Ian says, “Over the years and across the companies I worked with, I saw how easily day-to-day challenges could completely dominate our working lives and distract us from the important questions. Whilst tearing ourselves away from the ‘day job’ to focus on the longer-term picture often felt like an unwelcome distraction, on every occasion it turned out to be time well spent.”

“I came to realise that the more concisely the resulting strategy could be condensed into something tangible, repeatable and communicable to the whole organisation, the more powerful would be the impact, regardless of the size of the organisation.”

“It was as if the more difficult your challenge, the more important it became to get this right. Nothing illustrated this better than the private-label FMCG business in which I spent the largest part of my career. When you are the ‘meat in the sandwich’ between enormous suppliers and even larger customers, you have to be on your game. That means being clear on both your top-line and wider business strategy as well as harnessing the motivational power and efficiency of having everyone pulling in the same direction.”

“Grapevine Consultancy Services was created to help organisations of all shapes and sizes to achieve this.”