Decisions at the Speed of Change
Dennis M. Powell advises boards and executive teams at associations, nonprofits, professional firms and mid-market companies on the leadership issues that stall strategy before and during execution.
Book a confidential conversation at 610-246-3989
THE PROBLEM
The strategy on paper is not the strategy being executed.
- Strategy conversations keep circling familiar ground.
- Leaders agree on goals but default to old assumptions
- Hard choices are not being made about legacy processes.
- Fear and uncertainty surround major decisions
- Leadership is not seen as a catalyst for change
- Plan lacks clear execution authority
Call me for a confidential conversation 610-246-3989.
OUR CLIENTS
Leaders and boards responsible for strategy decisions
- Associations, nonprofits, professional firms and mid-market organizations stuck in NOW and wanting to move to NEXT.
- Boards and leadership teams whose execution has stalled when strategy faced political, organizational or high-stakes resistance.
My work is based on my books that place the strategic leader as a fulcrum of successful strategy. They are published by Business Expert Press a publisher of applied titles for MBA and executive education.
I work with Boards and senior leaders to keep strategy moving forward. My role is not to replace the team, but to strengthen it.
Organizations rarely fail because leaders lack intelligence or commitment. They fail when strategic momentum quietly erodes—priorities blur, alignment weakens, execution slows, and advantage dilutes faster than the organization can respond.
My work helps senior teams avoid those stalls. I bring a tested framework and a disciplined, structured approach that enables leaders to navigate the issues that cause strategy to get stuck, stall, or ultimately fail. The team stays in charge. I ensure their strategy keeps moving.
I’ve applied this approach across industries and issues including hostile takeovers, infrastructure funding, open access, education, medical training assessment, gaming, hospital patient retention, arts and culture, association management, board engagement, and presentations to regional, statewide, national, and international leadership teams.
WHAT I DO
Help leadership teams move from NOW to NEXT
- See NOW Clearly: capabilities, constraints, culture, competition.
- Define NEXT: destination that leaders and staff see as achievable and actionable.
- Align for Action: decisions, resources, and accountability.
- Anticipate Disruption: prepare before it hits, because it will once strategy is executed.
- Execute with Agility: learn how to adjust without losing sight on NEXT.
- Sustain Momentum: embrace that momentum is the pulse of strategy and must be sustained.
Big firms bring analysis. I bring judgment built over 30 years of experience working with organizations dealing with high stakes political, organizational and existential disruption. My company is small by design: senior attention on every engagement, specialists added only when needed, and developing close working relationships with key senior staff to augment their capabilities.
“Strategic leaders build teams that are agile and adaptable.”
HOW WE WORK
My work is focused on creating and sustaining strategic momentum within an organization where strategy is stuck or stalled. My engagements are generally short term and focused on specific issues:
- Boards: What are you willing to surrender to attain NEXT?
- Senior Leaders: Are you willing to empower the strategic leader to create NEXT?
- Senior Teams: Are you prepared to manage the disruption that creating NEXT demands of you?
ARE YOU READY FOR STRATEGY?
The NOW to NEXT Strategic Readiness Index has been developed with psychometric expertise. It takes about 12 minutes to answer the 49 multiple choice questions organized across seven dimensions of strategic readiness. These include decision velocity, leadership alignment, and willingness to abandon key parts of NOW to attain NEXT. The index helps leaders better understand not whether they need strategy, but is their organization prepared to execute it to achieve desired results.
NOW → NEXT
Requires leaders to make decisions at the speed of change.
Click the link below to take the
Take the Index
Let’s Talk
If your strategy is stuck or stalled, then another plan is not the answer.
Call for a free consultation at 610-246-3989
“Your journey from Now to NEXT begins with clarity – not complexity.”
ABOUT
Dennis M. Powell
I am a strategic advisor and author whose work is grounded in decades of experience helping leaders navigate high‑stakes issues where strategy often gets stuck or stalls.
Early in my career, I worked at the highest levels of state political leadership—shaping legislative strategy, building leadership teams, and designing outreach efforts to secure external support. Those experiences taught me a lesson that has defined my career: the “right answer” and the “achievable result” are rarely the same. Strategy fails in the space between them. They also taught me that political awareness is not optional for strategic leaders; it is a core competency.
My service on the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee reinforced this truth. The senior leaders who successfully shaped policy all shared a deep understanding of the social and political forces that set the boundaries for action. It was in this environment that the NOW → NEXT framework began to take shape.
As I advised corporate, association, and nonprofit clients, I saw the same pattern repeatedly: gaps between strategic readiness, planning, and execution that caused strategy to stall after launch. Organizations were wasting millions by failing to fully assess NOW and position themselves effectively for NEXT.
My books—published by Business Expert Press and written to academic standards for real‑world practitioners—explore these dynamics in depth: Leading from the Top: Presidential Lessons in Issues Management (2023), Now to Next: The Art and Science of Strategic Leadership (2026), and the forthcoming Stuck or Stalled: Why Great Strategy Fails. Together, they examine how leaders manage complex issues under pressure, how strategic leadership drives execution, and why even well‑funded strategies fail.
At the center of my work is a simple formula: the velocity of decision‑making must match the pace of execution. Most organizations ignore this 1:1 ratio. I help my clients establish it—and keep strategy moving.
BOOK A CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION
Organizations don’t drift into success: they decide their way there. If your strategy is stalled, momentum is fading, and the cost of delay is rising, your next move matters.
610-246-3989
Strategic Leadership Starts Here!
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