The Business Fellow Krzysztof Herdzik · Shared Services · Finance · Operations
Consultants leave recommendations. I leave capability.
A former Group CFO who works inside your Shared Services or GBS organisation — building the operating capability with your team, then leaving it running without me.
Backed by the 10× guarantee — if I can't find it, you don't pay
01 Why this page exists
Most consulting stops where real transformation begins.
- [×]Sell the senior partner. Deliver the junior team.
- [×]Bill by the day, so complexity is a revenue stream.
- [×]Hand over a deck. Leave before implementation.
- [×]Return in 18 months to fix what never got built.
02 The category
A Business Fellow is not a consultant.
A Fellow is a senior operator embedded in your organisation with one mandate: transfer judgment, not just deliverables. 23 years as Group CFO, Managing Director and Country Manager across 20+ countries — building and fixing Shared Services from the inside.
Krzysztof Herdzik · The Business Fellow
herdzik.pro is the head — diagnosis, judgment, and the transformation design. Nalu Experts is the hands — a boutique GBS/SSC team that executes when the work needs more than one pair of hands. You get one accountable person, not a bench.
No leverage model, no juniors, no report-and-run. The person you meet is the person who delivers.
I don't fill a seat on your org chart. I build the capability so the seat performs — with your people in it.
Advice is included, not the product. The product is a measurably better operation.
Operator-grade judgment, embedded in your team, with skin in the game — success is when you no longer need me.
03 Who this is for
You're probably here because one of these is true.
Your SSC costs more than it saves
The centre was supposed to cut cost and lift quality. Instead: escalations, attrition, and a monthly report nobody trusts. It needs to move from cost centre to value engine.
Typical path: Value Map → Partnership
You're building — or rebuilding — your GBS
A carve-out that just lost the parent's shared services. A first centre, now that you have the scale. Or a legacy SSC that needs redesigning around end-to-end processes — not another patch. Every early decision compounds for a decade — you want someone who has done the build, not read about it.
Typical path: Partnership from day zero
There's trapped value in operations
The thesis needs margin from the back office — faster cash, lower cost-to-serve. You want a plan tied to EBITDA, and someone accountable for landing it.
Typical path: Value Map → Value Share
04 Track record
Judged by what stayed running after I left.
Figures from operations I ran and was accountable for — not consulting estimates. Benchmarks cover AP, AR, GL, Procurement, HR and IT.
Absorbed a +150 FTE workload without proportional hiring — capacity built through process redesign, not headcount.
Built the first SSC in an entire sector — from zero to live, before anyone in the industry thought it was possible.
Your board will ask "why not a big firm?" Show them the term sheet: senior-only delivery, a defined exit, and a guarantee no big firm will sign.
05 Self-qualification
Decide whether we fit — without talking to me.
You shouldn't need a call to find out if we fit. Here's the honest filter, up front.
Hire me if
- [+]You own the P&L outcome of an SSC/GBS — or you're about to build one.
- [+]You want capability transferred to your team, not dependency on mine.
- [+]You can handle direct answers, including "this part of the problem is you."
- [+]You're ready to act within a quarter, not "explore options" for a year.
Don't hire me if
- [–]You need a 200-slide deck to socialise internally. Big firms do that better.
- [–]You want a body to fill an org-chart gap. Hire an interim.
- [–]The decision-maker isn't in the room. I work with owners of outcomes.
- [–]You're optimising for the lowest day rate. I price on value created.
06 Term sheet
Pricing, in the open. No "contact us for a quote."
Three ways to work with me — built as a ladder, not a menu. Each step pays for the next.
Value Map
The diagnosis. Five days on site — and you know exactly where your operation ranks, and what the gap is costing you.
- Data pack checklist on signing — the clock starts when it's complete
- Your SSC/GBS benchmarked against 50+ real transformations
- Value quantified in cash, cost and customer terms
- Prioritised 18-month roadmap your team can execute
- 100% credited against a Partnership started within 90 days — the diagnosis becomes free
- If I can't identify addressable value of at least 10× the fee, you don't pay
Partnership
The build. I embed with your leadership team and we deliver the roadmap together — until it runs without me.
- Fellow embedded with your SSC/GBS leadership
- Hands-on delivery, backed by Nalu Experts when needed
- Capability transfer built in — your leaders reskilled to lead end-to-end
- 6-month commitment, then rolling monthly with 30-day notice
- I run a maximum of three Partnerships at once — judgment doesn't scale like a bench does
Value Share
Skin in the game. Most of my fee comes from value that has already landed — audited, in your numbers.
- Value baseline agreed and audited before we start
- My share applies only to verified, delivered value — capped up front
- If the value doesn't land, neither does my upside
- By application, after a Value Map — one or two run at a time
The guarantee removes the risk of a wrong diagnosis. The credit removes the risk of paying twice. The 30-day exit removes the risk of dependency. The only thing not de-risked is doing nothing.
Supervisory and advisory board mandates
I hold a small number of board seats in mid-sized companies — where operations, finance or shared services sit close to the strategy. Operator judgment at the table, not another opinion in the room. By invitation or application.
07 Self-serve
Start before the first call.
GBS Health Score
Eight questions. A radar chart of where your operation stands against the Value Ladder — and the first three moves I'd make in your position.
Take the assessment → $37 · Instant downloadGBS AI Playbook
50 operator-tested prompts across eight GBS domains — from collections calls to board narratives. Written by an operator, not a vendor.
Get the playbook → Free · WeeklyThe Journey of a GBS Leader
The newsletter 1,300+ SSC and GBS leaders read. Field notes from real transformations — the decisions, the mistakes, the numbers.
Subscribe on LinkedIn →08 What you're probably thinking
The questions you'd ask on the call — answered now.
Why you and not a big consulting firm?
Every figure I quote comes from operations I personally ran or transformed. I've sat in the CFO seat, built SSCs from zero, and been accountable for the results afterwards. The big firms sell method; I sell scar tissue. And I stay through implementation — where their engagement usually ends.
We're mid-transformation. Is it too late for a Value Map?
It's the best possible moment. A mid-flight benchmark tells you whether the programme is tracking to value or just to milestones. Most transformations report green until the savings are due.
Do you deliver alone?
The judgment is mine — every engagement is led by me personally. When implementation needs more hands, I bring in Nalu Experts, the boutique consultancy I co-founded. One rule applies to everyone on the team: you've run a GBS, led an SSC, or sat in a CFO seat — or you don't touch the client's problem.
What if the Value Map shows we're already best-in-class?
Then you'll have independent, benchmarked proof of it — board-ready, and worth more than my fee the next time your budget is challenged. I'll tell you either way.
You're one person. What if you're unavailable?
Fair question for any solo advisor. Three answers: capability transfer starts on day one, so your team is never dependent on my presence; Nalu Experts provides delivery continuity when hands are needed; and everything I build lives in your systems and your documents — there is no black box that leaves with me.
Our numbers are sensitive. Where do they end up?
Under NDA, and nowhere else. The benchmark I use is built from anonymised patterns — no client is identifiable in it, and nothing of yours enters it without your written consent. Your Value Map compares you against the benchmark; it doesn't feed you into it.
What does "I leave capability" actually mean?
The test of my work happens after I'm gone. Your team runs the new process, defends the numbers, and makes the next improvement without me. If you need me back for the same problem twice, I've failed — that's why the Partnership has a defined exit built in.
09 When you're ready
The only thing not de-risked is doing nothing.
Whatever the gap in your operation costs, it charges monthly — and it doesn't send an invoice. Two sentences today gets you a reply within one business day, with a first observation, not a calendar link. Start now and you'll know your number before your next board meeting.
I run three Partnerships at a time. When they're full, the next start date moves.
Email me two sentencesNo pitch deck. No discovery workshop. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so in 30 minutes.
Two sentences is enough — what's not working, or what you're building. No newsletter spam, no hand-off to a "team." Your message lands in my inbox, not a CRM.