Portrane House — Cross-unit decisions, made and held

The Problem I Solve

A decision this size rarely stalls for lack of work. It stalls because of how the business is built.

When a company runs several businesses, or carries units picked up through acquisition, each one makes sense on its own terms. So none can be refused, and nothing gets chosen. Two things are missing: a way to put the options side by side on the same measure, and the permission to say out loud what the decision is really about. Neither is a failure of will. Both are structural — and both can be fixed.

That is the work. I make the comparison possible, create the forcing event that gets the decision made, and install the cadence that keeps it made — not another deck that sits on a shelf.

The options can’t be compared

Each business or unit is measured on its own terms, so they’re never put on the same footing. With nothing to weigh against what, there’s nothing to decide between.

The real question can’t be said out loud

Everyone can feel what the decision is actually about, but naming it would cost someone something. So the meeting talks around it, and the point never gets put on the table.

Nothing forces the call

There’s no date that makes the decision happen. Each quarter it gets studied, softened, and pushed — because nothing in the calendar requires a conclusion.

So it keeps getting deferred

A leadership change, a portfolio bet, a market call — everyone senses it’s coming, and everyone is avoiding it.

Proof

Selected outcomes.

$65M in expected value creationDigital project portfolio at a billion-dollar chemical company
76 owner-committed actionsPE-backed software rescue; the sponsor commissioned the 90-day build
37–41% EBIT improvement, base caseCommercial due diligence on a mining asset for a global private equity firm
+140% in nine weeks, $100M savedShaft-sinking performance at a mine development site, Western Canada
47% headcount cut, $200M annual savingsNew operating model, Asian petroleum company
Chapter 11 at $170M to a $450M exitB2B media group under private equity ownership

How I Work

Four ways to engage.

Each is a structured process with a defined outcome and a fixed price — so you know exactly what you’re buying and when the decision lands.

Archetype 01

The Alignment Sprint

A 4–6 week structured process for misaligned leadership teams. We surface the real disagreements, force the decisions that have been avoided, and build the commitment to execute them together.

Fixed fee

$40,000–$60,000

Archetype 02

The Commercial Clarity Engagement

A 6–8 week diagnostic and design process for underperforming commercial engines. We find where revenue is leaking — pricing, mix, go-to-market — and design the fix the team will actually run.

Fixed fee

$50,000–$75,000

Archetype 03

The Accountability Retainer

A monthly 30 / 60 / 90-day check-in series for teams that have done the strategy work and simply need external accountability to keep the commitments they’ve made.

Monthly retainer

$6,000–$8,000 / month

Archetype 04

The Interim Seat

Sometimes the gap isn’t a decision. It’s a chair. A CEO leaves, the search runs six months, and the plan everyone committed to quietly stops having an owner. The board still expects the number; the leadership team still has day jobs; nobody is holding the middle.

I’ll hold it — not as a caretaker, but running the operating cadence, keeping the team accountable to what they already agreed, and handing the incoming CEO a business that kept moving while the seat was empty. I’ve done the strategy work inside sponsor-backed companies and run P&Ls of my own — that combination is why sponsors call me for the gap rather than a placement firm.

Monthly retainer

Priced to the mandate

Is this the right fit?

This is for you if…

There’s a decision that crosses your business units — a portfolio bet, a leadership call, where the next dollar goes — and it has been open far too long.
You carry the cost of the delay, and you have the authority to end it. Usually that’s the same person; when it isn’t, that gap is often the real problem.
You want the decision made and held — forced to a conclusion and kept there by a cadence — not a report that sits on a shelf.

…and probably not if

You need a permanent hire, or a body to fill a seat against a job spec. I take the chair when there’s a plan that needs holding — not when there’s a headcount to fill.
You want an outside analysis and a recommendation to act on later. There are excellent firms for that — this isn’t that.
The team hasn’t hit the wall yet. This process works because the pain is real and present.

About

Adrian Blake

I’ve spent thirty years on both sides of the table — as the consultant advising the decision, and as the operator who had to live with it.

I started at McKinsey, where I ran engagements and served as the firm’s global subject-matter expert for pricing in media and entertainment. Then I crossed over into operating roles: I ran the publishing business at DTN Progressive Farmer as Publisher, and later led the digital practice across the Americas at Partners in Performance, helping large organizations turn strategy into measurable operational change.

Since 2019 I’ve run Portrane House, and in 2020 I co-founded and now lead Precision Syringe. That means when I sit with your leadership team, I’m not theorizing about what it takes to commit to a hard decision and execute it. I’ve had to do it — with my own capital, my own team, and my own board.

That combination — the rigor of a top-tier consulting background and the scar tissue of actually operating — is what I bring to the room. The goal is never a smarter analysis. It’s a decision your team owns and is ready to run.

Resources

Ideas worth your time.

Firm Overview

Portrane House at a Glance

One page — the problem I solve, how I engage, and the track record. Built to forward to a colleague.

Download the overview (PDF) →

White Paper

Pricing Excellence for Media & Entertainment

There’s more to life than cutting costs. How M&E companies can lift operating margin 15–20% through disciplined pricing across four levels.

Read the white paper (PDF) →

White Paper

Pricing Excellence for Industrial B2B in the Age of AI

The proven four-level pricing framework, now augmented by AI — where the analytics accelerate, where human judgment still decides, and how to capture the value you’ve already earned.

Read the white paper (PDF) →

Tool

The Real Job Description

A one-page instrument for putting the right person in the right seat — the seven questions a real job description answers, plus a 1–5 performance matrix and a worked example.

Download the tool (PDF) →