I trained as an engineer, solving complex problem. Going into management consulting afterwards helped me realize that we're all solving problems. Consultants were using fun tools, such as issue trees and pyramid principles, but I felt we weren’t using them fully. So for the past twenty years I’ve been investigating problem-solving epistemology, on the theoretical and practical sides. Because problem solving is so prevalent in our lives, many disciplines deal with it: management, engineering, psychology, medicine, philosophy, architecture, … They all approach it from a different perspective; my interest is to break these silos and make the material available to all and distill it away so that it’s understandable and practical.

As a result, my approach is highly practical.

For instance, in my course at Rice each student brought a problem. I introduced them to theoretical concepts that we then applied to these problems and we used those as case studies. Students came from all departments, and we leveraged this diversity to enrich the group’s problem-solving capabilities.

At IMD for the past few years, I have specialized in finding a good balance between providing high-quality tools, processes, and mindsets while also keeping things simple and accessible.

Through my research and the hundreds of cases that I’ve seen with my students, we’ve adapted the strategy consultancies’ tools: we’ve made them more evidence based, more creative, more logical still, and easier to use. This website gives a glimpse of what we do, and I hope it is useful to you.