Process for the skeptic reader.
We have refined our way of working over years of senior advisory engagements. What follows is an honest description of how engagements run, how long each stage takes, and what we explicitly will not propose.
Five stages, in order.
Every engagement runs through these stages. Some compress into two weeks, some span six months. The structure holds either way.
1. Listen.
Before any proposal, we run a short paid diagnostic — usually two to three weeks. We meet the team, read the artefacts that matter, and form an independent view of the situation. We do not assume we have understood from a single intake call.
2. Frame.
We come back with a written read of what we have heard, what we think the actual problem is (sometimes it is not the one you brought us), and the shape of an engagement that addresses it. You and we agree the scope before any longer engagement begins.
3. Decide.
Most strategy engagements run through a small number of decisive working sessions with the executive team. We bring questions and analysis; the team brings context and authority. The output is decisions, with their rationale captured.
4. Deliver.
For programmes that need delivery leadership, we hold the cadence — meeting agendas, decision logs, weekly check-ins — and protect the team from the kinds of distractions that make programmes fail in the third month.
5. Hand over.
Engagements end. We close with a final session and a one-page handover document. We do not bill for follow-up calls in the months after, and we do not attempt to extend the engagement past the point of usefulness.
Things we will not propose.
A short list, kept short. If you want any of these, we are not the right partner — and we will tell you so honestly rather than take the work.
Multi-quarter retainers without a defined deliverable.
We will not propose an open-ended retainer. Every engagement has a scope, a duration, and a definition of done. Long retainers feel like commitment but they dilute the urgency that makes consulting work valuable.
Layered teams between you and the partner.
We will not run an engagement where the senior partner is in the kickoff and the closeout, and a layer of associates does the work in between. The partner you hire is the partner who runs the work, throughout.
Public case studies that name the client.
We will not publish your name in any setting, on any pitch, ever. Our case notes are anonymised by design. If you ever need a reference, we will arrange one through a former client who has consented in advance.
Comfortable with how we work?
Tell us about the work in front of you. We will respond within two working days with our reading of the situation.
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