Identifying opportunities

Founded in 1847, Booths is an iconic food and drink specialist. Their stores are clustered in the North-West of England, a region renowned for its beauty, culture and exceptional food and drink suppliers.

Booths is famous for its ‘warm northern welcome’ and its expansive, delightful, range of goods. It’s one of the most loved retail experiences in the UK. Broadcaster Kirsty Allsop recently stated that “Clearly all shops need to study Booths”.

We were tasked with identifying how to elevate the brands impact on the business. The first step was a thorough Opportunities Diagnostic. This identified areas to improve communications and in-store experience (from strategic recommendations to executional ideas). A key output was an Opportunities Action Plan (3, 6, 12+ months). We then supported the development of a growth strategy and repositioning the brand. The design with developed in partnership with Smith.

"This comprehensive review laid the foundations for us to confidently reimagine future opportunities for Booths. We wanted a partner to give us a fresh perspective, to hold us to account, and to face our own truths and The Strategy Shop delivered on all 3 counts."
Nigel Murray, CEO Booths

Boots Opticians is one of the leading opticians in the UK with over 650 locations, over 3,000 employees and sales of £383m (part of Walgreen Boots Alliance).

James’ former consultancy Reluctantly Brave was hired by the CEO to explore how to strengthen performance. Specifically high churn of Optometrists had multi-million-pound implications, impacting operations, morale, revenue generation and costs. We were tasked with getting to the bottom of this long-term, thorny issue.

James was responsible for developing and leading the Opportunity Diagnostic. This included business analysis, exploration and creating solutions. The exploration involved multiple interviews, discussion groups and creative immersion. Solutions ranged from strategic such reward and HR systems and brand management through to specific ideas such as adding a customer focused Executive team member, a comms development process and ensuring every colleague had email addresses. We also clarified career pathing (different routes such as Practice Management) and maternity policies (improving flexibility). The was followed by working sessions to align the top 50 leaders and wider organisation. This was underpinned by Leadership Advisory Sessions with the CEO.

Within 12 months of the project completing, success metrics were dramatic, including a 50% reduction in employees leaving and a multi-million pound recruitment saving. This enabled the business to grow profitably.

DLA Piper is the largest law firm in the world, operating in over 40 countries and largest in the US by headcount.

James’ former consultancy Reluctantly Brave was hired by the Global Co-CEO to explore how to strengthen the US firm’s culture and performance (specifically looking at the needs of different generations). This was an essential project to help the firm continue to exceed client expectations and nurture the next generation of leadership.

James was responsible for leading the Opportunities Diagnostic. This included leading the research, interviewing senior DLA Piper leaders around the US (as well as a cross-section of employees) and creative immersion. This was followed by creating and shaping the opportunities with the CMO, COO and Co-CEO. The recommendations were varied from clarifying career pathways, to identifying and nurturing high-potential talent to ensuring internal communications were authentic and clear (especially in a demanding environment and history of M&A). This included Leadership Advisory Sessions with the CMO.

The work made a significant impact to client growth, talent development and internal communications. The team spent 2-3 years implementing the recommendations. In 2024, DLA Piper posted its 8th consecutive year of revenue growth.