A successful journey starts with a good map…

Synthesys is a future pathfinding consultancy based in Cambridge, UK.

The practical benefit of future-focused design thinking is to identify emerging opportunities for strategic positioning and creative innovation. The challenge is that situations requiring future-focused choices are typically complex, with incomplete information and high levels of rapid change (often described by the acronym VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous).

This calls for a holistic picture-forming and pattern recognition approach that can address ambiguity and complexity. Strategy and tactical agility can be guided by the development of a comprehensive integrated picture of your strategic environment or landscape. Comprehensive – meaning that all the salient and most important features are included; and integrated – meaning they have been combined or synthesized into a meaningful whole.

This approach brings your future operating landscape into focus, by mapping existing and emerging sources of strategic advantage. The pathway from present value to future value creation focuses your strategic choices and your opportunities for innovation. This gives meaning to the idea of future mapping and enables future navigation.

Synthesys’ experience spans a wide range of corporate and government clients in many parts of the world over more than 30 years. This experience includes strategy and policy formulation, organizational learning, new business models, product and service design, and strategic communications. This boundary-crossing breadth of perspective, plus the richness and depth of experience are key sources of Synthesys’ ability to find a path forward.

Clients include corporate, government, and non-profit organizations internationally. Engagements span advising leaders and decision makers, designing and facilitating futures thinking and strategy workshops, and conducting futures research; as well as keynote presentations on the future and executive education programs on holistic futures thinking and its role in strategy.