CEO Shadow & Private Advisory
Independent counsel for the person who carries the decision. For CEOs, founders and principal shareholders who need a confidential counterpart — someone with no agenda inside the company.
The higher the seat, the fewer honest conversations.
Every senior leader eventually reaches the point where the quality of their information degrades. Information is filtered. Interests are rarely neutral. The most consequential decisions become the hardest to test openly.
What is missing is rarely intelligence or effort. It is a place to think without consequence, and a counterpart who understands the weight of the seat through direct operating experience.
What this usually looks like
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01
The direction is defensible, but you are no longer certain it is right.
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02
Priorities compete, and everything arrives labelled urgent.
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03
The board is pushing somewhere you are not convinced by.
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04
A senior executive has become a problem you manage rather than solve.
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05
Internal politics are shaping decisions more than the strategy is.
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06
You are carrying a decision you cannot discuss internally without triggering it.
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07
You are transforming the company with no one to test the plan against.
Two forms of relationship.
CEO Shadow is a standing relationship with one chief executive. Private Advisory is a reserved mandate for a founder, principal shareholder or family principal.
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01
CEO Shadow
- Regular private sessions on a fixed cadence
- Direct access between sessions when something moves
- Preparation for board, shareholder and executive meetings
- Decision testing before commitments become irreversible
- Stakeholder and power mapping
- Follow-through on the priorities that were agreed
- Written notes on decisions, where useful
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02
Private Advisory
- A reserved mandate for a founder, shareholder or principal
- Structural decisions: reorganisation, ownership, investment
- Options papers with scenarios, trade-offs and consequences
- Board-grade decision memoranda
- Stakeholder alignment plans
- Latent conflict addressed before it surfaces
- Focused or continuing, depending on the situation
Diagnostic → Programme → Advisory
The sequence is deliberate. The diagnostic establishes what is true; the programme installs what is missing; the advisory holds it in place. Capital Readiness runs alongside when a transaction or investment is in view.
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01
CEO Shadow Advisor
A discreet counterpart for CEOs who cannot afford blind spots.
Independent counsel to interpret hidden agendas, read power dynamics and map incentives across partners, boards, executives and external stakeholders. I help you anticipate first- and second-order reactions, pressure-test assumptions and evaluate downside risk before decisions become irreversible.
This includes identifying what is being said versus what is being negotiated, where authority actually sits, and which stakeholders can accelerate — or quietly block — an outcome. Work is conducted in strict confidence: a private thinking space where you can speak freely, stress-test scenarios and convert complexity into clear, executable moves.
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02
Private Advisory & Strategic Counsel
A Private Advisor for structural decisions that define control, value and trajectory.
Focused or ongoing counsel for structural decisions that shape value, control and long-term trajectory: growth strategy, reorganisation, shareholder transitions, M&A, investment decisions, latent conflict and strategic resets.
Typical outputs are board-grade and action-oriented: a decision memo, an options paper with scenarios and trade-offs, a strategic thesis, a stakeholder alignment plan, and executable next steps. Engagements can be a short, intensive intervention or an ongoing advisory relationship with clear cadence and deliverables.
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03
Decision Sprint
A short, intensive intervention around one specific decision.
Situation triage, options and second-order consequences, stakeholder mapping, a recommendation and an execution plan. Defined scope, defined end.
Who this is for
CEOs of private and listed companies. Founders carrying the company on their own judgement. Principal shareholders with control but no independent counsel. Executives entering a transformation, a transition, or a first board seat.
This is not coaching, not mentoring, and not an introduction service. It is judgement applied to specific decisions, by someone who has held the P&L.
Private Initial Conversation
A confidential conversation, without commitment, to understand the situation, assess whether there is a fit and define the appropriate next step. Nothing needs to be prepared in advance.
Where the decision involves operations, partners or shareholders across jurisdictions — Iberia, France and francophone markets, Brazil, Angola or the Gulf — the counsel extends to the international dimension.
Request a private conversationNotes on Growth, Leadership and Decision
A decision you cannot delegate deserves a counterpart you can speak to freely.
Every engagement starts with a private conversation.