BCG Henderson Institute

The BHI Strategy Lab explores game-changing business ideas by capturing, developing, and applying cutting-edge thinking from within and beyond business.

We are not your traditional consultants: we are a diverse group of philosophers, data scientists, biologists, and engineers working with leading academics and external collaborators.

The Strategy Lab was created to formalize a research body within BCG that would help identify and develop ideas that will change the way leaders think about strategy. 

Some of our current research themes include resilience & navigating uncertainty, imagination & innovation, and corporate vitality.

Research Themes

1/5

Resilience & Navigating Uncertainty

How can companies build resilience to increase their capacity to absorb stress, recover critical functionality, and thrive in altered circumstances?

Harvard Business Review | March 25, 2022

Make Resilience Your Company’s Strategic Advantage

We explore and refute five false beliefs about resilience and look at the key steps required to build it and bake it into strategy and operations.

2/5

Imagination & Innovation

We need imagination now more than ever—to find new opportunities, rethink our businesses, and discover paths to growth.

Books | March 7, 2022

The Imagination Machine

Most leaders agree that imagination in business is crucial for success but they struggle to cultivate this capability. Explore how to harness the power of imagination.

3/5

Corporate Vitality

Learn how to measure and manage corporate vitality—the capacity to explore new options, renew strategy, and grow sustainably.

Fortune | December 2, 2021

The 2021 Fortune Future 50: An Index for Tomorrow’s Growth—and Today’s Resilience

The companies on the 2021 list reflect some of the most salient shifts in the business environment, including those triggered by the pandemic.

4/5

Strategies of Change

Why do some corporate transformations fail while others succeed? Explore how leaders can navigate organizations through change.

BCG Henderson Institute | June 14, 2021

Transform for Resilience

Keep resilience on the transformation agenda. Change programs that prioritize growth, debt reduction, and operational flexibility realize the full value of resilience and build advantage for the next crisis.

5/5

Winning the ’20s

The winners in business have shifted markedly in the last decade. What will it take to win in the ’20s?

BCG Henderson Institute | April 26, 2021

Winning the ’20s in an Accelerated Post-COVID World

Leaders now need to refocus on the long term and attend to five key imperatives.

Books

Our Strategy Lab team’s latest books explore emerging opportunities for business leaders to navigate today’s complex environment.

Books

The Imagination Machine

Most leaders agree that imagination in business is crucial for success but they struggle to cultivate this capability. Explore how to harness the power of imagination.

Books

Inspiring the Next Game series

Strategy is by definition a changing art: strategy is about generating competitive advantage, but what it takes to create advantage is always evolving. This series takes a broad view of strategy, reflecting the multifaceted imperatives that leaders face.

Books

Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

The world of strategy is thick with ideas and frameworks; Your Strategy Needs a Strategy will help you cut through the noise and find clarity regarding which approach, or combination of approaches, is your best bet.

31 Minutes | April 30, 2024

Why We Die with Venki Ramakrishnan

"There is no theoretical reason why we can't live beyond our current natural limit of 120, although this would require major breakthroughs in aging research."

27 Minutes | February 13, 2024

Higher Ground with Alison Taylor

"We all seem to have collectively lost sight of what it means to be a good business, in the ethical sense."

30 Minutes | April 16, 2024

Making Sense of Chaos with Doyne Farmer

"Complex systems thinking is the dominant tool for modeling in epidemiology. Companies use it to model their inventory systems. But using it in economics is harder because the agents have more agency and are complicated."

BCG Henderson Institute | May 1, 2024

How to Think Clearly in Turbulent Times: Lessons from Charlie Munger

Munger’s success was built on a system for decision-making—not a classical investment philosophy, but rather a mental discipline underpinning one. We outline four ideas strategists can learn from Munger to think more clearly in turbulent times.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 22, 2024

Noise: An Unlikely Ally for Business Leaders

Noise—small, random deviations from regularities—is omnipresent. Instead of treating it as a nuisance that is to be eliminated, businesses can embrace noise as as a powerful ally.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 17, 2024

Building a Smarter Clock for Business: Time Management Is Not Just about Speed

Leaders must learn to vary the tempo in a dynamic context, manage rhythm and synchronization in an interconnected world, and embrace adaptive rules and structures when confronted with pressure across multiple timescales.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 11, 2024

The Business of Pretending: How to Play More Adventurous Games

You play games in the workplace every day. But you can get more business value out of games by making them bolder and more adventurous. We suggest experimenting with games that are less routine, less constrained, more counterfactual, and more explicit.

Fortune | January 29, 2024

Where Will Growth Come From In The Next Decade? A Geographic Deep Dive Into The Future 50

It is down to individual firms to deliver on their growth potential in the context created by governments and markets. In these times of turbulence, this may mean embracing new business and operating models.

BCG Henderson Institute | January 19, 2024

Are We Collaborating Too Much?

Collaboration is good for many things—but for businesses, treating it as a default is a mistake. In some cases, discouraging collaboration or even encouraging competition can be advantageous.

Martin Reeves
Leadership

Martin Reeves

Chairman, BCG Henderson Institute