Writing
Writing is another way I make sense of the world.
Most pieces begin with observations and questions rather than answers. I write about community, behaviour, leadership and the systems that shape our organisations and lives. Sometimes the pieces are practical. Sometimes they're simply attempts to understand something that has caught my attention.
Community & Participation
Essays on belonging, participation and why communities become more valuable than audiences.
Why Rituals Are the Operating System of Belonging
Drawing on a conversation with ritual scholar Dimitris Xygalatas, this piece explores why the strongest communities are built not around platforms or content calendars, but around repeated behaviours that create shared attention, emotion, meaning and belonging.
Why Community Belongs at the Core of the Business Model
A reflection on why businesses need to move beyond transactional marketing and treat community as connective infrastructure for retention, participation, belonging and long-term value.
The Punk Beer That Drank Its Own Crowd
A reflection on BrewDog, the £75 million community betrayal and what happens when a brand drinks its own crowd.
Herding Cats into a Chorus: The 5 Cs of Community
A practical framework for building stronger communities through connection, collaboration, communication, commitment and contribution.
It’s the Community, Stupid
Using examples from parkrun, Bury FC, B4RN and community energy, this piece makes the case that communities are not soft social infrastructure but serious engines of economic growth.
Behaviour & Decision-Making
Observations on decision-making, pressure and the small forces that shape behaviour.
On Money, Mental Accounting and Why We Spend Irrationally
A behavioural science essay exploring why people make irrational financial decisions, how nudges can help, and why the odd indulgence may be more human than foolish.
On Risk, Uncertainty and the Illusion of Certainty
A reflective essay on risk, uncertainty, COVID, Brexit and why our need to make the future predictable often blinds us to how messy, stochastic and fragile real life actually is.
On Randomness, Risk and the Stories We Tell After the Fact
A behavioural science essay on randomness, risk, markets, motivation and price bias — and why real life is far less predictable than the stories we tell afterwards.
Life, Work & Culture
Pieces about people, identity, ambition and the things that quietly shape a life.
Tshepo Mohlala on Denim, Hope and Building a Brand from Nothing
An interview with Tshepo Mohlala on building a South African denim brand from scratch, the power of storytelling, the influence of family and community, and why denim became his canvas for hope.
On Fatherhood, Cognitive Load and Learning to Show Up Properly
A candid reflection on becoming a father, misreading the hidden load of parenting, and learning that equal partnership means sharing the thinking, not just the doing.
Work is Not for Charity
Why underpaying charity leaders and politicians is not virtue, but a false economy that drives out talent, kills ambition and rewards institutional timidity.