What Boards Should Do
Blue Ribbon Commission
Pressure-Testing Strategic Assumptions: Key Questions to Ask
Implement Recommendation 2 from the NACD 2026 Blue Ribbon Commission report: Confirm strategic assumptions that matter most.
How to use this tool: Directors can use these questions to probe the assumptions that must hold for the strategy to succeed, including external assumptions about the market and competitive environment and internal assumptions about the organization’s ability to deliver.
The most effective assumption testing focuses on the underlying assumptions that are most consequential to strategy execution, vulnerable to change, tied to major investments or timing, or likely to require a significant response if they no longer hold. As one commissioner of the 2026 Blue Ribbon Commission emphasized, “If you’re not willing to raise your voice and ask really uncomfortable questions to challenge assumptions, you’re getting nowhere.”
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