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Leadership, Innovation, Transformation


Repeating History's Mistakes: The Future of AI
In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg made a promise. Facebook, he said, would open the world, connect people across boundaries, make us closer, more...
owenwhite
Nov 24, 20246 min read


The Machine That Cannot Cry: The Limits of AI
In the small hours of a hospital ward, John sat staring at the ceiling, his body hollowed out by a grief too vast to name. Two days...
owenwhite
Nov 24, 20246 min read


Customer Research, Innovation and the “Faster Horses” Conundrum
Why did some of history’s greatest innovators—the visionaries who gave us cars, smartphones, and other groundbreaking technologies—seem...
owenwhite
Nov 3, 20248 min read


Truth & Trump: A Platonic Perspective
The Magnetic Pull of Truth in the Age of Trump In a world saturated with misinformation, falsehoods, and conspiracy theories, it’s...
owenwhite
Oct 26, 20246 min read


The Cult of Scientific Management: Why It Still Matters—and Why It Shouldn’t
Chances are you’ve never heard of Frederick Winslow Taylor. He isn’t a household name, but his ideas have shaped how many of us...
owenwhite
Oct 15, 20246 min read


Does Behavioural Design Really Work?
Imagine you’ve decided to change your life. Maybe you want to quit smoking, stick to a healthier diet, or finally make regular exercise a...
owenwhite
Oct 13, 20246 min read


The AI Mindset
The Technological Mindset: How We’ve Reduced the World to Numbers and Control For centuries, mankind has harnessed the power of...
owenwhite
Sep 29, 20245 min read


AI & the Seductive Power of Metrics
Generative AI promises immense benefits in healthcare, education, and labor markets. Its ability to sift through vast datasets, identify...
owenwhite
Sep 29, 20245 min read


Science in An Era of Populism
In 1959, C.P. Snow delivered a groundbreaking lecture titled The Two Cultures , where he lamented the growing divide between the sciences...
owenwhite
Sep 29, 20246 min read


The Cult of Managerialism and Small Steps Back to Sanity
In the mid-1980s, a quiet revolution took place in the corridors of power, boardrooms, and public institutions alike. Spurred on by...
owenwhite
Sep 28, 20246 min read


Yearning for Control: The Origins of Managerialism
Imagine, for a moment, you're a cog in a machine. This machine, which stretches across businesses, hospitals, schools, and government...
owenwhite
Sep 28, 20246 min read


Sam Altman: the new Victor Frankenstein?
Sam Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI, the company that brought us ChatGPT, wants to change the world—but at what cost? In a manifesto...
owenwhite
Sep 28, 20244 min read


The Modern Prometheans
I. The Visionaries: Sam Altman and Demis Hassabis Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis, founder of Google DeepMind, stand...
owenwhite
Sep 28, 20246 min read


Mistaking the Map for the Territory: How AI Misunderstands Human Experience
There’s a growing belief among artificial intelligence (AI) researchers that with enough data, enough processing power, and the right...
owenwhite
Sep 23, 20246 min read


The Technocratic Trap
In an age obsessed with data, control, and measurable results, Michael Barber’s concept of Deliverology has become the poster child for...
owenwhite
Sep 15, 20246 min read


Why AI Won’t Solve All Our Problems: The Blind Spots of the AI Boom
By now, you’ve probably heard it a thousand times: Artificial Intelligence is going to revolutionise everything. It’s going to fix...
owenwhite
Sep 8, 20246 min read


A Blink or a Wink
Why AI is still a long way from understanding context and nuance Imagine you’re sitting across from someone in a conversation. At one...
owenwhite
Aug 17, 20244 min read


AI, and the Seduction of Reductionism
Part 1: Descartes in Bed—The Ordinary Birth of an Extraordinary Idea It's the winter of 1619. A young French man is in bed. His name is...
owenwhite
Aug 17, 20246 min read
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