Arkaro Insights: adapt and thrive in complexity

Arkaro Insights: adapt and thrive in complexity brings together practitioners and researchers for honest, practical conversations on leadership, change and innovation in a complex, adaptive world. Each episode gives B2B executives the thinking and tools to lead transformation, not just manage it — whether in agriculture, food, chemicals or any industry where complexity is the daily reality. We explore four interconnected themes: The AI Implementation Blueprint — how leaders cut through the hype and embed AI as a genuine organisational capability The Human Edge — the neuroscience and psychology of change, creativity and decision-making under uncertainty Outside-In Innovation — customer needs, market signals and the disciplines that turn insight into growth Strategy for Complex Adaptive Systems — emergent strategy, integrated business planning and leading organisations that learn and adapt

Arkaro Insights: adapt and thrive in complexity is a business podcast hosted by Mark Blackwell, with 71 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Mark Blackwell hosts Arkaro Insights: adapt and thrive in complexity, a business show with 71 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #71

  Beyond Borders: Why Culture Is the Hidden Variable in Every IBP Implementation | Eric Wilson

  Aug 18, 202633 min

  Two regional business units run the same S&OP or IBP software, trained by the same team. One flies, one flounders. It's rarely the technology. It's rarely even the process. It's culture. In this episode, Mark is joined by Eric Wilson, Director of Thought Leadership at the Institute of Business Forecasting (IBF) and author of Beyond Borders: Cultural Complexity in Global Business . Drawing on hundreds of interviews and over 25 years in planning leadership roles at Tempur Sealy, Berry Plastics and Escalade Sports, Eric explains why IBP is fundamentally a human, social process rather than an engineering one, and why so many organisations approach it the wrong way round: technology first, process second, people forgotten. Mark and Eric explore Eric's 16 regional cultures and nine business dimensions, the contrast between fail fast Silicon Valley thinking and Japan's consensus-built, fail proof approach, and the difference between cultures that trust the process and those that trust the person, memorably summed up as "meat eaters and olive oils." They also dig into a real story of cross-cultural collaboration on an academic paper, the surprising links between trust and every one of Eric's nine dimensions, and a live debate on why AI adoption may divide along East-West lines. Eric closes with three pieces of advice for any S&OP or IBP leader wanting to design a process that works with human nature rather than against it. In this episode: Why organisations default to a technology first mindset, and what it costs them Eric's 16 cultural regions and nine dimensions for global business planning Fail fast versus fail proof: the US-Japan planning culture clash Trust as the golden thread running through every dimension The Sven Crone story: big D versus little d decision making Cognitive diversity, East-West AI adoption, and what it means for planning teams Three things to change on Monday morning About Eric Wilson Eric Wilson is Director of Thought Leadership at the Institute of Business Forecasting (IBF) and host of the IBF On Demand podcast. An Advanced Certified Professional Forecaster with over 25 years of experience, he previously held senior planning leadership roles at Tempur Sealy, Berry Plastics and Escalade Sports. He was named a "Pro to Know" by Supply + Demand Chain Executive and received the IBF Excellence in Forecasting & Planning award. He is the author of Practical Guide to Sales and Operations Planning and, most recently, Beyond Borders: Cultural Complexity in Global Business . Links Book: https://a.co/d/06lu6xuK Eric's website: https://ericwilsonauthor.com Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilsondemand Connect with Arkaro: Follow us on LinkedIn: Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro Mark Blackwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrblackwell/ Newsletter - Arkaro Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/arkaro-insights-6924308904973631488/ Visit our website: www.arkaro.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@arkaro Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com For business enquiries: mark@arkaro.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #70

  From Ought to Is: Deborah Rowland on the Bouncers on the Door of the Night Club of Truth

  Aug 2, 202634 min

  Most transformation programmes don't fail from poor project management. They fail because leaders are managing how they believe the world ought to be, rather than facing how it actually is . In this episode, Mark speaks with Deborah Rowland, one of the world's foremost thinkers on leading large, complex change, formerly of Shell, PepsiCo, Gucci and the BBC, and author of the new book From Ought to Is: Catalysing Change and Movement in a Polarised World . Deborah argues that our "oughts", the implicit codes we carry about how the world should be, act as bouncers on the doors of the night club of truth, letting in only the facts that confirm what we already believe. Real change starts only when leaders can put those oughts aside long enough to face what is actually true, however uncomfortable that truth might be. Mark and Deborah cover why resistance in a change process usually signals an ought clinging to an old loyalty rather than reality breaking through, why the body registers truth before the mind can name it, and how Deborah's own hemisphere thinking connects to Iain McGilchrist's work discussed in a recent episode with David Hurst. Deborah also shares a striking story from her consulting practice, and a simple daily discipline, bracketing, equalising and describing, for facing reality one ordinary working day at a time. About Deborah Rowland Deborah Rowland is a leading thinker, speaker, writer, coach and practitioner in the leadership of large, complex change. Over a career spanning more than three decades, she has led change inside global organisations including Royal Dutch Shell, PepsiCo, Gucci Group and BBC Worldwide, and founded the Still Moving consultancy. She was named to the Thinkers50 Radar list and the 2021 HR Most Influential Thinker list. She is the co-author of Sustaining Change: Leadership That Works and the author of the bestselling Still Moving: How to Lead Mindful Change and the Still Moving Field Guide . Her latest book, From Ought to Is: Catalysing Change and Movement in a Polarised World , is out now. Deborah Rowland / From Ought to Is Deborah's website: https://www.deborahrowland.com/ From Ought to Is (Wiley): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781394265145 From Ought to Is (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Ought-Catalysing-Change-Movement-Polarised/dp/1394265115 Connect with Arkaro: Follow us on LinkedIn: Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro Mark Blackwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrblackwell/ Newsletter - Arkaro Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/arkaro-insights-6924308904973631488/ Visit our website: www.arkaro.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@arkaro Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com For business enquiries: mark@arkaro.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #69

  Engineer or Gardener? David Hurst on AI, the Ecocycle and the Rigidity Trap

  Jul 28, 202640 min

  Most senior leaders in mature businesses know something is wrong. Their organisation is efficient, profitable and increasingly unable to move. What they lack is a language for what to do about it. ** This podcast references a number of slides. You may prefer the version on www.youtube.com/@arkaro ** David Hurst has spent fifty years developing that language. In this episode of Arkaro Insights, the author of The New Ecology of Leadership and Crisis & Renewal joins Mark Blackwell to revisit the ecocycle in the age of AI. The result is a rare kind of conversation: theoretically deep, practically usable and honest about what generative AI can and cannot do for a mature organisation. David maps a two-loop trajectory of organisational life. The front loop of growth, maturity and conservation is where large language model AI does its best work, predicting stable patterns from yesterday's data. The back loop of crisis and renewal is where the map runs out and only a compass will do. Most large businesses in agriculture, food and chemicals sit at the top of the front loop, brilliant at yesterday's logic and vulnerable to today's change. Escaping the rigidity trap means learning to toggle between two postures: the engineer who optimises a known system and the gardener who creates conditions for an unknown future to emerge. About David Hurst David K. Hurst is a reflective practitioner, speaker, educator and writer on management. He spent twenty-five years as a senior operating executive in Canadian industry, followed by three decades as a writer and educator. Author of Crisis & Renewal (Harvard Business School Press) and The New Ecology of Leadership (Columbia Business School Publishing). Contributing editor at strategy+business. Regular contributor to the Global Peter Drucker Forum. Based in Oakville, Ontario. Website: www.davidkhurst.com Recent essays: davidkhurst.medium.com Connect with Arkaro: Follow us on LinkedIn: Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro Mark Blackwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrblackwell/ Newsletter - Arkaro Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/arkaro-insights-6924308904973631488/ Visit our website: www.arkaro.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@arkaro Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com For business enquiries: mark@arkaro.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #68

  Value Centric: Why Your IBP Process Is Executing the Wrong Things Brilliantly | Dov Shenkman

  Jul 9, 202634 min

  Many businesses are brilliant at execution, and brilliant at executing the wrong things. Dov Shenkman, CEO of Atid Group and author of Value Centric, explains why efficiency alone is a downward spiral, and how AI is about to close the gap between planning and value. Profit is not the goal. Profit is a result. That single reframe sits at the heart of this conversation with Dov Shenkman, CEO of Atid Group and author of the newly published Value Centric . Dov spent more than three decades leading global supply chains and operations, including major overhauls at Medtronic and Walgreens Boots Alliance, before turning his attention to a blind spot he sees in most S&OP and IBP processes, they are built for efficiency in a stable world that no longer exists. Mark and Dov trace the evolution of S&OP through to Integrated Business Planning, and why even organisations that have mastered the methodology can still be playing brilliantly in the wrong ocean. What we cover: The premise behind "brilliant execution of the wrong things" — why efficiency-focused planning, however well run, tends to reinforce a downward spiral rather than reverse it. Value as the missing trade-off currency — Dov's case for treating value, not revenue or forecast accuracy, as the true bridge between sales and operations. The Customer-Business Value Matrix — how to segment customers into value partners, retention risks, margin diluters and value destroyers, and why the hardest conversations are usually about the last group. From paper maps to self-driving cars — Dov's analogy for where AI takes S&OP and IBP next, and why most organisations are still navigating with a GPS rather than letting the system close the loop. Reactive versus proactive transformation — why roughly 90% of the transformations Dov has led in his career were reactive, and what it takes to get ahead of the curve instead of responding to it. This episode is essential listening for Business leaders, S&OP leaders, supply chain and operations executives, commercial and finance leaders, and anyone responsible for turning planning into genuine value creation. Related episodes: Fusion Strategy: The $75 Trillion Industrial AI Opportunity | Venkat Venkatraman — https://www.buzzsprout.com/2012667/episodes/19324094 Niels Van Hove on Human-AI Collaboration in S&OE, S&OP & IBP — https://www.buzzsprout.com/2012667/episodes/18425013 Connect with Dov Shenkman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dov-shenkman-a090162/ Book: Value Centric: The Proven Framework for How Modern Companies Transform and Win — https://a.co/d/0j4X7F8G Blog: https://www.valuecentricibp.com/blog Connect with Arkaro: 🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn: Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro Mark Blackwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrblackwell/ Newsletter - Arkaro Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/arkaro-insights-6924308904973631488/ 🌐 Visit our website: www.arkaro.com 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@arkaro Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com 📧 For business enquiries: mark@arkaro.com

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #67

  Junk Values: Why Corporate Values Fail and What to Do Instead | Erika Clegg

  Jul 4, 202634 min

  Most corporate values are useless. Not because values don't matter, but because organisations have spent thirty years reaching for the same twenty-four words, integrity, collaboration, respect, excellence, and wondering why nobody believes them. Erika Clegg is the co-founder of Larkenby, creator of the Active Ethos method and author of Junk Values . She joins Mark Blackwell to explain why generic values actively damage the organisations that adopt them, and what it takes to build values that are, in her words, magnetic: ones that attract the right people and repel the wrong ones. The conversation covers: Why the values problem started in the mid-nineties and has got steadily worse The Oxford Character Project finding that over 50% of FTSE 350 companies share the same top value How the Active Ethos method works, from diagnostic to embedded culture The difference between an essential purpose and an inspiring vision, and why you need both Why Cook's "Churchill's Pig" is one of the best corporate values ever created Mary Parker Follett's invisible leader, and why her century-old ideas are more relevant than ever Erika's book Junk Values is shortlisted for the Smart Thinking category of the Business Book Awards 2026 and is available from all good bookstores. Her podcast, Slow Values, is available wherever you listen. 🌐 erikaclegg.com Connect with Arkaro: 🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn: Arkaro Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arkaro Mark Blackwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrblackwell/ Newsletter - Arkaro Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/arkaro-insights-6924308904973631488/ 🌐 Visit our website: www.arkaro.com 📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@arkaro Audio Podcast: https://arkaroinsights.buzzsprout.com 📧 For business enquiries: mark@arkaro.com

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Arkaro Insights: adapt and thrive in complexity. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.