Strategy 4 One
Executive Shadow
Confidential executive preparation and decision support. Some executive work cannot be delegated to administration. It needs context, judgement and someone experienced enough to recognise what actually matters. You remain the decision-maker; Executive Shadow makes sure the information, implications and next moves are ready when you need to decide.
I’m Carla Taylor. Some of your work cannot be handed to administration. It needs someone who has sat in the chair - and I have.
Australian client? Fixed AUD $650, invoiced - request below.
The same week, with Executive Shadow in place
Four moments every senior executive recognises - and what each one looks like when the preparation happened before it reached you.
The pack lands, and so does a two-page brief naming the three decisions inside it. You walk in deciding, not reading.
Instead of: Two hundred pages arrive and nobody has said which decisions actually sit inside them.
Every commitment from the meeting is named - who, what, by when - before anything has had time to quietly slip.
Instead of: The meeting was recorded, the transcript exists, and the commitments in it are still nowhere.
The research arrives already answering the only question that matters: what this means for you, this quarter.
Instead of: The material is thorough and says nothing about its implications for you, given what you already know.
Your evenings go back to judgement - or to nothing at all. The processing happened before it reached you.
Instead of: The most senior person in the room spends their evenings processing, so judgement is what runs out first.
Who this is for, and what you can send
Who this is for
CEOs and senior executives with a decision approaching and more material than time. People who already know how to decide, and need the ground in front of them cleared so they can.
What you can send
One defined piece of work per Session: a meeting pack, a transcript, a strategic brief, or a single decision problem. Anything larger is scoped first.
When you send it
Nothing sensitive is uploaded until the handling instructions have been accepted. The request form below asks about the situation, not for the material itself.
One piece of work, or the standing thread
Executive Shadow Session
USD $450
Fixed Australian-client price AUD $650, invoiced
One defined piece of work, briefed properly. For the meeting, pack or decision that is in front of you this week.
- An executive briefing that separates signal from volume
- Issues, implications and unresolved risks, named
- The decisions or commitments needing your attention
- Concise recommended next moves
- A private audio briefing so you can absorb it on the move
- One clarification exchange after delivery
- Delivery target: 48 hours after complete, accepted material
Executive Shadow Partnership
USD $1,050 monthly
Australian clients AUD $1,500 monthly, invoiced
Continuity for the executive whose material keeps arriving. Carla holds the thread across matters so each brief starts with context, not from zero.
- Up to two substantive executive briefs each month
- One strategic sounding-board call each month
- Continuity across accepted matters, so context carries forward
- Priority scheduling within agreed boundaries
- Billed monthly in advance; an initial three-month term is recommended
- Unused briefs do not roll over
- One named executive client per Partnership
- Urgent or unusually large work is quoted separately
How it works
- 1Choose the Session or the Partnership.
- 2Pay by USD checkout, or request the fixed Australian-client price and be invoiced.
- 3You receive confirmation and the intake questions.
- 4Carla accepts the scope and confirms a delivery date.
- 5You submit the permitted material under the agreed handling instructions.
- 6The executive brief and private audio briefing are delivered.
- 7A close recommendation: no further work, a Partnership, or the Strategy 4 One Diagnostic. Whichever is honest.
Where it sits with Strategy 4 One
Executive Shadow
The work immediately in front of you: this pack, this transcript, this decision, this week.
The Strategy 4 One Diagnostic
The direction and commitment decisions you keep circling: what you are deliberately putting in the past, where you are pointing instead, and what you will actually put behind it. Founding price USD $795.
No automatic upsell
The recommendation comes at the close of the work, based on what the work showed. Sometimes it is nothing further.
Carla Taylor is a long-serving CEO and senior executive. She knows the shape of the work from the inside: the pack that lands the night before, the decision that has to be made with what is actually in front of you. Every MTMOT framework runs on the same Strategy 4 One discipline, and Executive Shadow applies it to the work on your desk this week.
Boundaries, confidentiality and handling
Tools are not the offer. Carla remains the strategist and the quality gate; you keep the judgement and the accountability. Open whichever matters to you.
What it is not
Not regulated professional advice+
Executive Shadow is preparation and decision support. It is not legal, financial, medical or other regulated professional advice, and it does not replace the advisers you already hold.
Not the final accountability+
You remain the decision-maker. Board and executive accountability stay where they sit; the brief informs the call, it does not make it.
Not inbox or calendar administration+
This is not a continuous executive-assistant service. There is no standing access to your inbox or diary and no day-to-day scheduling.
Not unlimited volume+
One defined piece of work per Session. Volume beyond what was accepted at intake is scoped and quoted separately, never absorbed quietly.
Not unaccepted urgent work+
Urgent turnaround is possible only when it has been accepted at intake. Nothing is promised that has not been scoped first.
How your information is handled
Consent before any AI processing+
Nothing you send is processed with AI tools unless you have said yes. You can say no, and a manual-only path is available where appropriate.
Approved-tool list agreed at intake+
Where AI processing is agreed, the specific tools that will touch your material are named and agreed before work starts, not discovered afterwards.
Minimum necessary information+
You send what the work needs and no more. Where a redacted or summarised version does the job, that is what is asked for.
Human verification and source traceability+
Every brief is read, checked and finished by Carla. Claims in the brief trace back to your material, so you can see where each point came from.
Retention and deletion agreed before work starts+
How long your material is held and when it is deleted are agreed at intake as part of the handling instructions, before anything is sent.
No synthetic likeness or avatar+
The standard service does not create a synthetic voice, likeness or avatar of you, and none is used to deliver the work.
Questions, answered plainly
Can you help me future-proof my business?+
The first thing I'll ask is what you're actually worried about losing, because "future-proofing" is a vague word for a specific fear. Usually it's a revenue line that's thinning, or a team that can't keep up with the tools. Across 30 years and 142 startups, the businesses that lasted had a plain answer to that question. We find yours first. Then we build the systems and the AI habits that hold it in place.
Can you find our point of difference in a saturated market?+
Most businesses I look at already have one. They just describe themselves the way everyone else in their category does, so nobody can see it. I built 142 startups on local audiences, without relying on social media, which forces you to be clear about why a real person standing in front of you would choose you. I'll interview you, read your material, and hand back your difference in language a customer would repeat to a friend.
Do you check if systems (human + tech) are streamlined?+
This is the work I like best. I'm a productivity and efficiency nerd, and I map how work actually moves through your business: who touches it, what gets re-keyed, where it stalls, and which steps only exist because they always have. Then I tell you what to cut, what to automate, and what to leave alone because a human doing it is the point. I've recruited and managed more than 3,500 staff across 135 locations. I know where the friction hides.
Will you draft a grant application or build templates for client documentation?+
I draft grant applications and tenders so they don’t just answer the assessor's question, in the assessor's order, but provide a real sense of what only you can uniquely offer. Templates follow the same discipline: client documentation, proposals, onboarding packs, and contracts drafted for your lawyer to rubber-stamp - all of them are a repeatable shape, but that shape needs to reflect exactly what makes them unique to you and your business. Send me the brief and whatever you already have. You get a working draft back, with the assumptions I made marked so you can correct them.
Can you offer a fresh perspective on a big presentation to ensure consistency with our goals?+
Send it over. I read it the way your board, your funder or your buyer will, checking whether every slide serves the decision you want them to make, and whether anything in it quietly contradicts the goals you set at the start of the year. Thirty years of board papers and capital projects worth $5 to 11 million each have taught me which slide loses the room. You get comments and questions rather than a rewrite, unless you ask for one.
Will you help decide the right tech stack for our needs - one that won’t break the bank?+
Yes, and I'll start with what you already pay for, because most businesses are paying for more than they use. I've built a heap of tools and automated workflows to run a business that would traditionally need a team of 10+ people, so I have firm views on what's worth the money. I'll recommend the smallest stack that does the job, tell you what to cancel, and set it up so you can run it yourself rather than depend on me.
What does "fractional executive" actually mean, and why call it Executive Shadow?+
A fractional executive is a senior person you get for a fraction of the week instead of a full-time salary. Executive Shadow is my version of it, and the name is deliberate: I'm not there to advise from the sidelines, I'm there to do the work that needs doing. The draft, the systems map, the presentation check, the grant application. I bring 30 years as a CEO who wore every hat. You stay the decision-maker. I'm the shadow, not the boss.
How does it work day to day?+
One defined piece of work at a time, scoped before I start. You tell me the situation, I confirm what I'll deliver and by when, and we agree how your information will be handled before you send me anything. Some clients need one job done. Others keep a standing arrangement so I hold the context from one piece of work to the next and don't start from zero each time. Either way, I read every request myself and I do the work myself.
How do I start, and what does it cost to find out?+
Finding out costs you an email. Write to carla@mtmot.com with the situation in a few lines, or go through mtmot.com/executive-shadow, and I'll come back to you personally with the scope, the delivery date, and the price for that piece of work. Current pricing for a single engagement and for a standing arrangement is on the site. Nothing is invoiced until we've agreed what I'm doing.
Who is Executive Shadow not for?+
- Anyone who wants an executive assistant. I don't run your inbox or your diary. - Anyone who needs regulated advice: legal, financial or medical. - Anyone hoping someone else will make the decision. I'll clear the ground in front of you and tell you plainly what I'd do, but the call stays yours. If what you actually need is coaching, I'll say so and point you at that door instead.
How quickly will I have the brief?+
The delivery target for a Session is 48 hours after complete, accepted material has arrived. The clock starts when the scope is accepted and everything needed is in, not when the request is sent. Urgent turnaround is only ever agreed at intake.
What if my material is sensitive?+
Say so in the request. Sensitivity level, whether any AI processing is permitted, which tools would be used, and how long material is held are all agreed before you send anything. A manual-only path is available where appropriate. Nothing sensitive is uploaded until the handling instructions have been accepted by both of us.
Can I pay in Australian dollars?+
Yes. Australian clients pay a fixed Australian-client price, invoiced: AUD $650 for a Session and AUD $1,500 monthly for a Partnership. Choose the invoiced option in the request form and the invoice follows the intake conversation.
One clear next step
Choose the offer, choose how you would like to pay, and describe the situation. Carla comes back to you personally to confirm scope, delivery date and handling instructions before anything is sent.