The Origin Story of SidePorch
By Sean Knierim, Phd
Some years ago, I found myself on a stressful transatlantic flight with an urgent message: "You need to come back to the States, now!" Instead of reaching for my laptop, I pulled out a journal and began to draw.
I am not an artist, but something compelled me to sketch the one place where I had always felt truly connected: the side porch of a cabin in the mountains of western North Carolina that I had visited during graduate school.
The Side Porch for Meaningful Connection
That side porch was unique. A front porch is for welcoming guests. A back porch is for entertaining family. But a side porch occupies an in-between space where important conversations are held and real business is conducted without distraction or formality.
The side porch is where you solve problems that matter. It exists in that meaningful middle ground between public presentation and private retreat.
The Challenge of Modern Consulting
As I reflected on that sketch, I realized I was searching for something increasingly rare. Traditional firms offer comprehensive playbooks and standardized methodologies. Their solutions look remarkably similar regardless of the client or challenge.
The leaders I spent my life working alongside and continued to meet required something different. They were dealing with problems that had never been solved before, navigating complexity that no playbook could address. They needed partners who could think on their feet and engage with the messy, unpredictable nature of meaningful change.
They were not looking for another PowerPoint filled with best practices. They needed collaborators who could sit in the uncertainty with them and engage in thoughtful dialogue that leads to breakthrough thinking.
A Different Kind of Partnership
Our team has navigated uncertainty across sectors and systems, giving us the practical knowledge to help partners chart new paths where no playbook exists. We draw upon our collective to create bespoke project teams that are uniquely qualified to tackle specific client requirements.
What we discovered is that the most important work happens in these in-between spaces. When you create an environment that prioritizes genuine connection over process efficiency, different solutions emerge. When you approach each challenge as truly unique, innovation becomes possible.
Building Spaces That Matter
The sketch I drew during that turbulent flight was about recognizing something essential missing from how business gets done. The side porch model offers an alternative: the most important work often happens not in formal presentations but in thoughtful exchanges, not in applying existing frameworks but in patient exploration of new possibilities.
SidePorch exists because leaders everywhere need more than standardized consulting approaches can provide. They need partners who can engage with complexity, think alongside them rather than deliver predetermined solutions, and understand that meaningful work emerges from spaces where authentic dialogue becomes possible.
The side porch I sketched represents a way of working that honors both the difficulty of the challenges we face and the potential that emerges when we create room for genuine connection and thoughtful collaboration.