Strategy

Improving a business’s performance is, to me, one of the most fascinating parts of consulting. You get to dive deep into how a business truly works and uncover new opportunities or better ways of doing things to achieve a specific growth ambition. In my experience, it’s never a dull assignment.

Getting absolute clarity on what we’re solving, why it matters, and what success looks like is half the battle in any strategy engagement. And once the problem is defined, good strategy relies on solid evidence: fit-for-purpose research, credible data and robust analysis. Whether the task is developing a new value proposition, reshaping a channel strategy, exploring market entry or redesigning the customer relationship model, this grounding is what makes meaningful thinking possible.

Actionability is what separates a great consulting project from a polished but useless deck. Many clients already have a strong hypothesis about where they want to go, and look for help in working out the detail and the “how”. In those cases, clear, practical recommendations matter most. Early and frequent engagement is essential too — especially with the people who will ultimately make or break implementation.

Securing buy-in and communicating the implications of implementation are central to my role. Otherwise, all the hard work risks becoming a set of slides gathering dust. That’s also why I don’t aim to deliver the answer; instead, I provide a small number of high-quality options. When clients have been part of the journey, thought through the trade-offs, and chosen the way forward as a team, their chances of success are far higher.

A strategy only becomes real when it comes with a clear path to delivery — a roadmap, KPIs, decision points, resource implications and a sense of pace. Without this, strategy is little more than intellectual theatre.

If you’d like to hear about specific case examples, do get in touch