How I Help
Two ways to engage Golden Sky Consultancy.
Sometimes what's needed is clarity, judgement, and a decision. Sometimes it's additional executive capacity to turn a strategy into action. These are the two principal services — plus a third mode for when you need direct capacity rather than support alongside your own team.
Service 01
Diagnose & Decide
A focused, evidence-led engagement for a difficult problem, opportunity or decision. The plan is part of the work — not a separate phase. You're buying clarity, judgement and a decision, not a discovery process.
Why has growth stalled? Which market should we enter? Is the proposition right? Where is value being lost? Is the operating model fit for what comes next? What should the leadership team prioritise?
How it's delivered
- Leadership interviews
- Evidence and data review
- Customer and market insight
- Commercial and operating-model analysis
- Proposition / product review
- Workshops and challenge sessions
- Synthesis of options and recommendations
What you receive
- A clear recommendation, with the evidence and reasoning made explicit
- Strategic choices and priorities, not just a description of the problem
- A practical implementation or execution plan where appropriate
- An honest answer — including, where the evidence supports it, a case for not proceeding further
Engagement shape
- Typically a focused engagement over a number of weeks, depending on the question and the evidence required
- Scoped to the decision, not sold as a fixed-length product
- Can convert directly into an Operating Partner engagement where the evidence supports it
Service 02
Operating Partner
Ongoing senior support where the direction is understood but successful execution needs experienced, cross-functional leadership. This is not passive advisory — it can mean owning agreed workstreams and taking direct responsibility for delivery.
How I work
- Alongside founders, CEOs, boards and leadership teams
- Commercial growth, market entry and transformation
- Proposition, product and operating-model change
- Organisational design and value creation
- Governance, execution and senior stakeholder relationships
What that can involve
- Owning agreed workstreams and setting the operating rhythm
- Creating accountability and resolving cross-functional blockers
- Working directly with internal teams, customers, partners and investors
- Taking responsibility for agreed elements of delivery
Engagement shape
- Can be fractional or embedded, running for months or longer where the situation requires sustained involvement
- FocusGov — Board Advisor, four and a half years
- Oksidia and Solution Focused Education — ongoing, multi-year operating roles
- iESE and Montagu / Servelec — 22 months and 11 months respectively
A third mode — for direct executive capacity
Interim & Operating Leadership
Some situations call for experienced executive capacity in the organisation, not alongside it — a transformation programme that needs a senior leader, or a role that needs filling while a permanent decision is made.
When it's useful
- A transformation programme needs a senior leader now, not after a lengthy search
- An interim MD or director role needs filling through a period of change
- Commercial or product leadership needs continuity during a transition
- A business turnaround needs someone who has actually run one before
What I actually do
- Take on the leadership role directly for the duration required
- Lead commercial or operating-model transformation from inside the business
- Implement major strategic change with direct accountability for outcomes
What you get
- An experienced operator in the seat, not a consultant advising from outside it
- Continuity through a period that would otherwise stall without senior leadership
- A leader who hands over cleanly once the situation no longer needs an interim
Next step
Not sure which of these fits your situation?
That's a normal starting point. Tell me what's going on and I'll tell you honestly which service — if either — actually fits.