Richard Merrick

Every few years the Global Innovation Index tells us who's winning. Switzerland still tops the list. South Korea and Sweden hover near. The United States and Singapore circle the podium. China has nudged into the top ten. The UK, still rich in research, design, and creativity, has slipped

I realised I was a renter when my blog host locked me out of my email list. Nothing dramatic, just an authentication requirement before I could contact my own subscribers. Sensible policy, rather clunky execution. But the moment crystallised something I’d been circling: I don’t own this platform.

In investing, one of the standout strategies of recent years has been Harry Browne’s so-called “permanent portfolio”, an eccentric 25/25/25/25 split between stocks, bonds, gold and cash. It runs against orthodoxy, ignoring theories of weighted allocations or maximising expected returns. Yet, as The Economist recently reported,

If you are getting this post for a second time, apologies. There was a wrinkle getting Ghost to do this, now resolved. (note, good service once problem surfaced) We’ve read the books on strategy, taken the courses on innovation, and attended the conferences on leadership. Subscribed to the newsletters,

Alchemy doesn't scale. In a world defined and measured by productivity, efficiency, and profit, we've lost sight somewhere along the way that each one of us is individual. We are not defined by our credentials. We are not easily comparable. There is no measure of equivalence.

Most of us are caught in the same bind. The work that pays the bills can too often feel thin, measured to the bone, yet finding time to develop what really matters seems impossible. That constraint marks the beginning of this space. The Athanor is named after the alchemist’s