Almost everything I talked about, and did, this year came back to one unfashionable idea.
Doing the small things properly still matters.
Not the glossy things. Not the strategic slogans. The quiet, unremarkable details that rarely make it into reports or decks. Turning up on time. Explaining a decision clearly. Keeping a promise you did not technically have to keep. Designing something properly before you ask others to use it.
As someone who deals in strategy, and still believes it’s the best way to deliver growth, the step that comes after building the plan is just as important – break it down into small actions, and then do them.
When those things are done well, systems hold. When they are neglected, no amount of scale, technology or policy can save you. That pattern showed up everywhere.
The real problem was never intent
Across social value, leadership, politics, football, productivity and business strategy, the intent was usually sound.
Councils want communities to benefit. Businesses want to win work without wasting time. Charities want sustainable funding. VAR wants accuracy. Political movements want fairness. Founders want growth without losing soul.
What failed was the execution of the basics.
The small connective actions that turn good intentions into something that actually works.
Social value failed at the handover points
Social value is not broken. It is disconnected.
The Procurement Act did the big thing. It set the rule. What it did not do was fund or design the small things that make delivery possible.
Who introduces businesses to charities before contracts start. Who translates obligations into workable projects. Who pays for the planning time. Who owns the relationship when something slips.
Those gaps are not dramatic. They are mundane. And because they are mundane, they get ignored.
The result is helicopters, box ticking and exhausted charities carrying unpaid design work.
Social value works when someone takes responsibility for the boring bits early.
VAR proved technology cannot replace trust
VAR and semi-automated offside were meant to remove debate. They did the opposite.
Not because the technology failed, but because the presentation, explanation and tolerance levels were not made legible to fans.
The line was technically correct. The understanding was not.
That is a lesson businesses keep relearning. Accuracy is not enough. If people cannot follow your reasoning, they will not trust your outcome.
Doing the small thing here would have been simple. Explain margins clearly. Show tolerance levels. Respect the audience’s intelligence.
Instead, we got more arguments.
Leadership fails when nobody owns the details
Cleanliness. Menu coherence. Consistency. Pride.
Founder mentality is often mocked as emotional or irrational. In reality, it is about noticing when small standards slip and acting before they compound.
Systems did not replace that attention. They smoothed over it.
When nobody owns the small things, the big things unravel quietly.
Political movements fall apart the same way
The collapse into factionalism we discussed was not caused by ideology. It was caused by ambiguity.
Who decides. How disputes are resolved. What happens when people disagree. What is non-negotiable.
Those are not philosophical questions. They are operational ones.
Avoiding them in the name of unity does not create harmony. It creates resentment and power vacuums.
Good movements sweat the boring governance details early.
Path dependency thrives on neglect
Path dependency survives because nobody challenges small habits.
The portal stays because it exists. The meeting stays because it is in the diary. The process stays because changing it would be awkward.
Over time, these small non-decisions harden into strategy.
Breaking path dependency rarely requires a revolution. It requires someone to ask, calmly and repeatedly, “Why do we still do this?”
Even productivity followed the same logic
Trying to cure anxiety without redirecting energy did not work.
The fix was not heroic. It was practical. Build channels. Create outlets. Do something useful with the flow.
Ignoring small daily structures in favour of big psychological solutions kept the problem alive.
The year, distilled
Big ideas did not fail this year. Small things were left unattended.
Trust broke where explanation was skipped. Cultures frayed where standards were assumed. Systems collapsed where nobody owned the handoffs.
Doing the little things well is not a personality trait. It is a leadership choice.
Quick lessons to carry forward
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Small execution gaps create big systemic failures
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Trust is built through explanation, not assertion
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Scale magnifies neglect faster than it magnifies excellence
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Founder mentality is attention, not control
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Technology without clarity creates new friction
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Social value succeeds when designed before it is needed
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Governance matters most when nothing is on fire
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Path dependency is usually just unchallenged habit
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Energy needs channels or it becomes noise
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The boring bits are where outcomes are decided
If this year taught me anything, it is this.
Progress is not blocked by a lack of ambition. It is blocked by our tendency to skip the basics once something looks established.
The organisations, movements and systems that will hold up next year will not be the loudest or the fastest.
They will be the ones that quietly keep doing the little things properly, long after everyone else stops paying
