Over the last couple of decades, the 'advisory industry' has become increasingly corporatised and focused on meeting its own corporate ends rather than that of its clients. This model can, on occasion, not meet the needs of clients, as it can result in overly aggressive 'selling' of work being done 'to' clients rather than 'with' them, limited skill-building for clients, and work being done to create more work, rather than to find workable solutions for clients.

The Chop Wood approach is to help clients develop and implement their own strategies. It is an advisory model, rather than consulting, and as such focuses on thought-leadership, coaching and leading through others. It was created on the belief that corporate ownership of the solution and people development is crucial in the initial development phase and that advisors should be part of the longer-term implementation and adjustment of strategies.

The Chop Wood Carry Water approach is not always going to the right solution all of the time for quite legitimate reasons. Therefore, a client should only look to Chop Wood if:

1. You have access to most of the data and information you need for the analysis.
2. The organisation has at its disposal, an internal group of talented people, capable of conducting analysis on strategy development, who would benefit from being coached by and working alongside a senior, experienced strategist with extensive industry experience.
3. You value independence in an advisor.
4. Executive ownership of the process and the conclusions is as important as reaching the right conclusions.