Chief Strategy Officer / Australia · Global perspective
Maxwell Harrington
I help leadership teams make choices about the future of the enterprise.
Open to Board appointments · Advisory roles · Speaking invitations
Start a conversation ↗ Strategy September 2026 2 min read
The portfolio question beyond each business plan An enterprise can approve individually persuasive business plans without creating a coherent portfolio.
I ask what the businesses contribute to one another and where the organisation has a defensible reason to invest.
Continue the essay ↗ The enduring idea
Strategy should make a consequential choice clearer. I examine assumptions, alternatives and capability demands, then help the organisation connect its chosen direction with capital, ownership and a disciplined plan to learn.
A philosophy in practice ↗ The journal
Further reading. 02 Portfolio June 2026 2 min read
A set of future narratives is useful when it changes how a leadership team acts today.
03 Scenarios March 2026 2 min read
Priorities that do not change budgets, leadership attention or capability investment may remain statements of intent.
Portfolio reshaped ₹6,200 Cr Exits, entries and partnerships
New growth businesses 4 Incubated to independent scale
Strategic partnerships 15 Across three continents
Strategy horizon 2030 Approved by the board, funded and tracked Beyond the page
The record behind the perspective. In the boardroom Meridian Consolidated Independent Director · 2022 — Present The Futures Policy Institute Fellow and Advisory Board Member · 2019 — Present Recognition Strategy Leader of the Year Capital & Governance Quarterly · 2024 Deal of the Year — Partnership The Corporate Development Awards · 2022 In conversation “Making the portfolio choices most boards postpone” Capital & Governance Quarterly · 2025 “Scenarios the board can actually use” The Boardroom Review · 2024 “Episode 115 — Strategy is a choice, not a deck” The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2023 Turned our strategy from an annual document into a set of decisions we actually made. Olivia Grant Chair, Meridian Consolidated The full record ↗ Continue the conversation
Ideas are tested in conversation. For board, advisory and speaking invitations, and for readers who want to take an argument further.
Board appointments Advisory roles Speaking invitations office@maxwellharrington.example