Strategy & Leadership
Strategy that your own exec team can run once we leave. A direction the CEO can defend, numbers and owners on the roadmap, and the governance that made it work stays behind when we go.
Operating-grade strategy, operating-model design and execution for CEOs, boards and PE — across the DACH region, Poland and wider Europe.
What you get
- A strategic narrative the CEO can brief in 10 minutes — to the board, to investors, to the top 30 people in the company.
- An outcome tree: the four to six things that actually have to move, each with a named client-side owner and a number to hit.
- A decision cadence the exec team runs without us by the end of the mandate — agenda template, metrics pack, RACI.
- A stakeholder map for the first 90 days of execution, with the specific conversations that unblock the programme.
How we work
- We don't start with a deck. Week one is listening — exec interviews, shadowing the real operating cadence, reading the last six months of board packs.
- We make you name what you won't do. The hardest question on every strategy engagement is "what won't we do" — and we'll push until the answer is on paper.
- Every deliverable has a client-side owner. Consultants can co-author; they can't own. We name the owner before we write the document.
- We leave the governance behind. By the last week, the exec team is running their own review with our artefacts, not ours.
Ideal for
- CEOs taking the reins and wanting 100 days of cover, not 100 slides.
- Boards questioning whether the existing strategy still holds after a shock — market, new entrant, regulatory.
- Public sector leaders coordinating multi-agency change where real accountability matters more than a glossy report.
Typical engagement shape
- Duration
- 8–14 weeks
- Team
- 1 senior principal, embedded 2–3 days/week
- Cadence
- Weekly exec working session + bi-weekly deep dive
- Starts with
- 2-week diagnostic before full commitment — no big contract upfront
- Ends with
- A standing exec review the client team runs without us
Where we've run this before
Inside AB InBev's global analytics and digital transformation programme, and across Primotly's scale-up from founder team to 50 FTE. Due-diligence and operational redesign mandates on the Abris Capital CEE portfolio. See four engagements with real numbers →
When the strategy has been agreed and the bottleneck is the delivery cadence underneath, see Agile Engineering & Delivery Performance. When the engagement is lighter-touch — a retainer-shape sparring partner and operating cadence for a founder or CEO of an owner-led firm — see Executive Advisor & Operating Cadence.
Common questions
What's the difference between strategy consulting and a big-firm strategy deck?
We don't hand over slides and leave. You get a strategy your own exec team can run: a direction the CEO can defend, an outcome tree with named client-side owners and numbers, and the decision cadence that made it work staying behind when we go.
What is an operating model, and when does it need a redesign?
Your operating model is how strategy turns into who-does-what — structure, decision rights, cadence and metrics. It needs a redesign when the strategy changed but the organisation didn't: decisions stall, accountability is fuzzy, and the same issues resurface every quarter.
Why do most strategies fail in execution?
Rarely because the thinking was wrong — usually because nobody owned the moves and there was no cadence to catch drift. We close that gap: every priority gets a client-side owner, a number to hit, and a standing review your team runs without us.
What is a fractional executive, and when do you use one?
A senior operator who carries part of a leadership role part-time — direction, governance, sparring — without a full-time hire. The right call when you need experienced judgement in the room but not a permanent seat.
How do you price strategy and leadership work?
A two-week diagnostic before any big commitment, then a scoped mandate — typically 8 to 14 weeks with one senior principal embedded 2 to 3 days a week. No hundred-slide contract upfront.