What's happening and what's at stake?
Answer those two things and we'll already know most of what matters. Everything else, we can work out together on the call.
For founders, CEOs and boards
Engagements run monthly, and the useful ones start before the thing happens: a transaction, a restructuring, a leadership change, a regulator who has started asking questions. I only have capacity to take on 1-2 engagements at a time and if I cannot give my full commitment, I will say so rather than take it and hand the work off to junior team members.
Keynotes, panels, closed-door sessions
Usually on crisis readiness, the decision-to-explanation gap, or what twenty-two years of being in the room teaches you about who should be briefing whom. The closed-door sessions are the better format for a room of operators; the keynote is the better format for a room that has not agreed there is a problem yet.