A Better Future – the weirdfruit blog
Education Is Broken — But We Can Build Something Better
Let’s be honest: the education system most of us grew up with was never built for the world we live in now. It was designed in the 19th century to feed the cogs of the industrial machine; standardised, linear, and soul-flattening. A system that teaches compliance instead of curiosity. One that grades you on how…
AI-assisted coding tips – 10 Hard-Won Lessons From My Year of AI-Assisted Coding (aka “Vibe Coding”) Experiments
So, about a year ago, I took the plunge into AI-assisted coding. At first, I wasn’t even sure what to call it. Was I “vibe coding” before Andrej Karpathy made it a thing? Possibly. More likely, I was fumbling my way around with large language models, trying to see if they could help me build…
The Innovation Illusion: Why Many Companies Think They Innovate (But Don’t)
Innovation Starts at the Top Ask any CEO whether their company is innovative, and you’ll likely get an enthusiastic “Yes!” But dig a little deeper – look at their product pipeline, their openness to new ideas, and their track record of disruptive success – and the reality often tells a different story. This is the…
Exploring AI-Generated Art: Is It Art? Is It Ethical? And Does It Resonate?
This article on the ethics of AI art is slightly off my usual themes of responsible, inclusive leadership, strategy and innovation. I have experimented on and off with creating digital art using the current and growing crop of Generative AI tools. I’ve always enjoyed creating “art”, but have never developed any skills in drawing or…
Balancing Innovation and Risk in Scaling SMEs
Introduction Scaling an SME while balancing risk and innovation is like riding a high-speed descent on a bicycle—you need the courage to go fast but the control to avoid a crash. Luckily for me, on the road, I’ve mostly achieved the former and, so far, avoided the latter. As I’ve written about elsewhere – The…
What Can a Puppy Teach Us About Leadership?
So what has puppy leadership got to do with work? Most people who know me, especially those who follow my social media, will know that we welcomed Mille, a fox red labrador retriever, into our home and hearts last October. Owning a dog, especially a puppy, has certainly been eye-opening. When you bring a puppy…
AI Will Do the Coding, What’s the Point of Humans?
The first time I wrote a program, it was on a DEC PDP-11 in the early 1980s, a computer the size of a small wardrobe. Back then, writing software was an intricate dance of logic and intuition, an exercise in mental gymnastics that required a deep understanding of both the machine and the problem it…
The Workplace of the Future – Generational Shifts, AI, and Redefining Office Culture
The modern office workplace as we know it dates back to the 18th century and the Industrial Revolution. With the current breathtaking speed of development of generative AI and now AI agents, what could the next five years look like? The East India Company (1600–1874) in the UK was one of the earliest organizations to…
Responsible and Inclusive Leadership: The Foundation of an Innovative Growth Culture
In an era where change is the only constant, organizations striving for sustained growth and relevance must prioritize innovation. The explosion of generative AI tools and the possibilities they bring are mind-bending. However, organisations that are slow to adopt new technologies and incapable of the innovation necessary to embrace them will soon be left behind.…
Leadership Lessons from Ted Lasso: A Masterclass in Responsible and Inclusive Management
The TV series Ted Lasso is more than just a heartwarming comedy about an American football coach, the eponymous Ted Lasso played by Jason Sudekis, managing an English soccer team. It’s a deeply insightful portrayal of leadership that transcends sports and dives into the heart of what it means to lead people—emphasizing kindness, empathy, and…
