“Eric is one of the best I have seen at getting organizations and individuals to think about their purpose, approach and perspective. more [+]
His training as a journalist allows him to ask probing questions and point out the “giant pink elephant” in the room. Eric is never afraid to ask the tough questions to organizations or individuals, regardless of what thier rank or level of self-importance is.
If you find your group or organization paralyzed by dysfunctional team dynamics or just adrift, then I highly recommend Eric to come in and push the envelope. If you have a leaders that don't lead or refuse to listen to their peers or subordinates, in spite of the data, then bring in Eric.
Eric brings many approaches to the table and can quickly get a team to cut to the chase. He's seen every blocking technique and his ability to moderate and lead group discussions is second to none.
He has worked with the highest levels of leadership at Morgan Stanley and at the same time was able to quickly build the trust and confidence of those in the trenches. Eric's ability to converse with all levels of the organization, means he will extract large numbers of hidden nuggets and may be the only source for putting together all peices of the puzzle.”
John Reynolds,Managing Director at Citadel
“In my role as the chief strategic thinker for Morgan Stanley in Asia, I engaged the help of a scenario planning expert named Eric Best. more [+]
Eric helped us complete over five years of scenarios on Japan and China to establish a framework for thinking about the design of our business model. The success of our business in Asia, which is now well documented, I believe is importantly a product of Eric's help.”
John “Jack” Wadsworth,former Chairman for Morgan Stanley Asia
“I have participated in four scenario planning sessions run by Eric. The group has made valuable unexpected discoveries in each of them about the business environment, about the challenges they face, and about each other. more [+]
Eric achieves this through a combination of meticulous preparation regarding the business, high intelligence, and natural leadership ability. You feel he is right there with you, troubled by the same ambiguities, having the same insights.”
Harrison Young, former chairman for Morgan Stanley Australia
“Thank you again. The preparation paid off and we got further than we had ever gone before. Terrific learnings for my corporate world.”
Bernadette Wade, chairman of the board, School of the Holy Child and Director of Communications, Pepsico
Capitalizing on the distributed intelligence of our network of challenging thinkers, Best Partners helps individuals, management teams and organizational leaders develop actionable strategies in the face of complexity, uncertainty and change. more [+]
Our organization’s client-specific, thought-provoking partnerships apply diverse methods: journalistic interviews, business research, engagement design, and structured facilitation to develop scenarios that empower clients to act more decisively and with greater flexibility.
Best Partners can mobilize the collective intuition of an organization to clarify intention, define short and long-term objectives and determine the right thing that must be done next.
The Uncertainty Summit is an invitation-only meeting for finance, policy, and thought leaders from around the world to consider the most important prevailing uncertainties in the current global climate, and to build out plausible scenarios and posit a range of investment and policy options for each. Best Partners launched our inaugural Uncertainty Summit, together with Mayree Clark, senior advisor at Aetos Capital/Asia, convening a distinguished and diverse group at the Asia Society in New York City to consider an "uncertainty framework" composed of the most important unknowns in the current environment. more [+]
These discussions leverage a facilitated, collaborative approach to mobilize the wisdom of the crowd without falling prey to consensus. This exercise tends to shift the center of an individual's thinking in vital ways and reveal valuable options not previously visible. A diverse and experienced group can think powerfully and constructively about the future, despite the vast array of unknowns, and take valuable actions as a result.
Using a matrix with one unknown on each axis, our technique is imagine the near-terms worlds and examine potential outcomes in each "quadrant of uncertainty." June’s summit considered two very broad uncertainties and the implications of outcomes along two axes:
1. Global Governance:
At one end of the spectrum, sovereign, state and provincial entities are able to harness their power and/or their constituencies in the direction of fiscally responsible behavior, and the world either moves toward greater collaboration and convergence on standards and regulatory regimes, managed currency, rationalized banking.... or, at the other end of the spectrum, governance devolves towards greater divisiveness, friction and adverse competitive practices where we see repressive tax levels, public unrest, and “beggar thy neighbor” policies. The US-China dynamics and financial regulation come into play here, along with populism, global warming, oil politics and the playing out of anti-modernist impulses.
2. Technology Uptake and Impact:
The promise of mobile applications, green and precision technologies, new battery and power devices, and other relevant developments are rapidly exploited and adapted (or not) at the extremes of their potential to restructure industry, consumer behaviors, energy, medical and financial markets creating a new jobs additive market. The adverse end of this axis would be an information world possibly undermined by info-glut, technical failure, hacking, ecological or synthetic bio/physics disaster, online terrorism, etc.
We divide the group in four and explore each quadrant and, most importantly, its implications for global economies and markets across asset classes. This framework allowed us to consider a wide range of post-crisis issues.
Please see Eric Best on Bloomberg discussing some of the implications of the day’s discussion.
How to position for the future? The recent US-China “G2” Summit signals the importance of US-China relations in responding to the global crisis and challenges to political and financial systems worldwide. more [+]
No global industry can afford to ignore this dynamic and the implications of how it may play out over the next half decade. Contact Best Partners to see how we can help your management with a scenario framework/process to consider the "G2" and its potential impacts and opportunities.
To succeed in an increasingly transparent, complex and uncertain world, individuals and organizations must find it in themselves to take appropriate risks if they intend to produce optimal returns. more [+]
Our Risk Appetite Workshop is designed to increase individual and organizational productivity by bringing your risk appetite to its efficient frontier.
CEO and founder Eric Best conducts a unique seminar to explore individual and group risk appetites in thought and action to define the steps to generate optimal returns - both personally and professionally.
This workshop applies to enterprise risk in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors. Organizations and institutions of any size will reap the benefits.
The Board retreat provides essential reflection time for an organization. Vision, values and strategic objectives are crucial to any board discussion. Whether finance, growth, hardship, or leadership is the dominant topic, Best Partners customizes an engagement to enliven the discussion and move individuals and the group to action. more [+]
We encourage you to contact us to learn how this engagement can be delivered onsite, at your next management offsite, or become part of your leadership and training programs, from entry level to your CEO/operating committee.
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