HYDC | Strategic Growth Advisory

I help leaders navigate growth.

I have spent 30 years helping organisations navigate growth, change and complexity. Over the years, I've worked with entrepreneurial organisations ranging from Disney, Mattel, MTV, Aldi, Sun Chemical and ambitious SMEs.

In an era where Al is accelerating change faster than many organisations can adapt, I help businesses slow the noise, regain clarity and move forward with purpose.

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Harriet Young at a table with a coffee in hand. Smiling at someone off camera.

The challenge isn't keeping up with change. It's helping your organisation adapt together.

The Growth Model™

This is the model I bring into every room I'm invited into.

Over time I realised every assignment centred on one of three conversations. Sometimes organisations needed better insight into the future, or stronger positioning, and increasingly they needed alignment. They were simply three stages of the same journey.

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Understanding what is changing.
Deciding how to respond.
Helping people make it happen.

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Insight

See it

Macro trends, market shifts and gap analysis - identifying growth opportunities & future direction.

positioning

Define it

Distinctive, scalable market positioning and commercial direction. Helping organisations remain differentiated & competitive.

Alignment

Enable it

Leadership, capability and team, alignment. Coaching leadership teams bring their people with them so the strategy becomes the reality.

Together these three stages create the conditions for sustainable growth.

Organisations i’ve worked with

Commercial packages

Six ways to work together.

Alignment Diagnostic™

Understand where misalignment exists to identify the pressure points. Barometer assessment, leadership interviews and a summary report.

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Insight Sprint™

Identify growth opportunities & future direction using market & trend analysis and competitor mapping. This is where AI disruption creates huge demand.

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Positioning Programme™

Clarify strategic direction. Brand strategy, proposition development, messaging architecture and narrative.

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Leadership Alignment™

Align teams and execution. Executive workshops, coaching, organisational clarity, alongside capability development to accelerate transformation.

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Growth Alignment Programme™

Full strategic transformation across Insight, Positioning and Alignment phases.

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Strategic Advisor Retainer™

Ongoing executive support with monthly advisory, strategic review, AI & change navigation. This can include executive coaching, positioning support, workshop facilitation and ongoing alignment reviews.

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PROJECTS I'M PROUD OF

A few stories, in short.

Discover the full write-ups, live on the Case Studies page. But for now, here's a taste.

Insight

Aura

Future Scenarios & Thought Leadership

Corporate teams lacked structured foresight to guide innovation and challenge future assumptions.

Positioning

CN Seeds

Leadership & Brand Alignment

Growth ambition was not reflected in brand perception.

Alignment

Beyond London

Team Evolution & Structure Alignment

A growing consultancy required clearer accountability and role alignment to support scale.

View all case studies →

ABOUT ME

Strategic growth advisory, from someone who's sat in your seat.

25+ years spanning Global Retailers, Disney and FMCG taught me how world-class organisation align strategy, people and performance. Different industries. Different challenges. Different cultures.

Successful businesses rarely struggle because they lack talented people. More often, growth creates complexity. Success introduces new challenges. Priorities compete. Teams become stretched. 

Markets evolve. Different parts of the organisation begin moving at different speeds. Leadership teams have to make increasingly difficult decisions. Today AI is accelerating every one of those challenges. Technology will continue to transform how organisations operate.

But it won't replace judgement. It won't replace trust. And it won't replace leadership.

Harriet

Founder, HYDC

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Don’t worry, the dog doesn’t do the heavy lifting

Harriet Young looking upwards, holding her cockapoo dog.

Recognised For Impact

What leaders say.

"Harriet created a supportive but challenging space for our design leaders to strengthen their confidence, stakeholder communication and management style. The impact was visible both individually and across their teams."

Sun Branding

"Harriet helped our newly promoted Account Directors make the shift from managing accounts to leading them. Her coaching built confidence, strategic influence and stronger leadership across the business."

Fero

"Harriet gave us the independent perspective we needed at a key stage of growth. Her approach created greater clarity around roles, accountability and leadership priorities, helping the senior team move forward with renewed momentum."

Beyond

"Harriet helped us turn a complex offer into one clear campaign story. The content system created greater consistency across the experience and made it easier for us to stand out from the competition and our target audience to understand our solutions-led direction."

Sun Chemical

"Harriet took a technically complex platform and made its value far easier for customers and senior stakeholders to understand. The result was clearer positioning and stronger client engagement with the platform."

Aura

"Harriet gave our communications the structure and consistency a growing brand needed. The programme connected campaigns, content and sales support into a much clearer and more measurable customer journey."

Aura

"Harriet found a clear way to balance performance, play and different age groups within one global collaboration. The segmentation gave the range greater relevance without compromising either brand."

Disney

"Harriet translated the character and British heritage of Danger Mouse into a commercially credible product platform for adults, opening up new category opportunities without losing what made the brand distinctive."

Fremantle Media

"Harriet brought commercial storytelling and creative direction together brilliantly. The work gave buyers a compelling reason to engage and a stronger platform for future product development."

Mattel

"Harriet understood how to interpret he energy of the MTV brand while making it commercially relevant for product and retail. The result was a clearer product promise, product placement and wider category engagement."

Nickelodeon

"Harriet helped us bring clarity to a complex post-merger story. Her strategic approach created a more unified proposition and a stronger platform for communicating our value internationally."

Technia

"Harriet helped us turn a new proposition into a confident consultancy. The positioning, identity and launch communications gave the business a coherent platform that could scale from day one."

Aura

"Harriet made a complex technology proposition much easier to understand commercially. Her strategic thinking helped us articulate our value, prioritise workload and provide greater clarity for stakeholders as well as more confidence for investment."

Open Energi

"Harriet helped us sharpen what made the business distinctive and translate that into a stronger, more coherent market presence. The result was greater clarity and credibility across every customer touchpoint."

Proflex

"The programme gave our product development teams and product managers a clearer view of the external forces shaping the opportunities ahead. Harriet helped the organisation translate complex change into practical innovation and marketing priorities."

Sun Chemical

"Harriet connected the market, regulatory and consumer signals into one clear strategic picture. The programme gave us a stronger evidence base to inform our parent company and create more valuable conversations with our clients across a broad spectrum of categories"

Aura

"Harriet helped us move beyond one-size-fits-all messaging. Her retailer-specific insight gave each account a more relevant reason to engage and opened up stronger strategic conversations."

Aura

"Harriet has a real ability to translate emerging trends into product stories buyers can immediately understand. The result was a clearer proposition, stronger pitch and more commercially relevant range direction."

Discovery Channel

"Harriet brought structure and commercial relevance to the research, turning consumer evidence into a compelling thought-leadership story that strengthened engagement with brands, retailers and the media. The article placed front page of the Wall Street Journal reached in excess of 196 Million people"

Aura

"Harriet translated complex retail and shopper trends into clear, commercially relevant opportunities. The work gave us a stronger point of view with clients and a practical platform for innovation conversations."

Fero

"Harriet helped us turn future uncertainty into a practical strategic conversation. The scenarios gave our teams a clear framework to challenge assumptions, align innovation priorities and engage clients with greater confidence. This programme has opened up many speaker opportunities at major global events"

Aura

"Harriet developed a new image and brand for the our Company which in turn has raised our international profile significantly. It has been a fantastic experience rebranding our business and with Harriet's leadership and creativity it has been truly very successful."

Commercial Manager

CN Seeds

"She excels as a Creative and a Coach, her Ideation has resulted in extraordinary commercial success for high profile and international brands"

Director

Regent Coaching

"She has a razor focus and acute analytical ability and is a highly creative, original and challenging thinker"

Creative Director

Disney Consumer Products

HOW I WORK

Four things clients tell me they notice first.

I bring people with me.

Influencing stakeholders and building consensus across boardrooms, retailers and design teams alike.

I see possibilities others don't.

Creating opportunities, not simply ideas. Spotting patterns before they're obvious.

I meet organisations where they are.

No fixed methodology. The approach adapts to the organisation, not the other way round.

I never lose sight of the outcome.

Turning strategy into measurable commercial results, every time.

Where will your organisation need the greatest support over the next three years?

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