Strategic Planning Consulting

Everyone talks about planning or strategy, but rarely both. Ignoring their link makes both weaker, not stronger. A plan is the how. Strategy defines what and why. There's no doing one without the other. Strategy comes first and must be rock-solid before planning. Too many leaders jump straight to "how" without nailing "why." 70% of your time should be on strategic thinking, and 30% on planning. And they should be done consecutively If you're doing it right. To be successful at both, you have to understand their differences. I built a framework to bridge that gap. Here's the elements of strategy and planning in eight steps. STRATEGY: Step 1: Define the Arena - Where will you compete? - What game are you playing? The competitive dynamics - What's your aspiration? The measurable outcomes Step 2: Competitive landscape: - Who are the players and what are their moves? - Market forces: What trends, disruptions, and shifts create opportunity? - Internal capabilities: What are your unique assets and competencies? Step 3: Choose Your Approach - Where will you play? Select specific battles you can win - How will you win? Your differentiated value proposition - What won't you do? The deliberate choices to focus your resources Step 4: Challenge assumptions: - What must be true for this strategy to work? - Stress test scenarios: How does your strategy perform under different conditions? - Validate differentiation: Why can't competitors easily replicate your approach? PLANNING: Step 5: Break Down the Strategy - Strategic pillars: 3-5 major themes that support your strategy - Key initiatives: The big bets and programs that advance each pillar - Success metrics: Leading and lagging indicators that measure progress Step 6: Sequence and Resource - Timeline: Logical sequence of initiatives with dependencies mapped - Resource allocation: Budget, people, and assets assigned - Quick wins: Early victories that build momentum and credibility Step 7: Build Execution Systems - Governance structure: Decision rights, meeting cadence, escalation paths - Progress tracking: Dashboards, reviews, and course-correction - Communication: How strategy translates through organizational levels Step 8: Launch and Adapt - Implementation sprints: Break execution into manageable phases - Learning loops: Regular assessment and strategy refinement - Cultural alignment: Ensure behaviors and incentives support direction The Integration Imperative Strategy without planning is wishful thinking. Planning without strategy is busy work. The sweet spot is when both work together. Master this framework, and you transform your team from someone just creating plans into a team that drives strategic planning. ----------- Please share your thoughts in the comments. Repost if you feel this will benefit your network. Follow me, Beverly Davis, for more strategic finance insights.

Across industries, clients are sharing with me that something quiet, yet significant, is unfolding in boardrooms: strategic planning is being fundamentally rethought, not just refreshed. Two signals are driving the shift: 1️⃣ Corporate Restructuring Is Accelerating Kraft Heinz’s decision to split into two companies is just one recent example. We're seeing more leadership teams acknowledge that legacy structures built for scale may now be barriers to growth: nimble entities are far more adaptable in uncertain times. In my own practice, I’m currently working with a large-scale healthcare executive client reorganizing around service-line profitability (not geography), and a fintech firm exploring spinouts to unlock value in client-driven capabilities. Clarity is the new currency and leading strategy discussions. Exclusionary growth-oriented strategies are passe. 2️⃣ Capital Markets Are Opening Back Up Another observation is that IPO momentum is returning. Axios recently reported up to 60 IPOs are expected before year-end. Klarna, Gemini, and others are moving forward, and even mid-market firms are reevaluating M&A plans. One client postponed a deal this summer, not because of funding obstacles, but to sharpen their investor story in light of the competition. The most impactful shift? Strategic planning itself is being rebuilt. Traditional planning models are losing trust and relevance. In today’s politicized and noisy environment, many of my clients are curating their own data ecosystems. Some have added “noise filters” to adjust for narrative manipulation. Others are shortening cycles from annual to rolling 6–9 months. Here are 3 practices I’m seeing among forward-looking orgs: ✅ Scenario Loops over Static Models Dynamic updates based on volatile indicators (commodities, regulation, consumer trust) guide real-time adjustments. ✅ Strategy + Structure Are Now Linked One tech firm redesigned its org chart during its strategy retreat, not 6 months later. ✅ Investor Storytelling Is Part of Planning Especially for firms near funding or IPO, strategic planning now includes a messaging track. My O&G CFO client called it their “Investor GPS.” As you prepare for your next planning cycle, ask: ·       Is our structure aligned for where we’re going, not just where we’ve been? ·       If the capital window opens, are we ready? ·       Are we telling a story the market believes? In 2026, strategy is more abut being directionally clear, structurally agile, and ready to move. #ExecutiveLeadership #StrategicPlanning #CapitalMarkets #IPO #CorporateRestructuring #2026Strategy #BoardLeadership

Many people are talking about the Bloomberg story on former McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants training AI models to automate parts of the strategy consulting work (The link to the article is in the comments). Some see this as the beginning of the end for the consulting industry. It is not. It is the end of one model of consulting and the emergence of another. For decades, the consulting value chain was built on analysis: gather data, benchmark competitors, synthesize findings, deliver a deck. Today, AI can perform much of this faster, cheaper, and at scale. If consulting was only about analysis, then yes, AI would replace it. But strategy was never just analysis. The real work has always been about judgment, interpretation, decision-making, alignment, mobilization, execution, and building strategic capability inside the organization. This is the shift I wrote about in "Strategy Consulting Reinvented: A New Partnership Model" (The link to my article is in the first comment) - AI is commoditizing data and insights - The differentiator is now the ability to help organizations think strategically - Clients no longer want answers delivered to them - They want capacity built with them The future of strategy consulting will be defined by: (1) Partnership, not prescription Strategy is co-created, not handed over. (2) Contextual intelligence, not generic best practices What works in Silicon Valley does not automatically work every where else. (3) Capability building, not dependency The goal is to leave behind stronger leaders and stronger strategic muscles. (4) Continuous strategy, not episodic projects Strategy becomes an ongoing system of sensing, learning, and adjusting. So yes, AI will replace a certain kind of consulting. The kind that equates thinking with slide production. The kind that confuses frameworks with judgment. The kind that treats strategy as analysis rather than synthesis and leadership. But the consulting firms and advisors who will shape the next decade are those who help organizations build strategic capability: the ability to embrace complexity, navigate uncertainty, resolve ambiguity, explore futures, make trade-offs, act with agency, and learn continuously. The question is no longer: Can we get the analysis? The question is: Can we think strategically, together, in a world where the answer keeps moving and generates more questions? The future of strategy will belong to those who learn faster, adapt faster, and co-create the path forward. #Strategy #Consulting #Leadership #CapabilityBuilding #StrategicThinking

Last week I had the opportunity to lead a strategic planning session at a law firm retreat. Using our Commercial Maturity Matrix, we structured a candid conversation around several key issues, including billing confidence, cross-selling, succession planning, AI, generational differences, and expansion. I am seeing these same themes surface across many firms right now. A few observations stood out: • Client feedback shaped the dialogue in a meaningful way. Many lawyers were genuinely surprised, both by the positive praise and the constructive themes. External perspective has a way of cutting through internal assumptions. • Like many firms, this one was simultaneously optimistic and uncertain. There is confidence about the future, paired with real questions about what that future will look like. That tension is healthy. It signals awareness and a willingness to confront change rather than ignore it. • When given space to reflect, partners did not always gravitate toward the issues leadership expected. Priorities did not align neatly with tenure, practice group, or personality. In the right environment, people reveal what actually matters to them. • An important theme emerged around billing confidence. Partners are exceptional at negotiating on behalf of clients. They are less comfortable negotiating fees with those same clients. The gap is not tactical. It is psychological. • Associates were grateful to be included and added real value. They were especially engaged around talent development and technology strategy. Inclusion signals seriousness about the future. Strategic planning only works when firms are willing to have an honest dialogue, and hear what they did not expect to hear. The five year strategic plan is no longer a strategy. The firms that will thrive over the next decade will operate in tighter strategic cadences, regularly confronting uncomfortable truths as markets, clients, and technology evolve. What key themes are emerging from your strategic discussions so far this year?

Great strategy needs stars. But it only works when the whole team runs the system. This is Phil. Before he arrived, one part of the team dominated the rest of the team and the team had modest success. Then he instituted the triangle offense. It forced the sharing of the ball, putting the skillsets of the players around their best player in the best position to succeed, and integration over self-reliance (the one-on-one mentality) in order to win championships. Phil won 11 championships. When Finance, Ops, and RevOps aren’t truly part of the planning process, strategy becomes siloed, and execution gets political. People follow plans they help create. Here’s how you can get collaboration to show up in the planning cadence in practice: Weekly: Ground-Level Insights Each department logs weekly learnings - what’s working, what’s bottlenecked, what’s forecasted. These mini feedback loops feed the broader plan over time. Planning is no longer an annual fire drill. It’s iterative. Monthly: Rolling Planning Updates Monthly working sessions keep the plan alive. Pipeline changes. Delivery capacity shifts. CAC jumps or drops. Every department shares what’s changing in their world so the plan flexes with reality, not fantasy. Quarterly: Strategic Recalibration This is where leadership + department heads evaluate risk, investment areas, and team capacity. Finance brings cash modeling. RevOps brings revenue forecasts. Ops brings fulfillment feasibility. Everyone has a seat, and everyone speaks up. Annual: Joint Planning Workshops Budgeting. Hiring. Pricing strategy. Tooling. All on the table. But here’s the catch: planning doesn’t start in Finance. It starts cross-functionally. Each function informs the plan from their vantage point. No hidden agendas. Just shared direction. Strategic planning doesn’t live in a spreadsheet. It lives in the conversations you have before the spreadsheet is built.

The future is shifting—is your 2025 plan ready for it or just recycling past goals? As we dive into strategic planning for 2025, I’ve noticed many clients primarily focusing on lessons from last year, tweaking previous targets slightly, but often overlooking the need to zoom out and take in the bigger picture. 🌎 The world today is vastly different from a year or three years ago. Political climates have shifted. Interest rates have fluctuated. Access to capital has evolved. Hiring trends have transformed. It’s essential to step back from the immediate data and look at the broader business landscape that influences your industry. 😳 Leave room for the unexpected. While it’s crucial to set 3-5 clear KPIs that align and engage your entire team, consider these scenarios: ✔️ What if an acquisition opportunity arises? Is your team stretched so thin that they couldn’t possibly take on new challenges? ✔️ What happens if you lose a few key employees? Do you have a strategy to safeguard institutional knowledge and maintain momentum? ✔️ What happens if you lose a couple of your largest clients? Do you have a plan to mitigate the impact on revenue and operations? ‼️Annual strategic planning isn’t just about setting goals—it’s about identifying your ultimate objectives, defining the metrics for success, and mapping out the necessary actions to achieve them. Once those are in place, ask yourself: 🤓 Do we have the right people to execute? 💯 Do our employees have the skills and desire to meet these targets? ⏳Can we grow our talent in time, or do we need to bring in new expertise? ✅ Equally important, consider how your team will need to collaborate across functions to reach these goals and identify potential risks or organizational barriers that could hinder progress. 🫥 Strategic planning means brainstorming various scenarios, even difficult and costly ones, and developing plans to address them. ⚠️ Bringing in an external consultant can elevate this process. 💡 A good consultant can challenge your assumptions, offer new perspectives, and uncover hidden biases. 💡 They can amplify your efforts, helping you build an accountability framework that ensures the responsibility for execution is shared across your team—not just resting on your shoulders. ⚡️Take this opportunity to plan boldly, prepare for the unexpected, and set your team up for a successful 2025. #strategicoffsite #businessretreat #leadershipoffsite #culturecrafters

90% of strategic plans fail because they lack a clear structure and follow-through. Strategic planning is a difficult task because it requires: • Extreme focus • Making difficult decisions • Execution of those decisions A few years back, I worked with a Fortune 500 client to develop a multi-year system improvement strategy. Their previous two attempts failed, and they were desperate to succeed this time. Their objective was to realize $100M of savings in one year, but the actual impact was to be much bigger. Billions of dollars were riding on this project.  After reviewing their previous attempts, I realized their strategy process lacked structure. This made it difficult to focus on the right issues and create a coherent plan. 1️⃣ I proposed we start with the foundation: • Mission • Values We needed to understand where this business unit was going. 2️⃣ In the second phase, we assessed the current environment.  We looked at: • The current market • Opportunities and threats • Weaknesses and strengths This helped us understand what we had to work with. 3️⃣ In the third phase, we began our strategic planning process.  We defined: • The vision • Strategic goals • Key objectives We layout the general direction we wanted the system improvement to take. 4️⃣ Our fourth phase was about tactical planning, outlining: • The guiding policy • Key actions to take • Accountable executives After three months of hard work, the plan was ready for execution. 5️⃣ During this stage, the people responsible would be: • Monitoring results • Adjusting the plans • Gather feedback and improving This was the strategic blueprint we set up for our client’s $100M system improvement strategy. 📌 Reach out via DM if you want to learn how you can apply this in your business. (Stat source: Harvard)

There's a massive difference between a planner who reports what happened and one who shapes what happens next. Here's the line. Early in my career, I thought my job was to produce accurate reports. My boss thought my job was to tell her what to do about them. That gap between reporting and recommending is where most junior planners get stuck. And it's where most advisors leave value on the table. Here's what strategic planning actually looks like: Reactive: 'Sell-through is 48% on the denim category.' Strategic: 'Sell-through is 48% on denim — 15 points below plan. If we don't take action by week 8, we'll end the season with $120K in excess inventory. Here are three options with margin implications for each.' The data is the same. The framing is completely different. The second version gets you a seat at the table. The first one gets you more reporting requests. Strategic planners and advisors don't wait to be asked. They anticipate the question, quantify the stakes, and walk in with options.