Everyone has a different answer for why growth is slowing.

The CEO thinks marketing needs to work harder. Growth thinks acquisition is getting too expensive. Brand thinks the company has lost relevance. Product thinks the issue is retention. Everyone has data to support their point of view.

You need someone to step outside the functions, look at the whole picture and figure out which problem actually deserves attention.

You have six months to enter a new market and the launch plan is already moving.

The media agency is building a plan. Creative is developing concepts. Product has a launch date. Budgets are being committed.

But nobody has really stopped to ask whether the customer in this market wants the same thing, sees the category the same way, or will find the current product and proposition compelling.

Before you spend heavily on launch, you want to know whether the fundamentals are right.

Your company has changed dramatically, but your brand still looks and sounds like the business from five or ten years ago.

You have new products, new customers, a bigger team and bigger ambitions, but the website, messaging and positioning were created for an earlier version of the company.

Someone suggests a rebrand.

Before you redesign everything, you need to understand whether the issue is actually the identity, the positioning, the portfolio, the customer proposition, or all of the above.

The dashboard looks healthy, but something about the brand does not.

Paid acquisition is delivering. Conversion is being optimized. Campaigns are being tested every week.

Yet fewer people seem to know why they should choose you. Competitors are starting to look interchangeable. Growth gets more expensive every year.

You do not necessarily need to stop performance marketing. You need to understand what you should be building alongside it.

Brand, Growth, Product and PR are all doing good work, just not the same work.

Growth is optimizing conversion. Brand is trying to build meaning. Product is launching features. PR is looking for stories. Your agencies each have different briefs.

There is plenty of activity, but the customer experiences four different versions of the company.

The issue may not be effort. It may be that nobody has created one strategic problem for everyone to solve together.

Your marketing team is capable, but every important decision still ends up on the CEO's desk.

The team can execute. The agencies are competent. What is missing is someone senior enough to step back, challenge the assumptions, connect the business strategy to the marketing strategy and give leadership confidence in the direction.

You may not need another full time executive.

You may just need experienced judgment at the moments that matter.

You are about to spend a meaningful amount of money and you want one more perspective before you do.

A major campaign. A new agency. A repositioning. A new market. A big product launch.

The work is gaining momentum and everyone is eager to move.

You want someone with no attachment to the existing plan to ask the uncomfortable questions before the money is committed.