Grayline Group

The Grayline Perspective

Strategy is built upon an anticipation of the environment in which we will operate in the future. Embedded in the strategic plans for all organizations (business and government) is a forward-looking projection of the market, technological, and global environment. These projections constitute the key assumptions for strategy.

When strategy fails, it is usually not a result of a bad plan, as the men and women who have elevated themselves into strategic roles tend to understand their organizations and markets extremely well. Most often, strategy fails because the assumptions about the environment in which that strategy will operate over the next 3-5 years are wrong. The best strategy in the world will fail if it is built upon assumptions that prove to be incorrect.

Our observation is that most organizations spend spend very little of their time and resources (<3%) on making correct assumptions about the future operating environment. We tend to plan for a future that looks like now, which historical analysis proves to be a common but flawed way of thinking.

Grayline Group exists to help leaders to help fill this gap.

At Grayline, we help our customers play both defense and offense, but avoiding existential risk is always our top priority. The unfortunate reality is that most great organizations fail to transform when market conditions fundamentally shift. We build our service offerings and structure our research around a defensive analytic posture, which allows us to ensure we manage downside risk to preserve the platform for future growth.