DO ANY OF THESE SOUND FAMILIAR?
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You know something needs to change. You’re just not sure what.
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You’re busy but you’re not convinced the business is moving forward fast enough.
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Revenue is growing, but somehow the business doesn’t feel easier.
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You keep thinking you need more sales, another person, better systems or more time but you’re not completely convinced that’s the answer.
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There are ten things you could focus on and you can’t work out which one actually deserves your attention.
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You keep fixing things, only for another version of the same problem to appear somewhere else.
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Nothing is obviously wrong, you just know the business is capable of more than this.
If you’re nodding, you probably don’t need another to-do list.
You need to know what the actual problem
is.
BEFORE YOU FIX ANYTHING
The thing you think is the problem isn’t always the problem.
You think you need more sales.
Maybe.
But what if the real issue is pricing?
You think you need another person.
Maybe.
But what if the problem is the way the work is structured?
You think you need to become more productive.
Maybe.
But what if you’re spending your time solving things that shouldn’t require you in the first place?
You think you need a new strategy.
Maybe.
But what if the strategy is fine and the business simply isn’t executing it?
We’re very quick to prescribe solutions to the problem we can see, but the thing you can see is often a symptom. And if we don’t understand what’s underneath it, we can spend an extraordinary amount of time, money and energy fixing the wrong thing.
Solving the wrong problem really well still leaves you with a problem.
Diagnose before you prescribe.
About Dawn
Strategy starts with asking a better question.
Dawn Mardon is a businesswoman, strategist, coach and former CEO with experience spanning business strategy, leadership, technology, insurance and AI & innovation.
She spent seven years as CEO of a South African insurtech business, leading through the real-world complexity of growth, people, financial decisions and change.
She holds a BSc Honours in Mathematics, postgraduate qualifications in Education and Business Management, and is a certified coach through the NeuroLeadership Institute.
Today, Dawn works with ambitious women business owners to help them think more strategically, make better decisions and build businesses that work commercially and for the lives they want to lead.
Dawn lives in Ballito, South Africa with her husband and son.
I USE THIS THINKING TOO
Constraints aren’t something to complain about. They force strategic thinking.
Becoming a mom changed how much time I wanted to give my business.
The obvious solution would have been to find more hours.
Instead, I started asking a different question:
Given the constraints, how good can I make the business?
That question changed the way I’m building Her Horizon.
Rather than trying to squeeze more work into fewer hours, I’ve had to think differently about what I sell, how I deliver it, where my time creates the most value and what I actually want the business to give me.
The constraint wasn’t simply a problem to solve.
It was information.
And that’s a big part of how I look at businesses.
Sometimes the thing that feels like the problem is actually pointing us towards the question we should be asking.
BY THE END...
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You’ll have the right starting point
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You should be able to answer:
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What am I actually trying to create?
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What’s standing between where I am and where I want to be?
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Which problem deserves my attention first?
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Why does it matter?
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What do I do next?
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You will feel confident and calm
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Clarity and a sense of direction
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The foundation for building the right roadmap for your business
You don’t need to know the whole way forward.
You need to know where to start.
A personalised strategic review of your business designed to uncover what is actually standing in the way and what deserves your attention next.
Personalised strategic review
Your Horizon Audit report
10–15 minute personal voice note from Dawn
3 499
Want to talk it through with me?
Add a private 30-minute 1:1 after your Audit to talk through my findings, ask questions and decide what happens next.
4 499