Phil Nothard recently pointed me toward PwC Autofacts' May 2026 Market Update. It’s worth reading carefully - not because it confirms what most people in the automotive industry already believe, but because, in several important areas, it contradicts that belief.

I came across Gartner’s 2026 Leadership Vision for Tech CEOs this week - recommended reading from Ashley Tott - and it stopped me in my tracks.

Over the weekend, I picked up The Lean Startup again. For over a decade, it was almost required reading across the technology, venture capital, and startup ecosystems.

Why operational discipline - not volume growth - will define the winners from here.

For much of the last decade, businesses operated in an environment where capital was cheap, inflation was dormant and operational imperfections could often be hidden by liquidity, momentum and rising valuations. That world is gone.

There’s a consistent pattern in how the largest quoted US automotive retailers operate. Different brands. Different geographies. Different management teams.