What the Smartest Strategy Setting Engagements Have in Common

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by data. It’s harder to turn that data into direction.

Over the years, I’ve seen smart teams — both inside companies and consulting from the outside — wrestle with the same challenge: How do we make decisions that are grounded in reality, aligned with goals, and able to move the needle?

The best outcomes never come from choosing one tool or one perspective. They come from a thoughtful combination — of classic consulting practices, advanced data analysis, AI modeling, and GIS-driven location intelligence. Alone, each method has its strengths. Together, they give you a complete picture — not just of what’s happening, but why, where, and what to do next.

If you're involved in strategy setting, here’s a process that works — not just in theory, but in practice.

🎯 Start With the People that Matter

Before you touch a spreadsheet or fire up a model, ask real people what they see.

Talk to stakeholders. Host focus groups with internal teams or external influencers. Assess what's working — and where things feel stuck. These early conversations help surface things that data alone can’t show you: cultural blind spots, operational constraints, unspoken goals.

This isn’t a warm-up. It’s the starting line. The insights gathered here shape the entire analysis ahead — helping you decide what to measure, why it matters, and what success actually looks like.

🔍 Then Let the Data Do Its Work

With your direction set, open up the landscape.

Use a wide-angle correlation analysis to look at dozens — even hundreds — of variables. What conditions are showing up again and again in your top-performing markets or segments? Where do the patterns live?

Think of this step like scanning a horizon. You’re not jumping to conclusions — you’re spotting landmarks. It’s the part of the journey where intuition meets evidence.

🧠 Build a Model to Find the “Why”

Once you’ve identified the patterns, it’s time to figure out what’s really driving them.

Using regression or machine learning, build a predictive model. You’re not just asking, “What do these places or customers have in common?” You’re asking, “Which factors actually explain their performance — and in what combination?”

This is where strategic thinking shifts from “we think” to “we know.” Like dialing in a recipe, you learn exactly how much of each ingredient contributes to success.

🧪 Ask “What If?” Before You Invest

With a working model, you can simulate different scenarios — testing how changes in your key variables might affect outcomes.

What if population density increases? What if more customers gain access to lower-priced products or services? What if housing shifts, incomes rise, or age demographics change?

This step is your sandbox. It lets you experiment with ideas safely before turning them into real-world investments.

🧮 Turn the Results Into a Score You Can Use

Next, distill your findings into a market or engagement potential index — a single score that blends your most predictive factors.

With that, you can rank opportunities, compare markets, and spot areas with untapped upside. It’s like giving every region or segment a "readiness rating" for your strategic goals — a tool to focus attention where it counts.

🗺️ Finally, Put It All on the Map

The last (and maybe most underused) step is to visualize your results using GIS and location intelligence.

A map makes everything click. Suddenly, the patterns aren’t abstract — they’re real places, with real people. You can see where high-potential zones sit next to underperforming ones, where opportunities cluster, and where you're leaving value on the table.

Whether you’re making market moves, reallocating resources, or launching a new initiative, maps connect decisions to geography — and that changes everything.

🧭 The Bottom Line

Smart strategy setting isn’t about big leaps or shiny dashboards. It’s about stacking the right tools in the right order — grounding yourself in stakeholder insight, following the data without bias, using AI to find what matters, simulating before you scale, and anchoring everything in the real-world map of your business.

This approach won’t just help you make better decisions. It will help you make decisions that stick.