Hello, my name is JP Castlin. Let’s move on, shall we?
Oh, I know. The common expectation is that this should turn into yet another one of those pages on which people speak too highly of themselves in tired clichés. But, if we are to be honest with one another, chances are that you might have an idea of who I am, given that you are here.
If you do not, well, the short version is that my background is a long story.
My career began as a corporate finance lawyer what now feels like an eternity ago. As time went on, I inched closer and closer towards governance and ultimately strategy, where I am at present attempting to etch my name into the business books of history by pushing the boundaries of knowledge around strategic management, corporate complexity, and market uncertainty.
Along the way, I co-founded an international consultancy and did work in all sorts of areas, including
- international go-to market strategies,
- business strategies,
- global marketing strategies,
- domestic marketing strategies,
- uncertainty management,
- portfolio analyses,
- DBA analyses,
- CEP analyses,
- strategy audits,
- NPD,
- programmatic supply chain analyses,
- rebranding projects,
- management consulting,
- media investment optimization,
- media planning,
- copywriting,
- executive leadership,
- key decision-making unit support and, believe it or not,
- more.
Late 2020, in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, I decided to leave the consultancy and become a full-time independent consultant. And, well, here we are.
Today, I am supposedly an internationally recognized authority on strategy. I have been called “a member of the Mount Rushmore of strategic management thinking”, “one of the industry’s most important voices”, “a strategy iconoclast”, and probably many other things significantly less hyperbolic and flattering. I also at one point managed to get on one of those 40 over 40 lists – at the age of 38 – though I suspect that had more to do with the grey hairs in my beard than anything else.
The lion’s share of my client work revolves around modern corporate challenges such as global business and marketing strategy, corporate coherence, regional steering, and operational excellence, in a world of uncertainty. But I am happy to offer help to the best of my abilities to anyone who needs it.
Beyond the professional services I offer, I dedicate my time to three main areas: research, writing, and public speaking.
And so, I am the creator of the ABCDE framework, the 4E model of market dynamics, and the concept of dynamic uncertainty. My speaking can be seen and heard globally. My longer written work can be seen in “Strategy in Polemy” (2021) and the upcoming “What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do” (2025), as well as a book to be named in 2026. My shorter written work can be seen in the decently popular weekly newsletter Strategy in Praxis, as well as in MarketingWeek, WARC, the IPA’s EffectivenessWorks, The Drum, and a smattering of other outlets.
Oh, I have also made appearances as a so-called industry expert on Channel 4 News and the BBC, in addition to in The Guardian, The Times and similar commonly labelled prestige newspapers.
Put differently, it would seem that I know what I am doing, and that others know it too.
