We Get You to Growth.
We specialize in helping growth-oriented organizations like yours get the results you need and can use, delivered by a team that blends practical experience and a fresh approach. We bring diverse thought applied in real-world situations.
We’ve helped build market leadership, turn failing organizations around, grow organizations that have stalled, and launch new products and product platforms. We do it by locking into your most important customers, internal processes, growth paths, and internal alignment mechanisms.
Let us help you take a fresh look at your organization and recommend appropriate action items to align around, achieve goals, and instill discipline for a culture of growth. Our recommendations aren’t vague, and we back them up with actions: We understand what successful businesses need, when you need outside help—and when you don’t. And our network of implementation experts in AI, IT, digital marketing, finance, and project management help us bring your priorities to life.
We've worked in industry leadership roles, in consulting, as functional experts, and in thought-leadership. We've been where you are, delivered solutions to get past it, and keep ourselves at the cutting edge of what’s possible.
About the Founder
James Janega brings a uniquely diverse and accomplished background to this group. As founder and Managing Partner of Growth Innovation Strategy (GIS), he specializes in helping midcap and family-owned businesses achieve growth through strategic planning, innovation, and execution. Janega’s career spans entrepreneurship, corporate partnership and innovation, and strategy consulting, with deep experience leading turnarounds, developing new products and platforms, and aligning organizations for profitable growth.
He is recognized as an expert in artificial intelligence and digital transformation, having developed AI-powered tools like TRENDWISE and STRATWISE to help companies anticipate disruption and make context-specific strategic decisions. Janega is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he teaches innovation leadership to MBA students and executives, and co-directs international innovation executive education programs.
He serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Duality quantum accelerator in Chicago and at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s EnterpriseWorks incubator, advising startups in AI, clean tech, and quantum hardware.
A published author and former journalist with the Chicago Tribune, Janega is known for translating complex business and technology trends into actionable strategies. His multidisciplinary expertise-spanning strategy, innovation, AI, and change leadership-empowers organizations to thrive amid uncertainty and drive sustainable, innovation-led growth.
James holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and studied Artificial Intelligence management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He is recognized as a thought leader in AI, strategic foresight, and business innovation, helping companies navigate today’s fast-changing landscape.
When not teaching or consulting, Janega’s interests include laughing with his wife and their two children, exploring the outdoors, racing in Ironman triathlons, and performing jazz music.