Executive mentoring · C-level · directors · managers

Make better decisions about data, teams and technology without learning every tool.

I act as a confidential sparring partner for leaders in e-commerce, marketing, sales, product and data. I help structure a decision, challenge assumptions, compare options and prepare a conversation with the board, team or vendor.

This is not a course in GA4, SQL or Power BI. We work at the level of your management responsibility: KPIs, budget, roadmap, information quality, ways of working and decision risk.

Describe the decision or challenge See the mentoring model
An outside perspectivewithout internal project politics or attachment to one vendor
A decision-level conversationoptions, trade-offs, evidence, risk and next step
A confidential one-to-one spacedifficult questions before meeting the team, partner or board

When a mentor helps

You own the result, but information and recommendations come from many directions.

A leader does not need to be the best specialist in every tool. They do need to assess the quality of an argument, set priorities, assign responsibility and decide with incomplete information.

Reports show different results

Marketing, sales and finance use different definitions, and meetings end in disputes about the number.

You need to defend an investment

A new stack, warehouse, dashboard or AI initiative needs funding, while benefits and maintenance cost remain unclear.

The team needs direction

Specialists deliver tasks, but there is no shared definition of success, order of work or outcome owner.

The vendor speaks in solution language

The pitch is convincing, yet dependencies, lock-in, risk and the actual scope are difficult to judge.

The result changed; the reason did not

Pressure for fast action comes before data-quality checks and separating fact from interpretation.

A new role widened your responsibility

Promotion brings ownership of data, analytics or technology without a neutral partner for the hard discussion.

One-to-one decision room

Every session ends with a clearer decision—not another list of ideas.

You bring a real issue. We separate facts from assumptions, construct realistic options and define what must happen after the conversation.

01 · Context

What actually requires a decision?

Objective, time pressure, stakeholders, constraints and the cost of inaction.

Outcome: a clear decision statement
02 · Evidence

What do we know and assume?

Data, definitions, quality, gaps, contradictions and possible interpretation errors.

Outcome: facts and assumptions separated
03 · Options

Which options are genuinely available?

Benefit, cost, risk, reversibility, dependencies and organisational consequences.

Outcome: comparable scenarios
04 · Action

Who does what, and when do we return?

Recommendation, owner, communication, stop condition and effect verification.

Outcome: next step and checkpoint
Problem before solutionwe do not begin with a tool or vendor proposal
Trade-off before recommendationevery option has a cost and conditions for success
Owner before deadlinea decision without accountability does not become action

Management roles only

Mentoring is adapted to the leader's scope of responsibility.

This is not an analyst career programme or tool training. The starting point is the team, budget, result and decisions you own.

CMO and marketing director

Marketing effectiveness and credibility

  • KPIs and channel accountability
  • attribution, incrementality and measurement quality
  • briefs for agencies and analytics teams
  • communicating results to the board
Decision: where to invest and what to demand from the data
E-commerce director

Growth, margin and customer experience

  • funnel, conversion and channel economics
  • CRO, CRM and reporting priorities
  • alignment of store, marketing and finance data
  • e-commerce analytics roadmap
Decision: which funnel problem has the greatest impact
CDO, Head of Data and BI

Data operating model

  • roadmap, priorities and data debt
  • ownership, quality and governance
  • build versus buy and vendor assessment
  • business value of the data team
Decision: what to build, maintain and deliberately defer
CEO, COO, CPO and sales director

Management information and accountability

  • KPI set and review rhythm
  • one version of the result across functions
  • assessment of data and AI initiatives
  • questions for domain owners
Decision: how data should translate into organisational action

Mentoring areas

We discuss the decision system, not how to operate an interface.

Topics connect: the technology roadmap affects the team, marketing measurement affects budget, and governance affects the speed of new reporting and AI.

  1. 01

    KPIs and management rhythm

    Definitions, metric hierarchy, thresholds, guardrails, review agenda and escalation of deviations.

    Outcome: a transparent accountability system
  2. 02

    Data, MarTech and BI roadmap

    Investment order, dependencies, quick wins, technical debt, integrations and maintenance cost.

    Outcome: a decision-based roadmap
  3. 03

    Team, roles and vendors

    Responsibilities, internal capability, brief, selection criteria, acceptance and change management.

    Outcome: clear expectations and ownership
  4. 04

    Marketing, e-commerce and sales

    Effectiveness, attribution, funnel, margin, CRM and connecting activity to business outcome.

    Outcome: a better priority decision
  5. 05

    Data governance, privacy and risk

    Data owners, quality, access, documentation, change process and appropriate legal or security roles.

    Outcome: explicit risk and controls
  6. 06

    AI in the organisation

    Use-case selection, data readiness, solution versus vendor, pilot, evaluation, adoption and oversight.

    Outcome: go, no-go or next-test decision

A tangible session outcome

A one-page decision memo structures the argument before a board or team meeting.

Not every session needs a document. When several stakeholders or a material budget are involved, a concise structure makes the reasoning and success conditions visible.

Decision memoSample structure—not a client case studyFor decision
Question

Next quarter, should we build our own reporting model or extend the vendor solution?

01

Context and objective

Which business decision should improve, and why the current model is insufficient.

02

Facts and gaps

Volume, users, cost, quality, integrations and information still missing.

03

Options and trade-offs

Time, flexibility, vendor dependency, capability, risk and total cost.

04

Recommendation and conditions

Preferred option, owner, checkpoint, investment cap and stop condition.

The decision need not be final.The right outcome can be a small test, a deadline for missing evidence or a deliberate deferral.

Engagement format

The mentoring cadence follows the rhythm of your decisions.

The engagement is individual and confidential. Session count, access between meetings and preparation depend on the agreed format.

Decision review

One important decision

Preparation and a session focused on an investment, organisational change, team recommendation or vendor proposal.

Good when you need a neutral review before approval
Regular sparring

A recurring management rhythm

Regular sessions around current decisions, team work, roadmap and preparation for important meetings.

Good for a director or executive with broad responsibility
Strategic cycle

One area to organise

A sequence from diagnosis and options to roadmap, accountability and the first execution review.

Good for KPIs, data model, MarTech, BI or entering AI
One-to-one onlya conversation tailored to the leader's responsibility
ConfidentialityNDA and material-handling rules when agreed
PL or ENsessions and materials in the agreed language

Session preparation

The greatest value appears when the issue has context and a decision moment.

You do not need a perfect presentation. A concise brief, existing material and clarity about what should happen after the meeting are enough.

Before

Decision brief

Issue, deadline, stakeholders, team recommendation, available data and the biggest doubt.

During

Challenge and options

Questions, assumptions, missing evidence, consequences, reversibility and accountability.

After

Action note

Decision or next test, owner, communication, checkpoint and subject for review.

Starting mentoring

First we verify the fit between role, expectations and way of working.

  1. 01

    Qualification

    Role, responsibility, decisions, stakeholders, confidentiality expectations and preferred cadence.

    Outcome: fit confirmed
  2. 02

    Responsibility map

    KPIs, team, budget, vendors, roadmap, current tensions and decision moments.

    Outcome: mentoring scope
  3. 03

    Working agreement

    Frequency, preparation, materials, confidentiality, between-session contact and billing.

    Outcome: mentoring charter
  4. 04

    First decision room

    A real issue moves through context, evidence, options, recommendation and action plan.

    Outcome: decision or next test
  5. 05

    Return to the outcome

    We review execution, stakeholder response, new evidence and any required adjustment.

    Outcome: closed learning loop
  6. 06

    Format review

    We assess whether mentoring still adds value, needs a new cadence or should give way to a project.

    Outcome: deliberate continuation

Session standard

A good management conversation increases clarity even when uncertainty remains.

Mentoring is not decision-making on behalf of the leader. Its value is better reasoning, better questions and better action after the meeting.

The problem is at the right levelit concerns management responsibility, not a specialist task
Facts are separate from interpretationwe know what comes from data and what is an assumption or opinion
Options expose trade-offscost, risk, time, dependencies and reversibility are visible
The recommendation has conditionswe know when it makes sense and what could invalidate it
The action has an ownernext step, communication and checkpoint have accountability
The leader decides independentlythe mentor improves the process without taking ownership

Mentoring boundaries

This is not tool training, general coaching or outsourcing the director's role.

  • I do not teach GA4, SQL or BI operation.Training, a project or technical development is the right format for teams and specialists.
  • I do not decide for you.I help build the argument and expose trade-offs; responsibility remains with the leader.
  • I do not replace a project team.If implementation, audit or ongoing delivery is required, we define a separate scope.
  • I do not offer unlimited access.Between-session contact, response time and material review depend on the agreed format.
  • I do not replace legal or security advice.Regulated topics require the appropriate roles; mentoring helps prepare the decision and questions.
  • This is not therapy or general executive coaching.The scope is management of analytics, data, marketing, e-commerce, technology and AI.
Krzysztof Surowiecki

Business, data and implementation perspective

I help leaders talk to specialists without pretending to be specialists.

I combine experience in analytics, BI, marketing, e-commerce, governance and technology delivery. I can translate a technical argument into consequences for results, team, cost and maintenance—and identify the questions that must not be skipped.

20+years of experience
150+analytics and data projects
50+clients

Figures cover my broader analytics, data and digital-transformation practice. Mentoring is matched to the leader's responsibility and specific context.

Before we talk

Frequently asked questions.

Is mentoring only for C-level leaders?

No. It is for people with real management responsibility: executives, directors, heads and managers accountable for a result, team, budget, roadmap or vendors. It is not an entry-level analytics career programme.

Do I need strong analytics-tool knowledge?

No. The objective is better management of decisions and teams—not independent tool configuration. You need to understand consequences, ask the right questions and recognise risk.

Can I bring a vendor proposal or team recommendation?

Yes. We can examine assumptions, scope, dependencies, maintenance cost, lock-in, acceptance criteria and risk. A session is not a formal audit, but it can prepare the questions and decision about further verification.

How does confidentiality work?

We agree the handling of materials, notes and contact before starting. We can work under an NDA. Anonymised context or a limited evidence set is often sufficient.

Can the mentor join a board or vendor meeting?

Yes, as a separately agreed scope. Standard mentoring is one-to-one. Joining a meeting changes the role from confidential sparring partner to active participant, so the objective and accountability must be explicit.

When should mentoring become a project?

When the problem requires data collection, audit, specification, implementation or vendor coordination. Mentoring may define the decision and scope, but it should not conceal project delivery inside individual sessions.

First step

Describe your role and one decision that needs better structure today.

I will ask about responsibility, stakeholders, timing, available evidence and expected outcome. After a short qualification, I will recommend the right format—or tell you honestly that training or a project is more appropriate.

Discuss mentoring Looking for team training?

Related areas

When the decision requires a broader project.

Management reportingKPIs, sources, insights and information prepared for a decisionSee the service Data Governanceownership, quality, access and the data operating modelSee the service AI readinessdata, solution choice, pilot, evaluation and team adoptionSee the service