Hi!
I’ve been away in my dungeon, rethinking the newsletter and how I help folks.
So, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to you if you are new here. If you’ve been around for a bit, I’ve done the work to create a framework from all the work I’ve done over the years.
Let me explain.
The core idea at the heart of this newsletter is that too much strategy is theory and not enough practice.
I meet a lot of people with a strategy problem, but it is usually different than the one they think they have.
It isn’t a lack of ideas, opportunities, or ambition.
The true strategy problem is something I call THE GAP.
The Gap is the gulf between ideas and action.
You know the theory:
- Pick a goal.
- Pick a target market.
- Create an offer.
These are all sound ideas.
These all have the potential to move your business forward.
But, how do you come up with a real goal that has a specific target market and offers unique value on a Tuesday when you can’t even get your team to decide on who your customer really is?
How do you test your value proposition when it feels like everyone is just offering up anodyne marketing platitudes?
How do you turn that 50-slide deck of ideas into one bet that gives you the best chance at winning?
Solving this is what ‘The Business of Value’ is about.
I don’t just help companies have a strategy.
I help them produce one.
I’m a specialist in Strategic Interventions.
I’m the person growth-stage CEOs call when they are stuck, sliding, or suffering from strategic paralysis.
My focus is on the practical process of forcing the hard choices that theory demands, but rarely explains how to achieve.
My tool is The Strategy Compass.
It’s a five-step “production engine” that bridges the gap between theory and execution.
It turns abstract concepts into a series of forced, concrete decisions, culminating in a “One-Page Strategic Bet”—a single, company-wide mandate that cuts through the noise.
So, what is this newsletter for?
Consider this your Field Manual for the Practice of Strategy.
Each newsletter, we’ll break down the how:
- How to run the meeting where you finally decide what to stop doing.
- How to identify your true most profitable customer, not just the loudest one.
- How to pressure-test your competitive edge until it’s unshakable.
- How other leaders have navigated the human drama of making billion-dollar bets.
We’ll analyze companies not just on what they decided, but on how you could run the process to fix it if you were in the room.
This isn’t about finding more ideas.
It’s about building the conviction to bet big on the right one.
If you’re a growth-stage CEO, a leader in the thick of it, or a student of how strategy truly gets made, you’re in the right place.
Welcome.
Dave Wakeman
P.S. If you’re facing “The Gap” right now and need an X-ray of your strategic health, take a look at my Strategy System Diagnostic.
It’s the paid, intensive starting point for my work with clients.