The challenge
For leaders of regulated organisations and those with a public mandate, strategy is rarely a question of analysis alone. You operate under public scrutiny, within complex governance structures, and with multiple stakeholders whose interests cannot simply be optimised or traded off. The hardest questions are not technical. They are about direction, alignment, and the will to act.
What should we do when the answer isn’t obvious?
How do we align a top team that sees the problem differently?
How do we move forward when the organisation is capable, but not yet ready?
Many organisations don’t fail because they lack strategy. They struggle because the organisation itself is not aligned around it or able to carry it through. That is the challenge we work on.
Who we are
Belden Menkus
If you lead a business with a public remit, such as a regulated utility, an infrastructure body, a professional institution, or a law firm, you face a distinctive kind of strategic challenge. You must perform commercially while operating under public scrutiny, complex governance, and competing stakeholder interests. The hardest questions you face are rarely analytical. They’re about alignment, trust, and the will to act. That’s the territory I work in.
I founded Menkus & Associates after a career at McKinsey & Company, where I worked with clients across the UK, Europe, the US, and Japan. I’ve spent more than 30 years since then working at board and ExCo level in regulated industries, infrastructure, and professional services. The work takes many forms: strategy development, board facilitation, organisational design, implementation support. But the through-line is always the same: rigorous thinking, honest challenge, and sustained engagement that builds real momentum.
Clients work directly with me, not with a team of analysts. Most have worked with me for years, across multiple projects and often across multiple organisations as they’ve moved through their careers.
I also host The Purposeful Strategist, a weekly podcast in which CEOs and senior leaders discuss how they bring purpose to life through strategy. 170+ episodes, available on all major platforms.
If you’re navigating a strategic challenge that doesn’t fit neatly into any framework, I’d be glad to talk.
Belden is on LinkedIn, and can also be reached via email or on 0771 017 0115.
Jen Geoghegan
Jen is an Associate at Menkus & Associates, where she brings experience across environmental consultancy, international energy law, and education to support senior leadership teams working on strategy and organisational design. Her LLM in International Energy Law, with a focus on climate policy and corporate sustainability, sharpened her interest in a particular problem: why well-designed frameworks so often fail in practice, and what it takes to build organisations that can actually follow through.
She also produces The Purposeful Strategist podcast, in which Belden interviews senior leaders on the purpose that drives their work, and asks how they bring purpose to life through strategy.
Jen has lived and worked in the United States and Japan, and is currently based in London, UK.