Leadership & Consulting
I help organizations build and lead high-performing teams through complex, high-stakes delivery.
About
Twenty years of leading teams that don't look anything alike: people who thrive in the spotlight and people who'd rather never speak in a meeting, and everyone in between. Different people, different needs, same deadline — and we delivered.
I've built delivery organizations from scratch, stabilized projects mid-crisis, and developed leaders who were technically brilliant but struggling to actually run people. The work isn't industry-specific. The fundamentals of how humans build hard things together don't change.
Physically based in Montreal. Lived and worked across North America, Europe, and Asia. Private pilot.
Genuine human range: artists, engineers, executives, contractors. Led differently, treated as individuals, trusted to deliver.
Deep enough understanding of what's being built to make decisions that actually serve quality, not just process.
Systems that fit the team and the work, not templates applied indiscriminately. Built to scale, adjusted when they stop working.
Background
I started as an animator and level designer on major video game productions — large-scale, three to five year projects with budgets exceeding $100M, hard public release dates, and no room for error. Building things before managing them changed how I lead. When you know what it costs to make something, you lead the people making it differently.
Over twenty years I moved through every level of the org: individual contributor, team lead, senior producer, studio leadership. Video game development is one of the most complex creative and technical endeavors in any industry: tight deadlines, massive budgets, teams of specialists who have to function as one. Over 15 years at senior level, I've made the full journey from the person executing the details to the person accountable for the whole thing. Most leaders have only ever seen one side of that.
I've worked across North America, Europe, and Asia, and led teams scattered across a dozen time zones. The challenge was never just the distance, it was making sure that no matter where people were, they still felt like one team. In a world where decentralized organizations are the norm, that experience is directly applicable.
Started building things before managing them. That perspective shapes how I develop leaders who are still close to the work and struggling to make the shift.
Whether you're a newly promoted team lead finding your footing or a department head who has lost the room, the context is different but the fundamentals aren't.
Misaligned teams, leaders who can't communicate, processes that have stopped serving the work, organizations held together across time zones and cultures. These show up everywhere, not just in one industry.
The Work
Part-time, embedded engagement where I come in and actually run or stabilize something. Highest-value offering for organizations that need senior leadership without a full-time hire.
A focused engagement to assess organizational health by interviewing leads, reviewing process, and delivering clear recommendations. Lower commitment to get started, often leads to longer work.
Ongoing advisory for a senior leader or department head who needs a thinking partner. Monthly retainer, lower time commitment, builds the kind of relationship where real candor is possible.
Where I'm Most Useful
Most of these conversations start because something isn't working and nobody quite wants to say it yet.
Team is delivering but leadership has lost confidence in the process
Organization or department is scaling and the operational function hasn't kept up
Project is in trouble and nobody wants to say it out loud
A strong individual contributor just got promoted to lead and is drowning
Organization is restructuring and needs someone to rebuild how work gets done
New leadership needs an honest read on the team's actual delivery capacity
Contact
No pitch deck required. If something on this page sounds like your situation, reach out and we'll figure out from there whether there's a fit.
Most people can see what's wrong. Few are willing to say it. Fewer still know what to do about it.
Joe Khoury