Business AdvisoryFounded by Meghan Fort
The numbers tell you what happened. Not always why.
Left Bank Partners is a business advisory firm founded by Meghan Fort. Drawing on more than 25 years as an operator, executive and business owner, Meghan works with founders and senior leaders on turnarounds, growth and scale, founder advisory and interim leadership.
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Meghan Fort
Left Bank Partners
Much of Meghan's career was shaped in the luxury sector, including senior leadership roles with Ralph Lauren, Prada, Burberry and Farrow & Ball. It was an environment where expectations were exceptionally high and where the success of the business depended on far more than what appeared on a financial statement. The client, the people, the standards, the operations and the economics behind all of it were deeply connected, and understanding those connections became an important part of how Meghan learned to look at a business.
Her career has since taken her into very different industries and businesses, both as an operator and an advisor, giving her a much broader view of how companies work and where they tend to lose their way. The circumstances change, but many of the underlying questions are remarkably consistent: where the business is making money, where it isn't, what clients actually value, what has become unnecessarily difficult and where an opportunity may be sitting in plain sight.
Meghan has spent her career close to the decisions that shape a business, and experience across very different industries has taught her to look beyond the obvious explanation for why something is working, why it isn't and what else may be possible. That perspective is central to her work today, particularly when the answer is not obvious, the opportunity has not yet been recognized or the business has more potential than anyone is currently capturing.
The Work
Meghan genuinely loves a turnaround. There is something enormously satisfying about getting into a business, understanding how it arrived where it is and figuring out what needs to happen next.
A struggling business rarely has one problem. Revenue may be down, costs may have crept too high or decisions that should have been made months ago may still be sitting on the table. Usually several of those things are connected.
Meghan gets close to the business, its people and its economics, questioning what has gone unquestioned for years and making difficult decisions where they are needed, without dismantling the parts that remain valuable. Once the immediate problems are under control, the work can move the company from recovery into growth.
Growth creates its own challenges, because the business that gets a company to one stage is not always the business that can carry it through the next. As revenue increases and teams expand, decisions that once felt simple begin to affect much more of the company.
Meghan works with leadership to understand what the business needs for the stage ahead, rather than assuming growth automatically requires more people, more infrastructure or more complexity. That includes deciding where the next stage of growth should come from, whether more room in the existing business or new clients, markets, services or partnerships.
The goal is a business capable of handling what comes next without losing what made it successful in the first place.
Founders carry a great deal on their own. Many of the most consequential decisions in a business land on one person, often with no one inside the company who can offer a truly independent view.
Meghan works alongside founders as a senior advisor and sounding board, helping them think through the decisions in front of them, from strategy and organization to pricing, partnerships and growth. She is particularly good at seeing connections others miss, recognizing when an existing capability, relationship or idea could become something commercially significant.
The aim is not to replace the founder's judgment but to sharpen it, so the business moves forward with greater clarity and confidence.
There are moments when a business needs experienced leadership immediately. A key role may be vacant, a transition may be underway or the company may be facing a period of change the current team is not set up to lead.
In these situations, Meghan steps into a senior leadership role for a defined period, taking responsibility for the business or a part of it. She brings stability quickly, gets close to the people and the economics and keeps important decisions moving rather than waiting for a permanent hire.
Just as important is what she leaves behind: a stronger business, a clearer direction and a solid foundation for whoever leads it next.
There is no shortage of business advice. There is, however, a shortage of judgment.
Notes from the Left Bank is Meghan's ongoing collection of essays about business, built around experiences from her own career and the lessons she has taken from them.
- What Prada Taught Me About Selling Why an emerging industry still needed the retail principles that came before it. Read on Substack
- Permission to Expand The difference between selling more and becoming more. Read on Substack
- Taste Cannot Be Manufactured If brands can’t manufacture taste, what actually endures? Read on Substack
The essays go beyond what a title, biography or list of accomplishments can tell you. Meghan writes about ideas she has put to work, opportunities she has seen before they were obvious, decisions that changed the direction of a business and lessons from one part of her career that proved unexpectedly valuable in another. There is a story behind each one, but there is also a larger business idea and a point of view shaped by having actually done the work.
Taken together, the essays offer a much deeper look at Meghan's point of view: what she notices, the connections she makes and the experiences that continue to influence how she approaches a business today.
Contact
Start a Conversation
Every engagement begins with a conversation. Tell Meghan about your business, what is happening now and what you are trying to accomplish. There does not need to be a perfectly defined scope or even a clear answer yet. Understanding the business, where it could go and where Meghan can be most useful is part of the conversation.
Meghan is based in Newport Beach and works across North America and France, spending part of the year working in Paris.
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