a little about me & my clever crow

I’m a business builder, marketer, researcher, relationship builder and lifelong curious person.

My career has taken me through very different industries, companies and challenges. Architecture and engineering. Infrastructure. Technology. Industrial and manufacturing. Maritime and skilled trades. Marketing and professional services.

That variety turned out to be one of my greatest strengths.

Every experience taught me another way to look at a problem.

I’ve built business development programs, researched new markets, opened doors, developed client relationships, written proposals and presentations, worked with technical teams, helped implement CRM systems, developed marketing strategies and figured out more than a few things along the way that didn’t come with instructions.

I’m comfortable with the big picture, but I also like getting into the weeds. I can spend the morning researching a market and the afternoon talking to the people actually working in it. I want to understand how something works, why it works that way and whether there might be a better way.

That curiosity is a big part of how I work.

Business is both.

There is the science: research, numbers, data, systems, technology, market intelligence and strategy.

Then there is the art: people, relationships, communication, creativity, instinct, timing and experience.

I have always worked somewhere in between.

A spreadsheet can tell you a lot. So can a conversation.

Technology can make us faster. It doesn't necessarily make us smarter.

And sometimes the most valuable question in the room is simply, “Why are we doing it this way?”

Business is changing incredibly quickly. AI is changing how we research, communicate, market, sell and work. We have access to more information and more tools than ever before.

We also have a whole lot of sameness.

The same language. The same content. The same strategies. The same AI slop dressed up in slightly different clothes.

I think this makes original thinking, human judgment and genuine curiosity even more valuable.

When I look at a business or a problem, I like to consider three things:

Past. Present. Possible.

Where have you been and what can we learn from it?

What is actually happening right now?

And what is coming over the horizon that we should be paying attention to?

Then I start connecting dots.

The name comes from one of my favorite Aesop's fables, The Crow and the Pitcher.

A thirsty crow finds a pitcher with a little water at the bottom, but its beak can't reach it.

So the crow looks around.

It notices some pebbles.

One by one, it drops them into the pitcher until the water rises high enough to drink.

I love that story because the crow didn't need a bigger budget, a bigger team or more resources.

It looked at what was available, understood the problem and found another way.

That pretty much sums up how I approach business.

I'm collaborative by nature. I ask a lot of questions. I like smart people, interesting problems and ideas that don't fit neatly into boxes. And I believe success is a lot more fun when you enjoy the people you're working with.

I don't pretend to know everything.

I don't think good consultants should.

You don't have to know everything to ask a very good question.

Sometimes that's exactly where the answer starts.

THINK DIFFERENTLY. FIND A WAY.