Strategy for cities, countries, corporations, donors and NGOs.

Our approach to strategy development is hypothesis-driven and based on problem-solving. Rather than simply treating strategy as a visioning exercise, we treat it as a disciplined inquiry into the most critical, uncertain, and high-impact questions facing our clients. This avoids “boiling the ocean” and allows us to focus on the most important issues. By using hypotheses to structure an inquiry, we can help guide organizations to develop clear, coherent, and bold  strategies that are ready for implementation.

Our work on strategy, whether at the level of a country seeking out development opportunities or an organization looking to improve its effectiveness, is ultimately aimed at developing a short list of concrete actions for which responsibility can be claimed and deadlines fixed. We will group these actions into themes that help give them coherence and underpin our proposals with data and evidence presented as compellingly as possible.

We also understand that a great idea or strategy will only become compelling if it is clearly and effectively communicated. For that reason, whether in the design of our materials and reports, or in our everyday conversation, we strive for clarity and impact. Our communication skills don't stop at English either ... we can work in Arabic, French and Portuguese.