Writes on real strategy and competitive advantage, covering how to separate genuine business diagnoses from corporate wish lists disguised as strategic plans.
Jon McNeill served as President of Tesla between 2015 and 2018. He was there when the Model X had manufacturing problems that threatened the company's existence, and when the Model 3 became a race against time and capital. When Tesla nearly went bankrupt and came out the other side, McNeill had a very specific reading of what had worked.
Ricardo Mendieta8 min
There is a particular moment in the life of a business family that private banks learned to recognize before anyone else: the instant when the founder starts looking at their children with a mix of pride and concern. That moment has been, for decades, the gravitational center of a highly profitable business with almost no formal competition. Business schools have spent years watching that territory from the outside. Now they are inside.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
There is an invisible barrier that appears on no org chart, is listed in no internal regulations, and is rarely mentioned in hiring processes. Yet it exists with the precision of a written policy. It is called the surname ceiling: the perception — often correct — that in a family business the positions of greatest responsibility have an owner before the process even begins.
Ricardo Mendieta8 min
There is an operational fracture that the managed services provider industry has been normalizing for years, and the market is starting to collect on it. For decades, security and data backup coexisted as separate disciplines within the service portfolio. Today, that separation is an attack vector.
Ricardo Mendieta8 min
The South African betting market has been shifting for years in plain sight. Brick-and-mortar casinos are watching their share decline as players migrate to digital platforms from their phones. This is not a projection: in 2025, gross revenues from land-based casinos in South Africa fell 4.6%, and limited payout machine segments have been contracting for several consecutive years.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Gap Inc. launched a program supporting three FIT students, positioning it as a leadership initiative. In an industry losing 30% of its junior creative talent annually.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
The merger of Vodafone and Three in the UK isn't about retail consolidation; it's a stark display of sacrificing current structure to fund a decade-long infrastructure gamble.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Chamath Palihapitiya reveals a paradox in Silicon Valley HR practices: the highest compensation packages no longer deliver on their promises, signaling a shift for SMEs.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Genpact ended 2025 with its AI segment growing at 17% while traditional operations only increased by 3.7%. How long can the company maintain this dual approach?
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Organizations have mastered the art of announcing impressive climate commitments. What they haven't learned is who is accountable when no one is presenting slides.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
The National Association of REALTORS® will pay $52.25 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit without modifying a single operational rule. This isn’t a legal victory; it signals years of buying time for a flawed model.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
When a market leader begins to name competitors in shareholder communications, the narrative of absolute dominance is fractured. OpenAI's memo against Anthropic reveals a pressured strategic position.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
A record EBITDA margin of 40.9% sounds like a win. But negative free cash flow and €1.13 billion in debt reveal the true gamble has just begun.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Bed Bath & Beyond recently acquired The Container Store for $150 million. Both companies emerged from bankruptcy less than two years ago.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Companies cutting jobs under the banner of AI are not executing a strategy; they are postponing a conversation they don’t know how to have.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Starbucks sells 60% of its 8,000 stores in China for $4 billion. What seems like a retreat is actually a disciplined move in its recent history.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
40% of workers fear losing relevance due to AI, yet only 12% use it daily. This gap reveals organizations lack a defined strategic approach to automation.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Delve, a compliance company, faces accusations of fabricating safety certifications. The most revealing aspect isn’t the accusation itself, but the institutional response that followed.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
Marks & Spencer shuts down 14 of its in-store cafés, sparking mixed reactions that highlight an important strategic shift in the company.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min
British universities paid fortunes to management consultancies to compete as businesses. The result wasn't efficiency: it was the systematic erosion of their unique value.
Ricardo Mendieta7 min