STRATEGY + THE SCHOOL OPERATING SYSTEM
A strategy built to win.
A system built to execute it.
The independent school market has never been more competitive. Strategy + The School Operating System was built for exactly this moment.
THE MOMENT WE'RE IN
Strategic planning has served independent schools well. The community listening sessions, the vision work, the multi-year roadmap, it was built for a more stable era, and it worked.
But the environment schools are operating in today looks nothing like the one that model was designed for. COVID changed families. Declining birth rates are tightening enrollment pools. Costs are rising faster than tuition can follow. The financial pressure that used to affect a small number of schools is now showing up everywhere.
Many schools enter a strategic planning process with a business model already under stress. When a strategy is built on top of that without first understanding the root causes, it adds ambition to a model that cannot support it. The result is more pressure, not less. Strategy + The School Operating System starts by surfacing those root causes, so the strategy that emerges is designed to strengthen the business model, not strain it further.
What this moment calls for is a strategy grounded in business reality. One built on a clear picture of the business model, a rigorous read of the competitive position, and hard choices about what it actually takes to win your market.
The pressures facing independent schools have changed. Strategy + The School Operating System was built for exactly this moment.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Start with the business model. Build real strategy. Install execution.
Winning your market requires all three, done in sequence. This is the first process built to deliver all three.
01
It starts with your business model.
Before any direction is set, a rigorous analysis examines how your school makes and spends money, where enrollment is strong, where risk is building, and where real opportunity exists. Everything that follows is built on that foundation.
02
Four months to a real strategy.
Four months from kickoff to a three-year competitive strategy with clear priorities, hard choices, and a private playbook your leadership team can execute against. The board is aligned before direction is set. And because the strategy is rooted in a deep understanding of your business model, it becomes the foundation for sustainable growth.
03
Doesn't end at the document.
After the strategy is built, your leadership team moves directly into the School Operating System. Annual priorities. 90-day projects. A weekly meeting structure that keeps your strategy visible and your team accountable every single week. This is a proven operating system used by thousands of organizations worldwide, now built specifically for independent schools.
HOW IT WORKS
From first conversation to executing strategy.
Eight phases. One continuous arc. The first four build your strategy. The final four put it into practice.
PHASE 01
Board-Alignment Survey
Governance clarity before strategic decisions. Your board gets aligned first.
PHASE 02
Business Model Review
Rigorous financial and operational analysis. No assumptions. Real data.
PHASE 03
10-Year Visioning
A data-informed north star session with your board. One day. Hard choices.
PHASE 04
Three-Year Strategy
Private, competitive strategy. Where to play. How to win. Clear priorities.
PHASE 05
Annual Priorities + First 90-Day Sprint
Your leadership team starts implementing. Annual goals. First 90-day projects.
PHASE 06
Weekly Leadership Meeting
A structured weekly meeting. Strategy stays visible and your team stays accountable.
PHASE 07
90-Day Sprint Cadence
Quarterly facilitated resets. Focused sprints. Strategy stays alive and compounds.
PHASE 08
Monthly Strategy Call
A monthly call with the head of school. Progress reviewed. Strategy kept on course.
Four months from kickoff to executing strategy. Then the system compounds from there. This is not a planning engagement with an end date. It is an operating system for your school's leadership team.
WHO THIS IS FOR
This engagement is right for your school if:
You've been through a traditional planning process and want something grounded in business reality.
Your school is facing enrollment pressure, revenue pressure, or both, and you need a strategy that takes the business model seriously.
You want your board aligned around financial realities before strategic direction is set, not after.
You want a plan that gets implemented, not archived.
You're a board member who has wondered why strategic planning never starts with the business model.
"This process was built for heads and trustees who have a nagging feeling that something different is possible. Not a better version of the same plan. Something fundamentally different."
Peter Baron
Founder, MoonshotOS
WHY THIS EXISTS
MoonshotOS was founded because independent schools are worth fighting for.
Independent schools change lives. The experience they offer, the communities they build, the futures they shape, none of that happens without a school that is financially strong, strategically clear, and built to last.
MoonshotOS was founded to give schools a harder look at their business model, uncover new pathways for growth, and build sustainable futures, not just for this generation of students, but for the generations that follow.
Strategy + The School Operating System is the fullest expression of that work. A process designed to help schools understand their business model deeply, iterate it boldly, and build a strategy grounded in what it actually takes to win their market and sustain their mission for the long term.
"Strategy is about where to play and how to win. Not just what to improve."
Roger Martin's Strategy Framework
The lens behind every engagement
YOUR PARTNERS
Practitioners who stay with you through execution, not just through planning.
Peter is the primary engagement lead and the head of school's ongoing partner. David brings deep expertise to the business model phase that makes the strategy worth building.
Peter Baron
Founder, MoonshotOS
Peter Baron has spent more than 20 years working inside and alongside independent schools, focused on one question: what does it take for a school to thrive in the long term? As Chief Member Relations Officer at the Enrollment Management Association, he worked directly with more than 1,300 schools. Since founding MoonshotOS, he has continued that work with heads and leadership teams across the country, going deeper on business model strategy, operational leadership, and school sustainability.
Peter leads the strategy development and installs the School Operating System with each leadership team. He is the head of school's primary partner from the first conversation through execution, a Certified Top Coach™, and the host of the Independent School Moonshot Podcast with more than 400 episodes focused on the business of running independent schools.
Certified Top Coach™ │400+ podcast episodes │1,300+ schools served
David Hanson
Founder, Winthrop & Associates
David is the founder of Winthrop & Associates and one of the most experienced financial strategists in independent education. He brings decades of senior financial leadership across independent schools and higher education, most recently as CFOO at The Branson School and previously as CFO at Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the most financially sophisticated independent schools in the world. He holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and is a two-time Fulbright recipient.
David is Peter's partner across the full engagement. He leads the business model analysis and board alignment work that forms the foundation of the strategy, and is a critical voice in developing the three-year competitive strategy itself. He is one of the most recognized financial strategists in independent education.
The Branson School│ Phillips Exeter Academy │Doctorate, UPenn │2× Fulbright Recipient
WHAT'S INCLUDED
The full engagement.
Everything required to build a strategy worth executing and an operating system to execute it.
School Business Model Analysis and Report
Board-Alignment Survey and findings presentation
10-Year Visioning facilitation with your board
Three-Year Strategy and Private Competitive Playbook
Two-day School Operating System installation
Quarterly implementation planning sessions
Weekly leadership meeting implementation and support
Monthly strategy calls with Peter and David
Travel billed separately at cost.
We work with a small number of schools at a time.
This is intensive, hands-on work, and we are in it with you for the long term. If you're considering this for the coming year, the best first step is a conversation.
Your school deserves a strategy built to win.
Book a 30-minute discovery call to talk through where your school is and whether this engagement is the right fit.
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