About me.
I get my energy from challenging established orthodoxies to create new things, and learning from and mentoring productively impatient people. Currently, I channel those passions in my role as Managing Director and Futures Practice Lead for ?What If! Innovation Partners, acquired by Accenture in 2019. Throughout my decade at ?What If!, I've defined future-focused growth strategies and designed new products for some of the worlds largest organizations and most iconic brands.
Prior to ?What If!, my curiosities took me from the suits and ties of traditional strategy consulting, to the hoodies of the startup world. (At ?What If!, I never knew what to wear)
Outside "the office", what is consistent are my attempts to relive my hockey glory years on rinks and ponds across the US, and just plain live while improving my skills as a private pilot. What is not are the plethora of other hobbies that inevitably turnover every 3 months.
What I do for my clients.
I primarily advise clients and client teams on new ways to think about growth, and the new products and services to develop to capture that growth. I've applied a broad toolbox of methods I'm constantly exploring - from the more common (i.e. design thinking, lean experimentation) to the less common (i.e. futures and foresight, philosophical research) - to think critically about client problems and solve them in unique ways.
From a "services" standpoint, I…
…create
(a strategic vision)
I answer client questions such as:
Where is my next wave of growth?
How do we redefine ourselves or our market to stay at the top and/or avoid disruption?
What products and services will my future customers demand?
…by offering services that include:
Growth Strategy
Consumer Insight
New Product Development
In-Market Experimentation
I answer client questions such as:
How can my team think more strategically?
How can my team apply creativity to their day-to-day role?
How can my team spot future change and adapt?
…by offering services that include:
Ambition & Vision Setting
Coaching in Critical Thinking, Strategic Foresight, Innovation Mindsets & Behaviors
Where I've done it before.
I have worked with clients across nearly every industry, including Google, Disney, FedEx, JetBlue, Travelers, Vanguard, CHANEL, ABInBev, Pepsico, AbbVie, The Rockefeller Foundation, the NBA and more.
Select examples of the type of experiences I have are listed below. Additional details and impact stories available upon request.
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Reimagined the future of theme parks for a media and entertainment company, providing a vision for the role of technology in the future and organizing disjointed efforts.
Embedded a healthy disregard for the impossible in the leadership of a major technology company, to ready them for, among other things, the age of Artificial Intelligence.
Envisioned the future of digital commerce for a global shipping and logistics company to transform their role in the ecosystem, differentiating and expanding their product set.
Trained and advised 15+ ventures within the corporate venturing unit of a global consumer products company, to explore new areas of opportunity and develop a portfolio for future growth.
Designed the first transatlantic experience for a major U.S. airline to grow their footprint and reignite their unique founding vision in their product globally.
Redefined the value of an iconic luxury fashion house's retail footprint from stores that sell to stores that are experienced to achieve bold commercial ambitions.
Recommended the ideal countries to scale a rural electrification initiative based on the political, technological, corporate, and financial environment for a large American philanthropic foundation.
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© Julian Mancia