For leaders in bigger organisations
Lead the change.
Change the culture.
Workshops, training and talks for business-unit and transformation leaders. Find the problem you need to solve, and I’ll shape the session around it.
Three stages
The workshops follow three stages. Start at the one that sounds like you.
1. Agree the direction
What’s changing, what it means for you, and where you’re going.
AI strategy
“Everyone’s asking what AI means for us, and we don’t have an answer we’d bet on.”
We work out what AI changes for your customers, your product and the way you work, and what you’ll do about it. Strategy, not tool training.
You leave with: A written view you’d stand behind, and the first decisions.
Formats
A leadership workshop, half a day to a day
A talk, webinar or Q&A for a wider group of leaders
Feedback on your team’s written AI view
From AI hesitation to one AI-first vision
A European software incumbent facing a new owner, a bold competitor and AI disruption agreed one AI-first vision for its two products and turned a defensive stance into a differentiator.
Read more
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Strategy workshop
“Everyone has a different idea of where we’re going.”
A day or two with your leadership team to agree one direction.
You leave with: A short strategy your leaders agreed together, and the first decisions that follow from it.
Try it yourself: One Page Strategy Template →, 1-2-4-All →
Formats
Interviews with each leader before the offsite
A facilitated offsite, one or two days, in person
Working sessions over the following weeks and months, as needed
A follow-up session for your wider leadership team
From busy and adrift to one shared strategy
The international arm of a Fortune 500 news and media group, adrift after leadership changes, agreed one strategy at an offsite and set goals that kept it focused all year.
Read more
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Knowing which customers to say no to
A country business unit of a global technology services group was growing fast on thin margins. We worked out which customers to win more of, and which to stop chasing.
Read more
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Go-to-market review
“Sales are slowing, and nobody agrees why.”
We look at who you sell to, how, and how your teams work together. Then you choose which customers to win more of, and what to stop.
You leave with: A clear picture of your best customers, the risks in your growth, and the first changes to make.
Formats
Interviews across sales, marketing, product and customer success
Customer discovery with real customers before the workshop
A workshop with your commercial team on your best customers
Knowing which customers to say no to
A country business unit of a global technology services group was growing fast on thin margins. We worked out which customers to win more of, and which to stop chasing.
Read more
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2. Bring everyone with you
Your product teams and the whole organisation know where you’re going, and own it.
All-hands and strategy conference
“We’ve agreed the strategy. Nobody else knows it yet.”
A day or two to share the strategy with your whole organisation, or a big group of leaders, and give them time to work through it.
You leave with: An organisation that knows the strategy, has argued with it, and owns it.
Formats
A facilitated conference or all-hands, for 30 to 100 people
A short talk, then most of the time in mixed groups on real questions
Workshops for each team on its own priorities afterwards
A keynote or fireside chat at your own event
From worn out to fired up in two days
A European software business unit of about 50 people, worn out after a hard year, left a two-day strategy conference energised, working together and excited about where they were heading.
Read more
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Product teams that start from the customer
A European telecoms operator brought Amazon’s Working Backwards to the teams who design and sell its products, with a two-day workshop and a talk for about 300 staff.
Read more
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Product vision
“We know what we’re building this year. We don’t know where the product’s going.”
A workshop for your leaders and product team, working back from the customer.
You leave with: A product vision the whole team can explain.
Try it yourself: How Amazon writes a PR/FAQ →
Formats
Prep with your product and marketing leads
A one-day vision workshop, built on letters to a future customer
Feedback on your team’s drafts of the vision
From AI hesitation to one AI-first vision
A European software incumbent facing a new owner, a bold competitor and AI disruption agreed one AI-first vision for its two products and turned a defensive stance into a differentiator.
Read more
+
From a good idea to a product the business could sell
A European insurer’s innovation coordinator rebuilt a product idea around customers with Amazon’s PR/FAQ. It launched 18 months later, and he’s since been promoted to head of innovation.
Read more
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3. Change the culture
More customer-centric, better decisions, more commercial, focused on results. Practised on your teams’ real work.
Customer-centric · Working Backwards (PR/FAQs)
“We say we’re customer-centric. Our ideas still start with what we want to build.”
Teams learn Amazon’s way of starting from the customer: write the press release and FAQ before you build anything. They practise on their own real ideas.
You leave with: Teams who start from the customer, and proposals that show it.
Try it yourself: How Amazon writes a PR/FAQ →
Formats
Live training, two to four sessions, on your teams’ own ideas
A two-day forum for a large group
Live reviews of real drafts, then peer reviews in small groups
Coaching on individual drafts
A keynote or lunch and learn on innovating the Amazon way
From plans that stalled in meetings to two proposals signed off
Nestlé Purina’s European customer supply-chain team learned Amazon’s Working Backwards method and got two proposals signed off, even by the budget holders who had pushed back.
Read more
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From running projects to making the business case
A European software group with 76 product managers moved from running projects to making the business case for products, tested with real customers.
Read more
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From slide decks to a culture of clear, written decisions
A Fortune 500 tech company’s executives swapped slide decks for Amazon-style written narratives, bringing clearer thinking and better decisions as the practice spread company-wide.
Read more
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Better decisions · Document-driven meetings
“Decisions get made on slides and opinions, and they don’t stick.”
Meetings that start from a short written document with the facts and the numbers. Everyone reads it first, then you decide.
You leave with: Decisions based on evidence, written down, that stay made.
Try it yourself: One Page Plan →
Formats
A workshop on writing decision memos, built around your leaders’ own drafts
Live reviews of a real document, then peer reviews
Sitting in on the first few document-driven meetings
From plans that stalled in meetings to two proposals signed off
Nestlé Purina’s European customer supply-chain team learned Amazon’s Working Backwards method and got two proposals signed off, even by the budget holders who had pushed back.
Read more
+
From slide decks to a culture of clear, written decisions
A Fortune 500 tech company’s executives swapped slide decks for Amazon-style written narratives, bringing clearer thinking and better decisions as the practice spread company-wide.
Read more
+
From eight product ideas to four that launched
A large European e-commerce marketplace taught its product managers Amazon’s PR/FAQ. At least four of the eight product ideas they wrote up went on to launch.
Read more
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More commercial · From project to product
“Our product teams deliver projects. We need them to deliver results for the business.”
A programme built around your product managers’ real business cases: the customer, the numbers, the case for investing.
You leave with: Product managers who think commercially and can make the case.
Formats
A two-day forum to start
Group coaching for each team every few weeks, for a few months
Training on OKRs and working with stakeholders
A debrief with HR or the heads of product on supporting the change
From running projects to making the business case
A European software group with 76 product managers moved from running projects to making the business case for products, tested with real customers.
Read more
+
Ten internal startups, one shared way to run OKRs
A corporate venture-building unit with about ten internal startups made OKRs part of how its teams worked, and dropped weak ideas sooner to back stronger ones.
Read more
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From building first to writing the press release first
A European enterprise software company trained its product teams to write the press release and FAQ before building, then brought me back for its leaders.
Read more
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Focused on results · OKRs
“Everyone’s busy. It’s hard to say what we’ve achieved.”
Goals about results, not activity, written by the leaders who own them, then run through the quarter.
You leave with: Teams working on a few results that matter, and a rhythm to track them.
Try it yourself: How to Set OKRs with Your Team in a Week →, OKR Cheat Sheet →, The Leader’s OKR Guide →
Formats
OKR training for leadership teams, managers or product managers
An OKR-setting workshop, from strategy to key results
A talk or webinar to launch OKRs across the company
Support through the first quarters, as much or as little as you need
Monthly drop-in sessions for a wider OKR community
Short recorded training videos, if people can’t all be there live
From busy and adrift to one shared strategy
The international arm of a Fortune 500 news and media group, adrift after leadership changes, agreed one strategy at an offsite and set goals that kept it focused all year.
Read more
+
Ten internal startups, one shared way to run OKRs
A corporate venture-building unit with about ten internal startups made OKRs part of how its teams worked, and dropped weak ideas sooner to back stronger ones.
Read more
+
What it looks like when it works
Ask your leaders where you’re going, and you hear one answer.
Your people know what the change means for their jobs, and they’re up for the next step.
Proposals start from the customer, and they get signed off.
The pilot that worked is now just how the work gets done.
Ways to work together
Most sessions are a mix of these. We pick what fits the problem.
Many clients add coaching for their leaders alongside. Coaching for leaders →
Facilitated workshops and offsites
Half a day to two days, in person or online. You work on your real decisions; I design and run the room.
Training
For leaders, managers and product managers. Live, and built around your own work.
Talks and Q&A
Keynotes, webinars, panels, fireside chats, lunch and learns, and open Q&As. On their own, or as part of a bigger piece of work.
Support through the quarter
I sit in on the first reviews and planning meetings, coach the people running them, and support you as much or as little as you need.
Diagnosis and custom work
Confidential interviews, a clear view of what’s going on, and a session to decide what to change. Or something that isn’t on this page.
Not sure what you need?
Tell me the problem in a free 20-minute Clarity Call, and we’ll work out the right format together. Book a call →
How it works
Every session ends with decisions, written down.
“
A conference that actually produced something
The conference was one of the best, if not in fact the best conference I have attended… we actually produced something during the two days… And we achieve what we in the Leadership Team had set up as a goal, to get the mindset on the team to work together at "row" in the same direction going forward!
Håkan Johansson
Lead Business Developer
Tietoevry
“
I think the OKRs have really helped us this year as a forcing function not to get lost in lots of like busy work…
Managing Director
“
I liked the idea of involving people in building rather than just selling at the end.
Workshop participant, Large corporate
1
Before the session
I talk to your people first
Short 1:1s with the leaders who’ll be in the room, so we start with what’s really going on.
2
Half a day to two days
The session
In person or online. We work on the problem until the decisions are made.
3
Afterwards
As much support as you need.
I follow up when we agree, to see what’s working and what isn’t, and support you and your teams as much or as little as you need.
Many clients add coaching for the CEO or key leaders alongside a workshop, so the change sticks between sessions and they can work through the issues that come up. If you want support for a quarter too, we can add it.
Product teams that start from the customer
A European telecoms operator brought Amazon’s Working Backwards to the teams who design and sell its products, with a two-day workshop and a talk for about 300 staff.
Read more
+
A 20-minute Clarity Call. Free and confidential.
Who you’ll be working with
I run every session myself.
I spent six years at Google, then two at Amazon, where I led a 100-person organisation with over $1B in revenue impact. Since then, I’ve worked with companies from a few hundred people up to large divisions of Fortune 500s, facilitating workshops, training and coaching over 400 people.
If I’m not the right person to help, I’ll introduce you to someone who could be.
Know someone this would help?
Here’s a line you can send them:
Richard helps leadership teams in large organisations agree a direction and change how they work, through strategy workshops, Amazon’s Working Backwards and AI strategy.
Here’s the page: https://richardrussell.co/transformation/workshops
Next steps
1
Book a call
A 20-minute Clarity Call. Free, confidential, no preparation needed.
2
Then a Strategy Session
Free, with the right people. We go through what you need to decide or fix, and by when, and you leave with a plan for what to do next, even if it doesn’t involve me.
3
A clear proposal
A suggested format and a clear price. If a workshop isn’t the right answer, I’ll say so.
Frequently asked questions
In person or online?
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Can you just give a talk?
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Can you put together something that isn't on this list?
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Can our people run it themselves afterwards?
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What does it cost?
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Will you train us on AI tools?
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What's the difference between this and coaching?
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Someone on your team growing into a bigger job?
Want to see everything I do for leaders driving change?
Running a corporate startup or an innovation team?