The daily bombardment of dreary economic news seems to know no end: plummeting demand, accelerating layoffs, frozen credit, and consumer confidence on life support. For many corporate leaders, the exigencies of survival take precedence over any serious consideration of longer-term strategy. And yet this may be precisely the time to consider seriously the strategic options that these precarious times present. In the current FSG Outlook, economist Robert Avila reminds us that extreme adversity not only allows fortunate survivors but also engenders some very unlikely winners, who, while everyone else is running for cover, manage to lead with courage, foresight and luck.

  Arctic futures update …

FSG’s partners in the Arctic Futures Initiative have been in the news a lot lately. Dr. Scott Borgerson maps the strategic importance of the Arctic in the November 2008 Atlantic. He was also interviewed by Bob Woodruff for “Planet Green” which aired on ABC and the Discovery Channel. Also in November, the BBC interviewed Scott for “Who Owns the Oceans” as part the “World Debate” series. Scott delivered an address on “Arctic Geopolitics” for the Trudeau Foundation’s annual conference in Montreal, Canada and gave a presentation at the CSIS Trans Atlantic Energy Forum in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, Dr. Rockford Weitz was quoted extensively on Arctic strategy in the article “Glacial Pace” appearing in the November 22, 2008 National Journal. Rockford also recently lectured on the Arctic at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

FSG partner Charles Thomas begins his third year on the faculty of the Strategic Marketing Workshop at the Boeing Leadership Center. As part of this quarterly commitment, Charles provides an introduction to scenario planning and conducts a brief workshop on using scenarios for strategic thinking. The Strategic Marketing Workshop is led by Dr. William Putsis of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

FSG has wrapped up another extremely eventful year with the U.S. Coast Guard, supporting the Office of Strategic Analysis and the strategic planning process known as Evergreen. Last April at the Coast Guard’s Senior Executive Leadership Conference, FSG facilitated discussions with the Service’s uniformed and civilian leaders to identify key implementation considerations associated with specific strategies developed over the most recent Evergreen planning cycle. Several activities during the year supported one of the Coast Guard’s key Evergreen objectives, further embedding “strategic intent” throughout the Service. FSG facilitated a strategic planning workshop at the Coast Guard’s Chiefs Academy in Petaluma, California, engaging approximately 70 senior enlisted personnel in the Evergreen strategic renewal process. Additionally, FSG and the USCG are planning a similar exercise with approximately 60 members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary in January 2009.

FSG and the USCG broke additional new ground in 2008 by reaching out to the Service’s stakeholders for an Evergreen workshop with maritime companies and non-profit organizations. These stakeholders contemplated challenges and opportunities for their future maritime interests across a set of scenarios set in 2030, and offered their visions of the type of future support they could require from the Coast Guard and the federal government.

Finally, FSG and the USCG collaborated on the second edition of Creating and Sustaining Strategic Intent in the U.S. Coast Guard, the definitive story of the Coast Guard’s experience with scenario-based planning and Evergreen. FSG has a limited number of copies available for interested parties. Click here to request a copy. You can read more about this book, and the Evergreen process, in the magazine Sea Power.