MK
Markus Keller
Founding partner
Twenty-two years across mid-sized industrial firms and family offices in central Switzerland. Writes most of the executive briefs and runs the onboarding companion engagements.
— The Bridgewell practice —
A small firm, written work, kept close.
We are a consulting practice in Lucerne. Our work is mostly read on paper, mostly by one or two people at a time, and mostly about questions a leader is already turning over in private.
Return home— Our story —
How Bridgewell came to be
Bridgewell began in 2014 around a single, recurring observation: that the executives we knew well were, more often than not, reading too much and being read to too little. Reports arrived on their desks long after the questions had moved on. Decks were prepared for committees, never for the reader who actually had to choose. The work that did help, when it appeared, tended to be a single page someone had taken the time to write.
We chose Lucerne because it suits the way we work. The pace of the city allows for a slower kind of reading. Our office on Schweizerhofquai sits a few minutes from the train, but mostly the work is done quietly, between conversations, and arrives on paper.
Today the practice is small by design. We take on a limited number of engagements at any one time, because a brief written in haste is not really a brief. The clients who stay with us tend to come back for the same reason — they have a question that benefits from being framed by someone who is not in the room every day.
Founded
2014
Engagements running
≤ 12 at once
Located in
Lucerne
— The people —
Who you are likely to hear from
Three of us do most of the writing. We do not subcontract engagements, and you are unlikely to be passed to anyone you have not already met.
CB
Camille Berger
Partner — stakeholder work
A background in qualitative research and organisational sociology. Conducts the stakeholder interviews behind the alignment memos and is the steady editor of the practice.
AR
Anton Roth
Associate
Joined Bridgewell in 2022 after seven years in commercial roles in Zurich. Handles scheduling, transcripts, and the early drafting of the brief series.
— Standards we keep —
The protocols behind the work
A short list. None of these are commitments we make lightly, and all of them are observable in the way an engagement is run.
Confidentiality by default
Notes stay on encrypted local storage in Switzerland. Interviews are not recorded. Identifying detail is removed from anything written before circulation.
Scope set in writing
Every engagement begins with a one-page letter of understanding. It names the sponsor, the question, the deliverable and the fee. Changes are agreed in writing before they take effect.
Written record
Each engagement closes with a short summary of what was delivered and what remains open. The sponsor receives the file. We retain only what is needed for our records.
Independence
We do not take referral fees, commissions, or finders' arrangements with third parties. The only payment in an engagement is the fee agreed with the sponsor.
Honest scope
We will say plainly when a question sits outside the kind of work we do — regulated activities, legal or tax matters, anything that calls for a different kind of professional.
No third parties
The people on an engagement are the people the sponsor met at the outset. We do not pass written work to associates, freelancers, or external editors.
— What we believe about the work —
Values, in plain language
Most operating questions in a business are not waiting for a new framework. They are waiting for someone with a little distance to read them carefully and write back. That is the kind of contribution Bridgewell exists to make.
We write for executives in central Switzerland and across the country who are weighing the kinds of questions a leadership team faces every quarter — where the business is concentrated, where it is dependent, where it has paced itself too quickly or too slowly. We do not pretend to know the answer better than the people closest to the work, and we do not present recommendations as conclusions. A useful brief, in our view, is one that helps the reader hear themselves think.
The practice is built around a few habits we keep. We listen before we write. We draft, set the draft aside, and read it again before sending. We keep our engagement list short on purpose, because the alternative is briefs that arrive late and read like they were written under pressure. We do not promise outcomes, because outcomes belong to the leaders we work with and to the businesses they steward.
If any of this sounds like the kind of partner you have been looking for, the easiest next step is a short conversation. We will tell you whether we are the right firm for the question on your desk, and if we are not, we will often know someone who is.
— Take a small step —
An introduction, written or by telephone.
No obligation, no presentation, and no fee for the first conversation.
Begin a conversation