WHICH SERVICE FITS YOUR MOMENT
Strategy is a season, not a project.
Strategy work fails when companies skip steps. I’m not a die-hard sports person (Note: I grew up near Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s, so there’s that), but think about someone pursuing a career in pro football. Journeys don’t start at the destination.
The combine doesn't replace training camp. Training camp doesn't replace pre-season. Pre-season doesn't replace the season. Each phase has its own purpose, and each one builds the team's capacity to execute the next. HSS offers four engagements, each one a different phase of the strategic season. The right one depends on where you actually are.
Most CEOs who think they need a strategy actually need a different phase of the work. This page helps you figure out which one.
Four engagements.
Four phases.
What changes in each phase
PRIME — The Combine
In football, the combine is where coaches assess what raw talent is actually available. Forty-yard dashes, position-specific drills, interview rooms. Decisions get made about who's worth a draft pick and who isn't.
In strategy, PRIME is the diagnostic. One day with the CEO and leadership team. Structured questions, honest read on where the team is calibrated and where they aren't. The output is a documented assessment and a specific recommendation for what to do next. Sometimes the answer is "you need deeper work." Sometimes it's "you need an internal conversation, not a consultant." Both are honest answers.
You leave with: a clear read on alignment gaps and a recommendation you can act on. PRIME
SPRINT — Training Camp
In football, training camp is where the depth chart is set. Players run their assignments, coaches see who can do the job, and by the end of camp, everyone knows their role and the basic plays.
In strategy, SPRINT is a six-week focused effort to clarify what the strategic question really is. Four working sessions: diagnose what the team thinks the problem is, frame the strategic options, test the leading direction, and synthesize what they've committed to. The team leaves camp with documented strategic logic, a one-page business model, and clarity on which assumptions they're betting on.
You leave with: clarity on the strategic question and the working logic to address it. SPRINT
BUILD — Pre-Season
In football, pre-season is where the playbook gets tested against real opponents. Plays that look beautiful in walkthroughs don't always survive contact. The team adjusts, the playbook gets refined, and by opening day, everything has been pressure-tested.
In strategy, BUILD is four months of validation, stress-testing, and operational translation. The team takes the strategic logic from training camp and runs it against real evidence. Customer interviews, financial modeling, and scenario stress testing. The strategy that emerges is defensible. The 12-month operating plan installs signposts that the team will watch all season.
You leave with: a validated strategy and confidence in an executable operating plan. BUILD
SYSTEM — The Full Season
In football, the season is sixteen games of execution, weekly film review, halftime adjustments, and end-of-season debrief. Over time, the coach transfers more authority to the team. By the end of the season, the quarterback is calling more plays at the line based on what he sees in real time.
In strategy, SYSTEM is a 12-month plan that combines pre-season (the BUILD phase) with the full season's discipline. Monthly leadership reviews. Monthly CEO conversations. Monthly capability sessions. Quarterly resets. An annual refresh that codifies what the year taught the team. By Month 12, the leadership team can run its own quarterly reset. The discipline is theirs, not the consultant's.
You leave with: a strategic system your team owns, a capability transferred, and a permanent discipline. SYSTEM
Where in the season are you?
Four short questions, each pointing to a service. This section helps a self-diagnosing CEO land on the right engagement.
You suspect there are alignment gaps but don't yet know what they are. You're at the combine. PRIME is the right starting point. One day, an honest diagnosis and recommendation for what comes next. → Link to PRIME
You know there's a strategic question to answer, but the team isn't aligned on what it is. You're at training camp. SPRINT will surface the real problem and produce the working logic to address it. Six weeks, four working sessions. → Link to SPRINT
You know the strategic question and need a defensible answer with an operating plan. You're at pre-season. BUILD validates the strategy under pressure and translates it into the 12-month operating plan your team will run. → Link to BUILD
You want strategy as a permanent capability, not a project that ends. You want the full season. SYSTEM combines pre-season's strategic build with the full year's discipline and capability transfer. By Month 12, your team owns the system. → Link to SYSTEM
You never pay twice for the same thinking.
Each engagement's outputs become inputs to the next. If PRIME leads to SPRINT, the diagnostic carries forward. If SPRINT leads to BUILD, the strategic logic carries forward. If BUILD is part of SYSTEM, the validated strategy IS the foundation for the year.
| If you've completed... | The next engagement starts with... |
|---|---|
| PRIME | SPRINT skips the diagnostic phase. The strategic question is already framed. |
| SPRINT | BUILD's first month compresses by ~45%. Strategy Cascade and BMC v1 already exist. |
| BUILD | SYSTEM's Foundation phase is complete. Year 1 starts at capability transfer. |
This is why we sequence engagements rather than treating them as separate purchases. The work compounds.
All four engagements at a glance
| PRIME | SPRINT | BUILD | SYSTEM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase | Combine | Training | Pre-season | Full season |
| Discipline | Calibration | Clarity | Confidence | Control |
| Duration | 1 day | 6 weeks | 4 months | 12 months |
| Artifacts | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5+ |
| CEO time | ~11 hrs | ~21 hrs | ~58 hrs | ~95 hrs |
| Each leader | ~4 hrs | ~13 hrs | ~38 hrs | ~60 hrs |
| Capability | Awareness | Practice | Habit | Transferred |
| Strategy is | Diagnosed | Clarified | Validated | Owned |
Still uncertain?
The honest truth: most CEOs aren’t sure which phase they're in until they have a conversation. The four descriptions above are diagnostic tools, not prescriptions. If you've read this and still aren't sure where you are in the season, that's not a failure of clarity. That's a useful starting point for a Fit Call.
A Fit Call is a 30-minute conversation. Free. No commitment. We figure out together where you actually are and what would help. Sometimes the answer is "you don't need consulting; you need a different conversation with your CFO." That's a successful Fit Call.