By the time most manufacturers pick up the phone about an interim, they have already had two quarters of knowing something was not right. That is not a criticism. It is what happens when everyone…

Appointing a senior leader is harder than it was a few years ago. Not because the talent has gone. Because good people are staying where they are, and their current employer is doing everything it…

When a business is under pressure, it is easy to focus on the wrong things when appointing a CFO. People often reach for the safest CV. The biggest names, the strongest qualifications, the most years…

Most MD searches I am running at the moment are not really searches for an MD. They are searches for a leader who can drive a change the business has been avoiding for years. The…

UK manufacturers are being squeezed from every direction. The businesses that come through it won’t be the luckiest. They’ll be the best led Let’s not dress it up. It is hard out there right now.…

A question posed to me recently stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t rhetorical. And I don’t think anyone has a comfortable answer. I was in conversation with a senior leader in UK defence manufacturing…

In UK manufacturing, leadership pressure is no longer episodic.It’s constant. Margins are tighter. Cost inflation hasn’t fully unwound. Supply chains remain fragile. Labour is harder to find and harder to keep. Most leadership teams are…