‘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

  • Business Critical Thinking

    Posted on 

    On the risks of blindly following technology in the age of AI In the summer of 2009, 28 year old nurse Alicia Sanchez was driving through Death Valley National Park with her six-year-old son Carlos when her GPS directed her onto an

    Continue reading

  • Re-imagining the corporation in the age of AI

    Posted on 

    Alex McCann has been doing some interesting writing around the current and future state of corporate work over the past year. He wrote that well-shared (I refuse to say ‘viral’) post on the death of the corporate job which seemed to resonate with a huge number

    Continue reading

  • Using AI to Ask Better Questions

    Posted on 

    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

    Continue reading

  • The Clown and the Editor in Creative and Strategy Workflows

    Posted on 

    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

    Continue reading

  • Shipped in 2025

    Posted on 

    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

    Continue reading

  • What comes after LLMs?

    Posted on 

    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

    Continue reading

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.