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About — The Author Behind the Lens

I write to share what experience has taught me.

I'm James Chikaonda. For most of my working life, I've sat at the meeting point of strategy, marketing, leadership and delivery the place where good ideas either become real or quietly fall apart.

Along the way, I've collected far more lessons than I could ever keep to myself from work that went brilliantly, projects that went sideways, leaders who shaped me, and the ordinary, humbling business of being a person. The Strategy Lens is where I write them down.

This isn't a CV, and it was never meant to sell anything. It's a place to think out loud honestly and without ego in the hope that what I've learned might be useful to someone walking a similar road.

Portrait of James Chikaonda
01

Why I write

I love writing. I spend a lot of time in my head, and writing becomes an expression of how I think. Putting a lesson into words forces me to be honest about what actually happened, what I got wrong and what was worth keeping. If it helps a reader think too, all the better.

02

What this is

A publication, not a portfolio. The Strategy Lens is a growing archive of practical lessons drawn from work, sport, technology, leadership and life built quietly, one article at a time.

03

What to expect

Thoughtful, readable ideas you can actually use never confidential and never about ego. Some weeks, it's strategy. Other weeks, it's a lesson from a Formula 1 pit wall, a football match or life itself. Always something to think about.

The Threads I Keep Pulling

I'm fascinated by the places where disciplines rhyme where a Formula 1 pit stop explains something about teamwork, where a football substitution teaches leadership under pressure, and where the patience required in life turns out to be the same patience a good strategy needs.

Elite sport, in particular, keeps teaching me. The margins are visible, the feedback is immediate and the pressure is real which makes it an unusually honest mirror for the things we tell ourselves about decision-making, reinvention and sustained performance. Expect those lessons to show up often.

What I Believe

A few principles that hold the writing together.

i.
Share lessons, not confidential information.
The value is in the principle, never in the private detail.
ii.
Share ideas, not ego.
Including the mistakes and, oh boy, especially the mistakes.
iii.
Share progress, not promises.
Show the work. Let the results speak for themselves.
iv.
Build quietly. Learn continuously.
The compounding kind of growth rarely announces itself.

Come for an article. Stay for the ideas.

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The publication also has a quieter companion: Axis Strategy Lab, a future advisory venture turning these ideas into practice.