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Are the assumptions behind this decision actually true?

Test what the decision depends on before you commit: how customers, regulators, investors, employees or partners are actually likely to respond, not how internal consensus assumes they will.

What this looks like

Strategic decisionMarket entryInvestmentPricing changeBoard decisionRegulatory response

Examples of who brings us in

  • A board preparing to approve a market entry, wanting to know how the target market's regulators and incumbents will actually respond before capital is committed.
  • Leadership weighing a pricing change, uncertain whether the commercial logic will hold once it reaches customers and channel partners.
  • A leadership team taking a strategic recommendation to the board, wanting an independent read on key stakeholders before the paper is finalised.

Relevant guides

Stakeholder Intelligence

Why Internal Strategy Teams Miss Stakeholder Signals

This guide explains the structural, cultural, and methodological reasons internal strategy teams fail to detect stakeholder signals that later prove decisive. After reading, you will be able to diagnose where your own team is blind and put practical corrections in place before the next major decision.

Stakeholder blind spotsUntested assumptionsWeak evidence
4 min readRead guide →
Stakeholder Intelligence

When to Use External Stakeholder Intelligence: A Practical Guide

This guide explains the specific decision points where external stakeholder intelligence adds value that internal analysis cannot, and when it does not. After reading, you will know how to judge whether to commission it, what to expect from it, and how to brief it well.

Stakeholder researchPractical guideAssumption testing
4 min readRead guide →
Market Entry, Launches & Investment

Market Entry Intelligence for Regulated Industries: A Practical Guide

This guide explains how to gather and structure the intelligence you need before entering a regulated market, covering regulators, incumbents, distribution, and customer sentiment. After reading, you will know what to investigate, in what order, and how to convert findings into a defensible entry plan.

Market entryRegulatorsCustomers
4 min readRead guide →
Strategic Decisions

How to Test Customer Reaction Before Changing a Product, Service or Pricing Model

A practical guide to pressure-testing customer response before you change a product, service or pricing model in a regulated business. Readers will finish with a clear method for designing tests that produce reliable signals, protect the customer relationship, and stand up to internal and regulatory scrutiny.

Pricing changeProduct developmentCustomers
4 min readRead guide →
Stakeholder Intelligence

How to Assess Post-Acquisition Customer Sentiment: A Practical Guide

A practical guide for senior leaders on measuring what acquired customers actually think, feel and plan to do after a deal closes. After reading, you will know how to structure the listening programme, sequence the work, and translate signal into decisions that protect revenue and franchise value.

AcquisitionCustomersDistributors
4 min readRead guide →
Regulation & Regulatory Change

How to Test Regulatory Assumptions Before Making a Submission

This guide sets out how senior leaders in financial services can pressure-test the assumptions underpinning a regulatory submission before it lands on a supervisor's desk. It shows how to identify which assumptions matter, how to test them credibly, and how to strengthen the submission itself as a result.

Regulatory submissionRegulatorsUntested assumptions
4 min readRead guide →