Questions worth asking

We work with mission-driven organizations—for-profit and nonprofit—focused on improving human quality of life in areas like economic mobility, education, health and wellness, and civic services. You're likely a fit if your organization has a proven model, a $2MM+ operating budget, and has hit an inflection point—growth is revealing infrastructure gaps, a senior leader has recently transitioned, you're not consistently hitting your goals, or you're planning a pivot.

If you need immediate crisis stabilization—cash flow, interim leadership—you likely need different support first.

Fees depend on the size of your organization and the scope of the engagement. Research typically takes 4–8 weeks. Full engagements (i.e., the five phases) vary significantly—most run 6 months or longer. After an initial conversation, we can give you a quote for the research phase, an estimate for what follows, and a realistic timeline.

A traditional consultant delivers analysis and recommendations, then leaves. We design solutions collaboratively with your team, minimize risk by prototyping before full implementation, and stay until changes are embedded. We build your team's capacity so you aren't reliant on us.

Hiring a new internal leader often shifts responsibility for an organization's problems without getting to the root. When a new leader enters, they inherit yesterday's challenges without time to build toward a sustainable future. We fix what's broken so that any leader you hire—now or later—inherits an organization designed to work, so they can focus on building the future of the organization.

Involved. This work requires an investment of time from leadership, team members, and stakeholders—especially during research and implementation. Stakeholder involvement is part of the methodology. Teams trust solutions they helped design. The collaborative process is what makes the work hold after we leave.

Every engagement begins with research; no exceptions. Research is the foundation for everything that follows. After that, we scope collaboratively, one phase at a time. You can't skip phases, but you're never locked into the full engagement before you're ready. Every engagement is customized based on what the research reveals, the problem we agree to solve, and what's actually feasible for your organization.

It depends on the partner. For people helping execute your mission (e.g., fractional executives, freelancers, agencies) we often involve them directly, the same way we'd work with your full-time team. For people supporting your leadership development (e.g., coaches, advisors), we collaborate when it makes sense. We generally don't work alongside traditional management consultants. If you have specific partners in place, we're happy to talk through how that would work.

You operate independently with the systems, frameworks, and capabilities we built together. Some organizations re-engage when they hit a new inflection point and want outside perspective to keep them honest. Others never need us again. We're not here to create dependency. We're here to help organizations doing important work do it better.