Most businesses are ok at surviving, but few excel or achieve stellar performance. Those excelling can do it by chance, but they are few in number and many that try, often crash and burn. There’s no real substitute for a roadmap, something that provides a direction of travel, against which key decisions can be evaluated and all people (inside the business and looking in) can get their heads round and buy into.
People & Processes
Brand
Product
Technology
Distribution
Customer Aquisition
CRM
Conference Moderating
& Presenting
Every presentation is different & custom built. The same with moderation; my interview technique is hard edged, I try to add value at all times during a conference. I tend not to work from tight scripts. I want people to learn something from attending the conferences I moderate. I do internal company or organisational conferences, topically themed meetings, breakfast, dinners, retreats, seminars & workshops.
Non-Executive
Directing
Much of my consultancy leads to a permanent non-executive role, but it doesn’t have to. Some companies appoint me formally as a non-exec, others call me one, but I’m employed in a consultancy capacity. Given the chance, I do sometimes invest in the companies I work with, but not always.
Strategic Consultancy
My consultancy is almost always strategic and medium, to long term. I rarely do very short term assignments because it’s difficult to achieve much in a short time frame, you don’t get completely under the skin of a business in days and weeks & it ends up in too much messy accounting & admin for a one man operation. By the way, I work very much on my own, but I do have a roster of dependable expert individuals & agencies I call upon for specialist work. Typically, what I work on with companies is a roadmap – normally a 3 year plan (anyone that thinks they can forecast beyond this is a charlatan in my book). The 3 year plan does roll however, following annual review. I can stick around to assist in the Implementation of the plan, or go away & come back periodically & help review.