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Why Hope is Not a Method In today’s fast-changing environment, leadership requires more than good intentions. This article, inspired by Hope Is Not a Method by General Gordon Sullivan and Colonel Michael Harper, explores what effective leadership looks like when the path forward is unclear and the stakes are high. True leaders do more than…
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Forming Your Strategic Vision Through Selective Pursuit by Nathan Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant There’s a difference between being aggressive and being strategic. In the world of federal funding and business growth, saying yes to every opportunity doesn’t make you ambitious: it makes you unfocused. And unfocused companies don’t just lose bids. They lose time,…
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How to Position Your Business for Federal Awards by Nathan Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant There’s a natural tendency in government contracting to treat proposals as the main event. You find the opportunity, scramble your team, fill in the templates, hit the deadline, and hope it works. But the best proposals don’t start with a…
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How to Bridge the Gap Between Your Innovation and Their Mission by Nathan Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant It’s easy to assume that federal agencies will be impressed by cutting-edge innovation, rapid growth, and market disruption. After all, that’s what earns attention in the private sector. But Washington doesn’t operate like Silicon Valley. And too…
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Why Admin Strategy Can’t Be an Afterthought by Melanie Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Administrative Consultant It’s one of the most common pressure points for a growing company: you’re moving fast, signing new clients, and expanding your scope—but the behind-the-scenes support hasn’t kept up. Payroll is duct-taped together. Compliance is a pile of reminders in someone’s…
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Strategy to Help You Enhance Your Federal Funding Pursuits by Nathan Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant There’s a common belief that federal funding is a numbers game. That if you apply often enough, you’ll eventually get lucky. That it’s mostly about checking boxes, meeting deadlines, and hitting “submit” as many times as possible. That mindset…
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We didn’t start Charleston Tartan to build a consulting empire. We started it because the way we work – how we think, how we serve, how we show up – wasn’t something we saw reflected in the traditional consulting world. We wanted a better model, so we built it. Charleston Tartan is a husband-and-wife consultancy…