Five kinds of decision, one discipline.
Every engagement falls into one of these five categories. We describe them as executives live them, not as firms sell them; five typical situations show what that means in practice.
- Expertise
Investing and setting direction
The decision commits the company for years, the data is missing or contradictory, and waiting is an option, rarely the best one. We structure the choice so that it is made in time, remains correctable, and everyone knows what would lead to reconsidering it.
Typical situations: investment in a site, equipment or a system; diversifying or dropping an activity; entering or leaving a market; partnership, acquisition or sale; make or buy.
The long-form page: investing and setting direction - Expertise
Organising and leading change
The structure no longer follows the activity, two teams have to merge, a transformation has to go through without middle management dropping out. We sequence the decision, identify who carries it and who slows it, set the pace, and hold that pace until the new way of working is established.
Typical situations: reorganisation of a department or a site; merging teams after an acquisition; new processes or a new tool; redefined responsibilities; transformation imposed by the market or by regulation.
The long-form page: organising and leading change - Expertise
Governing and handing over
Owners, board and management do not decide the same things, and when the split is unclear, everyone decides everything and nobody decides. We clarify who decides what, make a board that contributes something, and prepare successions before they impose themselves.
Typical situations: a board to structure or to wake up; succession at the head of the company; family handover; disagreement between partners; arrival of an investor; an independent director to choose.
The long-form page: governing and handing over - Expertise
Steering by the figures
The accounts exist, the accountant produces them, and the executive does not find in them what is needed to decide. We read the figures from the executive's point of view: where the margin is really made, which clients weigh too much, which costs are structural, when cash breaks, and what the indicators being tracked are actually worth.
Typical situations: margin eroding with no visible cause; dependence on one client or supplier; pricing to be revised; a budget that has to commit; a management dashboard to build or rebuild. StratBoard, the firm's instrument, supports this reading.
The long-form page: steering by the figures - Expertise
Deciding about people
The heaviest decisions of any leadership concern people: whom to hire, whom to promote, whom to replace, how far to delegate, how to settle an individual situation that is blocking the team. We treat human resources in their decision dimension, the one that falls to the executive and that no one can take in their place.
Typical situations: hiring or replacing a key manager; composing or recomposing the executive committee; delegating an area to a deputy; a difficult individual situation; a conflict between two managers; a management culture that has to evolve.
The long-form page: deciding about people
Three ways of working.
The firm works in three formats. The first conversation serves to choose the right one. In all three, you buy the time and judgement of the person who signs the proposal: no pyramid, no junior, no handover of the file. Outside skills, legal, tax or technical, are named in the proposal and you choose the provider.
The engagement
One decision to instruct, a timeframe, a deliverable. The format of the five areas above, from two to twelve weeks depending on the situation. Fixed fee, set in the proposal before work begins.
Ongoing counsel
Half a day a month, more in busy periods, as a counterpart who does not belong to the organisation: live decisions are reviewed, contradicted and prepared with the executive. Fixed monthly fee, six-month renewable commitment.
Speaking
Keynote, masterclass or seminar for an executive committee or a board. Fees on quotation, according to the format and the preparation.
See the programme
How an engagement unfolds.
Five steps, from the first message to the debrief. Nothing is invoiced before the third.
- Step 1
Your message
You describe the situation in three questions through the contact form: what has to be decided, by when, what prevents you from deciding. Mike Ciabatti replies personally.
- Step 2
First conversation
Thirty minutes, remote or on site, without commitment and without charge. The purpose is to understand the decision, to say whether the firm can be useful, and in which format. If the answer is no, you will know it by the end of the call.
- Step 3
Written proposal
One page: the decision question as we understood it, the scope, the duration, the deliverables, the fees and the conditions. Nothing is committed before your agreement on this document, and nothing is invoiced beyond what it provides for.
- Step 4
The engagement
Interviews, reading of the figures, open sources, building of the options, following the four steps of the method. You are kept informed at each step; disagreements are stated when they appear, not in the final report.
- Step 5
Debrief and follow-up
The deliverable is handed over and presented to the executive, alone or with the people they designate. Three months later, a follow-up conversation checks what the decision has produced and what needs correcting. This follow-up is included in the engagement.
What the firm does not do.
A firm is also defined by what it refuses. These refusals protect the quality of what we do.
No deciding in your place
We structure, we clarify, we contradict. The decision remains yours, and so does the responsibility.
No report without consequence
Every deliverable ends with what it changes for the decision. A document that alters no choice is not delivered.
No execution disguised as advice
No bookkeeping, no legal work, no IT, no volume recruiting. The firm works with your providers; it does not replace them.
Frequently asked questions.
What executives ask before writing.
Which companies do you work with?
Companies of a few dozen to a few hundred people, most often owned by their executives or by a family, in Valais, Geneva and French-speaking Switzerland; boards; public and semi-public institutions. Below ten people an engagement is rarely justified; above a thousand, the firm works with a leadership team or a board, not the whole organisation.
How much does an engagement cost?
Engagements are invoiced at a fixed fee, set in the written proposal according to scope and duration; ongoing counsel is a fixed monthly fee; speaking is on quotation. The first thirty-minute conversation is not charged. There is no public rate because no two decisions are alike; engagements are sized for decisions whose stakes justify several weeks of executive-level work.
How is this different from an accountant or an organisation consultant?
The accountant produces the accounts and keeps them compliant; the organisation consultant designs structures and processes. The firm does neither. It helps the executive make one specific decision, using the accountant's figures and, where needed, the consultant's recommendations, and it stays until the decision is made and held.
Who actually works on my engagement?
Mike Ciabatti, from the first conversation to the debrief. The firm does not delegate and does not subcontract. Where an outside skill is needed, legal, tax or technical, it is identified in the proposal and you choose the provider.
How is confidentiality guaranteed?
Every proposal includes a confidentiality clause; the firm cites no engagement and names no client, on this site or elsewhere. Working documents are destroyed or returned at the end of the engagement, as you prefer. The firm does not work for a direct competitor of a current client.
What happens if you disagree with me?
You will know. The firm is paid to say what the executive's entourage no longer says; disagreement is put in writing, with its reasons, when it appears. The decision remains yours. An engagement with no disagreement at all would be a sign it was not needed.
A situation that resembles one of these?
Describe it in three questions. A first thirty-minute conversation, without commitment, will tell whether the firm can be useful, and in which format.