If my daughter’s high school crew team (feel free to review our 2022 post - The Power of Alignment ) was to have a prayer of winning...

What does future success look like?  It seems like a simple question.  Yet, this is not a simple question for many midmarket firms. When...

One thing is certain, to grow is to change. When transitioning from a family led business to private equity, many management teams are...

The business landscape is littered with strategic plans that went nowhere. They sit on the proverbial shelf, many never even seeing the...

Many businesses have momentary success, only later to endure long-term challenges. We’ve seen businesses that have endured those...

A common recipe for companies trying to repair underperforming revenues and margins is a hasty meeting to “fix” sales, “boost” marketing...

My daughter was a Coxswain for her high school crew club. As Coxswain, her job was to: Steer the boat to the finish line (vision), Urge...

As we wrap up another really challenging year, you might take stock and ponder... Why ARE we here anyways? For more and more of us, our...

In our growth strategy work, we look for market growth forces shaping the future. We define a growth force as a market trend or dynamic...

What a crazy time it is! Well, we now know what the “new normal” is also an ongoing period of changes, surprises, and uncertainties...

Several recent conversations have made me stop to ponder how today’s employment landscape is throttling growth. Before COVID, the level...

In their book Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kaim and Renee Mauborgne’s metaphor outlining “red oceans” and “blue oceans” really struck me...

Now is a moment. Now is constantly changing, here and yet pressing forward. Today, the energy of a new year is all around us. Can you...

Employers and employees are transitioning into the next phase of COVID uncertainty, and we can be assured that the next several months...

With this COVID-19 crisis, many structural market assumptions that we built our businesses on are now questionable - or simply no longer...

Our global turbulence is challenging and reshaping long-standing market assumptions and practices. This is challenging our mindsets and...

How disruptive are COVID-19’s unexpected impacts proving to be for your business? How clear is your team’s line of sight over the next...

A clear-eyed look at the landscape today makes a few things clear: Planning COVID-19 and our societal response is incredibly disruptive,...

In times like these, it’s really important to get clear about what your view of the near future, even if that's 30 days at a time. Get...

As Shepherd Advisors helps companies focus on better targets, we will often ask, “Who are your growth customers?” Growth customers are...