Tag Archives: Leadership

Power Without Alibis: What Remains After You Understand How Cruelty Works

This final essay completes a trilogy on power by asking what remains once its mechanics are fully understood. Building on Pfeffer’s organisational realism and Machiavelli’s historical clarity, it argues that unsanitised descriptions of power do not endorse cruelty but remove the moral alibis that allow harm to persist. By collapsing the distance between action and consequence, such writing makes innocence unavailable and neutrality impossible. The central risk, that truth can be weaponised, is acknowledged, but silence is shown to be more partisan, concentrating power through ignorance rather than constraining it.

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From The Prince to the Boardroom: Power in Machiavelli and Jeffrey Pfeffer

Comparing Jeffrey Pfeffer with Niccolò Machiavelli reveals a shared realism about power stripped of moral comfort. Both describe influence as driven by perception, control, and strategic action rather than virtue, and both expose why idealism so often fails in practice. Yet they diverge in intent: Machiavelli accepts harm as the price of order, while Pfeffer ultimately confronts the human and organisational costs of power-driven systems. Together, they show that the mechanics of power are historically stable, even as modern leaders are increasingly forced to reckon with their consequences.

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Jeffrey Pfeffer’s Rules of Power: Truth, Use, and Consequence

Jeffrey Pfeffer’s work strips away comforting myths about merit and leadership to expose how power actually operates inside organisations. Drawing on decades of research, he shows that influence is accumulated through perception, alliances, and control of resources rather than competence alone. While his “rules of power” are descriptively accurate, they are ethically neutral and often corrosive. Pfeffer’s later work confronts the human cost of these systems, forcing leaders to choose between naïve idealism and cynical effectiveness—and to decide whether power will be used merely to win or to change the conditions under which winning occurs.

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The Work Speaks for Itself

This article explains why I am stepping back from writing about neurodiversity as a primary lens for my work. Not because the subject no longer matters, but because over time it has begun to obscure achievement rather than illuminate it. This is a reflection on explanation, authority, and the point at which context stops being helpful and starts getting in the way.

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Of Course You’re Not Resilient… You Never Practised Failing

A blunt critique of organisations that claim to be resilient but have never stress-tested their systems, rehearsed recovery under pressure, or practised failure in any meaningful way. The article challenges boardroom bravado and highlights the psychological and operational consequences of untested confidence, arguing that true resilience is earned through discomfort, not declared in policy.

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Inside the Breach: What M&S and the Harris Federation Reveal About UK Cyber Vulnerabilities

Two senior leaders, Sir Charlie Mayfield, former John Lewis chairman, and Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO of the Harris Federation, joined BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on 1 May 2025 to discuss the impact of recent cyber attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and UK schools. Their stories offer rare insight into how institutions respond to major breaches and what it really takes to recover.

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Scaling Cyber: A Startup Founder’s Journey from Idea to Exit

This virtual book is a guide to the entrepreneurial journey, drawn from real-world experiences in cyber startups. It distils insights from my time on the NCSC for Startups accelerator (cohort 13, 2023), the DSIT Cyber Runway Scale programme (2024/2025), and my mentoring on DSIT’s Cyber ASAP programme. It’s a collection of lessons, reflections, and hard-earned knowledge from the founders, investors, and industry leaders I’ve met along the way. Thanks to Marcel Duchamp you can think of it as a “ready made”, a curated work built from my blog articles, assembled to help you navigate the path from startup to scale, and beyond.

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Hiring and Recruitment Session: Key Insights from Joel Hughes of InfoSec People – 12th February 2025

This Cyber Runway Scale session explored strategic hiring for cybersecurity startups, focusing on team expansion, recruitment challenges, and building a strong company culture. Joel Hughes, of InfoSec People, discussed attracting top talent, scaling teams efficiently, and fostering diversity in the cyber sector.

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Lessons from Founders Fireside with Rupert Cook: Fearlessness, Charisma, and Knowing When to Pivot

Rupert Cook joined the Cyber Runway Scale Founders Fireside to discuss his entrepreneurial journey and share insights on navigating the cybersecurity landscape. Topics included fundraising, product-market fit, and leadership lessons learned while building a successful cyber business.

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From Founder to CEO: Lessons in Leadership, Growth, and Resilience

For any startup founder, the journey from idea to execution is filled with challenges. However, the biggest transformation isn’t just in scaling a business, it’s in evolving from a founder into a CEO.

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Disability Inclusion in the Workplace: Key Takeaways from Disability Rights UK’s Talk

Disability inclusion is a vital yet often misunderstood aspect of workplace diversity. In a recent session hosted at Plexal, Kamran Mallick, CEO of Disability Rights UK, provided valuable insights into what it means to create a truly inclusive work environment. His talk covered the social model of disability, legal obligations under the Equality Act, workplace adjustments, and practical steps businesses can take to foster inclusivity.

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Burnout-Proofing Your Startup Team: Lessons from The Zensory

This Cyber Runway Scale session focused on preventing burnout in startup teams, addressing the mental and physical toll of high-growth environments. Experts shared strategies for work-life balance, team resilience, and sustainable leadership to ensure long-term success in cybersecurity startups.

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Neurodiversity and Cyber: Understanding One in Five of Your Industry with Mary Welton of Plexal

Neurodiversity is a vital consideration in cybersecurity, with one in five professionals in the industry identifying as neurodivergent. This article, based on a Cyber Runway: Scale session led by a Plexal Innovation Associate, explores the importance of neurodiversity, common misconceptions, and practical ways to support neurodivergent employees while maximizing their unique strengths.

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Building a Team and Structure for Series A Growth

Lucy Bulley joined the Cyber Runway Scale programme to discuss the critical elements of team-building and organisational structure when preparing for Series A funding. She shared practical insights on hiring strategies, leadership development, and scaling operations to support high-growth cybersecurity startups.

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From Startup to Scale: Lessons from Luke Wilson Mawer on Cyber Growth and Leadership

As part of the Cyber Runway Scale programme, Luke Wilson Mawer shared his experiences as a founder and discussed the challenges of scaling a cybersecurity startup. The session explored lessons learned, growth strategies, and the importance of resilience in a founder’s journey.

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