Day 1: Diagnosing Issues and Defining Strategic Choices

The Real Strategic Issue

• Separate symptoms from long-horizon strategic issues
• Identify shifts changing performance rules
• Connect the issue with stakeholder value
• Reframe enterprise challenge through alternative formulations

Evidence of Organizational Position

• Integrate environmental capability and performance data
• Assess conflicting evidence before drawing conclusions
• Expose information gaps affecting judgment
• Build diagnostic pack for selected issue

Strategy Boundaries and Questions

• Define time horizon and service arena
• Frame questions exposing choices, not activities
• Surface postponed decisions hidden behind language
• Run questioning lab for leadership team

Day 2: Generating Alternatives and Exposing Tradeoffs

Designing Distinct Choices

• Develop alternatives across value and capabilities
• Prevent cosmetic options producing identical results
• Identify investment requirements for each pathway
• Build three deliberately distinct strategic options

Tradeoffs and Exclusions

• Clarify what organization will stop doing
• Estimate opportunity cost per major choice
• Balance return speed with capability building
• Prepare tradeoff register for strategic decision

Choice Quality Tests

• Test consistency differentiation and feasibility
• Estimate exposure to external risks
• Test dependence on unavailable capabilities
• Critique a strongly preferred option

Day 3: Building Strategy Logic and Capabilities

Strategic Value Proposition

• Define changing value for beneficiaries
• Distinguish meaningful advantage from secondary features
• Connect value to behaviors and outcomes
• Formulate a concise strategic promise

Critical Capabilities for Success

• Identify difficult-to-replace organizational capabilities
• Diagnose gaps preventing execution of choice
• Sequence capability development according to need
• Create capability map for selected option

Theory of Success

• Formulate links from choice to impact
• Define assumptions requiring execution validation
• Select early evidence validating the logic
• Build a one-page strategy story

Day 4: Testing Robustness and Building Commitment

Scenario Tests for Strategic Choices

• Select high-impact sources of uncertainty
• Apply different shocks to choice logic
• Identify breaking points and contingency options
• Stress-test strategy against an adverse scenario

Strategic Commitment Decisions

• Identify resources and decisions demonstrating commitment
• Distinguish reversible bets from major commitments
• Sequence decisions according to confidence level
• Prepare decision agenda for senior leadership

Alignment Among Decision Makers

• Expose differences in interpretation of strategy
• Resolve disagreement around priorities and exclusions
• Document authority boundaries for subsequent decisions
• Simulate an executive alignment session

Day 5: Corporate Strategy Formulation Laboratory

Preparing the Strategy File

• Summarize diagnosis issue and alternative choices
• Present selection criteria and tradeoffs transparently
• Connect choice with capabilities and evidence
• Draft strategy memorandum suitable for review

Defending the Choice

• Present strategic logic under challenging questions
• Justify exclusions without defensive language
• Respond to evidence affecting critical assumption
• Adjust the choice preserving internal coherence

Strategy Validation Plan

• Define indicators proving the logic early
• Schedule reviews of critical strategic assumptions
• Set alternatives when thresholds are exceeded
• Adopt strategic learning register for execution

• Multi-option strategy cases exposing material tradeoffs
• Diagnosis and choice labs using conflicting evidence
• Scenario and assumption tests applied to real decisions
• Defense session producing a disciplined strategy memorandum