Who Guides Your Team Through the 2027 Plan?

Last week I asked: are you ready for the 2027 plan? Here’s the harder question: if you’re not, who’s going to get you there?

Many of you will spend the next few months producing a plan that doesn’t answer the question that matters most – not ‘are we using AI’, but what does each team’s job look like when AI takes the automatable 30–50% and what do the humans do instead? A plan that can’t answer that isn’t board-ready.

Your board doesn’t want slideware. They want answers to the most strategic questions: What outcomes are we seeking? Which products, programs, people, and platforms will and won’t we invest in? Where is AI freeing capacity? Are we reinvesting it or returning savings? How will we stay focused on the results that matter most – together?

A 100-day engagement built around SPARC

Here’s how I close that gap – a 100-day engagement built to get you from ‘we have slides’ to a SPARC-maximized plan that your entire organization builds and buys into – with the P&L and opex rigor the board believes and approves. With KPIs, OKRs, outcomes, and investment clarity on:

Strategy – what to invest in and not to achieve the growth, revenue, and results that matter most.

People – what are the skills, talent, and capabilities needed to execute the new strategy – with AI.

Alignment – who you depend on – who depends on you.

Routines – how we will make decisions and get work done – with disciplined execution.

Culture – what behaviors do we permit and promote – and the metrics that matter.

Days 1-30 – Assess

We sit with every functional leader and team – not for a top-down audit, but conversations with the people closest to the work about where AI is already changing workflows. Then we take inventory of the metrics and activities to see what’s working and what’s not, from the ground up.

Days 31-75 – Align

Each function builds its PST – what to Preserve, Strengthen, Transform – cross-functionally and with AI built into the Transform column. Where teams disagree, and they will, we negotiate tradeoffs and resolve it here, not in the boardroom.

Days 76-100 – Activate

The plan is defined by the teams with full transparency into what’s approved, what’s not, and why. It launches with named owners, a capability and capacity-redeployment plan, and a governance routine so the alignment doesn’t decay the week after kickoff.

The output isn’t a plan that mentions AI. It’s a plan the board approves because it shows exactly how the company will work differently – and why that’s the growth lever, not headcount.

I’ve run this top-down-plus-ground-up process as a five-time global CMO and inside companies such as FranklinCovey (public company, pioneer in leadership and organizational performance), GP (Vista Equity Partners + TDR Capital), EDB (Bain Capital + Great Hill Partners), Malwarebytes (Fidelity Ventures), and Yahoo (Verizon-owned).

I’m now offering it as an interim, fractional, or advisory engagement – built for CEOs, CxOs, and leadership teams who need this done before planning season closes.

If your 2027 plan needs to be more than a deck, let’s talk. Connect with me or follow CLG Partners.

– Dariusz Paczuski, Founder & Managing Partner, CLG Partners