Advisory for Executives Navigating High-Stakes Complexity.
You're here because the usual forms of support aren't sufficient for what you're carrying. The decisions are too consequential, the pressure too sustained, or the consequences too far-reaching for generic advice or motivational reassurance.
Judgement.
Consequence.
Responsibility.
I work with senior executives on the decisions that carry real consequence — where the quality of thinking determines what follows and responsibility cannot be delegated.
This work is organised around three disciplines. Not skills to acquire, but practices that require structure, partnership, and sustained attention.
Judgement Under Pressure
The capacity to think clearly when stakes are high and the discipline to construct, test, and commit to decisions when information is incomplete, tradeoffs are real, and time is compressed.
Consequence Literacy
Understanding what your decisions actually cost beyond the visible and immediate, into the second and third-order effects that accumulate over time.
Distributed Responsibility
Leadership architecture that does not centralise all risk in one person's thinking. Clarity on who decides what, and the structures that allow accountability to be shared without diffusion.
Built for the decisions that actually matter
You already invest in coaching and consulting. Coaching improves performance. Consulting brings structure and insight. Both have their place.
But neither is designed for moments when the cost of being wrong is high and the decision cannot be revisited.
In those moments you need judgement support. Not another framework. Consequence mapping. Not reassurance. Clarity on what is truly at stake.
This work operates at the point where decisions carry weight, time is compressed, and second-order effects matter. It is designed to support clear thinking when leadership is tested and outcomes cannot be undone.
The work takes different forms depending on what you are carrying
Strategic Intensives
Concentrated counsel for specific high-stakes moments, structured around the decision, delivered over a contained period, and concluded when the work is done. For capital events, M&A, restructuring, crisis preparation, and major strategic transitions.
Explore Strategic IntensivesAdvisory Partnership
Retainer-based counsel for CEOs, founders, and executives carrying board-level accountability. Decision cadence, capital discipline, authority alignment, and structural clarity over time. For owner-founded businesses, PE-backed leaders, and executives navigating sustained complexity.
Explore Advisory PartnershipExecutive Counsel
Judgement work for leaders under sustained pressure. Not performance coaching — senior counsel for CEOs and executives who must remain credible, decisive, and coherent when responsibility cannot be delegated.
Explore Executive CounselLeadership Team Advisory
Facilitated advisory for executive teams and boards. Every session designed in response to what the team is actually carrying — the decisions pending, the tensions unresolved, the clarity the organisation needs but hasn't found yet.
Explore Leadership Team AdvisorySubstance over spectacle
Keynotes and masterclasses for senior leadership audiences navigating complexity, change, and consequence. Not inspiration. Application.
- Leading Under Pressure — how leaders show up when pressure reveals the operating system
- The Invisible Shift — governing what's already in motion when clarity is incomplete
- Critical Decision Making — judgement under scrutiny and social pressure
- What Capital Costs — the organisational and human price of growth decisions
Also available: Interactive masterclasses for senior leadership groups. Two formats. Deep application to your team's actual context.
Explore MasterclassesA closed room for senior leaders
Once a month, a small group. A live session on something that matters right now. Mid-month, a voice note directly from me. Once a year, a private calibration conversation. For leaders who want consistent access to serious advisory thinking — without committing to a full engagement.
Learn About QuorumWhat leaders who engage this work have navigated
Advisory and counsel work is confidential. What follows are patterns — the kinds of consequential moments this work is built for.
- Fundraising rounds up to £150M completed with full board alignment and no post-close fracture
- C-suite transitions and succession decisions executed without organisational drift or loss of leadership signal
- M&A processes navigated under compressed timelines, with stakeholder narratives that held under scrutiny
- Founder-to-CEO transitions that preserved culture while restructuring decision-making for scale
- Crisis moments where clarity under pressure maintained reputational and organisational coherence
Judgement, consequence, and leadership under pressure
A regular note for leaders who want signal over noise — written for those navigating decisions that actually carry weight. Not motivational content. The thinking behind the work.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Written by David McQueen.
Not every situation warrants this level of work.
But if you're navigating conditions where clarity, consequence, and judgement matter more than speed or consensus — you're in the right place.
Start a ConversationShare your context. If the work fits, I'll respond within 2–3 days.