Strategy directs all
Sets what matters for every other domain, Governance included: the priorities it enforces.
How the five domains work together →What it answers
- What is the strategy, stated plainly enough that the leadership agrees it is theirs?
- What are the strategic imperatives: the five or fewer objectives without which there is no strategy?
- Does each one have a test, an early indicator with a date, and an owner at the top?
- Which of the claims the strategy rests on would prove it wrong if they failed, and is anyone watching them?
For whom. CEOs and leadership teams before a planning cycle or a board review; PE sponsors at the start of a hold period or ahead of a value-creation plan; founders whose partners have started to disagree about direction.
How the evidence is produced
We read the strategy documents and interview the leadership, write the strategy back and have the principal confirm it, then keep only the imperatives the strategy cannot do without. A separate review checks the one page against its evidence before it goes.
What you receive
The read-back
The strategy in the leadership's own words, confirmed by the principal.
The strategic imperatives
Five or fewer, each marked: does it have a test, an indicator with a dated check, an owner?
The claims most at risk
The two or three assumptions that would change the strategy if they failed, and whether anyone watches them.
Next moves
Two or three cheap, reversible steps that produce evidence, each with a date.
All on one page, with the Evidence and Reasoning exhibit behind it.
What it takes from you
Strategy documents, plans, board materials; one or two working sessions with the principal; short interviews with the leadership team.
Where this leads
Proof
We publish results only with the client's agreement and against a stated baseline. None are published yet.