‘Change is the process by which the future invades our lives’
Alvin Toffler
Only Dead Fish is a consultancy focused on AI strategy, transformation and leadership, run by Neil Perkin. Neil is the author of three best-selling books on the intersection of business transformation, organisational agility and leadership: Building the Agile Business, Agile Transformation, and Agile Marketing (all through Kogan Page). He curates the Google Firestarters thought leadership series and designs and delivers AI programmes for the IPA.
Neil works with organisations navigating the strategic, cultural and leadership challenges of AI adoption, through keynotes, workshops, training programmes and strategic consultancy. Clients include Google, AstraZeneca, Lloyds Banking Group, Diageo, BBC, the NHS, Imperial College London, and agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Omnicom.
Latest Posts
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AI and the OODA Loop
Most AI use today is open-loop. People prompt, get an output, use it, and move on, meaning that each interaction is consumed the moment it’s produced. Last week I wrote about AI as compounding capability in the context of agencies and operating models, but it’s a principle that has much broader application. Getting value from AI and…
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The New Agency Operating Model
I recently ran a morning session at the ICOM World Meeting in Porto on the new operating model for advertising agencies. ICOM is the global network for independent agencies and the room was full of agency founders and leaders from markets around the world. A big part of the session focused on a scenario modelling exercise where…
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Creating an AI Braintrust
Years ago, when I first read (Pixar co-founder) Ed Catmull’s brilliant book Creativity Inc, I remember really loving their ‘Braintrust’ idea. This is where a group of Pixar’s finest creative brains come together regularly to review outputs and provide candid, constructive feedback on films in development. Ed Catmull described at the time how the job of the…
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The AI Inevitability Trap
If there’s one phrase that best expresses the two-way nature of the relationship between humanity and technology it’s probably Father John Culkin’s quote (often attributed to Marshall McLuhan): ‘We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us’. Humans create the technology, but that technology later shapes human behaviour, culture, perceptions, norms, and even the physical…
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Why Every Company Needs an AI Philosophy
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about that MIT Sloan piece that I shared in FF686 on how ‘Philosophy Eats AI’. The piece argues that three branches of philosophy are already embedded in every AI deployment whether leaders recognise it or not: teleology (what should AI models achieve?), epistemology (what counts as knowledge?), and…
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The Brodie Helmet Problem
When the Brodie helmet, designed by John Leopold Brodie in 1915, was introduced to the British Army in the First World War it was intended to protect the soldiers from flying shrapnel. Until 1915 soldiers went into battle wearing soft cloth caps but it soon became apparent from the huge number of fatal head wounds from…
My books
Agile Transformation
Now on its second edition, Agile Transformation sets out a blueprint for a different type of organisation which is characterised by continuous change and adaptability. Covering approaches to organisational design, operations and culture, this book reveals how leaders can catalyse far greater responsiveness and apply agile principles at scale.
Agile Marketing
Published in 2022, Agile Marketing is the definitive guide to redesigning marketing structures, processes and culture for the digital age. It covers how to put data at the heart of agility and performance, how to empower fast-moving teams and decisions, and how to catalyse a culture of collaboration and learning in marketing strategy and execution.
Building the Agile Business through Digital Transformation
Also on its second edition, Building the Agile Business is designed to be a comprehensive guide to transforming organisations to be fit-for-purpose for the digital-enabled world. This book defines a roadmap for digital transformation setting out the key principles, strategies and tools that leaders can use to create lasting change.