Working With Me
Two types of business end up working with me. Those that can see trouble coming and want to get ahead of it. And those that are already in it.
The work is similar in both cases. The difference is how much time we have.
I spent twelve years as MD of a manufacturing business. Crisis, restructuring, a complete cultural overhaul, relocation, and eventual exit. I have been in the room when the decisions were impossible and the options were running out. That is not a credential - it is just context for why I work the way I do.
I work with a small number of businesses at a time. That is a deliberate choice, not a capacity constraint.
Not sure where you stand?
Before we talk, it is worth knowing where you actually stand. Three free tools on the Tools For Leaders page give you an honest picture before we have a conversation.
The Crisis Recognition Assessment tells you whether your business is already in trouble. The Leadership Gap Diagnostic shows you where your leadership is working against you. And the Stress Test, our business economic risk assessment asks the question most owners are not asking: is the world your business is built for still going to exist in five years?
All three send results directly to me. If something in the output looks familiar, that is worth a conversation.
You are not in crisis but the model needs to evolve. Technology is reshaping competitive advantage faster than most businesses can track. The leaders who navigate this well are not the ones who react fastest - they are the ones who understand what their business needs to look like in five years and make deliberate decisions about getting there, while running the thing at the same time.
Fractional Chairman or Board Advisor - one to three days per month, working across a small number of businesses simultaneously.
Equity Partnership - selective investments where I take a meaningful operational role alongside the advisory work.
Workshops - half-day sessions for leadership teams on technology disruption, competitive positioning and workforce transition.
Strategic Transformation
Crisis Restructuring Path
Revenue is under pressure. Cash is tight. There are conversations you have been putting off and stakeholders who are getting nervous.
The technical work - cash flow, restructuring, stakeholder management - is the part most people think is the hard bit. It is not. The hard bit is helping a leader make genuinely difficult decisions when they are exhausted, the information is incomplete, and the wrong call has real consequences for real people.
The pattern is almost always the same. Too much avoided for too long. The honest picture replaced by a more comfortable one. By the time someone calls me, the window is narrower than it should be.
The first conversation is free. I will tell you honestly what I think, and if I am not the right person I will say so and point you toward someone who is.
Interim CEO - full-time when the situation requires complete operational accountability.
Crisis Intervention - honest diagnosis, on-site assessment, 100-day stabilisation plan, stakeholder negotiation, the decisions that have been deferred too long.
What Makes This Different
I am not arriving with a consulting firm playbook. Twelve years as MD of a business I owned and was accountable for. I have been in the room when the decisions were impossible and the options were running out.
I work on both the numbers and the people. You cannot save a business with a broken culture, and you cannot fix culture if you are running out of cash. Most turnaround specialists treat one as primary and the other as secondary. I do not.
I am honest about what is fixable. Sometimes the right answer is a structured close rather than a rescue. I will tell you that rather than take your money to delay the inevitable.
I bring in specialists when the situation needs them - restructuring professionals, employment lawyers, people I have worked with for years who take crisis seriously.
I am working towards Full Accreditation with the Institute for Turnaround, the UK's leading professional body for restructuring and recovery specialists.
Who Works With Me
Owner-managers who know something is wrong but cannot see it clearly from inside.
Accountants and insolvency practitioners who need someone working alongside the leader, not just the balance sheet.
PE firms where the portfolio company's leadership team is not executing the plan.
If any of that sounds familiar, the first conversation costs nothing.