Firetail

LinkedIn This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

There is still time to register for Thursday's webinar with Frances Milner, CEO of the The Leeds United Foundation: lnkd.in/ekntM_kn

The session will cover the foundation's new strategy, advice for how to engage owners and different audiences, and the role of purpose in a changing sport landscape.

Sport can be a force for social progress and purpose, and when treated as a strategic asset, can create impact and commercial value.

Register for our next webinar to hear Frances Milner, CEO of the The Leeds United Foundation, share insights on their approach to social impact: buff.ly/aSoEofM

SPOT TV gouvernement économies d'énergie : "en France, on n'a pas de pétrole, mais on a des idées" SPOT TV gouvernement économies d'énergie : "en France, on n'a pas de pétrole, mais on a des idées"

In the 1970s, the French government ran this ad: “we don’t have petrol, but we have ideas”

Today, French electricity generation is 72% nuclear, 21% renewables and 7% fossil fuels. They are the largest net exporter of electricity in the world.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk0z...

We Are Designing for Futures That No Longer Exist If you have been paying attention, five reports should have made it to the top of your reading pile: The UN Global Risks Report; The World…

"Resilience won’t come from fixing yesterday’s problems. It will come from perceiving tomorrow’s patterns."

A lot of “innovation” work forgets you can’t build for the future if you ignore the present. A smart call to stop designing the future like it’s 2010.

medium.com/@paulagilb/w...

If you work in sport or partner with sporting organisations, do join me for our next webinar with the wonderful Frances Milner from the Leeds United Foundation.

Sport can be a force for social progress and purpose, and when treated as a strategic asset, can create impact and commercial value.

Register for our next webinar to hear Frances Milner, CEO of the The Leeds United Foundation, share insights on their approach to social impact: buff.ly/aSoEofM

Firetail Webinar: 25 Sep @ 12:00

Join us to hear two incredible speakers - Giulio Quaggiotto (gquaggiotto.bsky.social) and Ben Holt - share their experience of building futures and innovation capacity across government, NGOs and civil society.

Register here: www.firetail.co.uk/webinars

We're starting our webinars again!

The first webinar in our next series is taking place on Thursday 25th September, register here: www.firetail.co.uk/webinars

MIT study:
"Despite $30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI
... 95% of organizations are getting zero return.
..these tools primarily enhance individual productivity, not P&L performance....
...enterprise-grade systems are being quietly rejected."

web.archive.org/web/20250818...

A spotlight on our partners — Firetail We work a lot with partners. As well as bringing specialist sector skills and knowledge, they offer us fresh perspectives to any given project. More importantly, we love working with them and share…

We love working with partners who bring specialist sector expertise and fresh perspectives. Hear from three of our partners: Francine Bennett, Stephen Hilton, and John Hitchin as they discuss the problems they are trying to solve, and how they think about working with Firetail.

The best Harvard Business review article I've ever seen?
Side-by-side test of a 'good' strategy visualisation slide vs a 'bad' one of the same strategy. Both still pretty basic design most people could pull off in G-Slides.
By João Cotter Salvado and Freek Vermeulen. via @firetail.bsky.social

Chronic risks analysis The Chronic risks analysis outlines the most critical medium to long term challenges facing the United Kingdom.

The government's "Chronic Risks" report is a very good summary of the threats facing the UK.

In practice, it's not clear how foresight work like this informs policy.

And it's striking how many risks are mitigated by deploying lots of solar, as quickly as possible.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Campaigns to use philanthropy to pay off national debt were tied up in the politics of the time (covered in this excellent short paper by @johnpicton.bsky.social)

In 1919, before the treaty of Versailles, Baldwin bought and cancelled £150k of war loans.

pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...

Treasury gains £500mn to pay off UK debt from Barings banker’s 1927 fund Windfall in form of ‘patriotic gift’ comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves strives to balance the books

A low-key end to one of the most idiosyncratic acts of philanthropy in history.

www.ft.com/content/ed1a...

Late-Cycle Investment Theory The foundation for the coming decade

Lots of good ideas in this @nicolascolin.bsky.social essay:

"The evidence suggests we're shifting from a time when strong execution could mask weak strategy to one where defensibility and strategic clarity are prerequisites for survival."

substack.com/home/post/p-...

'My retired hero police dog deserves a pension' Owners argue police forces should pay a contribution towards their former dogs' vet bills.

In one of our futures reports, we suggested “social security for dogs” as a wildcard, to explore shifting norms around animal welfare. It was seen as an outlandish edge case.

The world changes in unexpected ways. The margins become mainstream, sooner than we expect.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Such as We Are Made of, Such We Be”: How income portfolios shape strategy — Firetail All charities need to get their money from somewhere. That money comes with trade-offs. The type of money you raise does not just shape your fundraising, it shapes your whole organisation. …

In our recent webinar, we explored how innovation funds can be used to drive charitable impact.

This Firetail article from last year explores the broader challenge of how charities' income portfolios fundamentally shape their strategies and cultures.

We are pleased to share that Anttoni Huiskonen has been promoted to Consultant! Over the last few years, Anttoni has supported and led on projects ranging from climate policy to working with his beloved Leeds United Foundation. Congratulations Anttoni!

Whose strategy is it anyway? — Firetail Whose strategy is it anyway? Under UK charity law, trustee boards are responsible for effective delivery of a charity’s objectives. They set a charity's strategic direction and ensure legal…

"Strategy is about choices. Boards can’t hand down strategies on stone tablets for execution by staff. There needs to be a dialogue."

Charity law does not offer guidance on how trustee boards and their executives should work together to set strategy.

This Firetail blog does.

Maybe belief in institutional solutions has become a weakness, a comfortable illusion. Maybe narratives and relationships are all there is.

Join us next Thursday at 12:00 for our final Lunch & Learn webinar of the series!

In this 45-min session, Jim Clifford and Kirsten Hopkins from Sonnet will join us to explore the opportunities innovation funds can offer to charities.

Register here: buff.ly/09wos6F

Firetail Webinar - Connecting Impact, Learning and Strategy — Firetail In last week’s Lunch & Learn webinar, Andy Martin was pleased to be joined by John Hitchin, the Co-Founder of Stories of Change for a presentation and discussion of how to better connect, evaluation,…

On last week’s webinar, we were joined by John Hitchin to tackle a big question: how can organisations truly connect impact, learning and strategy?

If you missed it or want to recap on what you heard, the frameworks and write-up can be found here:

Andy Martin wrote Choices in a Crisis, Choices for Renewal during the first wave of the pandemic. It builds on the work of Martin Reeves and five years on, its reflections on leadership, values, and strategic decision-making still resonate deeply. Read the full article here: buff.ly/LsE6kLo

We are pleased to announce John Hitchin will be joining us for our next webinar. Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

How can evaluation help organisations learn, adapt, and drive impact?

Join us on Thursday 17th April at 12pm BST for a free webinar on using evaluation as a tool for learning and strategy.

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Strategic Isomorphism: why do so many strategies look the same? — Firetail When strategies look the same across organisations due to unseen pressures, we call this 'isomorphic strategy'.  But this tendency towards sameness - and its causes - deserves closer examination,…

Ever feel like every strategy sounds the same—yours included?

Find out what's driving this strategic similarity and whether you need to break away from the herd:

"One of the few email newsletters that I look forward to."

Don't just take Emily's word for it...

Sign up for the Briefing here: buff.ly/t12mx1H

The Firetail Guide to Time Travel: Part One — Firetail The ability to travel into the future isn't just for daydreamers or science fiction. It's a critical skill for strategy and planning, particularly when so much feels uncertain, volatile, and fast…

Are you ready to learn the secrets of time travel?

In the first part of our guide to time travel, we outline horizon scanning. This powerful tool can help you plan the route, prepare for the journey, and drive towards the future you want to see and shape.

We're proud to be a Certified B Corporation™, with a legal commitment to consider Firetail’s impact on our stakeholders, both now and in the future. Our B Corp accreditation requires us to meet the highest standards in terms of governance, community, workers, clients, and sustainability.

We are thrilled to announce panel participants for Firetail's next Lunch & Learn webinar, "From Crisis to Action: Sustaining the global fight for women and girls amidst US and UK foreign aid cuts". Register here: buff.ly/XgZcs7Q