The Fixer
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Clarity is underrated (especially about sunk costs)!

Clarity is underrated (especially about sunk costs)!

Welcome to The Fixer, a weekly newsletter from The WayFinders Group. You could be making headlines for all the wrong reasons, but it won't happen to you because you're here learning from other leaders' spectacular missteps. Every Friday, we forensically examine the corporate crises that could have been avoided with foresight, fresh thinking, and a phone call to the right people (aka us!). We also provide the next installment of our agony aunt column, and the best escapism money can buy.

Leah Brown FRSA
August 22, 2025

Friday’s Fiasco

Over the weekend, The Observer revealed that Britain's flagship AI outfit, the Alan Turing Institute housed at the British Library, is imploding from within. Staff satisfaction has plummeted, partnerships are being cancelled mid-stream, and only 11 percent of employees have a positive view of their leadership. The institute that was supposed to lead the world in artificial intelligence can't even manage its own people.

Our advice to Turing? Decide if you're committed to transformation or committed to throwing good money after bad.

The cultural breakdown is spectacular: staff are playing "political bingo" during meetings, writing down management's corporate catchphrases for entertainment. But this isn't just another toxic workplace - this is a publicly funded body burning through taxpayer money while failing its basic mission.

The real scandal isn't technical - it's the fundamental misunderstanding of what governing public institutions requires.

Academic brilliance doesn't translate to stewarding public resources or serving multiple masters from ministers to universities to the public. You can't run a government institute like a private startup when transparency and accountability aren’t optional extras.

The governance failures are telling:

Partnerships cancelled without proper consultation, staff describing being "gaslit," and leadership apparently immune to the responsibilities that come with public funding. A genuine turnaround requires admitting these aren't teething problems - they're systemic failures that demand wholesale leadership change, cultural rebuild, and improved governance structures.

The brutal choice that remains to be made:

Half-measures will likely create more expensive failure, so either (1) commit to a complete overhaul with new leadership with independent oversight, or (2) admit this is a sunk cost fallacy and restructure before more taxpayer money is required to fund continuing dysfunction.

Fix me!

Dear Leah,

I'm Chief People Officer overseeing the integration of a company we bought eight months ago. The deal was sold as a "merger of equals" but everyone knows we're the buyer. The target company's leadership team is exceptionally talented - which is why we bought them - but they're increasingly vocal about our "corporate bureaucracy" killing their innovation culture. Meanwhile, our existing leadership team is frustrated that the new people "don't understand our standards and processes." Last month, three key leaders from the target company handed in their notice, citing "cultural incompatibility." Our CEO is now questioning whether we should have done the deal at all, but we've already invested £50 million. The integration committee meetings have become tense affairs where both sides speak in code. I feel like I'm mediating a divorce whilst trying to plan a wedding. How do I bridge two cultures without losing the very talent we paid so much to buy?

— Deal or No Deal

Hi there ‘Deal or No Deal’,
You're living every People Officer's nightmare - trying to blend oil and water whilst everyone watches the £50 million investment potentially evaporate. The good news? This is fixable. The bad news? You're trying to solve a human problem with corporate tools.

Facing your own fiasco? Don't let your crisis become next week's newsletter feature. Call us.

Find clarity fast - Our same-day diagnostic gives you immediate understanding of what's broken and a clear roadmap to fix it. Perfect when you need urgent direction before making critical decisions.

Fix conflicts properly - Through board mediation, team mediation, and conflict resolution training, we facilitate genuine resolution that strengthens relationships rather than just managing disputes.

Future-proof after crisis - Our post-crisis restoration programme systematically repairs organisational culture over 90 days, ensuring lasting transformation rather than temporary fixes.

Find your way forward whether a merger gone wrong, a scandal brewing, or simply the sense that your organisation has lost its way - we help leaders chart a course to calmer waters.

If you're ready to avoid becoming our next case study or want to feature a case study of your own, contact us at [email protected].

Feel-good Fixes

Feed yourself well
Goji berries are back! This week we're obsessed with what's described as a "nutritionally rich blend" of cold-milled flaxseed, sunflower, pumpkin, chia seeds and goji berries. It's organic, it's delicious, and we can vouch for it being the perfect antidote to Monday morning guilt. Sprinkle it over those green smoothies you've been meaning to make, stir it into the virtuous plain yoghurt lurking at the back of your fridge, or simply eat it by the spoonful while pretending you're being healthy (we won't judge).

Find your flow
If September's proximity has you breaking out in hives more than this year's wasps, why not try some breathwork exercises? As mediators, we recommend box breathing, and because we know you're not going to click on the link, here's the gist. Also known as "square breathing," box breathing is beautifully simple: Inhale for 4 seconds…Hold your breath for 4 seconds…Exhale for 4 seconds…Hold again for 4 seconds. Repeat.

Even a few minutes of this can promote relaxation, release tension, and switch off your "fight or flight" response. This technique has impressive credentials and endorsements from Navy SEALs and folk of ancient wisdom, but unfortunately it's not quite powerful enough to make September go away.

Fuel your body
If you didn’t make it to the gym this week, fear not because Bank Holiday Weekend is upon us. There’s still time to escape the city to the coast with the rest of the Down From London-ers (DFL’s). Why not buck the trend of the towns, and visit a vineyard instead? We’ve recently had a delectable bottle of Pinor Noir from Heppington Vineyard which is smoother than a second hand car salesman, and as moreish as your nan's Victoria sponge. Which makes us think that a walk across the Kent Downs from Bridge to Chartham might be just the ticket. We recommend driving to the start or end of the route as who knows what Southeastern Trains have planned. Many of the wineries that frequented the Canterbury Wine Festival reside in the area.

Flex your brain
On a resoundingly positive recommendation, Leah's been reading Patric Gagne's book, Sociopath: A Memoir. What started as curiosity about a rare first-person account of sociopathy quickly became a deeper dive into how we understand and misunderstand antisocial personality disorders. Despite the heavy subject matter, Gagne's writing is surprisingly humorous: she has a knack for finding the absurd in her own behaviour and the reactions of others around her. The book raises fascinating questions about diagnostic labels, public perception, and the gap between clinical definitions and lived experience. Gagne's self-identification as a "sociopath" rather than someone with Antisocial Personality Disorder sparks important conversations about how we categorise complex human behaviour. Whether you're interested in psychology, criminal justice, or simply understanding the people around us better, it's a thought-provoking read that challenges assumptions about empathy, morality, and what makes someone truly dangerous. Sometimes the most unsettling books are the ones that make you question what you thought you knew, especially when they make you laugh whilst doing it.

About The WayFinders Group

You know those moments when board conflicts spiral out of control, your leadership team can't function, or you're dealing with the aftermath of an organisational crisis? That's exactly when you need The WayFinders Group.

Founded by lawyer and accredited mediator Leah Brown FRSA, we help leaders improve the bottom line by resolving conflict and restoring workplaces from chaos to clarity. We're the multi-disciplinary team you call when traditional HR solutions aren't enough and you need systematic transformation, not just damage control. Our proven approach works because we don't just address symptoms - we tackle root causes using The WayFinders Restoration Method delivering reductions in workplace conflicts and helping organisations avoid costly tribunals whilst rebuilding stakeholder trust.

Our track record includes transforming private companies, NHS trusts, police forces, sports teams, and educational institutions, plus handling the kind of boardroom breakdowns and CEO crises that end careers if mismanaged. We ensure sustainable transformation rather than quick fixes. Think of us as the team that prevents your next move resulting in failure, and instead sets the foundation for the legacy you want to leave. Because when you can handle the impossible personalities and navigate the political minefields, everything else becomes manageable.