COGENT Executive

26/03/2026

Most transformation budgets are spent twice. Once on the strategy, and once on the fallout. We need to stop pretending that describing change is the same thing as surviving it.

Failure rarely starts where people think it does. It does not begin on the strategy day, in the launch meeting, or in the deck with the polished future state.

26/01/2026

Doing more with less’ is said so often in the Third Sector that it rarely gets questioned. This is a two-minute read on why it should.

It isn’t “funding cut”. It is “we just need to do more with less”.

19/11/2025

Every business has two conversations. The official one you speak. And the unofficial one that decides everything.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-leaders-say-organisation-hears-john-mclaughlin-ksj8e

05/11/2025

Leaders trust specialists in life, yet generalists in business. The irony costs more than they think.

When we buy for ourselves, we trust our instincts. We walk past the department store and step into the boutique.

09/09/2025

The AI Cargo Cult is here.

A new MIT report confirms what we've seen on the ground: 95% of companies are performing the rituals of innovation (investing in AI) but are getting almost no measurable return for their efforts.

Why? Because they believe technology delivers results. It doesn’t. Disciplined leadership does.

This article isn’t another breathless report on AI. It’s a mandate for ex*****on. We dissect the operational grip that separates the 5% who succeed from the 95% who are just burning cash.

A recent MIT report confirms a stark reality. U.

11/08/2025

Everyone is asking what AI can do for their business. I believe they’re asking the wrong question.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beyond-ai-hype-question-most-businesses-forget-ask-john-mclaughlin-snare

12/05/2025

“Knowledge is power.” It’s one of those phrases that gets repeated so often it slips by unquestioned.

18/03/2025

The conversations that shape real decisions rarely happen in public. That’s why we created the COGENT Insider — a space for peers to share what’s really happening behind the scenes. This is the final call to join."

👉 https://bit.ly/COGENT-InnerCircle

I’ve noticed something interesting over the years — the conversations that really shape our thinking rarely happen in public. They’re shared quietly, between peers who’ve been through the same challenges — off the record, and without the usual noise.

04/03/2025

£3 trillion wasted. 70% of transformations fail. Yet the same consultants keep selling the same dream. Why? Because advice isn’t action. Time to expose the illusion.

Management consultancies have perfected the art of selling transformation. It’s a billion-pound industry built on promises of reinvention, disruption, and bold new futures.

26/02/2025

For decades, the world’s largest management consultancies—McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, and the rest of the usual suspects—have positioned themselves as indispensable to corporate success. CEOs, desperate for strategic clarity, turn to these firms for their glossy PowerPoints and highly paid ...