By Marc Sanderson

Every CEO eventually faces an uncomfortable reality: the strategy that once made sense is no longer delivering results. Revenue stalls. Margins shrink. Your team works harder, but the business isn’t moving forward.

The instinct? Push harder. More sales activity. More accountability. More operational discipline. Maybe even make changes to the team. Sometimes that’s the answer. But sometimes you’re executing a strategy that no longer makes sense.

In woodworking manufacturing where capital investments are significant, skilled labor is scarce and competitive pressures are evolving, knowing the difference is critical.

The question isn’t simply, “Why isn’t our strategy working?” It’s “What did we get wrong, and what are we willing to change?”

Here are five moves every CEO should consider when their business strategy stops delivering results.

1. Challenge the context before changing the course.

Has the world changed around us?

When a strategy fails, leadership teams typically revisit the plan. They adjust priorities, reset targets and push harder on execution. The better move is to revisit the assumptions behind the plan. Strategy is built on context. When the context changes, the strategy may no longer be valid.

Earlier this year at INNERGY, we revisited our competitive environment through the lens of artificial intelligence (AI). Using Porter’s Five Forces framework, we examined how AI was changing customers, competitors, suppliers and potential new entrants.

One question stood out: What happens when customers can use AI to do more themselves? A customer who once needed a complete software solution may now use AI to fill certain gaps. That changes our value proposition—and potentially what customers are willing to pay.

The same principle applies to woodworking manufacturers. Automation changes production economics. Overseas competition reshapes pricing expectations. Technology expands what customers can do internally. Labor constraints challenge existing business models.

A strategy that made sense yesterday may not make sense tomorrow. Strategic planning isn’t an annual event. It’s a continuous response to reality. If the world changes in January, don’t wait until October’s planning retreat to respond.

Change can arrive suddenly (like AI) or be a slow boil (like overseas competition). The magnitude and speed of the change should determine the response. Major contextual changes require faster actions and extensive strategic review. Minor changes still require attention, but the moves tend to be more tactical.

2. Confront your assumptions before committing to ambitions.

Did we get it wrong from the start?

Sometimes the market hasn’t changed. We simply misunderstood it. Perhaps we overestimated our competitive advantage, misunderstood customer needs or pursued a market where the economics were never in our favor.

Consider a woodworking firm serving the hospitality industry. About 75% of its business comes from large hotel projects—competing against overseas manufacturers. The remaining 25% comes from specialized, high-end boutique properties. The company is one of the last domestic fabricators serving this market.

That sounds like a competitive advantage. But is it?

In standardized hotel projects, the fabricator faces Asian manufacturers with significant structural cost advantages. In boutique properties, however, customization, engineering, responsiveness—and the advantages of proximity and shorter lead times—create opportunities to differentiate. The problem isn’t necessarily only that the market changed. It did. It manifested slowly over 20 years. The real issue is the company failed to recognize the slow boil and distinguish where it could create and capture value.

The strategic question isn’t how to work harder at winning the 75%. It’s whether the company should shift toward segments where its capabilities truly matter. That requires validating the opportunity, rethinking its customer mix, aligning operations and potentially walking away from unprofitable work.

It’s difficult. We become attached to the businesses we’ve built and the investments we’ve made. It can feel personal. But, holding on isn’t a strategy. You cannot grab the next trapeze bar without letting go of the first.

3. Get closer to customers before claiming to know them.

Do we truly understand the problems our customers are trying to solve?

One of the biggest strategic mistakes is assuming we understand customers better than we do. In woodworking, we often default to four dimensions of value: cost, quality, delivery, and service. Of course they matter. But they’re starting points, not a differentiated value proposition.

What problem is the customer actually trying to solve? And how can we solve it better than the alternatives?

A cabinet manufacturer may believe its competitive advantage is quality, while its dealer’s biggest frustration is unpredictable lead times. A commercial millwork customer may emphasize price but place greater value on engineering support that prevents expensive field problems.

Talk directly with customers. Conduct interviews and focus groups. Understand their operations, frustrations and unmet needs.

At INNERGY, we reinforce customer intimacy through education, engagement and a high-level of direct executive participation. We bring customers into our events and create opportunities for leaders throughout the organization to build relationships.

Customer intimacy must become part of the organization’s DNA—not simply a sales department responsibility. You cannot build a differentiated strategy around customers you don’t deeply understand.

4. Run the numbers instead of relying on your gut.

Do the numbers validate our growth strategy?

Experienced leaders often rely on intuition—and for good reason. But gut instinct is no substitute for good math. I’ve seen companies pursue ambitious growth plans without answering basic questions about market size, competitive share or the capacity needed to achieve their goals.

You don’t need a sophisticated financial model. Sometimes one spreadsheet is enough.

At INNERGY, we distilled our long-term ambition into 10 key variables. That exercise clarified what the business could become over the next five to seven years. The numbers made the opportunity tangible—and exposed the constraints.

Imagine a woodworking firm planning significant growth within a 100-mile radius. Before investing in equipment or facilities, the CEO needs to understand the addressable market, competitive landscape, current market share and share required to reach the target. What if the local market simply isn’t large enough? That’s a strategic problem—not an execution problem.

I like using simple two-dimensional market maps to visualize segments, market potential, current position and growth opportunities. They reveal where to pursue new customers, cross-sell products or capture additional share. They often become our visual game board for growth.

The goal isn’t more spreadsheets. It’s finding simplicity on the other side of complexity. The numbers don’t need to be perfect. They need to be credible enough to expose assumptions, identify constraints and guide decisions.

They also make an ambitious strategy believable. People commit more readily when they can see a clear path to the goal. The biggest mistake isn’t using imperfect numbers. It’s refusing to use them at all.

5. Turn strategic choices into sustainable success.

Are we capturing the value we create—and aligning the organization to deliver it?

Sometimes the strategy is sound, customers see the value and the market opportunity exists. Yet the economics still don’t work.

Consider a woodworking manufacturer investing significant estimating time into detailed, room-by-room quotations. Customers appreciate the transparency. But it also allows them to cherry-pick components and award the remaining work elsewhere. The company creates value but weakens its ability to capture it.

Before resetting the strategy, test how you package, price and deliver that value. Experiment with bid formats, bundled offerings and pricing. Measure win rates, margins and customer response. Sometimes the problem isn’t the strategy. It’s how you monetize the value proposition.

Even the right value proposition fails without organizational alignment. If customization is your competitive advantage but production is optimized for standardized runs, there’s a disconnect.

At Wilkie Sanderson, we focused on one operational measure: the percentage of work released by the first of the month. It aligned the organization around throughput and on-time delivery.

Translate strategic choices into measurable behaviors. Context drives strategy. Strategy drives structure. Structure drives behavior. And behavior determines results.

Context → Strategy → Structure → Behavior → Results

The Toughest Call: Knowing When to Let Go

Not every missed target requires a new strategy. Sometimes better execution, clearer priorities or a sharper value proposition will get you back on track. But you can’t execute your way out of a fundamentally flawed strategy.

As CEOs, we’re expected to have conviction. We set direction, make investments and ask people to follow us. Admitting we got it wrong takes courage. When your strategy stops working, challenge the context. Confront your assumptions. Get closer to customers. Run the numbers. Align your organization to create—and capture—value.

Above all, be willing to change.

The numbers provide a mirror. They may not show you what you want to see, but they’ll reveal what you need to confront. The objective isn’t to prove your original strategy was right. It’s to build a business that can keep winning when the world changes.

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Strategy

1. How do you know when a business strategy isn’t working?

A business strategy may need reassessment when revenue stalls, margins decline, growth targets are consistently missed or increased effort fails to produce better results.

The key is distinguishing poor execution from a flawed strategy. Start by examining whether the market, customer needs or competitive environment has changed—or whether your original assumptions were wrong. If the economics no longer support your business model, working harder won’t solve the underlying problem.

2. When should a CEO change strategy versus improve execution?

A CEO should focus on execution when the market opportunity remains attractive, customers value the offering, and the business model is economically sound—but organizational performance falls short.

A strategic change may be necessary when customer needs shift, competitive advantages erode, or the market cannot support profitable growth.

The distinction is critical: Execution problems require better performance. Strategic problems require different choices. Before changing direction, validate the assumptions, examine the numbers and determine whether the organization is aligned to deliver the strategy.

3. How can woodworking manufacturers improve their competitive advantage?

Woodworking manufacturers can strengthen their competitive advantage by identifying customer segments where their capabilities create meaningful differentiation.

Rather than competing solely on price, manufacturers should evaluate opportunities in customization, engineering expertise, delivery reliability, customer service and specialized markets.

or example, a domestic manufacturer competing against lower-cost overseas suppliers on standardized hotel projects may find greater opportunity in high-end boutique hospitality, where customization and responsiveness carry greater value.

The goal isn’t to compete everywhere. It’s to compete where your capabilities matter most—and where you can capture the value you create.

4. What financial metrics should CEOs use to validate a growth strategy?

CEOs should evaluate a focused set of financial and operational metrics that connect market opportunity to profitable growth.

Key measures include:
·       Total addressable market (TAM): Is the market large enough to support our growth ambitions?
·       Market share: What percentage of the available market must we capture to reach our targets?
·       Revenue growth: Are we gaining traction in our chosen customer segments?
·       Gross margin: Are we capturing sufficient value from the products and services we deliver?
·       Production capacity and throughput: Can our operations support the planned growth?
·       Win rates and profitability by segment: Are we pursuing the right customers and projects?

A simple spreadsheet connecting these variables can reveal whether growth targets are achievable before committing significant capital or resources. The numbers don’t need to be perfect. They need to be credible enough to expose assumptions, identify constraints and guide better decisions.

By Marc Sanderson

Most companies use data to explain results. The best use it to change them.

 

High performers don’t just ask, “What happened?” They ask, “What’s coming next and what do we do about it? They use context, leading indicators and disciplined decisions create an edge.

 

When I ran a mid-size millwork company, I could look at one number at the first of the month and predict—with remarkable accuracy—where profitability would land at month end. If that number was running at 60-70 percent, I knew we were positioned to hit our target. If it dropped to 30 percent, we had work to do—and time to intervene, recalibrate and protect profitability before the month was lost. The ultimate indicator was percentage of work released to the shop floor.

 

It sounds simple, but early signals lead to better moves. That’s the advantage: not more data, but using it to outperform. Here how companies turn insight into a strategic weapon:

 

ADVANTAGE 1:

Compare to Compete

Think of a scoreboard: If your team scores three goals, is that good? You don’t know until you see the other side: Did the opponent score zero or four goals? Your team’s number doesn’t change, but the meaning does.
Business works in the same way. A 42 percent win rate, a $5-million backlog, or an average wage all sound informative—until you compare them. When grounded in industry benchmarks, your strategy, or your targets, they either signal strength or expose risk.

One company believed it was performing well until it benchmarked against peers using industry tools and surveys. The comparison revealed they were underprepared for a downturn and misaligned on pricing. That insight changed their decisions immediately.

Without context, data is noise. With it, data becomes direction. This is why INNERGY offers industry benchmark reporting on both financial and operational performance in real-time – for free. (You can check it out here).

Here’s a look at the three lenses of context most often applied in business:

 

 

Lens	What It Answers	When to Use It	What It Tells You	Risk If Used Alone
Industry Benchmarks	How do we compare to others?	Start here to build data discipline Sanity-checking performance Identifying gaps vs peers	Where you stand relative to the market	Can drive wrong decisions if your strategy is different
Company Targets (Internal Benchmarks)	Are we improving?	Tracking progress over time Driving accountability Measuring execution against goals	Whether you’re getting better and hitting your plan	Can create complacency if targets are too low
Strategy Alignment	Are we winning at the game we chose?	Differentiated positioning High-complexity or niche work Heavy pre-sale investment models	Whether your model is working as intended	Can justify poor performance if not grounded in reality

The real advantage is using them together:

• Start with industry to understand the baseline.
• Track against targets to drive ongoing improvement.
• Adjust for your strategic focus to ensure relevance.

Takeaway: Benchmark your top 3 metrics across industry, internal targets and your strategic focus—then change one decision this week based on what you learn.

 

ADVANTAGE 2:

Move Up the Maturity Curve

Organizations want to use data better, but what does that look like? That’s where the data maturity curve comes in. It’s a simple way to understand how organizations evolve in their use of data—from reporting what happened to actually shaping what happens next and the impact they can have.

At the initial level, companies track results. More advanced organizations diagnose why those results occurred. The best go further—predicting what’s likely to happen and prescribing what to do about it.

A shop floor team began using real-time data to monitor workflow across stations and quickly spotted a pattern—work orders were stacking at one point in the process. Instead of waiting for delays to show up in missed deadlines, they acted immediately. They reallocated labor to the bottleneck, adjusted upstream inputs and workflow before it became a problem. The result was clear: lead times dropped, throughput increased, and the team avoided the typical cycle of firefighting.

Most companies operate at stage 1 or 2, but the real advantage comes when they can reach stage 4:

Stage 1: Descriptive  →  What happened?

Stage 2: Diagnostic  → Why did it happen?

Stage 3: Predictive  → What will happen?
Stage 4: Prescriptive  → What should we do?

Descriptive data explains the past. Prescriptive data drives the future.

Takeaway: Pick one recurring problem, trace it from “what happened” to “why,” then define one leading signal to monitor and one action to take before it happens again—and review it weekly.

 

ADVANTAGE 3:
Shift from Lagging to Leading Indicators
How much time are you spending looking at lagging vs. leading indicators? In business, we naturally gravitate to lagging indicators, like EBITDA and revenue. Yet, these show history that you can’t change. Competitive advantage comes from leading indicators that show whether they’re on track and where to intervene.

A common example:

Rework or margin loss (lagging) → Percentage of work released to shop floor (leading)

When used correctly, leading indicators enable organizations to fix problems before they happen—turning unpredictable results into controlled outcomes. This is the leading indicator that predicted our profitability each month and I know it is the case for others.

At INNERGY, we have distilled down the “Perfect Release” to three elements: complete information, materials ready and time needed for the shop execute. When I survey CEOs and ask what happens if all three are consistently met,  64% say profitability would more than double. This shows the power of leading indicators—they don’t just improve operations, they make EBITDA more predictable.

Here’s a look at the leading indicators INNERGY’s insights have identified as the closest thing to a silver bullet in our industry and why they matter:

• Engineering Completeness at Release → Rework percentage, labor overruns
  Most downstream problems are rooted in the office and engineering is the choke point. Quality assurance becomes critical and allows you to prevent issues prior to fabrication.
• Material Readiness Before Production → On-time delivery, downtime
  Missing materials stop everything. This is one of the fastest ways to improve flow.
• Time for the Shop to Complete → Lead time, throughput
  This exposes bottlenecks early, before delays show up. It allows you to make sure the floor has the time needed to complete, in the midst of interruptions.

Start with these three and you will uncover leverage in the organization that you did not know existed.

As teams and organizations mature, they hone in on leading indicators more often and with greater depth. The result is that they can tell in the short-term—daily, weekly or monthly— what’s working and what needs attention.

Takeaway: Audit your dashboard this week—identify your top lagging metrics, then assign one leading indicator to each and start reviewing it daily with your team.

 

ADVANTAGE 4:
Make Data Your Identity
Culture is the multiplier. You can install systems to drive data, but high-performing organizations need to go further. They embed data into identity to make data a mindset and a part of the culture:

• Individuals know how they impact the bigger picture
• Teams understand how they’re performing
• Leaders act consistently on insights

Everyone needs to understand data and keep score so they can assess and improve. Without this, data becomes passive and decisions revert to instinct.

A mid-sized millwork company had the right systems in place, but results were inconsistent because data stayed in dashboards—not in daily decisions. They shifted to a simple mindset: everyone keeps score. Operators tracked labor vs. estimate, team leads reviewed performance daily, and leaders acted on issues in real time. Within months, labor overruns dropped, rework declined, and margins stabilized. The system didn’t change—the behavior did.

Takeaway: Make data everyone’s job—define the score, show the impact and act on it daily.

Time to Act
At scale, companies don’t compete on effort. They compete on clarity of information, speed of decision-making and alignment of execution. Data drives all three.

That leads to the ultimate truth: Two companies can have the same people, the same strategy and the same market. But the one with better data discipline will win. Not occasionally. Systematically.

By: Marc Sanderson

Most companies treat data like exhaust—something left over after the real work. That is backwards. The best companies run on data and it’s the difference between scaling and stalling.

 

In the late ’90s, I bought a woodworking company with only four computers—not one on my desk. It didn’t prevent us from understanding our data. We mapped the entire business on whiteboards: every form, every handoff, every step—all connected with string. What looked simple turned into a web.

 

The breakthrough wasn’t technology. It was visibility.

 

We followed a single data point—like a customer name—and saw it touch everything. That’s when it clicked. We weren’t just looking at information. We were seeing how the business actually worked—and where it broke.

 

That one exercise changed how our company thought about data, how our team used it day to day and quickly improved our processes. The result? We did not just meet industry benchmarks. We used data to outperform them.

 

Here’s where companies go wrong—and how to fix it:

 

Step 1: Measure What Actually Drives Outcomes 

Most leaders fall into the same trap: If data is valuable, more must be better. It’s not. I have learned this the hard way. Most companies today track too much—and trust too little.

The differentiator with data is not volume. It’s hierarchy. Recognizing the pecking order based on the DNA of your organization is essential to success.

Start with what directly drives profit:

 

1. Revenue accuracy at the work order level
   If what you sell doesn’t match what you build, nothing else matters.
2. Actual labor hours spent on that order
   This is where margin lives or dies.
3. Cost of materials used on that order
   This is the silent killer of profitability when unmanaged.

Forget budgets early on. Focus on actuals.

 

The lesson: Track a few key metrics that drive outcomes.

 

The Case: Cost of Tracking Everything

One company tracked a long list of data—machine utilization, micro-task timing  and dozens of operational metrics peppered across the organization. They could measure multiple parts of the process, but they trusted nothing. Why?

• Data entry became inconsistent.
• Teams didn’t understand why they were collecting it.
• Leaders couldn’t connect it to decisions.

Then, they scaled back to a handful of critical metrics—and performance improved. Clarity beats complexity.

 

Step 2: Use Data to Drive Decisions, Not Reports 

Data doesn’t create value. Decisions do. When looking at data at any level of an organization, the key question to ask is: What does this metric impact?

There are three layers at play in any given organization:

 

Layer	Typical Company	High-Performing Company
Data	Collects	Curates
Insight	Reports	Interprets
Action	Delayed	Immediate

 

The lesson: Data without action is useless.

 

The Case: Data-Rich, Action-Poor

A $40-million manufacturer had dashboards, reviews and an ERP system—yet margins slipped. The problem wasn’t access to information. It was action on the right data.

Then, they cut their metrics, focused on a few that mattered and pushed them to frontline teams. Teams reviewed daily and corrected issues mid-process, not after.

Within months, labor overruns dropped and margins stabilized. The shift was simple from reports to real-time decisions.

 

Step 3: Build Trust Through Discipline

Data integrity is rarely a systems problem. It’s a people problem. If team members do not understand why data matters, see how it’s used and trust leadership to act on it, then your data will degrade.

That’s why high-performers operationalize data:

• Operators input data daily
• Team leads review it daily
• Finance audits it weekly

This creates a feedback loop: Input → Review → Correction → Trust → Better Input

Break the loop and data decays.

 

The lesson: Audit data—or no one will trust it.

 

The Case: Reliability through Routine

A manufacturer invested in a new ERP system, expecting better visibility and control. Instead, leaders questioned every report. Numbers didn’t match what was happening on the floor, so teams defaulted back to gut decisions and spreadsheets.

The issue wasn’t the system—it was the lack of consistent auditing. Operators entered data inconsistently, supervisors reviewed it sporadically, and finance only checked it at month-end for their needs rather than for organization-wide, operational outcomes. Errors compounded and trust eroded.

Then, they implemented a simple discipline within the ERP system: daily input, daily review and weekly audits. Within a short time, discrepancies dropped and confidence in the data improved. Once leaders trusted the numbers, they started using them—and decisions got faster and better.

 

From Data to Control

Data is not a support function. It is the operating system of the business. When done right, it allows you to:

• Spot problems early
• Allocate resources precisely
• Eliminate hidden inefficiencies
• Scale without losing control

Without data discipline, growth breeds breakdown—more complexity, more noise, more bad decisions.

 

You can start taking steps today to build control—and see what I’ve seen with so many across the woodworking industry: faster execution, tighter control and more predictable performance.

 

What Comes Next

Control is only the beginning. At INNERGY, we’ve found the real advantage comes with tackling the harder question: Are you using data to actually outperform? Because the difference between average and elite isn’t better dashboards. It’s knowing what your numbers mean, what’s coming next and acting before everyone else does. In the next article, I will breakdown how to turn insights into advantage.

 

 

Marc Sanderson is the CEO of INNERGY and former President/Owner of Wilkie Sanderson. He began in the millwork industry 20 years ago with a small cabinet shop and built it into one of the most profitable operations in the country. A Harvard MBA and 2024 Wood Industry Market Leader, Marc is known for transforming complexity into clarity through data-driven strategy and culture first leadership. Equal parts analytical operator and motivator, he’s just as comfortable refining strategy as he is rallying a room around a shared vision.

By: Marc Sanderson

 

If I had to describe most woodworking businesses in one sentence, it’s this: custom is core to who we are. We’re fondly called the “junk drawer” of the construction industry. If it’s unique, interesting, aesthetic, or complicated, we’re the ones customers call. Most don’t even ask if we can do it. They assume we’ll figure it out—because we always do.

 

That’s also what creates the tension for any leader who wants to grow: if custom is unavoidable, how do you scale?

Most businesses scale by standardizing the product. Think about GM—or almost any car manufacturer. It’s basically the same vehicle platform with a few choices—color, trim, features. Or Post-it notes. They have the same product in different colors and sizes. Businesses like those can scale because the product is designed to be repeatable.

 

Because our work is custom by nature, we don’t get that choice. We can’t just decide to stop doing custom—or do less of it. It’s the whole reason we exist. So, does that mean scaling isn’t possible? Not at all. It just means we need to scale differently.

 

Where to Standardize: Process Over Project

 

I learned that the hard way. At 28, I bought a small Minnesota woodworking company with big aspirations—but I didn’t understand how custom businesses actually scale. Like many leaders, I assumed great work would drive growth. I was wrong. Then I had an epiphany that changed everything: the project doesn’t matter. The workflow does.

 

We built millwork in all kinds of environments, spanning residential and commercial. Every project was unique in its product attributes, but the steps were the same, whether it was for a medical facility, sports stadium or a high-end home. The product changed every time; the way work moves through company didn’t have to.

 

That’s when it clicked: scaling a custom business isn’t about standardizing the product. It’s about standardizing the process. That insight transformed our company and I’ve seen it transform others—again and again. It became clear: technology is the force multiplier—making consistent workflows possible in an engineer-to-order world. Thus, I built software to run our process, then founded INNERGY to share the technology—and operating system—with others.

 

So, how do you scale a custom business? Here are the key steps:

 

• Build structure around your workflow.
  Most organizations can map their workflow in about 15 steps or less from the moment a job appears. The number isn’t the point. The goal is enough structure to create clarity without bureaucracy. With structure, leaders can manage the business like a system instead of a constant emergency.Don’t chase the “perfect process.” Start small and make it stick. It can be as simple as: drawings start → drawings returned → materials ordered → production started → install/closeout. Clarity creates control, and control creates scale.
• People power results—not process.
  Mapping the workflow is the easy part. Getting people to use it and seek to improve it is the hard part. I’d rather have a simple workflow that people follow than a perfect one that no one does. You can’t start with a complex map on a whiteboard and expect adoption. This is not a light switch, it’s a dimmer. The constraint is buy-in; not the design.

 

Start with a process people can own. The first version will miss things—and that’s the point. Run it and repetition will reveal gaps, uncover patterns, and sharpen the team’s questions—showing what to refine first. In our case, the team flagged tracking when drawings were sent out and returned as critical so we fixed that together first. Clarity comes from execution, and execution turns a simple workflow into a scalable system.

 

• Find the bottlenecks.
  Once the workflow is standardized, real visibility becomes possible—and visibility is where scale begins. In a custom business, you don’t have infinite problems; you have one main problem at a time: the bottleneck.This is where the Theory of Constraints becomes practical as an operating system for the business. There is always one limiting factor that caps how much the system can produce. In other words,  no matter how hard you work everywhere else, your results are constrained by the slowest part. The goal isn’t necessarily to eliminate all bottlenecks forever—it’s to spot them quickly, make them visible, and prevent them from becoming fires.
• Prioritize effort where it pays back.
  The challenge is that the bottleneck in any organization is constantly shifting. One day it’s engineering, the next day it’s procurement, then finishing or install. So, mentally and operationally, leaders need to shift from “optimize everything” to find the key bottleneck and fix it—one at a time.Prioritize based on the bottom-line impact: identify where work piles up and downstream teams are waiting, then focus on the constraint that boosts throughput and protects margin the most. Ask: Which bottleneck maximizes the bottom line? Prioritize throughput dollars—not necessarily the loudest or largest department. This is where leaders shift from managing the variables in their heads to getting ahead of the business.
• Be creative when attacking a bottleneck.
  Most companies jump straight to capacity as the solution—more people, overtime, or outsourcing. Sometimes that’s needed, but it’s rarely the first or most effective move. Often, the best wins come from eliminating waste.It’s one of the biggest mistakes I made early on. We had engineering working on projects before the materials arrived. It looked proactive and productive, but nothing could move downstream. It was the right work at the wrong time. Once we synced engineering to the arrival of materials, throughput jumped without increasing headcount or capacity.I’ve seen the same pattern again and again through our work at INNERGY. One customer realized finishers were spending time moving materials instead of finishing. They redesigned the flow and used a simple signal system to shift handling to others. No overtime or extra headcount, just better bottleneck management.

 

Stability to Forecasting

 

That’s what scaling looks like in the real world. It’s not glamorous. It’s a relentless focus on the constraint, protecting it from waste, and making small changes that compound. Custom businesses do not win by working harder. They win by removing friction, managing time, and maximizing throughput.

Perfection isn’t the goal—progress is. You move from firefighting or triage to stability, from stability to proactive planning, and eventually, to forecasting. You stop managing this month’s fires and start looking three, six and twelve months out.

That’s the better solution: embrace custom—and manage it. Build a disciplined system where custom work can thrive, improving step by step, bottleneck by bottleneck, with visibility and data—not heroics.

 

Marc Sanderson is the CEO of INNERGY and former President/Owner of Wilkie Sanderson. He began in the millwork industry 20 years ago with a small cabinet shop and built it into one of the most profitable operations in the country. A Harvard MBA and 2024 Wood Industry Market Leader, Marc is known for transforming complexity into clarity through data-driven strategy and culture first leadership. Equal parts analytical operator and motivator, he’s just as comfortable refining strategy as he is rallying a room around a shared vision.

 

 

By: Marc Sanderson

 

Artificial intelligence is not radioactive. And it is not a miracle cure.

 

It is a tool.

 

That distinction matters. Because the companies that win in the next decade will not be those that “adopt AI.” They will be those that integrate it into a coherent strategy that improves economics, strengthens differentiation, and deepens customer value.

 

Today, AI sits squarely on the CEO desk. When the terrain shifts significantly, many leaders default to old playbooks of expense reductions and operational excellence. That is not strategy. Doing nothing is worse. Many executive teams fixate on compliance, model accuracy, feature velocity and competitive signaling. The game has changed — and winning requires quickly redefining what it means for your strategy.

 

The key question to ask is: What problem are we solving — and how does AI strengthen our integrated set of activities?

 

AI does not create advantage by existing. It creates advantage when it reinforces how you compete.

 

The Three-Part Equation

Organizations that will leverage AI effectively will lead with strategy, then deploy AI where it strengthens their differentiated system — not where it simply looks innovative. That requires focusing on creating real value.

 

Real value follows a very simple formula: Value Desired × Value Created × Value Captured.

 

If any one of those is zero, the outcome is zero:

• Value desired defines the problem — and focuses on the customer.
• Value created is the solution — and requires listening to the voice of customer.
• Value captured is how you monetize it.

Miss one, and the initiative becomes a science project rather than a business strategy.

 

Start Where It Matters — The Customer

 

Many organizations jump straight to value created — the model, the tool, the feature. They rarely pause to rigorously define value desired.

 

One CEO recently described his AI roadmap as “aggressive.” When asked what specific customer problem it solved, the room went quiet. That silence is common. Activity has replaced clarity.

 

AI initiatives that start with novelty instead of need quickly become internal experiments disconnected from measurable impact.

 

Getting the formula to work requires connecting with customers and asking key questions:

• Where are customers losing margin?
• What are mission-critical workflows?
• Where does uncertainty create cost?

One company rolled out generative avatars in meetings. Customers were unimpressed. What they actually wanted was better estimating accuracy, increased engineering productivity, fewer production surprises, and clearer project visibility.

 

The difference is strategic discipline.

 

The lesson: The tool matters. But the integrated system matters more.

 

Clean Data Creates Clear Advantage

AI is unforgiving and exposes weaknesses in data immediately.

 

A leadership team recently blamed inconsistent forecasting results on the AI model. The real issue? Years of incomplete and inconsistently coded job-cost data.

 

AI performance acts as a mirror. It reflects the quality of an organization’s underlying systems. In the AI era, data governance is not an IT hygiene issue. It is a strategic infrastructure. Electricity required factories to be rewired. AI requires data to be standardized, structured, and stewarded — constantly.

 

Layering AI on top of messy systems produces disappointing results. Leaders then misdiagnose the problem as technological when it is architectural. If data is fragmented, AI will amplify fragmentation. If data is disciplined, AI will amplify precision.

 

The lesson: The output is only as good as the input.

 

Redefine the Workflow

 

AI’s real impact is structural, not cosmetic. Traditional enterprise systems are systems of record — capturing data. AI enables systems of intelligence — platforms that interpret, predict, and recommend in real time.

 

That means:

• Predictive alerts instead of reactive reporting
• Scenario simulation instead of static dashboards
• Embedded decision support instead of manual analysis

This shift is not about flashy features. It requires redesigning workflows around decision velocity and customer insights.

 

History is instructive. Gunpowder made castle walls irrelevant. Electricity did not improve candle factories — it forced factory redesign. The internet redefined distribution models.

 

AI belongs in that lineage.

 

The lesson: AI’s advantage is systemic, not incremental.

 

The Moat Moves

Horizontal AI may be widely available. Vertical intelligence is not. In many industries, adoption is becoming bimodal. Some firms hesitate. Others integrate deliberately and accelerate. The gap widens. Winners shorten the distance between strategy and execution.

 

Speed matters — but only after strategic alignment.

While moments like this feel unprecedented, they rarely are. When the printing press arrived, knowledge was no longer scarce. Institutions that adapted scaled influence. Those that resisted lost relevance.

 

Winners are those who redesign their activity system around AI — not just bolt it on.

 

The constraint on AI adoption is rarely model capability. The AI models are ready. The question is if we are willing to change how we work. In an AI-accelerated world, slow organizational change is a strategic risk. Leaders transform companies.

 

It is hard to run fast on sand. Winners provide leadership clarity:

• Anchor AI in real customer value.
• Strengthen data as infrastructure.
• Embed AI into the organization’s integrated set of activities.
• Redesign workflows to improve decision economics.
• Ensure value is captured, not just created.

No company is too custom. But only disciplined companies will convert AI from experimentation into sustained competitive advantage.

 

 

Marc Sanderson is the CEO of INNERGY and former President/Owner of Wilkie Sanderson. He began in the millwork industry 20 years ago with a small cabinet shop and built it into one of the most profitable operations in the country. A Harvard MBA and 2024 Wood Industry Market Leader, Marc is known for transforming complexity into clarity through data-driven strategy and culture first leadership. Equal parts analytical operator and motivator, he’s just as comfortable refining strategy as he is rallying a room around a shared vision.

 

 

Woodworking has long been a craft rooted in tradition, but INNERGY is redefining it through innovation. Featured in IFA’s Interior Fitout magazine Marc Sanderson’s journey highlights how blending digital tools with craftsmanship can transform an industry. 

 

In 1997, Marc Sanderson, INNERGY’s CEO and founder, entered the woodworking industry after acquiring Ron’s Cabinets. With an MBA and a background in automotive, Marc saw an opportunity to introduce technology to a lagging sector. “It wasn’t about the sawdust—it was about the ones and zeros,” he says, reflecting on his decision to build custom software solutions when none existed to meet his business needs. 

 

Today, INNERGY’s ERP system seamlessly integrates everything from CRM to 3D design, streamlining operations and boosting profitability. Our DESIGN module enables real-time collaboration among engineers, while automated workflows ensure efficiency without stifling creativity. 

Marc often uses the analogy of a “sawdust trail” to describe how INNERGY bridges communication gaps between designers, manufacturers, and subcontractors. Though many clients are initially hesitant to adopt a formal ERP system, INNERGY eases the transition with comprehensive support, including training videos and gamification to encourage user adoption. 

 

Looking ahead, Marc envisions AI playing a significant role in the industry by automating tasks and addressing labor shortages. INNERGY is also developing tools that connect the workshop to the job site. 

 

With a recent $44 million investment from Mainsail Partners, INNERGY is poised for global growth. As Marc puts it, “We’re on our way—growing and expanding our community of raving fans.” 

 

At INNERGY, we’re proud to lead the charge in modernizing woodworking, ensuring businesses have the right tools and the right information at the right time to thrive in today’s world. 

 

This article was originally featured in Interior Fitout, IFA’s industry magazine.