Leaders today face unprecedented uncertainty and need rapid, effective tools for strategic foresight. Traditional scenario planning, while valuable, is often too slow and resource-intensive to keep pace with today’s fast-changing environments. To address this, some companies have pioneered an accelerated scenario planning approach that centers on the decision-makers themselves, focusing sharply on their key assumptions—called ‘ghost scenarios’—that underlie current strategies. By explicitly challenging these assumptions through targeted, user-centric scenarios, organizations gain relevant insights that avoid generic or overly broad predictions.
This refined method also integrates generative AI tools to speed up research, scenario development, and the creation of engaging narrative outputs, such as AI-generated videos. Examples from Fazer, a Nordic consumer goods company, and Unum Ltd, a UK employee benefits provider, illustrate the process: Both leveraged AI to halve or significantly reduce the time needed to produce high-quality, actionable scenario narratives. AI was used collaboratively—as a brainstorming partner rather than an authoritative source—helping extend imagination beyond company boundaries while ensuring human judgment remained central to evaluating plausibility.
The approach encourages rapid strategic reflection embedded into existing planning cycles, making scenario insights timely and practical. This reimagined process supports critical questioning of entrenched strategic assumptions, fostering more resilient and forward-looking decision-making in an era defined by complexity and change.
