To protect the integrity of consequential decisions before they are tested by scrutiny.
Our Insight
Decisions rarely fail on substance. They fail on exposure—when the gap between internal intent and external interpretation is underestimated.
Our Belief
In high-stakes environments, clarity is not a mere communications tactic. It is a governance discipline. Without it, trust erodes and institutions inherit risks they can no longer explain.
Our Work
We advise at the Crosshairs Moment, providing independent judgment so a decision will hold on its Journey through the organization and into the world. We focus on the decision’s architecture—its intent, its defensible judgment, and the coherent language system that must carry it. We are not a public relations firm; we are the strategists who build the narrative integrity that PR must later defend.
From the Founder
My career has been built at the intersection where decisions meet judgment. For thirty years, I have operated on all sides of that line:
- As a journalist and news anchor, scrutinizing how organizations explain their choices.
- Inside regulated sectors and a national regulatory authority, managing the communication of high-stakes policy.
- As Press Secretary to a head of government, navigating the political consequences of every decision.
This path revealed the consistent, critical flaw that Crosshairs exists to solve: Leaders are often confident in the substance of a choice, only to be blindsided by its reception.
The assumption that a rational decision will be rationally received is where risk silently compounds.
This is not reputation repair. It is decision discipline.
I serve as the strategic partner to Chairs and senior leaders when the stakes are clearest—when the decision is firm in the room, but its fate outside the room is anything but.
Charmaine Burgess
Founder, Crosshairs Communications
The Crosshairs Difference
Most advisors are called after the narrative has fractured. Most institutions learn where their decisions were vulnerable only after scrutiny exposes the fault lines.
We operate differently.
Crosshairs advises earlier—at the point of formation—and stays engaged longer, through execution and consequence. We partner with leadership before a decision is exposed to pressure, and after outcomes are set, while judgment—and legacy—are still being formed.
Our singular focus is independent judgment on one question: Will this decision hold, both inside your organization and outside in the world, once it leaves the room?
This is our standard. This is Crosshairs.
Our Credentials in Practice
Our methodology is built on competencies forged in high-stakes environments:
- Regulatory & Governance Insight: Navigating the public legitimacy of regulatory decisions.
- Political & Stakeholder Strategy: Managing decision-making under intense public and political scrutiny.
- Strategic Narrative Architecture: Building the language systems that allow complex decisions to be understood and defended.
- Internal Alignment & Diagnosis: Identifying and closing the gap between leadership intent and organizational execution.
A Discreet Invitation
This work is conducted in confidence. If the perspective outlined here aligns with a
challenge you are facing, the next step is a direct conversation.