Case Studies

Brief

Since the 1990s, the statistic “70% of transformations fail” has been repeated endlessly—but rarely paired with practical tools to do better. At HCPA’s New Horizons 2025 conference —focused on AI, sustainability, and innovation—attendees were exposed to cutting-edge ideas. But many asked a familiar question: How do we actually implement these initiatives back at our companies?

As part of an extend talk, our session delivered a practical framework for guiding transformation—from ideation through prioritization and execution. The talk provided participants with tools to initiate new efforts with stronger internal alignment and a realization of the challenging pathway to reset stalled initiatives.

Approach

Through the session “Hearts Before Habits the 30-Year Cycle of Transformation Failure,” we introduced a structured, story-driven transformation model built from real-world experience across various business settings. The framework helped attendees clarify how to lead change in a way that reverses the common adage leaders have to anticipate wins from singular, isolated, changes.

• The Hearts → Minds → Habits Framework – A simple but powerful model for building transformations that stick by aligning on what people care about (hearts), planning for execution (minds), and reinforcing behavior (habits) to deliver lasting value.
• Executive Persuasion Strategy – Participants learned to use a “Situation → Complication → Solution” approach to communicate with and align leaders on the urgency to change.
• Initiative Prioritization Matrix – With many organizations juggling projects such as the ones presented at the conference, attendees gained a structured method to evaluate transformation opportunities based on financial value and attractiveness.

Results

• Grounded Tools, Not Just Inspiration – Unlike many conference talks focused solely on emerging technologies, this session offered frameworks attendees could apply immediately inside their organizations.
• Directly Addressed Stalled TransformationsAlignment Comes First
• Renewed Confidence – Even in challenging environments, participants left with clearer next steps for engaging leadership and opening the door to rebooting stalled efforts.

Why This Matters

Innovative ideas are everywhere, but implementation is where they fail. Misalignment, blame, and lack of clarity at the top prevent progress at every level. This session gave attendees the language, structure, and approach to reconnect transformation efforts with the people expected to make them happen. Real change requires leadership support—and that starts with shared understanding. When leaders and teams align on what matters, transformation doesn’t just succeed. It becomes sustainable.

Let’s talk about how you can transform your business to grow—faster and with confidence.

Brief

A company sought to expand into a new product line for existing customers, but lacked clarity on what it would take to compete, how much it would cost, and whether suppliers could reliably provide the needed products. After spending over a year exploring different approaches, the team struggled to dedicate time to fully assess feasibility, validate vendors, and define a profitable business model. They had also received mixed feedback on what was required to compete and needed a structured way to evaluate their options.

Approach

Through a Jumpstart Workshop, we provided a structured assessment of key considerations for market entry, helping the client quickly align on whether and how to move forward.

Key actions included:

• Estimating Profitability Scenarios – Using readily available data, we outlined high-level financial estimates to gauge potential costs and margins, ensuring realistic expectations.
• Clarifying Market Positioning & Value Proposition – Identified the mix of services, pricing models, and cost considerations that would impact success.
• Vendor Identification & Initial Validation – Initially, we provided a list of potential vendors. Recognizing the importance of supplier reliability, we added a sub-project to directly engage with these vendors. Leveraging our network, we navigated complex organizational structures to connect with the appropriate departments, ensuring alignment with the client's specific product requirements.
• Resource & Cost Considerations – Expanded the decision set of resources required for a viable market entry strategy, ensuring leadership understood the key investments involved.
• Organizing Critical Information – The client had spent over a year gathering scattered information. By the end of the workshop, we delivered a clear summary of findings and structured next steps to streamline execution.

Results

• Clarity on Market Positioning & Profitability – The client now has a realistic understanding of the mix of services, cost considerations, and pricing models required for market entry.
• Go/No-Go Decision Framework – Leadership is aligned on whether market entry is viable and what success would look like in the first year.
• Validated Vendor List – The client now has confirmed supplier options, reducing uncertainty in sourcing.
• Faster Execution – Rather than continuing to stall due to competing priorities, the company can now move forward efficiently with a structured plan.

Why This Matters

Expanding into a new product line—even when customers are asking for it—requires more than just finding vendors or setting prices. It requires a clear understanding of cost drivers, supply chain feasibility, and commercial execution.

By providing the client with structured insights and a clear roadmap, we helped them gain clarity in weeks—rather than letting another year pass without action.

Considering a new product launch but struggling to bring all the pieces together? Let’s connect to help you move forward with confidence.

Brief

After losing a major customer representing 20% of their business, this industrial company developed a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy—but leadership lacked confidence in it. They had recently undergone a restructuring that removed middle management, leaving only senior individual contributors. Expertise became siloed, and newer employees were minimized by tenured staff due to the company's culture of frequent role transitions.

The result? A fragmented team, an unclear GTM strategy, and leadership uncertainty about how to move forward.

Approach

During our initial assessment, the team described their situation as "floating in the ocean with the ship taking on water." We used this analogy to bring the GTM process to life:

• First, we brought the ship back to port – Identifying misalignment, siloed knowledge, and a lack of structured service level agreements (SLAs) across market segments.
• Next, we unpacked and repacked the cargo – Mapping customer relationships revealed that sales teams had overestimated their influence over decision-makers. A relationship map helped prioritize real influencers vs. perceived ones.
• Then, we charted the course forward – Tied portfolio management to strategic prioritization, balancing emotional attachment to projects with quantitative and qualitative evaluation to ensure commercial success.
• Clarified paths to market – Analyzing the value chain and market sizing, we uncovered gaps in end-product life cycle planning, impacting product demand as vehicles aged.
• Built targeted sales campaigns – Developing tailored outreach strategies for high-, medium-, and low-priority customers, aligning effort with business value.
• Drove change through cross-functional alignment – Proactively engaged both supporters and detractors, fostering real collaboration instead of passive communication.

Results

• Over the next two years, they successfully reclaimed their competitive standing and losses.
• The CEO convened a meeting with 20 key leaders and asked them to share what they learned. Even the staunchest detractors voiced support, saying they had previously communicated but never truly collaborated—until now.
• Leadership regained confidence in the GTM strategy, enabling clear execution.
• The company implemented its internal and external communication plan, strengthening its market position.

Why This Matters

Losing a major customer can derail even the most established companies, but with the right GTM strategy, organizations can turn uncertainty into opportunity. If your team is navigating market setbacks, internal misalignment, or commercial execution challenges, we can help you simplify complexity, align teams, and create a clear path forward.

Let’s talk about how you can regain your market position—faster and with confidence.

Brief

A food and beverage manufacturing company undergoing a generational transition struggled to align on project prioritization and next steps. The father-son executive team—a CEO with 50 years of experience and a COO with 20 years, heavily focused on operations—had distinct but complementary decision-making styles.

• The CEO's decades of experience allowed for quick, intuitive decision-making with minimal context.
• The COO, an industry leader in operations, relied on structured data but lacked adequate formal frameworks to apply it efficiently.

Approach

Through a Jumpstart Workshop, we uncovered the root causes of these challenges and helped both leaders recognize and appreciate each other's decision-making styles—shifting the dynamic from friction to collaboration.

Key actions included:

• Decision-Making Alignment – We helped the team recognize and appreciate their distinct leadership styles. The CEO’s intuitive, experience-driven approach allowed for rapid decision-making, while the COO, an industry expert, thrived with structured, data-driven processes. By introducing a transparent methodology, we ensured the COO had the right context to make decisions with the same confidence and speed—bridging the gap between instinct and structured analysis.
• Project Transparency & Prioritization – Built a structured framework Built a structured framework to ensure both leaders had visibility into projects, preventing unintended delays or roadblocks.
• Gap Identification – Outlined clear next steps for existing initiatives, ensuring momentum and execution.

Results

• Stronger executive alignment – The CEO and COO now work in sync rather than at odds.
• Increased transparency – A structured project prioritization system ensures initiatives move forward efficiently.
• Immediate operational savings – The client engaged us for follow-on work, prioritizing an indirect procurement spend analysis. Within the first few months, we uncovered and implemented $100,000 in annual savings.

Why This Matters

Generational leadership transitions can stall business growth when experienced based decision-making styles clash. By aligning perspectives and bringing structure to prioritization and transparency, companies can reduce friction, increase efficiency, and unlock hidden value.

Brief

An industrial B2B company had business case elements built into its innovation build and launch process, but it was entangled with R&D and operational needs. As a result, a product launched using this process missed the true market needs, despite investing in downstream marketing, leading to wasted R&D efforts and stalled growth in new segments. The client wanted a solution to mitigate that risk in the future as opposed to investing in a full GTM project for existing opportunities.

Approach

To bridge this gap, we helped them decode their value chain and align their GTM process with commercial and market realities. Through our Jumpstart assessment and follow on projects, we pinpointed gaps in their validation and decision-making process, ensuring they had the right insights at the right time.

Key components of our approach:

• Structured GTM Framework Integration – We aligned GTM steps within their innovation process, clarifying how commercial decisions fit into innovation milestones.
• Beyond Go/No-Go – Instead of binary launch decisions, we introduced alternative commercialization paths, including low-investment market entry options to mitigate risk.
• Validation Process Over Time – We helped them shift from one-time market validation to a structured approach where hypotheses were refined with primary and secondary research over the innovation process.
• Clear Decision Criteria – For each innovation process phase, we developed success criteria, risk indicators, and evaluation checkpoints, ensuring alignment across teams.

Results

• Accelerated decision- making and a repeatable GTM validation process, reducing wasted R&D, marketing, and sales investments.
• Faster market entry with commercialization options beyond traditional launches.
• A repeatable process that now serves as a foundation for future market expansion and innovation efforts.
• Tangible revenue and opportunity insights, enabling them to take advantage of early regulatory conditions and shorten sales cycles while preparing for long-term growth.

Why This Matters

A well-structured GTM process doesn’t just support product launches—it ensures market readiness, reduces risk, and accelerates commercialization success. By integrating clear decision points, validation steps, and commercialization options, companies can avoid wasted investments and gain a faster, more confident path to market expansion.