In October FSG facilitated a strategy workshop for senior U.S. Coast Guard personnel as part of a scenario-based planning process known as Project Evergreen.  FSG and the Coast Guard are currently assessing the results of the workshop and developing draft strategies and identifying related implementation issues. This is the second iteration of Evergreen; the first was initiated in the fall of 2003 under the direction of FSG. Evergreen is a four-year strategy and planning cycle, which is envisioned as both a tool for developing long-range enterprise strategies and as a process for instilling strategic intent throughout the Coast Guard.  To date, Evergreen core strategies have informed a range of Coast Guard activities, including the National Strategy for Maritime Security and its eight subordinate plans.  It has also provided the catalyst for the Coast Guard’s National Maritime Strategy Risk Assessment initiative and the Coast Guard Strategy for Maritime Safety, Security, and Stewardship.

 Teaching Scenario Planning at the Boeing Leadership Center…

During 2007 and scheduled for 2008, FSG principal Charles Thomas is teaching in the Senior Marketing Workshop course at the Boeing Leadership Center. It is a one-day course introducing scenario planning and giving the students an introductory taste of how planning activities are carried out within a scenario context – especially helpful in industries where product development cycles require an understanding of future customer needs 15 years out. The course is organized by Dr. William Putsis of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina to introduce Boeing senior executives to advanced techniques in market analysis .

Our Associate Mark Safford has also had a busy year. In addition to scenario project work, he wrote a chapter, "Thoughts on the Future of Transportation," that appeared in the World Futures Society's collection of essays titled Hopes and Visions for the 21st Century, available at http://www.wfs.org/wfsbooks.htm . The chapter discusses the future of transportation from the standpoint of demographic and economic trends, energy, the environment, markets, technologies, and key issues to consider. Mark also has written several articles posted at Futurist.com on transportation, energy, and the environment. His latest article, "Energy, the Future, and Us," is available at: http://www.futurist.com/articles/environment-and-energy/energy-the-future-and-us/

Five years ago the Sarbanes-Oxley act set in motion a string of unintended consequences for public companies. Among them: internal auditors are acquiring extraordinary opportunities to participate in the strategic direction of their organizations. And it is now evident to auditors that conventional risk and compliance models will be insufficient for the job of managing nontraditional business risks guaranteed to characterize the next 15 years.

In January 11, 2008 FSG will partner with Collective Intelligence and Board Advisory Services in conducting a one-day scenario planning seminar hosted by the Institute for Internal Auditors in New York. Attendees will receive a hands-on introduction to managing future risk and uncertainty, while learning to cultivate a clear line of sight on the cross-impacts of multiple kinds of risk from anywhere in their organizations. The intense one-day event will be framed by an adaptation of FSG’s alternative-futures planning method. Collective Intelligence, a frequent partner of FSG, will help lead participants through the scenario planning work and provide them with the practical tools of capturing organizational knowledge and putting it to work. Throughout the day, Board Advisory Services, which has built its reputation on a horizontal view of risk management, will keep the expert audience on track toward an integrated view of governance, risk, and compliance in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley world. For more information, contact the New York chapter of the Institute for Internal Auditors.

December 2004
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April 2007