Everyone can hold a stick. And you can write, and that's the same as drawing. 

This is not about art (although it could be) but about thought. This simple act fires the brain to imagine, attend, connect and remember. 

Forget skill, think about the process of thought. Thinking is exercise. It's a colossal shame that we seem to be losing it. 

Conversationalists make you sharper because they take you seriously. There's a joy in wanting to be in conversations with them. They aren't bothered about your credentials, but your actual thinking. They delight in a half-formed idea and never set out to demolish it, but to see if there's something worth adding to it.

We urgently need to teach people how manipulation works, encourage literacy and the ability to spot when you're being played. We must also reprice our attention. Treat it like cash and stop spending it like a drunk.

There's a reason the tech industry killed friction. Friction slows things down. It creates space for us between impulse and action. It forces us to think. That's precisely why they wanted to eliminate it.

I’m seeing robots everywhere. (It used to be dead people). Not sure exactly when or how accurate the predictions* are, but exponential growth means it's happening faster than we think."

*Reputable forecasts already suggest billions of humanoid robots will be in operation worldwide by 2035/40. A $5 trillion market and fully integrated into many aspects of home life and society. If you told me right now it will happen faster I will believe you.

Many leaders are left to manage with metrics because they have run out of meaning. We do not change because of some memo from HR or a dictate handed down by someone who isn't trusted. We change when we see our colleagues doing stuff that matters.

So, imagine millions of small, more equipped and competent agencies of one. Doing anything that matters and creates benefit. Anything that drives us. This is what happens when the moment in time and the tools finally match what one capable person could always do.

Truth is now stranger than fiction for sure. Fiction has become the truth. I believe 'we' have the responsibility and ability to put it right.

You know the ‘star thrower’ parable? A storm leaves thousands of starfish stranded on the beach. A child begins throwing them back, one by one. An older passer-by says it’s pointless, there are too many to save. The child picks up another and replies, ‘It matters to this one.’ Small, deliberate acts really matter even against overwhelming odds.

Wow, the semantics. ‘Oh, that's just semantics,’ they would say, over critical words that have various meanings, and many do not understand the implications of.

Dismissing semantics isn’t trivial; it’s tactical. It’s how people smuggle in power or an idea without admitting it. The dodge is dangerous. We can’t let people get away with that.

This is familiar to many of us, but in these perilous times, it struck me much harder this time. Important words meant completely different things to different people.

Many people I know cannot be debated on anything. Shutters on conversations are fully down. I assume people think they’re thinking, when clearly, they’re dodging it, outsourcing it. The more honest among us say it’s too hard, and others are excusing themselves because they’re too busy.

What’s declared as valuable is whatever serves the few. What’s now defended by laws and institutions is increasingly worthless to the rest of us. We’re told it is progress, but it is poison.
And the trick works, because those seriously affected are repeating it back as if they are benefiting. Bonkers.

This guide is for those who are willing to pause before making a decision. For those who thrive in ambiguity. For those who know that clarity doesn’t always come from logic, but from framing, judgment, and imagination.

Welcome to the age of Imagination-Scale Thinking.

In quantum physics, a particle doesn’t live in one fixed state. It exists in many possible states at once—until something forces a decision. This isn’t just theory. It’s how imagination-scale computing works.

Instead of choosing a route and running with it, these systems map all the routes. They calculate the paths, the probabilities, the interactions between them—all at once.

Whilst the world obsesses over artificial intelligence, we're conducting a systematic extinction of human imagination. Not through malice or design, but through the beautiful irony of optimising for everything except the conditions that make imaginative thinking possible.

You want breakthrough?

Turn everything off. Get bored enough for your brain to get dangerous again. The last thing we need is noisier people. We need quieter minds. So shut up. Seriously. That’s where it starts.

When you only have six words, you can’t hide behind lengthy rationale or jargon. You either nail the truth or you waste everyone’s time. That’s the goal, isn’t it? In business, in life, in the stories we tell ourselves about what matters.

The shortest stories echo longest because they leave room for our imagination to fill the gaps. And our imagination? That’s where the real work happens.

Real creativity isn’t about adding features, tactics, or complexity. It’s about having the intelligence to cut away everything that doesn’t solve the core problem. And that kind of thinking takes something increasingly rare: time to see what others miss.

The future must be built on intelligence, or I’m not going there, and for many, this will be a novel concept. We don’t need more predictable, generic thinking - we need thinking systems that connect the dots.

Understanding the connections between leadership intent, market noise, customer data, and commercial logic, so that decisions get better over time, not just faster. A continuity of insight. A durable strategic advantage. A system that can think with them. AI isn’t killing creativity or consulting. It’s exposing how little of either was happening in the first place.

We are living through the twilight of optimisation-based thinking. For decades, our approach to complex problems has been fundamentally reductionist: break down the challenge, analyse the components, find the optimal solution, and execute with precision.

The piece extrapolates from real quantum computing capabilities and research; however, the business applications, specific companies, and individuals are created for storytelling purposes. It's more of a ‘what if’ exploration than a case study of actual implementations.

Remember also when PowerPoint templates (ugh) were the height of automation, and 'pivot to video' meant hiring a cameraman?

Welcome to 2025. AI has democratised creativity in the same way karaoke democratised singing. Everyone can do it, but should they?