Strategy

Strategy, at its best, is about deciding what actually matters. That might mean choosing a direction, setting priorities, or stepping back to understand what’s really going on before pushing forward. It’s less about big, abstract plans and more about making better decisions in context. These posts look at that from different angles, how direction is shaped, tested, and sometimes corrected along the way.

A decade of Bold Wise 22^nd of April 2026 Bold Wise passed the ten-year mark this month, which felt worth stopping for. Looking back, the work has taken different forms, but the thread through it has stayed pretty consistent: helping businesses make sense of complexity and come across more clearly.
Tangles 21^st of January 2026 When teams feel stuck, the visible problem is often just one thread in a much bigger tangle of assumptions, incentives, uncertainty, and hidden blockers.
The reverse stone soup challenge 22^nd of September 2025 There’s a folk tale about Stone Soup. There's a particular design challenge that I think of as its reverse.
Launching Bold Wise Studio 29^th of August 2025 I’ve split my practice into two clear parts: Bold Wise for direction and strategy, and Bold Wise Studio for delivery, design, and making ideas real.
Refocusing 4^th of February 2025 Fifteen years in, I’m reflecting on the work I do best: untangling complexity, shaping ideas, and helping teams find clearer direction.
Repositioning Bold Wise 23^rd of May 2022 My work had shifted from hands-on design toward consultancy, strategy, and shaping bigger, more ambitious projects, so Bold Wise needed to change too.
What is its job? 20^th of May 2022 When a project gets stuck at the level of deliverables, asking ‘what is its job?’ shifts the conversation back to value, purpose, and outcomes.
Pause, regroup, take stock 7^th of August 2020 I've now been self-employed or run my own business for over a decade. That means I've spent longer working for myself than I have in all of my previous in-house roles combined.
Branding success 14^th of July 2020 My first experience of running a branding project happened in my teens, before I was even aware of branding as a thing. What's more, it was a measurably successful project in its own right – though not in any way I could have expected.
Design as goal reaching not problem solving 13^th of July 2020 Instead of problem solving, I now view design as an ongoing goal-reaching activity. The difference for me is that the context is bigger, the constraints require more thought, but the results are much greater — and more meaningful — in their impact.
Cost, price, value 14^th of April 2020 I find myself scribbling this diagram — Cost | Price | Value — and working through these ideas with people, frequently so I thought I’d write it up and share some brief notes here. I'm writing this as much for myself — to clarify my thoughts and have something to point people to — as to share.