Leadership Spotlight

As part of our new leadership spotlight series, we’re sitting down with leaders across Council Advisors—including our colleagues at SSA & Company, The Miles Group, and High Lantern Group—to share insights on leadership, execution, and what it takes to drive results in today’s business environment.

Over the course of your career, what has changed most in how companies approach strategy, and how does that shape your work today at SSA & Co.?

Gone are the days of black box strategic thinking. Strategy is no longer developed in isolation. It’s shaped by how companies approach the market and the capabilities they need to succeed. The line between strategy and execution has blurred. At SSA, we help clients build the muscle—capabilities, operating model, and execution—to pursue the opportunity in front of them. This kind of integrated approach, fueled by iteration and agility, is now central to how companies compete and deliver results.

What is one part of the business leaders often overlook when trying to improve results?

Leaders often focus on setting a clear vision, but underestimate what it takes to embed that vision and make it stick. Quick wins can create momentum, but for teams to succeed, they must complete the journey from idea to quick win to lasting change. That requires transforming the operating model and staying relentlessly focused on execution. When that doesn’t happen, leaders often find themselves reporting surface-level gains, such as run-rate opportunities, without delivering meaningful financial improvements. Embedding results at scale typically requires a shift in how people operate, behave, and how leaders manage.

You’ve partnered with clients through other disruptive trends in business over the years. How does AI compare?

The pace of change with AI is unlike anything we’ve seen. It’s transforming how consumers behave, how companies deliver, and how entire industries operate—all at once. With past disruptions, you could usually see what was around the corner. With AI, there’s no clear endgame. Most of us believe we’re in the early innings, but the speed of change makes it hard to tell what’s coming next or when we’ll reach more stable ground. In this environment, companies need to focus on use cases that align with their business model and where they can build sustained capability. AI is an operating model transformation – it requires change in processes, structures, alignment, role clarity, governance, metrics, and reward systems.

What have your transformation efforts across industries and ownership models taught you about leading lasting change at scale?

Transformation starts with leadership, but it only sticks when it’s carried through every layer of the organization. That takes clear communication, the right capabilities, and leadership models that can adapt over time. You need a plan, but you also have to recognize that your plans will change. A client once described it like this: we’re aiming for a dot on the horizon, but by the time we get there, that dot will have become a fully built house. We may not know yet how many floors it’ll have, what shape the roof will take, or what materials it is made of, but we’ll stay focused on where we’re headed and adjust accordingly along the way. Clarity of vision paired with agility makes transformation work at scale.