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The chief executive is standing near the boardroom window at 6:40 p.m. The executive committee has been meeting since lunchtime. The numbers on the screen are no longer moving, cash collections are deteriorating. A major customer has delayed payment, the bank is reconsidering the
A typical Monday morning management meeting in a typical Ugandan company starts with a prayer. Some organisations have structured it so well that the prayer is written in advance and distributed to everyone. Others allow a member of staff to pray in their own words. As a strategy
How much productivity is your organisation losing because employees have stopped telling management the truth? During a culture transformation session with a financial services client, I ask participants to name the one issue quietly undermining performance. I have now come to ex
How many executives does it take to approve a broken office chair? In one organisation I advised, the answer was seven. The request moved from Administration to Procurement, Finance, Risk, Legal, the Executive Committee and, eventually, the Chief Executive Officer. By the time ap
How ecosystem thinking is reshaping Uganda’s bancassurance market and why Boards and executives must rethink their strategy. For decades, insurance companies have been viewed as the natural owners of the insurance business. They design products, manage risk, process claims, and d
Before the meeting had even started, the Board Chairperson leaned back, looked around the room and sighed. “Why do we keep discussing problems that should have been solved two years ago? Every board paper explains yesterday. Who is helping us prepare for tomorrow?” The office cof
“Can I ask you a question before we begin? If someone removed the board pack from your next meeting and left you with only the organisation’s purpose, strategy, risks and customers, would the quality of your decisions improve or deteriorate?” If you are not yet a member of the In
The curious thing about many executive teams is that they always find money for new projects before they find courage for better questions. On 7 July 2026, in a ninth-floor boardroom with glass walls, cold tea, and a projector that has already betrayed us twice, I am facilitating
What is the cost of a strategy that still looks impressive in board papers, but quietly allows weak performance, slow decisions, resource abuse, duplicated work, and a laid-back culture to survive inside the organisation? During a leadership training session, I asked: “Where is y
You are in a boardroom at 9:00 a.m. The agenda has about 12 items. Management has prepared diligently, taking time to validate all the numbers, and everything balances. The chief finance officer has rehearsed the capital allocation logic and scenario analysis with best, base and
I have been close to power long enough to see all celebrations and frustrations up close in black and white. “I am tired of approving the same resolution three times.” Those were the first words the Board Chair said as we settled into the governance review. The annual strategy re
How much of your last board meeting was spent discussing a future your competitors have not yet created, and how much was spent explaining why last quarter happened? That question usually earns a smile. Then the room becomes very quiet. I still laughs at one particular board retr