Profit Insights

Why do great companies invest time and energy in vision statements, and what does a Holocaust survivor have to teach us about building one?  In this episode, Alex Franklin draws on Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy, Nietzsche, Seneca, and Jim Collins' Five Whys framework to make the case that a compelling vision is not philosophical fluff. It is a competitive advantage. With a practical worked...

Strategy, vision, and technology all matter. But according to Jim Collins, David Packard, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos, none of it matters more than who you put on your team. In this episode, Alex Franklin builds on his Level 5 Leadership column to examine the single most important factor in organisational success: getting the right people on the bus before you decide where to drive...

What does it actually mean to be an entrepreneur? In this episode, Alex Franklin offers a personal and philosophical take on the entrepreneurial mindset drawing on Luke Johnson, James Wise, and John Maynard Keynes to argue that entrepreneurship is not about the yacht or the exit. It is about the willingness to take risk, question the majority, and put capital to work in defiance of the instinct to...

What separates leaders who build enduring greatness from those who deliver only short-term results? In this episode, Alex Franklin explores Jim Collins' Level 5 Leadership framework, the paradoxical combination of personal humility and professional will that Collins identified as the primary differentiator in companies that sustained extraordinary performance over fifteen years. From Tim Cook...

What if the secret to achieving more wasn't pushing harder, but setting better limits? In this episode of Profit Insights, Alex Franklin draws on the letters of Seneca the Stoic to explore a principle that is almost 2,000 years old.  Natural desires have boundaries. Unnatural ones, driven by comparison and the opinions of others, do not. And it is the boundless pursuit of the latter that quie...

Time is our most precious and finite resource, yet most of us squander it without realising. In this episode, Alex Franklin applies two powerful principles in tandem, Pareto's Law and Parkinson's Law, to show how focusing on the right 20% of your effort, with the right deadlines, can unlock dramatically better results in both business and life. Read the full article: ithacacybersecurity....

In this episode, Alex Franklin applies Moore's Law to the modern threat landscape and makes the case that cyber security is not an IT issue, it's a valuation issue.  If you're preparing for investment or exit, this episode is essential listening. Read all Profit Insights: https://www.ithacacybersecurity.com/insights/ Work with Alex: alex@ithacacybersecurity.com penpole.co.uk | ithac...

Is the success of the world's greatest investors down to brilliance, or were they simply in the right place at the right time? In this inaugural episode of Profit Insights, Alex Franklin examines one of the most uncomfortable questions in business: the role luck plays in investment decisions. Drawing on the work of NYU's Aswath Damodaran, Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, and BCG founder...