Resilience Amid Rising Costs: How organisations can protect delivery as payroll pressures mount
Britain’s National Living Wage is confirmed to jump 4.1% to £12.71 per hour in April 2026, pushing labour costs to new heights. National Insurance thresholds have been frozen into 2031 (meaning more of each pay rise is taxed), and a new cap on salary sacrifice tax relief looms, clawing back benefits on employer pension contributions. […]
AI’s Hidden Perils: Why Without Strong Governance, AI Becomes a Crisis in the Making
AI is transforming business, that’s not news. But what’s less talked about, and far more dangerous, is how quietly it can sow the seeds of crisis. At Arx Nova, we’ve seen it up close: promising tech initiatives that spiral into chaos when oversight is absent. This isn’t a warning about the future. It’s a diagnosis […]
The Living System: Why Iteration Keeps Operating Models Alive
Most of us can recall a bold transformation that fizzled out after a promising start. It’s staggeringly common that a company launches a new strategy or governance model with fanfare, only to see its impact decay over time. In fact, McKinsey research finds that fewer than one-third of organisations sustain the performance improvements from their […]
The 2025 Budget: A Slow Squeeze That Mid-Tier Businesses Can’t Afford to Ignore
The 2025 Budget won’t be remembered for fireworks. There’s no headline-grabbing tax shock, no sweeping new policy that sends boards scrambling overnight. In fact, it has been presented as a steady, responsible adjustment to a nation still tightening its belt. But for mid-tier businesses, the £1m to £100m backbone of the UK economy, this Budget […]
Why Businesses and Funders Fail to Move Capital: A Model Without A Map
In today’s investment landscape, businesses are eager to secure capital, and Funders are eager to deploy it. Yet, despite the apparent alignment, money doesn’t always flow freely. The reason isn’t always market conditions, risk appetite, or economic cycles. More often, the underlying issue is surprisingly simple: Businesses struggle to articulate how they will operate, and […]
When “More Marketing” Isn’t the Answer: Recognising the Crisis Within Your Business
In my twenty-plus years as a marketer (six-plus as a Fractional CMO), I’ve often been parachuted in when a business feels stuck. The brief is usually the same: “We need to sell more. Let’s spend more on marketing. Can you fix our brand?” As a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the CIM, I understand the urge […]
What Surviving a Corporate Collapse Taught Me About Leadership, Clarity, and Starting Again
There is a strange moment that happens in the middle of a corporate collapse. Everything feels like it is happening all at once, yet nothing makes sense. People cling to optimism because the alternative feels too big to confront. Advice splinters, messages conflict, and leaders freeze. And then, sometimes, the business goes under anyway. The […]
Mazur Judgement & Target Operating Models (TOM)
I know, I know… many lawyers are thinking they dislike this insight already. Firstly, because TOM design feels corporate, which I understand can put lawyers off immediately, and secondly, because there is a significant amount of Mazur fatigue for many excellent lawyers who have been affected by the judgment. Lessons from Mazur are wider than […]
Fortify for Growth: Empowering Companies to Scale Safely
The Hidden Risk of Rapid Growth For a mid-sized business on the cusp of rapid expansion, growth is a double-edged sword. The excitement of new markets and surging demand often comes with an undercurrent of anxiety. Will our people and current processes hold up under pressure? Can our culture and cash flow withstand the strain? […]
The Hidden Cost of Business Failure
In 86% of UK liquidations, no money at all is returned to creditors. This figure, drawn from government research, shows that when a business fails, the damage rarely stays exclusively within the company. Value is destroyed across creditors, employees, and local communities. Liquidation processes consume what little remains, with average costs exceeding 160% of the […]