Hi, I'm Adriana McLane.
I help privately held distributors build strategy that holds up through growth, leadership transition, and what comes next.
Fifteen years running Fulfilling Strategy, the last six spent deep inside distribution working alongside leadership of privately held distribution companies to build strategy that holds up when a competitor moves in on your territory, when a President steps back, and when the next generation takes the lead.
- 15 years in business
- Former GE & Newell Rubbermaid
- HBS Disruptive Strategy
- NAW Large Company CEO Roundtable speaker
A few of the companies I've worked with
- Piedmont Plastics
- Blevins, Inc.
- National Gypsum
- Husqvarna
- Huber Engineered Woods
- Tri-State Distributors
- Apple Outdoor Supply
- JR McDade
- GPS Air
- Rubbermaid Medical
Strategy, when it's owned by the people executing it, has the power to unite and inspire. That's why I do this work.
I've been running Fulfilling Strategy for 15 years, and the last six of them have been spent deep inside distribution. Before I built this practice, I held senior roles at GE as a Six Sigma Black Belt and at Newell Rubbermaid, where I led global strategic planning, commercial strategy, and product development.
I'm not a facilitator who shows up for two days and leaves you with a Powerpoint. I'm a strategist who works as an extension of your leadership team, close to the business, in the conversations that matter, focused on making the strategy show up in how the team runs the week. Most of my clients have stayed with me well beyond the original engagement, and the majority of my business comes through client referrals.
Now more than ever, I'm passionate about the power of strategic discipline to help distributors be resilient and stay relevant.
Work well,
Adriana
GE Six Sigma Black Belt · Newell Rubbermaid Global Strategy & Product Development · MBA · Harvard Business School Disruptive Strategy · PwC Earlier in career
If any of this is familiar.
These are the moments when the strategy you have stops working the way it used to. You'll probably recognize at least one of them.
Revenue Plateau
Revenue is the same as it was two years ago. The team is busier than ever. Busy isn't the same as growing, and you can feel it.
Leadership Transition
A new President is stepping in and wants to use the moment to unite the leadership team and reimagine the strategy for what's ahead. Done well, the transition becomes the reset that moves the business forward.
Family Continuity
Ownership transition, generational handoff, or both. Continuity is more than succession planning. The business needs a clear strategy, leaders ready to carry it, and a team aligned behind it.
Next-Generation Readiness
The next generation is being prepared for broader responsibility. They need strategic capability, not just inherited authority.
Siloed Execution
You did the offsite. You built the plan. Six months later your branch managers and territory managers are running last year's playbook, because nothing about their week has actually changed.
Strategic Vulnerability
Your leadership team is too close to the business to see around it. You want someone who has been in the room with privately held distributors before and can hold the conversation at your level.
What clients say the work delivers.
Embedded partner, not outside consultant
Adriana brings a balance of creativity and organization to strategic planning. She has become integral to our company and is a great advocate for addressing the needs of all levels.
Jeff Daniel
President, Blevins, Inc.
Outside perspective in fast-moving markets
We needed outside facilitation given the rapidly changing business climate. Adriana built a more robust strategic plan in a faster timeframe and expanded our thinking beyond the industry lens. She became part of our team and made it fun.
Tyler Booth
President, Piedmont Plastics
R.E.A.L. Evolution — my strategic planning methodology.
R.E.A.L. Evolution is the structure I use to make sure the plan you build with me makes it into how the business actually operates. The first four phases get you to a real plan. The fifth keeps it real over time.
Reveal
I start by uncovering what's actually happening inside the business — the opportunities, the blind spots, and what the field is seeing that the leadership team isn't. The work is grounded in field-level reality, not assumptions.
Envision
Together, your leadership team and I define the vision and the priorities you can stand behind, and that the field can recognize themselves in.
Align
From there, I help your team turn priorities into who owns what, by when, and with what resources. Real ownership. Real accountability.
Launch
I help you activate the plan through structured execution and the management systems that make strategy show up in how your team runs the week.
Evolution
Strategy isn't a one-time event. The Evolution phase keeps the plan dynamic and the leadership team accountable, so strategic discipline compounds year over year.
Three paths, one philosophy.
REAL Evolution strengthens the organization. Evolution keeps that strategy alive over time. Get Strategic 30 strengthens the leaders responsible for carrying that strategy forward. Some clients need one. Many need all three.
REAL Evolution
Organizational strategy and execution
For privately held distributors who need a strategic plan that actually shows up in the business — through growth, leadership transition, and family continuity. Engagements range from full strategic planning through long-term advisory partnership with the leadership team.
This is for you if: Your leadership team is ready to do real strategic work, and you want a partner who will be in it with you long enough to see the plan land in the field.
Explore R.E.A.L. EvolutionEvolution
Ongoing strategic partnership
For leadership teams that already have a strategic plan in place and want a strategist alongside them to keep it alive — quarterly worksessions and monthly touchpoints so the plan keeps adapting to the market, the business, and the team carrying it forward.
This is for you if: You have a strategy you believe in, and you want ongoing discipline to keep it on point as conditions change.
Explore EvolutionGet Strategic 30
1:1 strategic leadership development
A 1:1 program for the individual leaders carrying strategy forward. Built for emerging and next-generation leaders in privately held and family-owned businesses who need to grow their judgment, decision-making, and readiness for greater responsibility.
This is for you if: A specific leader needs to shift from executor to strategic leader, and you want that growth to be intentional and accelerated.
Visit Get Strategic 30Speed of strategic clarity
Adriana quickly synthesized our business information and identified the critical issues and growth drivers. She has an absolutely wonderful disposition and a sharp strategic mind.
Ty Johnson
CEO, Cascade Services
Quality results, year after year
Adriana was a real force in our strategic plan development. She and her team deliver quality results, and she is a joy to work with.
Tom Tolleson
Former President, Tri-State Distributors
Two easy ways to get started.
Ready to explore your options?
Let's connect. A 30-minute exploratory call to talk about where your business is, what's coming, and whether the kind of work I do fits what you're facing.
Schedule a Strategy DiscussionWant to see how I think first?
Download Assumptions Distributors Must Challenge — a guide to surfacing the operating assumptions inside your leadership team that quietly become the constraints on your next strategy.
Download the GuideNo matter where you're starting, I'm here to guide you.
Work well,
Adriana