Why is EdgeWise Different?
We help leadership teams address what is getting in the way of the business.
Edgewise Strategies partners with CEO's, owners and senior leadership teams when growth, change, or transition has made the business more difficult to lead and execute.
The issues are rarely caused by a lack of talent or commitment. More often, priorities are competing, decisions are taking too long, accountability is inconsistent, or unresolved tension is interfering with execution.
We help leaders work through these challenges together - bringing clarity to difficult issues, strengthening alignment and accountability, and improving the way decisions are made and carried out across the organization.
Our work helps organizations protect and optimize enterprise value by building the leadership capability needed to navigate what is happening now—and what comes next.
Why clients choose Edgewise
Experienced business perspective
We bring decades of experience leading cross-functional work, advising senior leadership teams, and helping organizations navigate growth, change, succession, and complex business challenges.
We understand the realities leaders face because our work is grounded in real organizations, real relationships, and real business decisions.
The ability to address what others avoid
Important issues often remain unresolved because they are complex, sensitive, or difficult to discuss internally. We create the environment and structure leaders need to surface those issues, understand different perspectives, and make productive decisions.
We are deeply respectful of the people and relationships involved, direct when needed, and practical in our approach.
Work built around your business
We do not bring a predetermined program and attempt to fit your organization into it. We learn your business, understand what is creating friction or risk, and tailor the work and tools to the outcomes you need.
The work happens around actual business priorities, decisions, and challenges—so improvement begins immediately, builds momentum, and quickly translates into stronger execution.
Capability that carries forward
Our goal is not to make an organization dependent on Edgewise. We help senior leaders strengthen how they lead together, improve execution across functions, and equip the next level of leaders with the mindset, skills, and accountability needed to carry expectations throughout the organization.
This creates sustainable organizational capability—and progress that does not depend indefinitely on the CEO or on Edgewise.
Where our experience is especially valuable
We are often engaged when an established organization is navigating:
- Rapid growth or significant change
- Ownership, leadership, or generational transition
- ESOP conversion or succession
- A newly formed or evolving leadership team
- Misalignment around priorities and direction
- Decision drag, execution gaps, or cross-functional friction
- Difficult issues that have become hard to resolve internally
We have particular experience with privately held, family-owned, and employee-owned organizations, where business decisions, personal relationships, ownership expectations, and legacy can be closely connected.
The Edgewise difference
Essential. Practical. Authentic. Courageous. Transformational.
We build trusted relationships that allow leaders to have the conversations that matter, confront what is holding the organization back, and turn insight into meaningful action.
Clients value our ability to understand the business, see the dynamics beneath the surface, and help capable people approach difficult issues from a more productive perspective. The result is greater clarity, better and faster decisions, stronger leadership, and more consistent execution.
How was EdgeWise different than other consultants?
Working with Dan and Michelle
Meet Michelle Laxa, Founder & Executive Advisor
Michelle Laxa helps owners, CEOs, and senior leadership teams work through the complex leadership and organizational issues that can limit growth, weaken execution, and put enterprise value at risk.
With more than 20 years of corporate, cross-functional execution experience and 14 years building Edgewise Strategies, Michelle brings both business acumen and a deep understanding of how leadership dynamics affect results. Before founding Edgewise, she led customer-focused initiatives and cross-functional teams and worked alongside business owners, senior executives, and leaders including large national organizations.
That experience taught her an important lesson: even highly capable leaders can struggle to work effectively together when the business is growing, changing, or navigating transition. Decisions slow down. Priorities compete. Accountability becomes inconsistent. Personal dynamics begin to influence business decisions.
Michelle founded Edgewise to help leadership teams address these issues directly—and turn them into opportunities to strengthen the organization.
A trusted advisor for the conversations that matter
Michelle is known for her ability to quickly build trust, ask the questions others may avoid, and help leaders see themselves, one another, and the business from a different perspective. Her straightforward, practical approach creates an environment where people can have honest conversations, examine established patterns, and make better decisions without losing sight of relationships or results.
She works alongside leadership teams on the real issues affecting their businesses—not hypothetical exercises. The work may involve clarifying direction, improving decision-making, resolving cross-functional friction, strengthening accountability, preparing the next level of leaders, or navigating ownership, leadership, and generational transition.
Clients value Michelle’s ability to understand their business, recognize what is happening beneath the surface, and translate difficult conversations into meaningful action.
Experience with closely held and family-owned businesses
Michelle and her team have developed particularly success
As the founder of a family-owned business herself, Michelle understands how those relationships can strengthen an organization—and how unaddressed dynamics can complicate leadership, succession, and decision-making. She brings the objectivity, honesty, and care required to help leaders protect both the business and the relationships that matter.
Her goal is not to make clients dependent on Edgewise. It is to help leaders build the clarity, alignment, capabilities, and ways of working that allow the organization to move forward successfully long after the engagement ends.
Michelle helps capable leaders address what is getting in the way, strengthen how they lead together, and build an organization equipped for what comes next.
Meet Dan Reinbold, Strategic Advisor and Team Coach
A Trusted Advisor Who Understands Both the Business and the People
Dan helps owners, executives, and leadership teams work through complex business challenges, improve communication, and navigate the personal dynamics that can interfere with alignment, decisions, and execution.
He brings a smart, strategic perspective to the work—quickly identifying connections, asking insightful questions, and helping leaders simplify complicated issues so they can determine what matters most and move forward with clarity.
Building Trust That Makes Honest Conversations Possible
Dan has a natural ability to connect with people and earn their trust. He listens carefully, understands different perspectives, and creates an environment where people feel respected and supported—even when the conversation is difficult.
His genuine, approachable style allows him to be candid, challenge assumptions, and address sensitive issues while helping people recognize that he is working with them, not against them. Because people trust his intentions, Dan can often help teams surface and resolve issues that have been difficult to discuss internally.
Turning Insight Into Meaningful Action
Dan combines his understanding of business with a strong awareness of team and interpersonal dynamics. He helps leaders see situations from different perspectives, find common ground, and translate insight into practical decisions and action.
Working alongside clients over time, Dan has become a valued partner to leaders navigating growth, change, competing priorities, conflict, and evolving expectations. Clients value his judgment, curiosity, strategic thinking, and ability to build the trust needed to make meaningful progress
How was working with EdgeWise Different from working with other consultants?
OUR CLIENTS INCLUDE:
