EXECUTIVE STRATEGY ADVISOR

Executive Strategy Advisor: A Confidential Thought Partner for High-Stakes Decisions

Some of the hardest strategic decisions a leader makes happen before anyone else is in the room.

A reorganization you aren't ready to announce. A board dynamic you can't discuss with your leadership team. A strategic shift you want to test before it becomes the organization's agenda.

Every leader occasionally needs someone outside, with no stake in the outcome except getting the decision right for the organization.

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What Is an Executive Strategy Advisor?

An Executive Strategy Advisor is a confidential advisory relationship in which Focused Momentum Founder and Chief Strategist Cecilia Lynch serves as a thought partner to a CEO, board chair, or senior executive. It gives leaders facing high-stakes strategic decisions or difficult leadership challenges access to more than 25 years of strategic leadership experience without an active consulting engagement: no project team, no workplan, and no consulting footprint inside the organization. Leaders get candid advice and an experienced perspective to help see the situation more clearly and take the next step with confidence.

It isn’t a coaching program or a project with deliverables. It’s an experienced, confidential sounding board for the decisions that matter most.

A Confidential Strategist in Your Corner

Direct Access

You work one-on-one with Cecilia Lynch by video call (Zoom or Teams), phone, or email, wherever you are. Not a project team, not an account manager.

Confidential by Design

Confidentiality is written into every engagement agreement. It covers what you share, the decisions you discuss, and the existence of the engagement itself, and nothing is shared with anyone, including your organization or board, without your written permission.

On Your Schedule

No fixed work plan or deliverable calendar. Bring what's on your mind when it's on your mind.

More Than 25 Years of Pattern Recognition

The same strategic depth behind our Strategy Summit® and Implementation Support engagements, informed by how similar decisions have played out across companies, nonprofits, and academic institutions.

Cecilia Lynch, Founder and Chief Strategist of Focused Momentum

When Leaders Call an Executive Strategy Advisor

For CEOs and presidents of companies; executive directors and board chairs of nonprofit and mission-driven organizations; and chairs, deans, physician leaders, and research directors in academic departments. Cecilia has worked with leaders in each of these roles and can help you think through the right path forward for you and your organization.

  • Before a high-stakes decision: a strategic pivot, an acquisition, a major investment, or a program you may need to close.
  • During a sensitive transition: a reorganization, a succession question, or a difficult personnel decision you aren't ready to make public.
  • In a new role: your first year as CEO, executive director, board chair, or department chair, when an outside read helps before your own read of the organization has fully formed.
  • When dynamics get complicated: tension between the board and leadership, friction within your leadership team, or a relationship with a key partner that needs a neutral perspective.
  • Before an important communication: a board presentation, a strategic communication, or a message to staff.

How an Executive Strategy Advisor Relationship Works

Begin

Step 1

A Confidential Introduction Call

A brief, private conversation about what you're navigating and whether this is the right fit.

Step 2

A Few Referral Calls

We connect you with one or two leaders who have engaged Cecilia in an advisory role. Ask what it’s like and how she works so you feel comfortable before starting.

Step 2

Step 3

A Relationship, Not a Project Plan

No scope document or milestone chart. You set the cadence: regular check-ins, calls before a big decision, or both.

Step 4

Direct, Candid Input

Play out options for a decision, test a draft communication, work through a difficult board or leadership dynamic, or validate a change you’re weighing, and get an honest outside read before you act.

Step 4

Step 5

Ongoing, as Long as It’s Useful

The relationship begins with a two-month agreement. After that, if desired, it continues on a negotiated retainer for as long as it adds value.

Ongoing or End

Format, Cadence, and Investment

Format: one-on-one and confidential, with Cecilia Lynch personally, by video call (Zoom or Teams), phone, and email.

Cadence: scheduled check-ins, on-demand calls before key decisions, email between conversations, or a mix.

Stakeholder conversations: at your request, Cecilia can also speak with people who matter to the decision, such as a board member, a peer executive, or a key partner, to help shape their perspective and next steps. These conversations happen only with your permission.

Investment: $5,000 for the first two months, then, if desired, a negotiated retainer. 

What an Executive Strategy Advisor Won't Do

Cecilia won’t make the decision for you. The decisions, and the leadership actions that follow, are yours. What she gives you is candid, experienced outside advice and perspective before you act.

 Why Leaders Choose a Strategy Advisor Over Executive Coaching

Focus on the Decision, Not Your Development

  • Executive coaching builds you as a leader. This relationship focuses on the strategic decision or situation in front of you.

  • Cecilia gives you direct advice and a clear point of view, not only questions to help you find your own answer.

Strategy Expertise You Can Trust

  • More than 25 years of strategic planning across companies, nonprofits, and academic institutions, and the pattern recognition that comes with it.

  • Candid input from someone with no internal politics and no stake in the outcome except getting the decision right for your organization.

Confidential by Design

  • Nothing about the relationship needs to be visible inside your organization unless you choose to involve others. There’s no program to arrange through HR or explain to your team.

  • Focused Momentum doesn’t serve directly competing organizations, so Cecilia will never be advising your competitors. 

On Your Schedule

  • No session series or development plan. Reach out when a decision is in front of you.

  • Engage as often, or as rarely, as the moment demands. You stay the visible decision-maker at every step. 

It takes a certain personality to navigate strong A-type personalities, and Cecilia brought plenty of experience to help her navigate this environment; she was also really easy to talk to. 

Senior Director, academic department
 What’s refreshing about Cecilia is that she won't coddle you. When you are not on the right track, she will tell you. She has been doing this for a long time and has seen it all. She can capture your challenge right away and help you see it in a new way by drawing comparisons to other industries, business models, or cycles. She doesn’t hesitate; if you are off track, she tells you right away. For me, that was a phenomenal experience! 
Founder, company
Cecilia has the best strategic mind I have ever worked with. 
CEO, nonprofit organization
Cecilia has a special gift for strategic thinking. Cecilia is extremely professional and brings energy and fun to her work. After working with her, anyone else would have a high bar to meet. 
CEO, nonprofit organization

What's Your Strategic Planning Leadership Style?

 Are you a Directive Planner, Participative Organizer, Collaborative Guide, or Transformational Strategist? Knowing how you lead strategic decisions is a useful starting point for any advisory relationship. Take the quiz to find out.

What's Your Strategic Planning Leadership Style?

Cecilia Lynch Founder and Chief Strategist, Focused Momentum LLC

Meet Cecilia

An Executive Strategy Advisor relationship gives you confidential access to Cecilia Lynch, Founder and Chief Strategist of Focused Momentum, and more than 25 years of strategic planning experience across companies, nonprofits, and academic institutions. 

Read Cecilia's Bio Schedule a Discovery Call

Executive Strategy Advisor Frequently Asked Questions 

Ready for a Confidential Conversation?

If you're facing a high-stakes decision and want an experienced, confidential outside perspective, let's talk.

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