Edition 28 | 31 March 2026

Welcome to The Perspective. Each week, I share a small set of reflections on work, leadership, and clarity, not to add more noise, but to slow things down just enough to think properly. Some ideas are practical, others more reflective, but all are chosen with the same intent: to help us navigate complexity with a steadier hand.

This week’s note centres on something we rarely stop to consider: how quickly temporary shifts become permanent. What starts as a short-term adjustment often ends up reshaping how we work without us really realising it.

Why the Work-From-Home Debate Misses the Point

The debate around working from home seems to swing back and forth every few months. One side says remote work is the future. The other says people need to be back in the office. Both sides sound convinced they’re right.

But I don’t think that’s the real question.

After working across client sites, corporate roles, hybrid setups, and now fully remote teams, I’ve come to a much simpler conclusion: there’s no perfect setup.

Each way of working solves one problem and creates another.

Being in the office is great for learning, for conversations, for building relationships. But it’s not always the best place to think deeply or get through complex work.

Working from home gives you that focus. You can get through things faster, with fewer interruptions. But you lose the small interactions: the quick questions, the conversations that weren’t planned, the moments that build trust over time.

And then there’s the leadership side of things.

Some meetings just work better in person. You read the room differently. You pick up on things you’d miss on a screen.

So the debate isn’t really about where we should work.

It’s about understanding that different types of work need different environments.

Once you see it that way, the whole argument becomes a lot less rigid.

I wrote a fuller piece on this, unpacking the different environments and what I’ve learned across each of them.

View the full article here

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Lessons from a Business Mastermind

Episode 1: Introducing Indra Nooyi

For Season 3, I’ve been reading My Life in Full by Indra Nooyi.

After Sol Kerzner and Phil Knight, what stood out immediately is how different Indra Nooyi’s leadership feels. Less forceful, less chaotic, and far more grounded in responsibility.

She describes leadership as shaping the decades ahead, not reacting to the present, and helping others deal with the discomfort that comes with change.
That stayed with me.

The Lesson:

Leadership is not measured by how well you manage today, but by how clearly you shape what comes next.

The real role of a leader is to take people into a future they may not yet be comfortable with.

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On My Desk

Last week had a different feel.

I sat in a board meeting in my capacity as a non-executive director, which always shifts your perspective slightly. You’re not in the detail, you’re looking at things from the outside in. What stood out was how much of the discussion moved beyond reporting into strategy. Less about what has happened, more about where things are going.

At the same time, I found myself writing.

One piece had been sitting with me for a while: the work-from-home debate. The other came together quickly, off the back of the latest interest rate decision.

Two very different modes in the same week. One reflective. One immediate.

Both necessary.

That brings the total to about twenty articles now, something that’s starting to take shape alongside everything else.

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Closing Perspective Most change doesn’t feel dramatic. It happens slowly. Small adjustments, repeated over time. Until one day, you realise things aren’t the way they used to be. The challenge isn’t just adapting. It’s recognising that things have already changed, and adjusting before you’re forced to. Keep thinking. Move forward. — Yusuf Visit my website

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