‘Change is the process by which the future invades our lives’
Alvin Toffler
Only Dead Fish is a blog and digital consultancy run by Neil Perkin. Neil is the author of three best-selling books on the intersection of business transformation and organisational agility: Building the Agile Business, Agile Transformation, and Agile Marketing (all through Kogan Page). He is also the curator of Google Firestarters. Find out more about my workshops, speaking and strategic consultancy.
Latest Posts
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Using AI to Ask Better Questions
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I wanted to go deeper on a theme that has come up repeatedly in my work – how do we genuinely break out of assumptions that can hold us back (including those we don’t even know we have). And ultimately, how can
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The Clown and the Editor in Creative and Strategy Workflows
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It being the end of one year and the start of another I wanted to use this as an opportunity to pull together several strands that have dominated my thinking over the last 12 months notably the heightened value of critical thinking
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Shipped in 2025
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For the last 12 years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) I’ve written an end of year retrospective. This is, as I say every year, less about pushing my achievements and more about taking a step back to look at the shape of what I’ve done
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What comes after LLMs?
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Last week I wrote about the fundamental differences in the way that large language models and humans learn, and I noted that many of these differences speak to some integral limitations of text-based language models. This is particularly true when thinking about where AI
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The differences between how LLMs and humans learn
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I’m not a technical AI expert but I have tried hard to learn more about how LLMs work, mostly so that I can better understand the role that AI can play, its potential and its (current) limitations, and how humans can best
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Why systems beat goals
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When I wrote my first book about agility and business transformation I wrote about the idea that in leading change, systems beat goals. It’s a principle that I keep coming back to, both in my transformation work with businesses and in a personal context
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.