A retrospective
Chief Strategy Officer · 2005 — present
Room I
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.
Louisa Spencer
Room II
The disciplines to which this career has returned, again and again.
Room III
Each work is a decision: its context, the choice made and what followed.
Work 01
Medium: judgement, people and capital
A portfolio review had become a debate about individual business plans. I developed a common view of market attractiveness, enterprise fit and capability requirements so the leadership team could compare strategic options. The discussion shifted toward the choices that mattered across the portfolio rather than defending each existing allocation.
Work 02
Medium: judgement, people and capital
A growth opportunity depended on assumptions the organisation had not tested. We separated the reversible steps from the commitments that would be difficult to unwind, defined learning milestones and considered partnership options. The resulting recommendation connected ambition with an explicit plan to reduce uncertainty.
Work 03
Medium: judgement, people and capital
Strategic priorities were being added without changing budgets or leadership attention. I worked with business-unit leaders and finance to connect the chosen priorities to resource decisions, named owners and review milestones. The strategy review became a place to address trade-offs and dependencies rather than restate the ambition.
Room IV
₹6,200 Cr
Portfolio reshaped
Exits, entries and partnerships
4
New growth businesses
Incubated to independent scale
15
Strategic partnerships
Across three continents
2030
Strategy horizon
Approved by the board, funded and tracked
Room V
A career, hung in chronological order.
2005 — 2010
Meridian Consolidated
2010 — 2017
Ashworth & Lyle Strategy Advisers
2016 — 2020
Fairhaven Holdings
2020 — Present
Aldermoor Group
Room VI
Boards and institutions that have entrusted their stewardship.
Independent Director · Strategy & Investment (Chair)
2022 — Present
Fellow and Advisory Board Member · Scenario Council
2019 — Present
Room VII
Turned our strategy from an annual document into a set of decisions we actually made.
Thinks in decades and acts in quarters. Exactly what a board needs.
Room VIII
Essays written alongside the work.
An enterprise can approve individually persuasive business plans without creating a coherent portfolio.
Read the essayA set of future narratives is useful when it changes how a leadership team acts today.
Read the essayPriorities that do not change budgets, leadership attention or capability investment may remain statements of intent.
Read the essayRoom IX
Honours
Reviews
Capital & Governance Quarterly · 2025
“Making the portfolio choices most boards postpone”
The Boardroom Review · 2024
“Scenarios the board can actually use”
The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2023
“Episode 115 — Strategy is a choice, not a deck”
An invitation
For board, advisory and speaking enquiries — a conversation is the best way to see the work.
office@louisaspencer.example