Mark Johnson
"Most companies are sitting on more opportunity than they realize. My job is to find it."
Focus
Innovation Strategy
Finding the opportunity hiding inside your business.
Every company has untapped potential - in its people, its processes, and its data. The challenge is knowing where to look and what to build. Mark's approach combines deep listening with structured frameworks to surface the opportunities that matter most.
Async Employee Interviews
We start by listening - not just to leadership, but to the people closest to the work. An AI-assisted async interview process surfaces what's really happening across the organization, without bias or hierarchy filtering the signal.
Innovation Workshop
The interview findings become the foundation for a structured workshop with your leadership team. Together we identify the highest-leverage innovation opportunities and build a prioritized roadmap - one your team owns and believes in.
Execution & Scale
Once the roadmap is set, we work through each initiative - building the tools, systems, and capabilities that help you scale or improve. Not a deck that sits on a shelf. Real work, real results.
"The companies that grow fastest are the ones that already know where the leverage is - they just need someone to help them see it."
Mark Johnson
Speaking engagements
Mark is available for keynotes and panels on technology, AI strategy, and innovation in business. He speaks from experience - not slides - and brings a practitioner's perspective to every stage.
"Leading with Courage in an AI World" - MEMA, Detroit
Innovation talk - 1M+ views
TEDx Texas Tech - innovation talk with over 1 million views
Reach out to discuss availability arrow_forwardSound familiar?
“We don’t know what to do with AI or innovation. We’ve talked about it as a leadership team and handed out ChatGPT licenses - but we have no real plan.”
Mark helps you cut through the noise, find the specific opportunities that fit your business, and build a plan your team can actually execute on.
“We’re stuck. Our current efforts haven’t led to meaningful results. We need help driving to the business outcomes that actually matter.”
If you’ve been spinning on strategy without traction, Mark steps in to diagnose what’s blocking progress and redirect energy toward the work that moves the needle.
“We need someone to come alongside us - not as a guru, but as a guide. We know our industry. We just need outside perspective and a steady hand.”
Mark works with your team, not above them. He brings the outside view and the structured process - your people bring the domain knowledge. Together you shape what’s next.
Building Durable Advantage: The 7 Powers
Mark uses Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers framework as a lens for evaluating innovation opportunities - helping companies understand not just what to build, but what will create lasting competitive advantage.
- Based on Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy
Scale Economies
Unit cost declines as business volume increases, creating a barrier to entry for smaller competitors.
Network Economies
The value of your service to a customer increases with the number of users, creating winner-take-all dynamics.
Counter-Positioning
Adopting a superior business model that incumbents cannot copy without damaging their existing business.
Switching Costs
The loss a customer incurs from switching to an alternative supplier. We build for high retention through deep integration and immense value, not friction.
Branding
Higher perceived value due to objective information about the seller and emotional resonance with the buyer.
Cornered Resource
Preferential access to a coveted asset - talent, intellectual property, or data - that can independently enhance value.
Process Power
Embedded company organization and activity sets which enable lower costs or superior products that are difficult to replicate.
Ready to find your next opportunity?
Whether you're a mid-market company, a family office, or planning an event - let's start with a conversation.