Outside-in diligence
What is owned, who controls it and where the risk really sits.
Investigator · Journalist · Cultural intelligence
The story changes
when you get closer.
I find out what is really going on: inside companies, between people and beneath the official version.
What I do
Some questions cannot be answered from a desk.
You have to go there. Listen properly. Notice who speaks, who does not, and what changes when the meeting ends.
I am a journalist.
Most of my work is not made public.
A CEO.An owner.A board.The readership is small. The stakes are not.
Alice · The quiet work
Private intelligence,
applied.
With Alice, I investigate companies, individuals, family enterprises and unfamiliar markets, often before a decision that matters.
I use open sources, fieldwork and relationship mapping. Then comes judgement. Most of the work remains private.
People & networks
Identity, authority, history, relationships and contradictions.
On-the-ground verification
The facts that only appear once somebody goes there.
The method
Evidence first.
Instinct close behind.
Follow the trail
Companies. People. Ownership. Money. Reputation. Influence. I start with what can be proved.
Enter the room
Then I go closer. Culture changes the meaning of almost everything.
Make it useful
A report. A briefing. A story. A film. Something that helps you decide.
From above, you see the pattern.
On the ground, you learn what it means.
Samuel Polley
Journalist by instinct.
Investigator by habit.
Communicator by trade.
I have worked in politics, media, campaigns and family enterprise.
I ask direct questions. I notice small things. I am comfortable not knowing, at least for a while.
BritishBased in ZurichAt home in unfamiliar places
Speaking & private briefings
Put me in a room.
Conferences, boardrooms and private gatherings. I do not deliver a lecture. I bring the room into the investigation.
A conversation
Bring me the question
nobody is answering.
Investigations. Private briefings. Speaking.