The Main Session Narrative
The Exam Question
“How do we need to evolve as a business so that we are equipped and enabled for growth?
Maximizing our revenue potential
Growing our existing practices
Turning advanced technology into an advantage for our clients
Delivering outsized returns for shareholders
Enabled by world-class operations
While preserving the things that make Keystone special and differentiate ourselves from the alternatives”
“This is the first time we have examined ourselves and appreciated the need for a more thorough market strategy. We have amassed a stunning range of assets, and now it’s time to take the next step in our journey.”
Defining The Frameworks
Frameworks are at the heart of every program of this nature. Their primary role is to help us respond objectively, logically, and consistently to our challenges. In every case, they respond to a specific exam question. The structure of any framework is simple: it consists of a configuration of primary modules representing the main topics we need to consider. Each primary module can optionally be 'unpacked' in more detail to organise content into themes or substructures, essentially creating frameworks within frameworks.
The System Blueprint is a comprehensive plan—a systemic diagram that outlines how an organization aligns its teams and operations with achieving its new vision, mission, and objectives and delivering sustainable value. It defines the roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities required to support the strategic vision and highlights any gaps that must be addressed. When fully defined, it becomes the ‘Keystone Way’.
Strategic Objectives
Build a durable, purposeful, standalone company.
This requires a solid culture and the systemization of certain things. A well-recognized brand is an important part of the objective. It may feel strong with existing clients, but we are much less well-known beyond that.
Another objective is to ensure that we capture enough information about what we are doing so that we can repeat the things that create value, make it easier to replicate our combination of skills and become much more productized. The market is more than ready for us to codify our capabilities.
We need to recruit and retain talent*. Bring in the top talent who are aligned with our purpose and intentions. There is no shortage of talent and commitment, but having all this talent can create anxiety when we have to live with uncertainty - having a robust north star can help.
*We have a framework for hiring decisions that everyone must follow.
We aspire to be the employer of choice. Right now, not enough time is spent creating an inclusive, supportive, scalable environment.
There are a handful of really important skills that are undervalued but have a valuable contribution to make—good ops research skills, forecasters, and software architects, for example. We should be grabbing the best out there. We have a great story for this talent. Why work anywhere else?
Supporting Context for Our Objectives
Our growth ambitions stretch everyone. We need the entrepreneurial spirit that is comfortable taking on challenges in an uncertain, dynamic environment, with or without full support or adequate resources. We also need people who are not afraid to solve problems that haven’t been solved before.
This is a big reason why clients like working with Keystone.
At the moment, it may be too hard for people. We need to strengthen specific processes around recruitment and onboarding and broaden diversity. We don’t just need an organization full of entrepreneurs, either. As we grow, we must be deliberate about the people we bring in.
We must get the institutional knowledge and expertise into systems that will give emerging talent the ‘infrastructure’ they need to help us scale. Our clients get the best from our people, but that is not felt internally - they have much to learn from our leaders.
A big reason for being here today is because we are ready to think hard about scale now.
The word ‘transform’ is uniting for us (and the new book's name). We are at an incredible moment - the world as we know it has changed, and intelligence (AI) is now evolving and genuinely transformative. Figuring out how to scale this is a massive part of the ambition—bringing the skills limited to a few deep tech companies into the enterprise. We are talking about scale in a way not previously considered.
We have learned how to match problems to the right tools to deliver real value. Much of what we are doing is replacing rules of thumb with precision models. The industry badly needs this. There is recognition that this is important, but along with that, there is a lot of fear and confusion regarding how to go about this.
Even the smarter companies are still confused.
We are bringing decision theory, which explains ways to make rational decisions through framing, modeling, testing, and iterating. We have people who have been living in this world for years. We have latched onto the power we get from the skills combination of economics, technology and business. It's integrated into our fabric - the capability is the intersection of these skills. Companies want us to build that capability within their organizations. It’s not easy to bring these skills together. There is a learning curve for combining these skills and using them effectively - it’s not addressed by buying a product/software platform.
This means a fundamental change to the organization's corporate structure—one where doing the math is the job of the computer and the people become the auditors—human beings are bad statisticians in reality. The models we are building are codifying their business for them.
Every company wants to be good at managing its data to make decisions. It doesn't wish to have software in a box; it wants organizational capability. There may be software involved, but an organization capable of managing and working this way needs to be created. We call our response to this Core AI.
Delivery can be a challenge—we are doing many complicated things in a consulting environment, and this is where the anxiety tends to creep in. What we are trying to do is not easy. It will take investment. We have a much more mature product in ETA, less so with Core AI.
When we think about codifying, we imagine a minimum viable collaboration ‘fabric’ where we wire up the different layers and integrate the different roles into a team, which maps to their work schedule. This is a scalable, turnkey proposition that is still customized.
Previously, we told companies what to do; now, they ask for this.
What we are talking about delivering are long-term contracts—3-year transformations. They never said yes before; now, this is changing, but we don’t have the ability yet to deliver this. We have to decide just how much we are prepared to invest - so that we can respond to the opportunities that we are currently unable to take advantage of.
We need clear playbooks on how we will do this to make it easier for clients to commit to this with us. The risk is that they take our advice but turn to others who appear to be better equipped to deliver*.
*Companies like PWC are getting the work but cannot actually deliver.
The opportunity here is to build the Transformer and give the customer what they need. The differentiator is the talent we bring that has solved the most complex problems—the ones that others fail to solve. We have total confidence that the ‘competition’ can’t do what we do—we just need to have the resource/delivery strength to take on the work that is ours for the taking. It’s not just about solving a problem; it’s also about seeing the impact of having solved the problem.
If we want to build and deliver repeatable solutions, we must give them the time and investment they need.
Clients need to commit to the long haul. That is the priority.
Make this a scarcity sale and charge the premium it deserves while building the ‘engine’ in the background.
Discussing the Blueprint
What does this suggest?
A code repository of repeatable ‘tools’ sits on a platform with everything available in the cloud. Algorithms are based on the most common (10) problems that companies face. These can be relevant to either ETA or Strategy. In ETA, we could create new models that become mainstream.
For ETA, it may be more about information publications. That suggests we need a publications strategy targeted to the academic network, focused on computer science-based approaches that others can follow.
We must emerge from this with significant scalability initiatives, including improving the communication of our story.
We need better explanations of the value of these solutions and what makes them trustworthy. Trusting an algorithm requires a lot of faith and confidence. When presented with AI as a solution, the CFO immediately sees it as ‘complex and expensive’.
We must rationalize who we are selling to and what (practices) we are selling. If we narrow down a little, we simplify some scaling challenges. This will allow us to focus on where we can create the most value, be most successful as a business and take appropriate risk - and the investment this will require.
We must think through the organizational construct and strike a good balance. Not everyone is front-facing, for example. We have multiple needs requiring different skills with different progression pathways—we don’t have a skills matrix currently. We don’t want a tier system; everyone has a part to play.
The bench equation—how big a bench, what skills at what career stage? We have chosen to work on the most challenging problems, making it easier to attract the smartest people. The scale comes by codifying what we have learned (and picking the right things to codify) so that new talent can ramp up quickly and become the best in the industry.
We have many CEO-quality people in the company, and we must empower them more. We must have a distributed culture with decision-making shared appropriately and supported by clear roles and accountability.
People know what they are responsible for, but agreeing to do something is difficult. There can be ‘decision fear’ that when decisions are made by others (not Greg), they won’t stick, creating a reticence to make some decisions.
One of the challenges is that this group has not fully connected enough. This session is a big part of helping us bond more and be more confident in the decisions we want to make and where we need to defer.
We are at a crucial point where Greg can start to hand off more to leaders and focus on the things that still need top-down direction.
Shaping our Vision
“In a digital world, we are selling humans + services.”
We see a world where…
Our clients are the most efficient in the world. They are relaxed and confident that they are on top of all forms of decision-making. They are freed up from repetitive tasks - free from manual tasks to think about their customers and how they can evolve the business, inventing the next thing. Replacing rules-based models with decision engineering means they are making improvements every year.
Consistent logic is applied to decision-making to make it easier to understand.
Humans and machines working together for optimum effect.
They are differentiated by building AI that is core to their business, whether it powers up their operating model or is something else critical to the business.
Our clients know what we offer and how it will meet their needs. Our differentiation is valued.
We are setting new standards, regardless of practice or practice area. Whatever challenges they face, we are bringing in new ways of solving problems that set the latest accepted way of solving problems. We are creating a new category and leading in it. We are known as the most creative, capable, and ever-expanding Expert field. Our clients know us as the destination for the world's most talented people and capabilities.
Our clients trust us with $100m problems. Not necessarily the big implementations, the big issues that mean we have transformed their business.
They don’t see a separation from themselves and us. It's a world where our clients are winning.
Internally, this shows up as:
Knowing our customers intimately
Providing outstanding opportunities and growth learning
Scaling up capability without compromising quality. The very thing that clients value is access to the principal partners
Capturing the value that we are creating in our business model - creating revenue from everything we are doing, not just the most obvious things
Having the right ‘toolkit’ for every situation.
We have mastered bringing talent through the ‘ranks’ with ever-increasing capabilities. We know how to spot the people capable of fast-tracking through the company.
The employee proposition makes this a fantastic place to develop, a point in their career that offers amazing experiences and challenges. Whether they stay for one year or 20, their time at Keystone is one they look back on as a significant moment in their career. We know that we will lose great talent, but we will provide everyone with a brilliant framework within which they can develop. Many will become hugely loyal to Keystone and stay for a long time.
Supporting Context
Communication is critical in a rapidly changing environment with opportunities. It works well for people who show up in offices across locations but less so for those who are more remote.
As a culture, we must celebrate who we are and our different personalities and work together to help each other bring out the best we can offer. For some, the energy comes from connecting with people, networking and socializing. For others, it’s more about smaller interactions and getting deep into problems.
We are responsible for working this out together and helping everyone succeed as individuals and for the company. Culture is hard to codify, and what we need as a scalable business may differ significantly from what we value today.
The team experience is essential, and it works better when people are together. However, the best tech people won’t be dictated to—they expect (demand) to be able to base themselves where they want. We must remember that we need our people to be where the client is. That can be where they do their best work—as teams.
We have to make remote working almost a ‘product’ where we are designed to work remotely—systems work well, we are equipped to collaborate efficiently, and we have great tools that keep us connected and make us want to stay connected. There must be no barriers to connecting.
We need our Keystone ‘code’ for how we work together.
As we move into this next growth phase, there will be some ambiguity and uncertainty, but our purpose should be clear.
“We have an incredible array of talent - we are a unique collection. We can see the seed of a plant that is growing, it is still fragile but has the potential to grow into an Oak tree”.
We need to face up to realities and keep pushing on the things that need to surface that could hold us back.
The company has a history of thinking that decisions have been made - when they haven’t. We see issues and constraints that don’t exist. We need to keep surfacing these issues and ensure we are addressing them. We will make key changes to help us as we move forward.
We still have confusion around our centers of excellence and the distinctions between things like K.ATS and Core. AI. This uncertainty needs to be addressed before it becomes a more significant issue. We risk blurring divisions and talent overlap.
We can see the value, but it needs to be clearer who drives which aspect in areas with a lot of cross-cutting capability. Tech-enabled services are at the heart of Core.AI, where we focus on specific practices. K.ATS is a fundamental capability. In some ways, it’s a distinction between professional services and R&D (K.ATS). And R&D is very forward engineering for us. K.ATS is special in this way; our R&D people are happy to be in front of clients.
“Core.AI is (currently) very focused on setting up self-improved decision engineering. It is solely AI. K.ATS is a broader computer science discipline where some degree of AI might exist. There is some natural blurriness here. What counts as ‘Core’ AI will evolve as we go forward. We want to focus on those core problems, and our capabilities will focus on that.”
We must ensure clear, consolidated messages for teams and clear talent strategies. There are great opportunities to cross-pollinate and collaborate between the two areas, as long as everyone understands the intention and each team's contribution and we organize in a way that makes sense and is consistent.
To maximise our talent's leverage, we need clear language and crystal clear about whose job it is to do what and who has what specific strength. People are bound to fall into niches; this is a massive discipline. We can organize around high-value clusters that can solve the problems at hand.
As we develop these capabilities, aligning them with team members' talent strategies, preferences, and ambitions will be essential.
There is a difference between a center of excellence and a practice, and we need to keep that in mind as well. Core.AI is a practice that supports decision-making around the most complex problems. We are not (all) Core.AI; most customers would not currently recognise this as our identity.
We have skills in this organization and must associate and incubate those skills with our centers of excellence. Then, we have practices that offer solutions that help clients make decisions. These practices call for multidisciplinary teams from wherever needed to work on the client’s problem. We are offering services, not software.
We represent a triad of capacity—solving problems with data, and technology is at the heart of what we do. Now, the explosion of AI is bringing greater opportunity. We are not a one-trick pony, and we have spotted (and are experiencing) huge demand for what Core.AI can offer.
An Example Narrative Of The Vision Image
Our clients sit at the top of the picture (Happy Duck).
Our clients are CEOs (CTOs/CDOs) with billion-dollar challenges who need help and support to grow and scale.
To name a few challenges, they have complex regulatory landscapes. They have mission-critical, highly complex decisions that haven’t been cracked. They need to be confident about big decisions and intend to win. Our clients seek maximum efficiency, become free from repetitive tasks, and avoid all the guesswork that brings massive risk.
The bottom section is our operational vision. There’s a direct link to the operational blueprint. (Busy Duck)
At the heart—our core focus. Everything we do rests on advanced econometrics, computer science, and our Expert field.
Understanding the context of each problem while getting to the core is key. This approach applies to everything we do.
From there on, we bring in the right resources, solutions, techniques, toolkits, and a playbook built on perpetual improvement, consistent logic, and understanding the most critical challenges.
We see a future where our clients are part of our team, working together with them to solve problems that have mostly never been solved before. This is complemented by the most relevant and advanced technology available.
We are a people-based organisation, unlike our competitors, who all too often see technology as a revenue stream. We see high-quality decisions and the success of our clients as the real goal. The trust that we create is the real prize.
Underpinning this is a culture of a product and service mindset, an integrated performance culture teaching new generations of experts how to improve their own lives and those of our customers. This all rests on a collaborative fabric—the idea of one keystone and the codification and productization of our work.
We work on the front line and, as we industrialize, make that value available to a much wider world. We create new and more valuable solutions for more and more people.
All this makes us the destination for the world’s most talented people and a growth and learning opportunity for those who join us and share this passion.
The foundations show we are fully optimised in terms of the solutions that our customers want and the resources that they need. The mission is designed appropriately to go to market and scale.
Shaping the Priorities
We assigned the task of defining the priorities to three teams, and a summary of their perspectives follows. Even after one 45-minute round, we can see the degree of alignment that already exists.
Team A.
Job 1 is to address the talent issue. We face a unique challenge of having more client demand than we can handle, so the biggest issue is talent. We ideally want to hire 30 people per quarter, a huge rise in the company's size that will bring many dynamics—risks, cultural impacts, capability development, financial implications, etc. We will need to bring in someone to support a massive recruitment programme.
Ultimately, we must decide how fast we will grow and to what degree. We have more control over our growth ambitions if we have the talent, the right structure and culture. The talent is out there; we must go out and get it.
Org design needs to be taken into account. How do we build a functioning hybrid/remote (if we choose to be heavily remote) company? We have to make sure we can make this work so that great multi-functioning teams perform at their best.
Beyond that:
We should tell the world what we can do and why it's valuable and have a clear brand supporting us.
Identify the best revenue opportunities. We need to tie in our revenue ambitions to the growth in talent.
Recapitalise the company to support this, so we must tell the story to investors.
Set clear goals for all of this with supporting metrics to track performance.
Team B.
Our first priority is a strong One Keystone story that shows how this all fits together. We also need strong internal communications. We have a powerful story, but it needs to be understood by everyone.
Beyond that:
A capital investment plan that needs to be communicated clearly
Strengthen our Ops infrastructure and allocate time and effort to making sure it all works
More incremental bets for ETA - target specific opportunities to strengthen practices with additional talent/experts
We have an opportunity to be very different, and this requires us to build a diverse, progressive brand as we grow the business and recruit a broad church of talent.
“With all this going on, we need to make sure we don’t make stupid moves.”
Team C.
People first - build on what we are doing and introduce/expand on activities that result in the best talent in the right roles - events, mentoring, training for example. We need a deep bench with the right internal expertise being leveraged on every engagement - so that we always know what talent we need and where to get them.
Beyond that:
Rigor around internal communications. Making sure matrix teams get good exposure to what is happening across the company
Operating as one Keystone - precise alignment to goals, standard format and cadence for firm-wide updates and reporting
Structuring teams as pods under EMs that pull in tech project management, product management, and platform teams to create a holistic picture supported by scientists and engineers brings the best combinations of capabilities under a single thread of shared focus.
Sales and Marketing - internal and external messaging clarity. Have a GTM strategy defined with clear value propositions.
Standard systems and automation - CRM, defining the sales funnel, internal Knowledge Management, Client 360 view - from lead through to delivery
Professionalizing the EMS operations - giving ex-pats the same level of attention
First Reactions
On investment, the company has been overly conservative and understaffed. We have projects in place that need skills that we don’t have. The work is there and should justify our increased investment. We had one bad experience in 2022 when we recruited on a large scale and had to let many people go. We don’t want to make that mistake again, but we can’t wait for all the projects to show up before we start to hire.
We don’t have the metrics/data to measure utilization in a way that allows us to get a more accurate sense of the impact of increasing headcount. We need to change how we model resource utilization and predict the impact on revenue generation. Knowing that the unit economics are right and positive is what matters; it means we are not putting any risk on the business.
We need better managerial structures and leaders who take full responsibility for managing this organization.
What is emerging as the top priority?
Hiring the Talent before someone else does - hiring for the next six months
One Keystone (not a separate AI company) - we are building on our core, our current business, which is healthy and growing - right now, it’s the majority of our company
This means building the teams and then operationalising this. The plan will span more than a year, but we can only really focus on the next six months realistically.
We need to see the next big (5) deals for Core.Ai while ensuring that the big ETA deals are coming through and we are expanding the Expert Field.
Our purpose has always been underpinned by a belief that our innovations are the right thing to do. Our choices and the ethics underpinning them are critical to our durability. They set us apart from other companies that might be perceived as competition. We will say no to things based on our values that others might be willing to do. Everything comes from our transformative ideas and uncommon service. We must never lose that from our identity.
What Next?
We have created four big themes that seem to cover the sentiments expressed by the teams in their priorities. These themes are enduring, they give us a high level story to tell and help us to organize our work around purpose. The actions and initiatives we choose for each theme will change over time but the themes will remain. We will just add more actions and initiatives.
Investing in Our Future
Creating the investor story
Expanding the expert field
A clear Talent Strategy
Recapitalization Plan
Validate Core.AI market fit
Clear Purpose and Identity
A clear and compelling brand
Clarity of what One Keystone looks like
Get the story out across the company
Transparent/effective communications framework
Making the World Aware
Building clear value propositions
Shaping Opportunities (ETA and Core.AI)
Creating demand (marketing strategy and plan)
A focused recruitment campaign
Industrializing the Operation
Go to Market Strategy
Establishing revenue and sales targets
Establishing a sales operating rhythm
Maintaining a healthy pipeline
Productizing Core.AI tech
Strengthening our operating infrastructure
Management structures to drive performance and decision quality
Clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities
Creating a strong bench
The right hybrid model for teams
Aligned Goals and Metrics across the company
Getting the unit economics right
Professionalizing the EMS operation
In time, new themes will emerge, and old themes will have served their purpose and expire.
Further work will be needed to ensure that the final set of initiatives covers everything presented in the team feedback and to lay out a logical sequence for execution.
People need to know what we have been discussing.
We need to be ready to tell people about what we have been doing.
This is the subject of the May firm-wide offsite, and in the meantime, we will simply tell people that we have been having a strategic discussion, bringing the first of us together to focus on the company's growth.
Over time, we would start to cascade this material practically and meaningfully, deriving the insights from the retreat and the alignment we now have and embracing everyone in the enterprise.
The Conversational Context
Although not discussed in great detail over the two days, the rest of the framework remains a helpful reference for the future. Insights gained during the preparatory phases and added during the process were also included.
They are self-explanatory and captured below for future reference.
Where Are We Today? - We have been checking in on the current state throughout the program.
The competition can’t do what we do. The growth ambitions are stretching everyone. We have an enviable depth of experience. We are experiencing substantial growth. We have increasing incredibility.
Many CEO-level people work for us, and we should empower them more. We’ve been in business for 20 years. Our clients get the best from our leaders but less from our people: great people and world-leading experts.
There’s a reliance on key individuals. Underpinning operations and infrastructure are evolving to support ambitions. Aggressive recruitment to meet foundations and keep up with demand opportunities. Increasing demand for economic expertise. Expanding geographic.
From $16 million to $42 million in 42 months. What we are trying to do is not easy.
The Imperatives - A coherent and cohesive organisation that can evolve and scale over time.
A supportive, I trust culture where people feel included, respected, and empowered to contribute their perspectives. Attracting and retaining talent. Clearly articulate and embed the company strategy and make the world aware so that we can solve their problems. Systems tools, processes and data that equip and enable everyone to do their job properly. Alignment on priorities.
The right balances. Increase the breadth and depth of our relationships.
Leverageable Insights - that we have learned so far.
Absolute (real) trust is built through relationships. Clients truly value the depth of their business or industry understanding—reputation and gravitas count. Clients want to know more. Keystone has an innovation advantage. Awareness and reputation are driven by who the relationship is with. Keystone are a valid resource for quick answers and advice. On the other hand, costs are not fully understood. Some consider Keystone to be too expensive. Having a broader presence can be a decider against us.
The Triad's full potential is not yet fully understood or appreciated.
Financial Performance and Growth
Revenue growth year-over-year
Profitability and realization rates
Accurate and precise financial forecasting
Number of new clients,
Projects and experts sold
Quality of revenue (clients and assignments)
Client Impact and Satisfaction
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Repeat business and
Follow-on work from existing clients
Client referrals and testimonials
Delivery of innovative ideas and transformative insights
Completing projects within budget
Exceeding client expectations
Establishing Keystone as a thought leader
Talent Development and Retention
Employee engagement and motivation scores
Retention rates and ability to attract top talent
Ability to attract high-quality candidates
Effective learning and development opportunities
Career progression and employee growth
Diversity and inclusion metrics
Employee referrals
Operational Excellence and Efficiency
Continuous improvement in project delivery (speed and efficiency)
Streamlined internal processes and activities
Effective knowledge management
Sharing of best practices
Adoption of innovative technologies and methodologies
Efficiency in sales processes and conversion rates
Marketing effectiveness (e.g., website traffic, content reach, lead generation
A $2 to $3 billion firm by the end of 2026. (Valuation)
Become the most talented strategy, economics and technology services firm in the world in the fields of innovation, operations management, and regulation
Showcase our expertise through books, whitepapers, interviews, panel discussions, etc
Deliver high-quality work and affiliate with top-tier academic talent
Be the advisor of choice for leading organizations worldwide to address their most challenging problems uniquely and innovatively
The first phone call for the world's most significant companies, firms, and markets
A known brand, top of mind for our clients, experts
Grow our business by expanding on our current client relationships and service offerings we have long offered and expanding our offerings to include AI work.
Bring the frontier of technology and economics to our clients
Build our brand to be among the premiere names in tech strategy and tech-related competition consulting
Grow revenue and recruit more top-tier talent to perpetuate the brand and high-quality work
Attract and retain the best talent.
Teams have time to dedicate to thought leadership and growing the firm (and themselves)
Develop more consultants to be first-class client managers by developing a commercial mindset, selling, and optimizing relationships.
A game plan to scale sales, product, delivery and talent
A world-class sales capability
The Team!
