Guide category
Strategic Decisions
Practical methods for testing assumptions, reducing blind spots and improving the quality of high-stakes decisions.
Use these guides when the challenge is less about a specific event and more about the general quality of the decision process itself — untested assumptions, blind spots or groupthink.
All Strategic Decisions guides (10)
Leadership Blind Spots in Major Decisions: A Practical Guide
This guide sets out how senior teams in financial services can identify and correct leadership blind spots before they distort major decisions. After reading, you will have a working method for surfacing what your top team is missing, and a clear sequence for addressing it before capital, reputation, or regulatory standing is at stake.
The Fastest Way to Stress-Test a Strategic Decision for Stakeholder Resistance
This guide sets out how to run a rapid, structured pre-mortem on stakeholder resistance before you commit to a strategic decision. After reading, you will know how to design a 72-hour test that surfaces the objections your official process is unlikely to catch.
Surfacing False Assumptions Before a Strategic Shift Goes Public
A practical method for senior leaders to quickly test where their assumptions about blocking stakeholders are wrong, before a strategic shift is announced. After reading, you will know how to design and run a compressed external testing exercise that produces decision-grade intelligence in two to four weeks.
Separating Real Implementation Risk from Change Resistance
A practical method for senior leaders to test whether stakeholder pushback on an approved strategy reflects genuine feasibility problems or predictable resistance to change. After reading, you will know how to triage signals, pressure-test concerns, and decide what to act on before momentum is lost.
How to Challenge Groupthink in a Leadership Team
A practical guide for senior leaders on identifying and breaking groupthink inside executive teams and boards. After reading, you will know how to structure dissent, sequence interventions, and protect decision quality without destabilising the team.
The Stakeholder Blind Spots That Derail Strategic Decisions
This guide identifies the specific blind spots leadership teams carry into major strategic decisions about where their stakeholder reads are wrong. After reading, you will know how to stress-test your assumptions before they become commitments.
How to Assess Post-Acquisition Customer Sentiment
A practical guide for senior leaders on measuring what acquired customers actually think and feel after a deal closes, beyond NPS and churn dashboards. Read this to design a sentiment assessment that detects real attrition risk early and informs retention decisions before value leaks.
How to Pressure-Test Strategic Assumptions With External Decision-Makers
This guide shows senior leaders how to validate the assumptions behind a major strategic shift by testing them with the external stakeholders who will determine whether it succeeds. After reading, you will know how to design and run a fast external validation cycle in three to five weeks, before capital is committed.
How to Test Strategic Assumptions Before Committing
A practical guide to pressure-testing the assumptions underneath a major strategic decision before capital, reputation, or mandate is committed. After reading, you will know how to surface hidden assumptions, design tests that actually disconfirm them, and decide when the evidence is strong enough to act.
When Internal Consensus Is a Warning Sign
A practical guide for senior leaders on recognising when agreement in the room is signalling risk rather than alignment. After reading, you will know the specific patterns that indicate false consensus, how to test it without breaking trust, and what to do when you find it.