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Consulting &
Advisory

Expert Guidance From People Who Have Done It


Some problems need a plan. Others need someone who has already solved them.


Our advisory work puts operators inside your business, on the gap between the strategy and the results: what you sell, how you run, who leads, and what happens at the moments that decide the next decade of the company.
 

This is not a deck and a departure. We work alongside your team, in your business, until the change holds.

Focus areas:

Engagements are scoped to the problem in front of you, drawing on whichever of these the work actually needs.

Product & merchandising
  • Assortment architecture and portfolio clarity

  • Buying plans, pricing, and margin discipline

  • Store layout, floor productivity, and visual standards

  • Seasonal planning, resets, and sell-through discipline

  • Vendor and supply relationships


Led by Briar Stimakovits, Partner and Retail Specialist.


Operational excellence
  • Operating cadence, accountability, and performance rhythm

  • Process design and organizational structure

  • Systems that keep decisions from unravelling between meetings
     

Leadership & capability
  • Development programs tied to strategic priorities

  • Performance management and alignment workshops

  • Leadership assessment and people due diligence

  • Succession and bench strength
     

Transitions & growth
  • Ownership transition and exit readiness

  • Post-acquisition integration and value creation planning

  • Board and investor readiness

  • New products, channels, and markets

Outcome:
  • The right product, in the right place, earning its space.

  • A business that executes what it decided, at a pace it can hold.

  • Leaders with the capability to run it without you in the room.

  • Transitions and growth handled with evidence rather than instinct.

© 2026 by The Lief Group.
The Lief Group is a trade name of The Axe Yard Ltd., incorporated in BC, Canada

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