MARKHAM
The Markham Institute

Perspectives

Essays, video briefings and commentary on strategy, transformation and the mechanics of execution. Written from engagements, not from theory.

Published fortnightlyThree registers: essays, video briefings, commentaryPositions are the author’s; evidence is the Institute’sArchive complete since January 2025
Featured · Essay

The discipline of fewer priorities

Every failed transformation we have audited carried more than five concurrent priorities. Every durable one carried three or fewer. The correlation is strong enough to be treated as a design constraint — and it changes how a leadership agenda should be built.

The Execution NotesJuly 20268 min read
Essay
The discipline of fewer prioritiesWhy concurrent priorities behave like load on a structure — and where the limit sits.Essay · Jul 2026 · 8 min
Video
Briefing: reading an operating model in ninety minutesA recorded walkthrough of the first diagnostic session we run inside any engagement.Video briefing · Jun 2026 · 22 min
Commentary
On the return of the operating committeeA quiet structural shift is underway in mid-market governance. Most boards have not noticed.Commentary · Jun 2026 · 4 min
Essay
Decision velocity is a balance-sheet itemSlow decisions carry a carrying cost. We put a number on it across 40 organisations.Essay · May 2026 · 11 min
Essay
The implementation gap, quantifiedStrategy documents promise 100%. Operations deliver 34%, on median. Where the other two-thirds go.Essay · Apr 2026 · 12 min
Video
Briefing: sequencing a transformation portfolioWhich initiatives go first, which wait, and the test that decides.Video briefing · Apr 2026 · 18 min
Commentary
AI programmes are transformation programmesTreating AI adoption as an IT project is the fastest way to write it off. A note on ownership.Commentary · Mar 2026 · 5 min
Essay
What boards should ask in month threeThe early signals that separate a transformation that will hold from one that will drift.Essay · Feb 2026 · 9 min
Commentary
Against the two-year roadmapLong roadmaps flatter certainty that does not exist. Commit in drawn phases instead.Commentary · Jan 2026 · 4 min