#001—The Client Already Knows

Here’s something I’ve learned, over and over again:

“By the time a client calls you in to fix something, they already know what’s wrong.”

Maybe not in a slide. Maybe not in a way they can say out loud in a boardroom. But they feel it.
A tension. A pattern. A loss of trust somewhere between ambition and delivery.

It’s easy to arrive as the consultant with a framework, a pitch, a plan. But most of the time, what the room really needs is someone to name what’s already there.

• “We don’t trust our own data.”

• “Our teams are working at cross purposes.”

• “This AI initiative looks innovative—but it doesn’t have an owner.”

That moment of quiet recognition is often the start of real change, not because of any genius we bring, but because someone had the guts to say it plainly.

In a world full of strategy decks and AI transformation programs, this is our real value:

“To help leaders see clearly—and act accordingly.”

That’s what we do at Third Way. It’s not glamorous. But it works.

— Brook Walker