Business & Systems
Operational, organizational, strategic, workflow, technology, product, process, bottleneck, and cross-functional problems.
Fixed-scope first engagement
Before You Spend More Money Fixing the Wrong Thing, Figure Out What’s Actually Wrong.
Bring me one messy business, property, organizational, operational, or systems problem. In a focused 60 to 90 minute session, I will help you work through the competing explanations, find what does not fit, and identify what deserves attention next.
$495. One problem. One focused session. One concise written assessment.
Not sure whether your problem fits? Tell me about it first. I’ll tell you whether I think this diagnostic is an appropriate next step before you spend anything.
One difficult-problem front door
Want examples closer to your world?
You do not need to choose a category. The general Diagnostic remains complete and directly purchasable. These paths simply help you recognize the kind of problem you are bringing.
Turnaround & Distressed Situations
For businesses, projects, assets, or organizations where the question is what can be saved, what should be fixed, what should be stopped, and what must happen first.
Commercial Real Estate
For property cash flow, debt, occupancy, capital needs, operations, refinance, sell, or hold decisions, and turnaround situations.
Healthcare Operations & Systems
For healthcare business, workflow, technology, staffing, organizational, and systems problems. This is not medical diagnosis or treatment.
AI & Automation
AI adoption, agents, automation, implementation, workflow, product, strategy, and situations where it is unclear whether the problem is technical, operational, commercial, or organizational.
Governance & Leadership
Boards, ownership, authority, accountability, incentives, partnerships, leadership, decision rights, and situations where individually rational decisions are producing a bad overall result.
Medicolegal Consulting
Medical record review, clinical plausibility, expert analysis, healthcare disputes, professional-standard questions, and related medicolegal work use a separate qualification path.
The problems this is designed to clarify
This is for you if something important is not making sense.
Cash without clarity
The business has revenue, but somehow there is never enough cash.
Conflicting explanations
Several smart people have given you several different explanations for the same problem.
A property that keeps consuming money
You cannot tell whether to fix it, refinance it, sell it, or let it go.
A process nobody owns
A process that should work keeps breaking, and nobody seems to own the whole failure.
Symptoms without a diagnosis
Your team is treating symptoms, but you are not convinced anyone has found the real problem.
A struggling technology or AI project
It is unclear whether the problem is technical, operational, commercial, or strategic.
These are examples of the kinds of problems the Diagnostic is designed to clarify, not promises that every problem can be solved in one session.
Outside judgment and synthesis
What I will do with you
You bring me the problem, the competing explanations, and the facts you think matter. I will ask questions, test assumptions, look for contradictions and hidden dependencies, and try to identify the point where the problem is actually being created or sustained.
After the session, I will send you a concise written assessment covering:
- 1What I think is most likely going wrong
- 2The primary bottleneck or failure point
- 3What does not fit or still needs to be verified
- 4The risks that deserve attention first
- 5The next actions I would prioritize
- 6Whether the problem appears to need specialist or larger implementation work
A guided pre-session intake
You do not need to build a perfect case file.
Before the 60 to 90 minute session, you will complete a structured intake and may provide up to five key supporting items. The purpose is to help me understand the background before we meet so the live session can focus on the actual problem rather than basic fact gathering.
Don’t worry about knowing exactly what to send. Start with the facts you have. I’ll guide you.
You do not need to diagnose your own problem before meeting me. The intake is designed to help me understand the situation even if you are not sure what matters yet.
The numbers
P&L, cash-flow summary, KPI report, budget, or another relevant financial or operating snapshot.
The timeline
A short chronology of what happened, what changed, and when the problem became apparent.
The current structure
An org chart, workflow, process map, responsibility matrix, lease or debt summary, or similar system overview.
Evidence of the failure
Reports, performance data, complaint summaries, relevant email summaries, missed targets, operating reports, or other evidence of what is going wrong.
Competing explanations or proposed solutions
Consultant reports, management recommendations, lender proposals, contractor estimates, internal memos, or other material showing what different people think should happen.
If you do not have all five, that is fine. Send what you have. Do not delay trying to create perfect information.
Do not send confidential legal files, medical records, protected health information, passwords, card data, or other highly sensitive material through the initial intake.
If material beyond this bounded review is needed, I may ask for one or two additional items later or recommend a larger engagement.
A concrete written deliverable
What your written assessment looks like
What I think is actually happening
The explanation that best fits the information available.
Why I think that
The facts, contradictions, dependencies, or assumptions driving that conclusion.
What still doesn't fit
Important unanswered questions and things that still need verification.
What I would do next
The actions I would prioritize, and what I would deliberately not spend time or money on yet.
Why Sonny
Why bring the problem to me?
My working life has repeatedly put me in situations where the important question was not “Who is the specialist?” but “What is actually happening?”
Emergency medicine trained me to make decisions with incomplete information, competing explanations, time pressure, and real consequences. I now apply the same discipline to difficult problems across business, commercial real estate, organizations, AI, workflows, and systems.
If several smart people are looking at different parts of the same problem and nobody is making the whole thing make sense, that is probably where I am most useful.
Review the method first
Want to see how I think before hiring me?
Review my public Difficult Problems work to see how I examine competing explanations, test assumptions, identify what does not fit, and decide what deserves attention next before you purchase anything.
Rapid Systems Integrity Diagnostic
$495
One-time fixed fee
- 1Structured pre-session intake and review of your key facts and supporting material.
- 260 to 90 minute diagnostic session
- 3Concise written assessment
- 4Primary bottleneck / failure point
- 5Important unresolved questions
- 6Prioritized next actions
Not sure whether your problem fits? Tell me about it first. I’ll tell you whether I think this diagnostic is an appropriate next step before you spend anything.
Larger implementation or advisory work is separate. You are not committing to anything beyond this diagnostic.
A finished first engagement
What happens after you buy
- 1You complete the secure $495 checkout.
- 2You receive the structured intake and scheduling instructions.
- 3You give me a concise description of the problem and the information needed for the session.
- 4We spend 60 to 90 minutes working through it together.
- 5I send you the written assessment and prioritized next steps.
Payment is processed securely by Stripe.
A useful boundary
When this is not the right first step
- 1You already know exactly what the problem is and simply need a specialist to execute the solution.
- 2You need emergency legal, medical, financial, or other regulated professional advice.
- 3You need a large implementation team rather than an initial diagnostic.
- 4You want a guaranteed answer or guaranteed outcome.
If you are unsure, discuss the problem first.
This is a fixed-scope problem-solving and advisory engagement. It is not medical treatment or legal representation, does not create a physician-patient or attorney-client relationship, and does not guarantee a particular outcome.
Do not submit medical records, confidential legal files, passwords, card data, or highly sensitive material through the initial purchase or intake flow.
If the cost of solving the wrong problem is more than $495, this is a sensible place to start.
Bring me one difficult problem. I will help you determine what deserves attention next.
Not sure whether your problem fits? Tell me about it first. I’ll tell you whether I think this diagnostic is an appropriate next step before you spend anything.