Our way of thinking

We’re built for real problems, not regular challenges

There are plenty of familiar tools, processes and models for dealing with the usual challenges any business faces. They are proven, reliable and often involve the comfort of data and shareable analysis to justify their deployment. They get the job done without anyone getting hurt.

But these same instruments are sometimes too blunt for the more unusual problems, which are rarely quite so binary or quantitative. These are the unforeseen difficulties for which no templates exist, and which sometimes involve new factors that even defy clear description.

No matter how daunting the prospect, there tends to be little question about what needs to happen to address one of these regular challenges or about what the desirable outcome looks like. With an unusual problem, it’s often less clear even where to begin let alone where to go.

There is no straightforward way to make these kinds of problems go away. They require a qualitative approach, that is less linear and more lateral. It is an exploration that involves directions rather than destinations, that open up the possibility of then finding a solution.