A one-day workshop for your teams
Strategic decision-making training for executives
A strategic decision commits resources, people and a direction of travel. Your team needs to be able to explain what makes that choice reasonable.
Good Judgment is a one-day workshop for leadership teams and experienced managers. Participants practise framing a business problem, examining the evidence and making a recommendation they can defend, including when AI contributes to the analysis.
Pricing on request for teams. An initial conversation, with no commitment.
Make a strategic choice with imperfect information
An investment looks promising but depends on a growth assumption. A transformation appears necessary, while its likely effects remain uncertain. Two teams recommend different actions based on the same information.
In these situations, a leader needs to understand what supports each recommendation, which uncertainties matter and what further evidence would be worth obtaining.
This executive decision-making training gives your team time to practise that reasoning. Participants make their assumptions explicit, compare interpretations and identify the conditions that would change their minds.
The work also helps colleagues examine a recommendation together: what decision is being proposed, why it is justified and what remains uncertain.
Know what your recommendation depends on
Across the workshop, participants practise four capabilities:
- Define the decision. Give the analysis a clear purpose and scope.
- Identify the critical assumptions. Establish what needs to be true for a recommendation to hold.
- Choose useful checks. Focus attention on evidence that could materially change the choice.
- Explain the recommendation. Present the conclusion, its supporting arguments and the limits of the evidence.
These capabilities connect. A clearer problem directs the investigation. A focused investigation reveals the trade-offs. A concise recommendation gives others a way to assess the proposed action.
An example: is this investment ready to proceed?
Illustrative situation. A team recommends investing in a new market. The proposal shows attractive demand and argues for a rapid rollout.
The leadership team identifies a critical assumption: customers will buy at the proposed price. Research showing interest in the product is relevant, but provides limited evidence of willingness to pay.
The discussion becomes more precise. What evidence is missing? Would a limited test help resolve the uncertainty? What would justify a rollout, a revised proposal or stopping the project?
The team can then explain both its recommendation and the conditions under which it should be reconsidered. The exercise makes the reasoning open to examination, even when the available information is incomplete.
Decide what to verify before acting
Further analysis has value when it could change the decision. Participants practise identifying those checks and distinguishing them from detail that adds little to the choice.
You examine what supports an assumption, what contradicts it and how much the recommendation depends on it. You also consider what remains uncertain when it is time to act.
This work extends to AI-generated recommendations. The team reviews the question being answered, the structure of the argument and whether the evidence is sufficient to support the conclusion.
Practise through one connected executive case
Good Judgment connects framing, structuring, prioritising, synthesising, and challenging the answer before deciding. The case develops through the day, so new information builds on the reasoning participants have already done.
Individual work, small-group discussion and instructor feedback provide opportunities to compare approaches and revise conclusions. Participants also practise presenting a main recommendation and the arguments an executive audience needs to evaluate it.
The programme includes a problem-framing template, a hypothesis and prioritisation method, an executive synthesis format and a recommendation review checklist. The day ends by considering how to apply the approach to a real question at work.
Your instructor: Adrien Foucault
Adrien is a former McKinsey consultant and Harvard MBA. He advises senior leaders on strategy and transformation through Spaik, the firm he founded, and lectures on AI in business at HEC Paris and Sciences Po.
The workshop draws on his experience in consulting, executive work and teaching. These credentials describe his background; they do not imply institutional endorsement or partnership.
A workshop for your leadership development programme
Bring together 8–16 participants for one day, in person or online. The workshop can be delivered in English or French, with customisation available.
We begin with a conversation about your objectives, the participants and the adaptations that would be useful. The scope, date and practical arrangements are agreed before the session. Pricing is provided by quotation for your team.
The workshop can support a leadership development programme or give an established team dedicated time to practise how it reaches and explains decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The workshop is designed around business questions that require leaders to interpret incomplete evidence, test assumptions and make recommendations. Participants can compare their reasoning with peers through the case and group exercises.
You work through a connected approach from framing the question to examining and communicating a recommendation. The day provides practice, feedback and tools to continue using in your work.
You identify what is known, what is assumed and which missing information could change the decision. You practise explaining the remaining uncertainty and what would lead you to reconsider your position.
No. AI-generated work is used as material for examining reasoning, evidence and recommendations. No coding or technical AI background is required.
You can register your interest in future open sessions by selecting “For myself” in the enquiry form.
A workshop for your company
Discuss the decisions your team faces
Tell us about your team and the situations in which you want to strengthen its judgement. We will discuss suitable arrangements and prepare a quote.