Strategic Judgment
Helping decision-makers see what matters when the facts are incomplete.
The highest-value work is often not producing the analysis. It is being able to do the analysis, challenge it independently, explain it without distortion, and help a chief executive or board decide what follows — especially when the consequences are material and the evidence is not yet complete.
What the capability is
- Translation. Turning complex exposures into terms a board, a CEO, a CIO, or a regulator can act on — without losing what the analysis actually said.
- Independent diagnosis. Forming a view under uncertainty, and being willing to hold it against the people whose numbers are being questioned.
- Bridging. Standing credibly between traders, portfolio managers, quants, boards, regulators, and operating executives, in more than one market and more than one culture.
- Delivering the unwelcome conclusion. Saying the thing that is true but not wanted, at the point where it still changes the decision.
The seat, not the celebrity
As Global Head of Market Risk at Salomon Smith Barney, I served as the primary link between executive management and the trading businesses considered complex or high-risk, and briefed the firm's executive committee. Later roles carried direct mandates from senior leadership at Credit Suisse and Ally Financial, and from the chief executive of a major broker-dealer. I was recruited twice by Barbara Yastine — at Credit Suisse, where she was chief financial officer, and at Ally Financial, where she led the bank.
The context of that seat is more credible than any single name attached to it: the work was serving as the link between senior management and complex trading and risk businesses, and making difficult conclusions usable.
As comfortable explaining complex risk exposures to a board as he is engaging with quants, portfolio managers, or regulators.Dr Bob Mark · Black Diamond · co-author of standard risk-management texts
Highly technical, but with the rare ability to communicate esoteric topics in a way that is effective and digestible to a lay audience.Lance Rosen · investor and adviser · managed me directly
A decision that needs an independent view.
For board and executive advisory, independent diagnosis, investigations, and crisis or turnaround situations where the answer should not come from the people being reviewed.