Growth rarely fails on strategy. It fails on execution.
Too many priorities, the commercial model or the business model itself no longer fits, teams work and think in silos, the organization isn't keeping pace with changes and new requirements. Everyone senses it somehow, but no one can quite put their finger on it. Growth stagnates because the potential simply isn't being realized. Or the value creation isn't happening fast enough.
That's where I come in, working with leadership and teams that are responsible for and must deliver growth. We look at everything together, along the entire value chain: with the customer, in sales, in development, the supply chain, and at the top.
Because the problems that slow growth almost always lie in the interplay between different areas, not in individual areas.
When we should talk
Strategy that doesn't translate
Strategy offsite done, trends assessed, a clear ambition, signed off by the board or the PE owner. Six months later, daily business and too many local priorities have won again. The impact of big projects is limited.
World of silos.
Functions, regions, experts: everyone is fighting and optimising hard in their own area, plugging holes with the best of intentions. In the end, it's still not enough: unhappy customers, market share declines, new products disappoint, and the best people leave.
The sales engine is stuck.
Everyone is chasing the forecast: pull-forward, heroics, and somehow the number is delivered. But margin and loyalty are eroding, the value creation plan wobbles. Everyone is running on empty.
Do your sales model and your capabilities still match how the market operates, what is already standard elsewhere, and what AI makes possible today?
Growth outpacing structure.
You are growing faster than your processes. The leadership team is still too much in the details. New people have excellent CVs but aren't a team yet. The way you lead needs an update: enough to avoid chaos, without losing the speed the market loves you for.
The biggest obstacle for growth is often the unspectacular thing that hasn't worked for years. Not because nobody knows how. Because it's never considered urgent and everyone works around it. That's why it is still sitting there.
Where I can help
It comes down to profitable growth. Growing again, or growing better. I work on both with you and your teams: hands-on in a project, or alongside you from the board, the advisory board or as an advisor.
Grow again
Growth has stalled: missed market opportunities, lost customers, a new product failed, or simply the wrong markets or segments. The strategy may be in place, but it's not delivering.
Together we get things humming again, with a clear growth strategy and focused initiatives, through to building the capabilities needed to win with customers.
Grow better
You are growing, but not fast enough or not profitably enough against the market or against the promised value creation: market share bought on price, stuck in the commodity trap, innovation too late or missing the market, too little presence in growth markets.
I'ts about growing profitably rather than just more: sharpened ideal customer profile and offering, clear value proposition, strengthened commercial firepower and improved cross-functional collaboration. More focus, better processes, and AI used in the right places.
What connects the two: I follow the problem through the whole value chain, from the customer to development, and help to solve the root causes so that it keeps working. Hands-on as a project, or alongside you at the top, depending on what your situation needs.
I'll walk right beside you and work, not just advise. Until it's done.
How we work together
The format and the level of commitment depend on your situation. From one-time injection of expertise to ongoing support.
Project & execution
Strategy clarification
Usually a strategy exists, at least on paper. Is it sharp enough, shared by everyone and ready to execute? The lean way in: test it, sharpen it, prioritise, and name and tackle the few breakthroughs with discipline.
Advisory & Transformation
Project-based mandates, from diagnosis through to sustained execution. Strategy deployment, commercial excellence, target operating model, value creation, sales optimisation, product launch.
Fractional and Interim Roles
When sustained execution needs temporary operational ownership, with clear results.
Find out more here.
Executive collaboration
Non-Executive Director and Advisory Board
Board work where experience in growth strategy, transformation and commercial excellence makes the difference.
Senior Advisor
Access to experience, hands-on-sparring and an outside view, over a longer period.
Find out more here.
Keynote Speaking
Keynotes on growth, strategy execution and leadership at customer events, leadership meetings and conferences
Find out more here.
What people say about working with me
"Yvonne has a real feel for people, and she used it to show us the positive side of process improvement. She listened, she never pushed, and she took the team along step by step. I valued that enormously." Andi Vonlanthen, former Head of R&D Sonova
"Your engaging and respectful attitude stands out. An action-oriented, results-focussed mindset I could connect with strongly." Executive, international Business Unit
"More than leadership, it has been transformation. You inspired bold thinking and showed us what is possible when purpose meets passion." Team member Transformation
About me
Over 25 years in commercial roles, strategy and building business systems, at A.T. Kearney, Sonova, Amcor, Novelis and Lufthansa. Now as an independent consultant, senior advisor and non-executive director.
I know the corporate world and the reality of medium-sized businesses, and I know what actually helps in each.
CONTACT
A few conservations usually show whether it's a good fit. Let's talk, and we will see quickly if this could work.