WickedPeople, 47 Henrietta Chase, Rochester (2026)

14/05/2026

A good session today with Danny and Chris from SBS IT.

Growing businesses reach a point where the structure that got them here stops being the structure that gets them to the next stage. That's exactly where Danny and Chris are, and it's exactly the kind of conversation I love being part of.

Using insights from a detailed activity analysis, we spent the session looking at the operational reality of the business. Who is doing what, where the pressure and dependency sit, what activities genuinely drive value, and what the future recruitment priorities should look like.

This wasn't an org chart exercise. It was about understanding how the business actually functions day-to-day and creating options for a more structured, scalable, and sustainable operating model.

One of the biggest themes to emerge from the session was operational coordination. In growing businesses, the challenge is rarely a matter of capability or intent. It's that too much sits with too few people. Usually, the founders.

They're brilliant at what they do, building the business and delivering for clients. The work now is designing the structure around them so the business can grow without everything depending on them personally.

Good businesses grow through hard work. Healthy businesses grow through structure, clarity, and alignment.

A really positive session. Great to work with owners who are willing to step back and intentionally design the next version of their business.

Drop me a message and let's find an hour.

📞 07423 598 780
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 wickedpeople.co.uk

07/05/2026

Welcome to the team, guys. Finally got the cloning sorted.

Turns out, when you enjoy the work this much, one of you just isn't enough. Every session, every conversation, every business needs a proper look at where it is and where it's going.

If I'm honest, there are days when I wish I could just clone myself. More sessions, more businesses, more conversations, and more magic. Turns out that's easier said than done; one can only dream.

These graphics I draw by hand every single time, every one is different, just like every business is different.

Not because I have to. I could print it, project it, or put it on a screen. But there's something about watching a blank piece of paper become something that changes the energy in the room before a word has been said.

This is the Sailboat Session template. I've drawn it more times than I can count, in client offices, at kitchen tables, in meeting rooms, in people's homes. Every time it goes up on the wall, the conversation that follows is the most honest that the business has had in months.

Owner-led businesses are brilliant at doing. They're not always brilliant at stepping back and looking at the whole picture.

That's what this is for. And until the cloning technology becomes widely available, I'll keep drawing it myself.

📞 07423 598 780
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 http://wickedpeople.co.uk

05/05/2026

More time. More people. More money.

Three things every owner-led business is chasing. And most of them are chasing all three simultaneously, which is usually where it starts to unravel.

Because time, people, and money aren't separate problems. They're symptoms of the same thing. A business that hasn't been built to run without the owner holding it all together.

I've sat inside enough businesses over the past twenty years to know that the owners of businesses are not always the best placed to know their real problem, the one that is holding them back.

They're brilliant at what they do, finding the work; we’re brilliant at what we do, helping to navigate the business.

They just never had anyone properly in their corner helping them build the thing around them.

That's the gap Wicked People exists to fill. Not advice from a distance. Support that gets properly involved.

If that resonates, drop me a message and let's find an hour.

📞 07423 598 780
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 wickedpeople.co.uk

01/05/2026

You know you've been somewhere too many times when they start giving you free birthday cake.

Bunny and Bear in Upnor have become something of a second office. If you've ever wondered where the thinking happens between client meetings, it's usually here, over a coffee, with something far too good to resist from the counter.

Yesterday, they handed me this. Handwritten box and everything. I didn't argue.

If you haven't been, go. Brilliant place, brilliant people, and clearly very good judges of character.

Thanks for the birthday treat. It didn't last long.

📞 07423 598 780
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 wickedpeople.co.uk

30/04/2026

Not every conversation happens around a table covered in brown paper.

Some of the best ones happen in rooms like this. A coffee, a comfortable chair, and a proper conversation about what's actually going on in the business.

I spend much of my time working with owner-led businesses across Kent, London, and Essex. Plumbers, builders, service companies, and growing SMEs.

People who are brilliant at what they do and are figuring out, often alone, how to build something bigger than themselves.

The thing I hear most is that they've never had someone properly in their corner.

Not a coach who hands over a framework and disappears. Not a consultant who writes a report and invoices them.

Someone who actually gets involved, knows the business, and turns up consistently.

That's the work I do. And I genuinely love it.

If you're at a point where an outside perspective would help, let's have a conversation.

📞 07423 598 780
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 wickedpeople.co.uk

28/04/2026

Hard hat on. This is where the real work happens.

Not every conversation starts in a meeting room. Sometimes it starts on a site, walking the ground, getting a proper feel for what's actually involved before anything is decided.

This is one of those days. Early stages, nothing confirmed yet. Just getting eyes on the opportunity, asking the right questions, and working out whether it's the right fit.

I work with businesses in trades, construction, and industry who are trying to grow in a structured and sustainable way. That means being present at every stage, not just when the work is signed off and the plan is in place.

Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do is show up before anyone else does.

That's what getting properly involved looks like. From the ground up, before the paperwork, before the proposal, before any of it.

If that's the kind of support your business needs, drop me a message and let's find an hour.

📞 07423 598 780
✉️ [email protected]
🌐 wickedpeople.co.uk

12/03/2026

**Wicked People Insight Series**

The Sailboat Exercise ~ Part 3 of 4 – Turning insight into action

This is where the Sailboat Exercise becomes powerful.

Because a good session does not stop at conversation.

It creates clarity that can actually be used.

Once the Sailboat is complete, the output becomes far more than a workshop page.

It becomes the foundation for a structured journey. What was once a mix of ideas, frustrations, risks and ambitions can now be translated into real focus areas, practical priorities and a clearer route forward.

In this case the diagnostic insight fed into a wider growth blueprint covering:

• Financial clarity
• Operational structure
• Growth readiness
• Progress dashboards
• Implementation priorities

That is the difference.

The Sailboat Exercise helps teams move from

“I know something is not working” to “I can now see what needs to happen next.”

For Wicked People this is not a warm up activity.

It is one of our most important upfront value adds because it helps business owners and teams understand their reality before trying to fix it.

* Clarity first
* Then structure.
* Then change.

Tomorrow I’ll share what actually changes inside a business once this clarity appears.

11/03/2026

**Wicked People Insight Series**

The Sailboat Exercise ~ Part 2 of 4 – Inside the Sailboat Exercise

This is the moment the conversation gets honest.

What starts as a simple drawing quickly turns into something much deeper.

The Sailboat Exercise is not about filling a page with nice ideas.
It is about getting the truth out into the room.

As the conversation unfolds, patterns start to appear.

• What is pushing the business forward
• What feels good and worth protecting
• What the future could look like
• What is draining energy
• What is creating friction
• What risks are sitting just beneath the surface

What starts as thoughts, frustrations and scattered ideas quickly becomes something far more useful.

A shared picture of the business as it really is.

That matters because most business owners already know something feels off.

They just have not had the time, structure or support to properly unpack it.

The Sailboat creates that space.

* It turns instinct into insight.
* It turns noise into themes.

And it creates a far stronger starting point for real change.

Tomorrow I’ll show how this messy thinking becomes a structured blueprint for real business change.

10/03/2026

**Wicked People Insight Series**

The Sailboat Exercise ~ Part 1 of 4 – Before the Sailboat

Most businesses are not struggling because people do not care.
They are struggling because no one has had the space to step back and make sense of what is really happening.

That is exactly why we use the Sailboat Exercise.

Before strategy decks, action plans or implementation, we create a simple but powerful conversation around six areas.

💨 Wind
What is driving the business forward

🌞 Sun
What good looks like

👁Team Vision
Where the business is trying to get to

⚓️ Anchor
What is holding it back

🪨 Reef
What risks or obstacles sit ahead

⛵️ Boat
What needs to stay balanced for the journey to work

On the surface it looks simple.

In reality it unlocks honest conversation, shared understanding and the real issues underneath the day to day noise.

This is one of the ways Wicked People creates real upfront value.
Not by guessing.

By helping businesses see clearly before they move.

Tomorrow I’ll show what actually happens when teams start unpacking the truth inside the Sailboat Exercise.

09/03/2026

'The 'Wicked' exercise that reveals more about a business in 60 minutes than weeks of meetings.'

Over the next three days I’m going to share one of the simplest but most powerful exercises we use with leadership teams.

It’s called the Sailboat Exercise.

On the surface it looks like a simple visual workshop.

In reality it reveals:

• What is driving a business forward
• What is quietly holding it back
• Where the real risks sit
• What the team actually believes the future should look like

More importantly, it helps teams turn messy thinking into structured action.

Over the next three posts I’ll show you:

Tuesday
Before the Sailboat – why we use it.

Wednesday
During the Sailboat – what actually happens in the room.

Thursday
After the Sailboat – how it becomes a real business blueprint.

If you lead a business, a team or a department, this is one of the most useful exercises you will ever see.

Follow the next few posts this week.

WickedPeople

14/05/2026

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30/04/2026

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