Consulting

The one you want
in the room when
the stakes are high.

I am a force multiplier for senior executives. Organizations engage me at critical moments when the path forward is unclear and they have to get it right. Through rigorous discovery across every level of your team, I help you identify who you need to become to win, design a strategic roadmap to get you there, and lead activation across your organization.

Illuminate forward.

"Billy is a force multiplier for senior leaders, ensuring the right voices are included at the right times." "Billy builds alignment and advances complex initiatives with clarity and purpose." "Billy became the most sought-after resource on our team within the first week." "His presence brings confidence and calm." "Billy is a force multiplier for senior leaders, ensuring the right voices are included at the right times." "Billy builds alignment and advances complex initiatives with clarity and purpose." "Billy became the most sought-after resource on our team within the first week." "His presence brings confidence and calm."
"Billy is a force multiplier for senior leaders." "Billy builds alignment and advances complex initiatives with clarity and purpose." "Billy became the most sought-after resource on our team within the first week." "His presence brings confidence and calm."
"Billy is a force multiplier for senior leaders, ensuring the right voices are included at the right times and that vision is translated into meaningful, executable plans. He is the kind of partner you want in the room when the stakes are high and the path forward is unclear."
SVP, Total Rewards  ·  Fortune 500 Technology Organization

The best solution is not brought in.
It is discovered within.

I utilize human-centered design to build the path forward and align your people around it. Executives, leadership teams, and stakeholders at every level are engaged in defining the solution and bringing it to life.

In a world where AI is making knowledge and execution a commodity, identifying what makes your organization elite and building shared purpose and identity across your people is what will enable you to win.

How the process unfolds

Where it begins

Yellow Pad

We quickly get clarity on where you want to go, where you are, and how you can get from here to there. Seeing the entire picture enables us to evaluate the best next step. This often leads to a scoping conversation for the full consulting engagement.

Phase one

Alignment

I align with you and those directly around you — above, beside, and below — on the purpose of the work and the approach. Trust is built through one-on-one conversations and group sessions. It is important that your leadership team owns the work before we engage their teams.

Phase two

Discovery

Every voice at every level is invited to shape the destination and roadmap through surveys, group sessions, and 1-on-1s. What does success look like? Where are we now? What are the challenges and solutions to getting there? Why is it critical we go on this journey?

Phase three

Design

Discovery data is synthesized into a one-page roadmap: three strategies, each with four measurable actions, all designed to fit your culture. My proprietary pressure-test process (Q2Q) refines the solution, builds ownership, and earns support for approval and funding.

Phase four

Activation

I design and implement a plan that causes the change to become part of your culture's DNA, owned by your people long after I am gone. We measure success, conduct retros, and continue to iterate until your team is operating with new clarity, confidence, calm, and curiosity.

What you get

One roadmap. Three strategies. Twelve strategic initiatives with implementation plans built through human-centered design. This approach delivers a plan tailored to your culture, embraced by your people, and structured to move your business to where it needs to be to win.

What sets Northlyght Consulting apart

+
Senior partner on every engagement
Tailored to your culture because your people helped design it
Embraced before implementation begins because they own it
Leaders are developed and cultures are strengthened
Senior expertise without the large firm cost
Invested in your success like it is my own
"My firm quickly followed our first engagement with Billy with a request for help on a second project because his value in both qualitative and quantitative measures exceeded all expectations."
EVP & Chief Community Banking Officer  ·  Fortune 1000 Financial Institution
In practice

A force multiplier for senior executives.

A real engagement. Details generalized to protect confidentiality.

The situation

An SVP at a Fortune 1000 company was asked to expand his team's services into a new state. He knew he needed to move but was struggling to navigate the politics, gain traction on the ground, and lead a vision that did not yet feel like his own.

Read the full story +

The reframe

Through discovery, one thing became clear: the real opportunity was not to respond to the ask. It was to reshape it. Rather than trying to satisfy competing voices, the question became: what would actually be best for his team and the entire organization?

The vision

Instead of a plan for one state, we built a three-year vision for expanding across the east coast, beginning with the requested location. This SVP's team was uniquely positioned to fuel organizational growth. That reframe elevated him above the politics, gave him a vision he owned, and gave his team a shared purpose they could rally around.

The path forward

We built the roadmap together: the vision, the rationale, the phased plan. He took it to the executive leadership team, including the CEO. They did not just approve it. They funded it and called it a key growth initiative for the organization.

The outcome

A bold vision, funded mandate, clear roadmap, and a team aligned around a direction they believed in.

"Billy builds alignment and advances complex initiatives with clarity and purpose. He turns strategic intent into structured execution, creating momentum even in challenging, politically charged environments. His presence brings confidence and calm."
Executive Director, Global Systems Transformation  ·  PE-backed Life Sciences Organization

Consulting

"I've had the privilege of working closely with Billy on one of the most complex and high-stakes initiatives we've undertaken, and I can say without hesitation that he is one of the most strategic, thoughtful, and effective partners I've encountered."

SVP, Total RewardsFortune 500 Technology Organization

"Through sharp questions and simple, effective frameworks, Billy maps clear roadmaps and concrete next steps. Billy has a unique ability to cut through noise and get to the heart of purpose, vision, and mission."

CTO / SVP, Head of IT TransformationFortune 500 Technology Company

"Billy's guidance enabled our project team to chart a clear course for project objectives, decision mapping, action plans and communication. Our project objectives were met ahead of budgeted time and cost objectives."

EVP & Chief Community Banking OfficerFortune 1000 Financial Institution

"Billy's ability to distill complex information into clear, actionable plans helped drive engagement and adoption across multiple teams. He builds trust quickly, listens actively, and adapts with agility in fast-moving environments."

Director, Product and Technology Change Enablement$23B Privately Held Conglomerate
"Billy has a distinctive ability to help leaders step back from day-to-day complexity and reconnect to what truly drives alignment, momentum, and impact inside their organizations. What I appreciated most is how Billy translates big-picture leadership challenges into clear, practical next steps."
Global Communications Leader  ·  Fortune 100 Beverage Company
Billy Leonard

Illuminate forward.

Force multiplier
for senior executives.

I am a force multiplier for senior executives. Leaders, organizations, and leadership teams engage me at critical moments when the path forward is unclear and they have to get it right.

The answer is within you. We discover who you need to become to win, design the roadmap together, and activate it. When you do, you operate with clarity, confidence, calm, and curiosity — and income, revenue, and profit multiply.

Before launching Northlyght, I built teams, led turnarounds, managed P&Ls, and guided Fortune 1000 executives and their organizations through transformations. I know what it takes to not just design a path forward, but to walk it.

My work is also shaped by The Institute for Wisdom and Wonder, an exploration of how companies can leverage what is uniquely human in a world where knowledge and execution are becoming commodities.

I hold an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. I currently serve as President of the Kellogg Alumni Club of Atlanta and Co-Chair of The Atlanta Speaker Series.

My wife, Yen Ling, and I have three daughters. I love a good discussion with you about you, 1930s-50s baseball cards, fall at the beach or in the mountains, weekends in NYC with Yen Ling, and watching my daughters shine.

Connect on LinkedIn →

Your questions,
answered.

When is the right time to engage for a consulting project?
When you are facing a transformational challenge and you have to get it right. Common entry points include when you are stepping into a new role, when you've known the organization has to change but have been putting it off, when your team needs to build shared purpose and identity, when you need to build an operationally collaborative culture, or when you have a strategic decision that requires buy-in before implementation begins.
How is this different from a typical consulting firm?
I am fully invested in your success, from the first conversation through activation. The solution is never prescribed, it is discovered within your organization through rigorous engagement at every level. Your people design the roadmap, so it is tailored to your culture and embraced before implementation begins. I lead activation so that the change is written in your team's DNA and you see the results.
What is a discovery conversation?
A free, focused 30-minute call. You share where you are and what you are navigating. I listen, ask the right questions, and share how I help — including examples of organizations I have guided through similar challenges. Most people leave with more clarity than they expected. No pitch. No obligation.
How does pricing work for consulting?
Consulting engagements are scoped based on the size and complexity of the work. The right first step is a discovery conversation, followed by a scoping discussion where we define the engagement together. Consulting typically sits within a project budget alongside or in place of a larger firm, and at a fraction of the cost.
What is my first step?
Schedule a discovery conversation. It is free and 30 minutes. Reach out directly at billy@northlyght.com, connect on LinkedIn, or fill out the form below.

If you are at a
critical moment,
let's find the path forward.

Schedule a free 30-minute discovery conversation. No agenda other than understanding where you are and where you need to go.

Start a conversation

Tell me a little about where you are and what you are navigating.