For RetailersFor PartnersThe Readiness GapThe Readiness StackCLEAR · PurposeGRIT · PeopleReFRAME · The workAssessmentsPerspectivesThe bookAboutWork with us
Perspectives

Written from the store floor.

Articles and studies on organisational readiness, signed by the people who wrote them, with sources footnoted and nothing behind a login.

PillarAllPurposePeopleProcess
KindCurrentPerspectiveArchive
Latest · Perspective · All pillarsThe AI Readiness GapThe distance between the capability you can buy and your organisation's ability to carry it, and why AI made it unforgiving.Andrew SmithAndrew Smith · 2026 · 9 min read
Perspective
·
All
The AI Readiness Gap
The distance between the capability you can buy and your organisation's ability to carry it, and why AI made it unforgiving.
Andrew Smith
·
August 1, 2026
·
9 min
Perspective
·
Purpose
Nobody consciously made your customers miserable
The CLEAR argument in disguise. How reasonable decisions compound into an experience nobody chose.
Andrew Smith
·
April 15, 2026
·
5 min
Perspective
·
People
The Frontline Paradox
The people closest to the customer are the last to be asked and the first to be measured.
Andrew Smith
·
February 20, 2026
·
5 min
Perspective
·
The work
AI innovation theatre, and why we keep doing it
The demo went well, the applause was real, and nothing changed. The incentives that keep the show running.
Andrew Smith
·
February 12, 2026
·
5 min
Perspective
·
The work
Innovation metrics that matter
What to count when activity is easy to measure and progress is not.
Andrew Smith
·
August 26, 2024
·
5 min
Archive
·
All
The NRF diaries, 2021 and 2023
Six days at the Big Show, kept with their original dates.
Andrew Smith
·
February 7, 2023
·
5 min
Archive
·
All
Sustainability in retail
From the earlier library, with its original date.
Andrew Smith
·
April 22, 2021
·
5 min
Perspective
·
The work
Innovation friction
Where good ideas slow down, and which frictions are actually doing a job.
Andrew Smith
·
October 20, 2020
·
6 min
Perspective
·
Purpose
Purpose is the foundation
The essay that became CLEAR, read again in 2026 with readiness in mind.
Gareth Jude
·
March 7, 2019
·
6 min
Archive
·
All
Mistaken identity, parts one and two
On retailers borrowing someone else's strategy.
Gareth Jude
·
February 22, 2019
·
6 min
Perspective
·
All
Retail innovation is hard
Why execution DNA is the advantage, not the obstacle.
Gareth Jude
·
January 18, 2019
·
5 min
Perspective
·
All
What I have learned about retail innovation
Field notes from years of trying things.
Andrew Smith
·
January 9, 2019
·
4 min

Every article ends with the assessment it pairs with. The archive holds the earlier library, 2020 to 2023, with its original dates.

The Uncommonist, our newsletter →