John works with CEOs, boards, and teams to drive alignment, strengthen accountability, and accelerate delivery.
Engagements are hands-on, shaped around your context, constraints, and outcomes—so leaders leave aligned, with decisions made and a roadmap they can run. Common engagements include:
Collaborate & Diagnose
What’s driving performance, risk, and resistance (and what’s noise).
Align
Priorities, decision rules, roles, and leadership behaviours that make change stick.
Execute
A roadmap, cadence, and accountability that holds under pressure.
The advisory process
Structured to deliver clarity and performance quickly.
Leadership Development
Build accountable leaders from top to bottom
The leadership multiplier
“The purpose of leadership is to create more leaders, not more followers.” John works with individual leaders and leadership teams to build a culture of accountable leadership—where people take ownership, make better decisions, and develop others. The focus is practical: the behaviours, routines, and decision rules that turn leadership from a role into a capability that spreads.
What this engagement delivers
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A clear view of the leadership behaviours you need more of (and less of)
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Practical coaching to strengthen judgement, accountability, and decision-making
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Tools leaders can use to develop leaders beneath them (not just manage performance)
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A simple leadership operating rhythm: expectations, feedback, follow-through
Senior leadership team alignment
Customised workshops to forge trust, openness, accountability, shared objectives, and team commitments that deliver your strategic objectives.
The common challenge
When the top team is misaligned, everything slows down—conflicting priorities, delayed decisions, and mixed signals that weaken delivery. John helps senior teams agree what matters most, how decisions get made, and what “good” looks like in execution.
What this engagement delivers
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Shared priorities and trade-offs the team will commit to
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Clear decision rules (what gets decided, by whom, and how fast)
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Roles, accountability, and leadership behaviours that reinforce execution
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A simple plan leaders can run in weekly cadence
Your corporate strategy on a single page
Turn strategy into a clear roadmap, with decisions, sequencing, and accountability.
From intent to execution
Transformation fails when priorities multiply, ownership is unclear, and progress isn’t governed. John helps leaders turn strategy into a practical transformation roadmap—clear outcomes, milestones, owners, and the cadence that keeps delivery moving when pressure rises.
What this engagement delivers
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A clear “plan-on-a-page” roadmap (outcomes, milestones, owners)
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Defined decision points and governance so issues don’t stall progress
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A delivery cadence and scorecard the senior team can run weekly/monthly
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Risk and dependency visibility (what will break delivery if ignored)
Diagnose culture risk as a business risk
Use data to visually map organisational risks and strengths
Make culture governable
Culture becomes visible when the stakes are real—incidents, quality failures, breaches, reputational hits, or stalled execution. John helps leaders diagnose culture risk as a business risk: identify where behaviours and systems are misaligned, and define practical actions that reduce exposure and improve performance.
What this engagement delivers
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A clear view of the behaviours and conditions creating risk (and why)
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A definition of the “required culture” for your strategy and risk profile
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The few highest-leverage interventions (systems, incentives, decision rules)
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A prioritised action plan with owners, measures, and a realistic timeline
John supports CEOs, boards, and senior leadership teams through focused engagements such as senior team alignment, a transformation roadmap, culture risk diagnostics, execution cadence, and ongoing executive advisory support. If your challenge doesn’t fit neatly into a category, John will propose a format that matches your outcome.
Advisory is designed for senior leaders who need clarity and traction quickly—especially when execution is slowing down, priorities are competing, risk is rising, or the organisation is mid-transformation.
Advisory is hands-on and leader-facing. John works directly with the people who must make decisions, align priorities, and lead delivery—so you leave with decisions made, a clear plan, and a cadence that holds under pressure (not a long report).
Most engagements produce some combination of:
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Clear priorities and trade-offs
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Decision rules and role clarity
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A practical roadmap (often “plan-on-a-page”)
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A delivery cadence and accountability rhythm
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Specific leadership behaviours that reinforce the change
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A structured session that helps the top team agree what matters, what changes, and how decisions get made. The focus is reducing drag created by conflicting priorities, slow decisions, and mixed signals.
A fast way to create an execution-ready plan—milestones, owners, decision points, and cadence—so leaders can run delivery without constant rework and escalation.
A practical assessment of where culture is creating risk, friction, or failure demand—and what to change. The output is an actionable set of priorities tied to performance and risk outcomes (not slogans).
Common formats include:
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Half-day / full-day leadership sessions
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A short series over 2–6 weeks to build alignment and a roadmap
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Ongoing advisory support over 30–90 days (or longer) for delivery and accountability
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Yes. John tailors the content to your audience, sector, constraints, and outcomes—so the work is relevant to the decisions leaders are facing right now.
Yes. Virtual sessions work well for alignment, decision rules, roadmap building, and follow-up cadence. In-person is often best for high-stakes alignment sessions, but John will recommend what fits the work.
Advisory FAQs
Trusted by leadership teams at:
“ John Childress effectively tied together Strategy Execution and Corporate Culture so we could better understand the critical importance of how they reinforce each other. ”
Eric Rogers, Head of Strategy Execution
T D Williamson, Inc.
“ During our time together, he observed me in my role as the leader of a large organization, constantly coaching me and pointing out opportunities for leadership improvement. This guidance and coaching was invaluable to me during the successful business turnaround. ”
Raymond Osgood, Executive Managing Director
ANZ, CNH Industrial
“ John’s advice and insights were instrumental in the successful acquisition integration of two aerospace firms with product synergies but big cultural challenges. ”
Frank Tempesta, President
Textron Systems Co.