Notes and sources
The notes below identify the external research, public records, and direct testimony supporting particular passages. The personal and business stories in the book draw principally on attributed accounts, recorded conversations, and working material supplied or discussed for the book. Where a number, outcome, or interpretation comes from a participant, the narrative identifies that source and limits what is claimed. Private supporting material is not reproduced here. Some employer and client details have been anonymised or omitted.
Foreword
Paragraphs 1–2, Kevin Cahill and Comic Relief. Kevin Cahill served as Chief Executive of Comic Relief for almost twenty years and is its Honorary Life President. Comic Relief’s own public material more commonly describes him as the creator of Sport Relief. The fundraising figure in the Foreword refers to the combined total raised through Red Nose Day and Sport Relief during the period Kevin describes.
Chapter Two: Cold Light
Paragraph 4, Stephen R. Covey. Steve Bolton’s statement that he trained directly with Stephen R. Covey as a facilitator in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is based on Steve’s direct recollection, confirmed during editorial fact-checking on 20 September 2026. The exact dates, location, and documentary record of the training have not yet been established.
Paragraphs 6–7, search for an AI methodology. This is an account of Steve’s own search and the conclusion he drew from it, not a claim that no comparable methodology existed. Steve confirmed the search and that limited conclusion on 20 September 2026. The manuscript deliberately says, “I may have missed something.”
Chapter Three: Earn It
Paragraph 2, Tanya Franks’s acting credits. The three credits retained in the chapter are Rainie Cross in EastEnders, Lucy Stevens in Broadchurch, and Jackie in series two of The Game.
Paragraphs 10–12, OurCreativeEdge. OurCreativeEdge is the governed public-facing form of the name. The registered company is OURCREATIVEEDGE LTD, company number 16785185, incorporated on 14 October 2025. The company’s incorporation date should not be confused with the professional experience of the community Tanya describes. Source: Companies House and the organisation’s public website, checked in September 2026.
Chapter Nine: Every Single Line
Paragraph 4, Talent4Performance. The statement that David Klaasen and Alli Gibbons founded Talent4Performance in 2014 was checked against the company’s own Our Team page.
Chapter Thirteen: The Same Monday
Paragraph 2, Rich House Poor House. The programme format was checked against Channel 5’s public description: two families exchange homes and budgets for a week. The people, place, and events described in the rest of the chapter depend on the accounts and final approval of those involved.
Chapter Fourteen: Always There
Paragraphs 5–8, learning the Knowledge. Katherine Woollett and Eleanor A. Maguire, “Acquiring ‘the Knowledge’ of London’s Layout Drives Structural Brain Changes”, Current Biology, volume 21, issue 24 (2011), pages 2109–2114. The study followed trainee London taxi drivers and compared those who later qualified with those who did not and with controls.
Paragraph 13, generative AI and critical thinking. Hao-Ping Lee and colleagues, “The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects from a Survey of Knowledge Workers”, Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2025), article 1121. The study reports 319 knowledge workers’ accounts of 936 uses of generative AI. As the chapter states, the reported relationships are associations and do not establish that using AI caused either response.