A financial services firm was facing major risks and challenges as a result of government regulations, technology change, globalization, cost pressures and non-traditional competition. We were contracted to help them develop a strategy that would work well no matter how the industry evolved over the next 5-10 years. In conjunction with the top twenty people in the firm, we identified the drivers of change in the securities industry and constructed a number of scenarios covering the full range of plausible futures. Using the scenarios, we together created both a core set of strategies for the organization, and a number of contingency strategies to be enacted should conditions warrant. And we helped them identify immediate actions to begin implementation of the strategies.
As the strategy process neared completion, the CEO realized he could face Board opposition to some of these strategies. He asked us to facilitate a two-day workshop for his entire Board (taking over two days of his three-day annual board meeting) to gain their support for the strategy. That workshop reinforced the urgency of the project findings and expedited implementation of the strategies and action plans.