Frequently asked questions

We combine foresight, systems design and transition design to help leaders see what may be changing, design the systems they will need and create pathways for those ideas to become practical inside real organizations.

Executive leaders across healthcare, academic medicine and research, civic systems and the built environment — anywhere leaders must make big decisions under long-range uncertainty.

There are several ways to work with us, from a single keynote or leadership session to advisory services and bespoke project engagements — which is the bulk of what we do. Every engagement is shaped around what you need. We can bring any one of our capabilities on its own — foresight, systems design or transition design — but our most valuable work happens when we do all three together, carrying an idea from “what do we need to become next,” through concepts and design, and into change the organization actually adopts. (See Work with us for the full range of options.)

We help leaders prepare for conditions that do not fully exist yet. We use strategic foresight to understand what is changing, systems design to model what organizations may need next and transition design to create pathways from current reality toward preferred futures.

Foresight is a disciplined way of studying plausible futures to make better present-day decisions. It maps the forces shaping what comes next and stress-tests strategy against them, rather than predicting a single outcome.

No. Forecasts look at yesterday’s data and project it into tomorrow. We work the other way around: we look at the shape of what’s coming and work backward to the decisions your organization should make today to stay resilient. We don’t predict the future — no one can. We help you understand the possible and probable futures ahead so you can prepare, capitalize on new opportunities and avoid the surprises and risks, whatever shape the future finally takes.

Most strategy work optimizes the present. We help leaders design for conditions that do not fully exist yet, then make those future-facing choices practical, testable and ready to act on.

We’re headquartered in Houston, Texas, with team members based in Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Vancouver. We work with clients wherever they are and collaborate remotely throughout an engagement — meeting in person when it adds the most value. Kickoffs, key decision moments, workshops and report-outs are usually best face to face.