Better Business by Design
Better Business by Design
Designing how organisations work — the structure, pace, and logic behind the strategy.
For Boards and executive teams at inflection points.
Most operating models were designed for a world that no longer exists.
Most operating models were designed for a world that no longer exists.
Markets shift, technology reshapes industries, and sustainability rewrites value creation. Most organisations respond by adjusting at the edges, while the underlying design logic stays fixed - leading to a gap between strategic intent and actual operations.
Markets shift, technology reshapes industries, and sustainability rewrites value creation. Most organisations respond by adjusting at the edges, while the underlying design logic stays fixed - leading to a gap between strategic intent and actual operations.
The problems I work on.
Strategy that can’t land: The strategy is clear. The organisation can’t deliver it — not because people aren’t trying, but because the operating model was designed for a different strategy, market, or scale.
Restructuring that doesn’t shift performance: Reorganised, yet results stay the same. The work started from the org chart, not from what creates and captures value.
Pace is wrong: Some parts need speed, others need rigour. But everything runs at the same speed, causing strain or stagnation.
Sustainability isn’t connected to how the business works: It’s seen as parallel, not structural—redesign is required for true advantage and long term viability.
Five ideas that run through everything I do.
Context first — then design — Start from the world, not the org chart. Understand how value is created and captured before designing how the organisation operates.
Generative, not extractive — Design for long-term viability. Organisations that degrade their environment undermine their own future.
Everything is connected — Most of it is underdesigned. Complex systems behave in ways that simple models can't predict.
Design-led — These problems can't be solved by analysis alone. Design thinking explores before it decides — the discomfort is where clarity comes from.
Time, pace, and tempo — Organisations operate at multiple speeds. The design challenge is running fast and slow simultaneously — and changing gear when conditions shift.