Opening the Door: Segment Level Capabilities Map

The Challenge

During a period of rapid growth and acquisition at Optum, the business needed a clear, compelling tool to support executive B2B sales conversations — one that demonstrated how Optum’s capabilities addressed client business needs while also showing the downstream impact on the end-consumer experience.

The problem: capabilities were fragmented across dozens of business units, inconsistently described, and almost impossible for a sales leader to synthesize in the moment. There was no shared language, no connective framework, and no artifact that could travel the room.

The Approach

Commissioned directly by the CEO, I created a suite of strategic placemats designed to support enterprise sales conversations across Optum’s key client segments: Employer, Payer, Provider, State, and Federal Government.

Each placemat was built on a consistent framework anchored in a high-level continuum of needs. For each stage in that continuum, I outlined the client or end-consumer pain points, articulated how Optum could help, and mapped relevant products, services, and foundational capabilities to that need.

This work required deep discovery — synthesizing fragmented offerings across the organization, identifying gaps in our story, and surfacing new capability opportunities back to the business. In several cases, the placemats became a catalyst for innovation, prompting teams to accelerate the development of new solutions.

Beyond Sales: An Unexpected Impact

While originally created as sales tools, the placemats proved so effective at demystifying Optum’s complex organization that they were adopted much more broadly — including as onboarding tools for new employees. They helped internal teams quickly understand how we delivered value across a diverse and rapidly evolving portfolio.

Series included maps for employer, payer, provider, state, and federal government segments.

Sample Deliverables

Below are two examples from the series — the Member Journey map (employer/consumer-facing) and the Payer Journey map — illustrating the framework applied across different client contexts.