Why
Conduct disciplined, thorough and objective research to address a pivotal question for today’s executives: What types of companies will win in the next quarter century and why?
Who
Top startups, tech entrepreneurs, thought leaders, innovation centers and investors
Fortune 500 executives who lead globe-spanning conglomerates in critical sectors
- Consumer products: Nestle, P&G, Pepsico
- Finance: Chase, Citi, Mastercard, American Express, Bridgewater
- Healthcare: Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, HCA, Kaiser Permanente, Humana, Memorial Sloan Kettering
- Media & Communications: Omnicom, BBDO, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, RG/A
- Professional services: McKinsey, EY, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, Frog, IDEO
- Transportation & Hospitality: Jet Blue, American Airlines, Hyatt Hotels, Marriott
- Technology: IBM, Cisco, General Electric, Siemens
Next generation of business leaders at established growth platforms:
- Jive
- Andreeson Horowitz
- Kickstarter
- WeWork
- TomorrowLab
- Uber
- Canary
- Groupon
Experts, trend spotters and data analysts with a grounded point of view on the emerging future over the next quarter century:
- Quid founder Sean Gourley
- Gartner
- Thompson Reuters
- Big Data expert Bill Schmarzo
- Doblin’s Larry Keeley
- Monitor’s Andrew Blau
- Gerson Lehman Group
How
PRIMARY RESEARCH
- One-on-one or small group recorded interviews with clearance for quotation and citation and written request for access to referenced data.
- Scale surveys for broader populations to test hypotheses, bolster findings, and prioritize conclusions.
- Scans – as with Quid, Google Trends – to find relevant patterns for mined insights.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
- Review and cite prior studies, cases, texts relevant to the subject, including historical references.
- Analytic deep dives into scans noted above.
What
INTERVIEW FRAMEWORK
- Introduction / 5Ps: Purpose, Participant intros, Place, Preview specific intent for the conversation, Permission – to record, photograph.
- Thesis: describe the optimal company of the future
- Context: What changes do you anticipate that will alter the success factors for companies over the next 5-25 years? Why? What leading indicators will demonstrate that the change is coming? When or how has this kind of shift occurred in the past?
- Case: What companies represent an optimal design for the future you envision? Who will survive and why? What’s different about the winners vs losers? What are their distinguishing features?
- Converse: What companies (or types of companies) will suffer and why?
- Example: Tell me a story about a situation that helps to demonstrate this? Where have you seen a company—a leader, a team, an investor, an entrepreneur—succeed or fail based on these distinguishing characteristics?
ETHNOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION
- Image Identification: Which of the following images might relate to the unique indicators of success or failure for companies in the next 25 years?
- Attribute Ranking: How would you force rank these words or phrases (one per card) in the order of importance they represent for successful companies over the next quarter century?
- Attribute Affinity Mapping: Which of these words or phrases (one per card) belong together? How would you cluster them? What labels would you give to each cluster?
The Da Vinci Co 