries around actual value streams, they improved both clarity and trust whilst reducing dependencies.

We also examine AI through a sobering lens: AI amplifies whatever organisational design you currently have. Clear team boundaries and value flows mean AI can reduce toil and boost outcomes. Confusion and misalignment? AI magnifies that too. User Needs Mapping provides a grounded way to decide where AI belongs and how to govern it properly.

Key takeaways:

• Why most teams don't suffer from lack of effort—they suffer from lack of alignment
• The critical difference between wants, needs, and jobs to be done
• How to use visual mapping to surface gaps and create shared understanding
• Practical first steps: start with users and needs, not systems and structure
• Why getting alignment right matters more than ever in the age of AI

If your organisation struggles with handovers, unclear ownership, or "agile" that moves tickets but not outcomes, this conversation offers practical tools you can use.

Read more on: https://arkaro.com/user-needs-mapping-team-alignment/

Subscribe to Arkaro Insights and share with colleagues navigating change in uncertain times.

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What if the best map for tomorrow’s chaos comes from a chef, a nappy, and a medieval wine press? We dive into epic disruptions—the kind that turn what’s complex and costly into something simple and affordable—and trace the repeatable patterns behind them. Scott Anthony, clinical professor at Tuck and longtime collaborator of Clayton Christensen, joins us to unpack the behaviours, structures and stories that help leaders steer into uncertainty instead of spinning out.

We start with an unexpected icon: Julia Child. Long before streaming tutorials, she translated elite French technique into home‑kitchen clarity through curiosity, collaboration and relentless experiments. That same pattern powers P&G’s Pampers, which only succeeded after multiple failed tests in technology, price and marketing. The takeaway is practical: speed to learning beats speed to launch, and patience, persistence and playful testing turn false starts into insight.

Then we connect dots across centuries. The printing press wasn’t a single eureka moment but a recombination of existing parts—presses from a wine region, metalworking, ink and paper—showing how exaptation and intersections fuel breakthroughs. We bring that lens to AI, arguing that wisdom is the real unlock: asking sharper questions, judging outputs and choosing the hard way when it matters. Along the way, we meet the “ghosts” that haunt organisations—past traumas, present patterns and future fears—that quietly block rational change, as seen in the classic mini mill versus integrated steel story.

If you lead in a shifting market, you’ll leave with a compact playbook: define clear hypotheses, set learning objectives, make predictions, execute tightly and reflect with discipline. Create spaces for play to surface anomalies. Name your ghosts so they don’t run the room. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a colleague who wrestles with change and leave a quick review—what ghost is strongest in your world?

Read more on: https://arkaro.com/why-companies-miss-disruption/

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Welcome to the Arkaro Insights podcast. This episode is based on original content developed by Arkaro. At Arkaro, we're committed to innovation in everything we do—including how we share our insights. We've utilised advanced AI technology to transform our written expertise into this conversational format, making our content more accessible and convenient for our busy B2B audience. What you'll hear is a two-person discussion generated through AI voice technology, designed to deliver our insights in a more engaging way than traditional reading. As we continue to evolve this approach, we genuinely value your feedback. Thank you for listening to Arkaro Insights, where professional expertise meets innovative delivery. 

Read the original article: What can starlings teach us about business strategy?

The mesmerizing dance of starling murmurations offers a powerful lens for rethinking business strategy. As thousands of birds create complex, fluid patterns without any central coordination, we discover a revolutionary approach to organizational leadership hiding in plain sight.

Every starling follows just three remarkably simple rules while watching only seven neighbors: maintain separation, match direction and speed, and stay with the group. There's no leader, no hierarchy, and no bird understands the breathtaking patterns they collectively create. Yet this approach delivers extraordinary results – helping starlings find food and confuse predators through constant, unpredictable movement.

Translating this natural phenomenon to business strategy reveals why top-down planning often fails. Intel's transformation from memory chip manufacturer to microprocessor giant wasn't driven by visionary leadership predicting the future. Instead, their breakthrough emerged from consistently following a simple profitability rule that kept highlighting where real value existed, eventually forcing a complete strategic pivot. This challenges our assumptions about innovation and strategic planning, suggesting revolutionary change often emerges from disciplined execution of smart operational policies rather than detailed master plans.

The most powerful question for organizations today isn't about five-year visions. Instead, ask: what three simple, profitability-driven rules could your teams execute consistently right now? Effective strategy requires fewer detailed predictions and more smart, executable principles that respond to current market signals. By embracing this emergent approach, organizations can achieve the same fluid adaptability and coordination that makes starling murmurations so captivating and effective. What simple rules might transform your organization if everyone followed them with discipline?

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