What this is
Sometimes you do not need a leader, you need an answer. A few hours, or a few weeks with a defined question, and a recommendation you can act on or reject on its merits.
What usually brings people here
A board question nobody internally can answer without a conflict of interest. A vendor decision about to be signed. A performance problem where the diagnosis keeps changing depending on who is in the room.
The strategic choice
Almost every engagement turns on separating three things that get discussed as one. The strategic choice, which is where you are going and what you are giving up to get there. The tactical plan, which is the sequence. And the operational work, which is what people do on Tuesday. Most stuck decisions are stuck because a strategic question is being answered with an operational answer.
What I do
I look, I ask direct questions, and I tell you what I actually think. I start from the customer and the organisation as they are, not from the internal structure outward, because inside out is how most businesses arrive at the wrong answer confidently. No account team, no upsell into a larger programme.
I also spar
A recurring conversation with a chief digital or commercial officer on priorities, team structure, what to insource and what to leave with agencies, and who should own what. Some of the most useful work I do is an hour a fortnight with someone who has nobody impartial to think out loud with.
How it runs
By the hour for the sparring, or a fixed short engagement with a written recommendation for the defined questions. I will tell you which one your question needs, and occasionally that it needs neither.