Kevin Box 🛡️’s Post

📖 Context In his landmark 1996 Harvard Business Review article “What is Strategy?”, Michael Porter redefined the conversation around competitive advantage. He argued that the true essence of strategy lies in the activities a company chooses to perform and just as importantly, those it chooses not to. 💡 What it teaches us Strategy is about fit and differentiation, not slogans. If your activities mirror your competitors’, no mission statement or purpose deck will protect you from being copied. What sets winning companies apart is how they configure their activities. How their choices reinforce one another and create a unique system of value delivery. 📆 Why it’s relevant today In an era of tools that allow for rapid imitation, it’s easier than ever for competitors to copy what you say. What remains hard to copy is how you operate. Strategy must therefore be grounded in the pattern of activities that make your organization distinct. Its workflows, priorities, and capabilities. 🛠️ How to use it – Consider the most dinstinct to your organization activities on your value chain. – Ask whether they truly differ from those of your closest competitors and how easy it is to copy them. – Look for reinforcing links: do these activities strengthen one another, or are they isolated efforts? – Make sure that future plans and scaling wont affect these key activies in a negative way. Visit my website: https://lnkd.in/dpm9wTeM Follow my page: https://lnkd.in/d2pebCmW Subscribe to the newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dhnAMHzv #Strategy #Leadership #Execution #ScalingBusinesses

🚀 Consulting isn’t about answers—it’s about asking better questions. Too often, we assume the value of a consultant lies in providing quick solutions. But here’s the truth: Real impact doesn’t come from ready-made answers. It comes from framing the right questions—questions that uncover blind spots, challenge assumptions, and open new possibilities. 🔍 Why does this matter? Because the quality of questions determines the quality of decisions. A business can have all the data, all the talent, and still fail—if it isn’t asking the right questions. ✨ Here’s what asking better questions achieves: 1️⃣ Clarity – Cutting through noise to identify the real issue. 2️⃣ Perspective – Helping leaders see problems from multiple angles. 3️⃣ Innovation – Unlocking creative solutions that standard answers can’t provide. 4️⃣ Empowerment – Enabling teams to think critically and take ownership. As consultants, our job isn’t to impose answers. It’s to create the space where the right answers emerge naturally—through dialogue, discovery, and strategic thinking. 💡 Next time you face a complex challenge, don’t start with: “What’s the solution?” Start with: “What question aren’t we asking yet?” #Consulting #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #ProblemSolving #Innovation #CriticalThinking #Management #DecisionMaking #ProfessionalGrowth #LinkedInCommunity

Sometimes you’re so close to the problem, you can’t see it anymore. And that’s when growth stalls. In professional services firms, it’s easy to get caught in the day-to-day. You’re serving clients, managing teams, chasing targets… but missing what’s hiding in plain sight. Here are some of the signs showing you might be too close, unable to see the wood for the trees: 1️⃣ You keep recycling the same clients or ideas, instead of opening new markets. 2️⃣ Resistance to new tools or processes is slowing progress. 3️⃣ Growth has plateaued, but no one can agree why. Leadership team meetings often replay the same conversations, with little agreement on how to move forwards or effect the required change. That’s where fresh perspective matters. A fractional leader brings: ✅ Cross-industry insight ✅ Independence from internal politics ✅ The ability to cut through noise and highlight blind spots The value isn’t just advice. It’s clarity, accountability, and traction where it matters most. As a fractional leader, I aim to land quickly, analyse the situation and provide positive outcomes... often in the time that a permanent strategic hire has completed their notice period and internal induction. And, to cap it all, without a £200k overhead cost. What blind spot do you think is holding your firm back right now. Are you prepared to give fractional leadership a chance to make a difference in your organisation? ----------------------------------------------------- I’m Dave. I spent my career growing Microsoft implementation practices. Today, I work fractionally to help: • End-clients mitigate large transformation programme risks • Implementation partners navigate intentional scale and growth Message me if you’d like to explore how I can add value quickly for your business. #FractionalLeadership #ProfessionalServices #Growth

Every leader swears they know what’s holding their business back. The problem is: when you ask around, you don’t get one answer - you get five. That’s not clarity. That’s noise. And it’s why so many strategies stall. Everyone is looking at the same business through a different lens, convinced their perspective is the truth. The result? Misalignment, endless debate, and innovation that never quite makes it out of the boardroom. This is why the old consultant cliché “lend me your watch and I’ll tell you the time” is nonsense. Because most organisations can’t even agree what time it is. Here’s our philosophy: strategic design is the fastest route to organic growth. Not design as in “making things look nice.” Design as in: creating a system where customer insight drives strategy, where evidence trumps opinion, and where everyone rallies around a single, shared view of reality. Because growth doesn’t come from louder arguments or more dashboards. It comes from alignment. It comes from seeing clearly what’s been hiding in plain sight. You can’t solve problems with the same thinking that created them. Sometimes the smartest move is bringing in a perspective you don’t already have. Doing what you’ve always done will only get you what you’ve always got. The leaders who grow are the ones who finally synchronise the clock.

The 30-Minute Empire: Why Elite Consultants See What CEOs Miss While executives drown in spreadsheets and endless meetings, master consultants walk into boardrooms and identify million-dollar blind spots in thirty minutes. The difference isn't intelligence, it's intellectual ruthlessness. Most business leaders mistake activity for progress. They're trapped in operational quicksand, managing symptoms while the disease spreads through their organization's DNA. Meanwhile, strategic consultants operate from an elevated vantage point, seeing patterns invisible to those buried in daily operations. The Consultant's X-Ray Vision Reveals Three Critical Layers: The Revenue Reality Check - Where money actually flows versus where leadership thinks it flows. Elite consultants follow the cash trail that reveals which departments are profit centers disguised as cost centers, and which "strategic initiatives" are bleeding resources. The Decision Archaeology - Every struggling company has fossilized decisions creating invisible friction. Master consultants excavate these buried choices, connecting today's pain to yesterday's compromises that seemed logical at the time. The Leadership Mirror - The most uncomfortable truth: most business problems aren't operational, they're psychological. Consultants diagnose the CEO's blind spots, the board's delusions, and the leadership team's unspoken conflicts that cascade through every level. This diagnostic precision isn't accidental. It's systematic deconstruction of complexity into actionable intelligence. Pain 2 Prosperity Publishing understands this intellectual architecture. We don't publish business books, we publish strategic weapons that transform how leaders think, decide, and dominate their markets. Your next read could be the difference between managing problems and engineering solutions. Ready to develop consultant-level vision? Like if you recognize the power of strategic thinking, comment with your biggest business diagnostic challenge, and share this with leaders who need this perspective. Follow us on IG and Facebook for daily strategic insights. Visit Pain 2 Prosperity Publishing at https://lnkd.in/eBQcauf4 for transformational business intelligence. Our upcoming releases will sharpen your strategic edge. #Pain2ProsperityPublishing #StrategyConsulting #BusinessDiagnostics #ExecutiveInsight #LeadershipStrategy #BusinessStrategy #ConsultingMindset #StrategicThinking #BusinessTransformation #LeadershipDevelopment #ManagementConsulting #BusinessIntelligence #StrategicLeadership #BusinessSolutions #ExecutiveCoaching

How to Be More Strategic (When It's Not in Your Job Title) Strategy isn't a role—it's a mindset. It’s the discipline of making today’s choices with a clear view of tomorrow’s consequences. You can cultivate it by mastering these five frameworks: 1. SWOT Analysis: Start with situational clarity. Before any project or pivot, map your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is your reality check. 2. Second-Order Thinking: Don’t just ask, “What happens next?” Ask, “And then what?” Uncover the ripple effects of your decisions (like hiring or investing) to avoid unintended consequences and spot hidden opportunities. 3. VRIO Framework: Build a sustainable advantage. For any skill or capability, ask: Is it Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and are we Organized to capture its value? This is the key to long-term competitiveness. 4. McKinsey 7S: Ensure organizational alignment. Strategy (plans) must cohere with Systems, Structure, Skills, Staff, Style, and most importantly, Shared Values. Misalignment is why good strategies fail. 5. Impact vs. Effort Matrix: Prioritize ruthlessly. Focus on "Quick Wins" and "Strategic Plays." Automate or delegate the rest. Your time and resources are finite; invest them where they make the biggest impact. Strategic professionals aren't defined by their title, but by their ability to see the system, think in time, and allocate resources to what matters most. What's your go-to framework for strategic thinking? #StrategicThinking #Leadership #CareerDevelopment #Management #BusinessStrategy #PersonalGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment

Great strategies don’t start with answers. They start with sharper questions💡. The way you frame a question can unlock growth levers, shift roadmaps, and realign entire organizations. Yet most leaders focus on what to ask when the magic is in how and what we ask. ❓️ The Three Levels of Questions 1️⃣What ~ describes the situation. Useful for context + alignment. 2️⃣How ~ Explores levers + blockers. Fuels execution. 3️⃣So what ~ Tests implications + trade-offs. Drives clear decisions. When you shift from what -> how -> so what, you turn complexity into clarity and strategy into action. 💭Your turn (Consultants + Strategists) : ▶️Which question has recently unlocked a breakthrough for you or your client? 3 questions to elevate client conversations 👇 1️⃣ If we nail this, what’s the biggest shift for your business? 2️⃣ Where are we assuming causality, and how do we test it? 3️⃣ How does success here reshape the competitive landscape… or create new risks? Because in strategy, the right question isn’t diagnostic, it’s catalytic. It sharpens focus, fuels smarter bets, and moves teams from ambiguity to impact. #StrategyConsulting #GrowthStrategy #ProblemSolving #LeadershipCoaching #DecisionFramework #ConsultantLife #TheArtOfInquiry

90% of strategies fail Not because they were bad ideas Not because the market changed overnight But because the business wasn’t set up to deliver them I’ve seen it over and over The CEO unveils a bold new plan The leadership team nods in agreement The board gets excited Six months later? Nothing has changed Revenue targets are missed Costs creep up People are “busy” but results don’t match the effort The problem is alignment You can have the sharpest strategy in the industry, but if the rest of the business is out of sync, it’s like trying to win a race with the handbrake on Maybe the structure still reflects how things were five years ago Maybe your systems can’t produce the information you need to make quick decisions Maybe your people have the passion, but not the skills the plan demands Or maybe the culture quietly resists the changes needed to win Here’s the truth: Your strategy is just one of seven moving parts that need to work together This is where the McKinsey 7S Framework comes in It’s not corporate theory - it’s a checklist for CEOs to see why execution is stalling The seven Ss are: - Strategy - your plan to win - Structure - how you organise to deliver - Systems - the processes and controls that keep things moving - Shared Values - the culture that guides daily behaviour - Skills - the capabilities your business has (and lacks) - Style - leadership approach and tone - Staff - the people and their fit for the plan If one is out of alignment, it slows everything down For best results: - Map all seven as they are today - Spot the gaps - Focus first on the changes that will move the needle fastest [These are often the things that free up cash flow, unlock bottlenecks, or boost margins by the most] Because a great strategy doesn’t fail in the boardroom It fails in the day-to-day friction between people, processes, and priorities If your growth plans aren’t delivering, stop rewriting the strategy Check the other six. Which metrics will you start tracking today? P.S. DM me 'Strategy' for the PDF version of the below image so you can revisit it whenever you need to. -- ♻️ Repost to help other leaders ➕ Follow Tom Griffiths for more insights like this

It's a powerful call for leaders to stop blaming strategies and start examining the quality of internal organization and work culture, which are often the silent killers of the best plans.

Great reminder from McKinsey’s 7S Framework — strategy alone doesn’t drive success. The real challenge (and differentiator) lies in execution — translating plans into consistent, disciplined action. Too many organizations talk about strategy, but not enough focus on the operational muscle needed to make it happen. It’s the alignment of structure, systems, skills, and shared values — brought to life through daily execution — that truly transforms results. #Leadership #Execution #Strategy #McKinsey7S #OperationalExcellence #Transformation #Management