○
Stillness
Guided reflection creates space before strategic decision-making.
THE 83 STRATEGIC IMAGINATION LAB™
Strategy,
reimagined.
A facilitated executive experience designed to help organizations think differently, challenge assumptions, unlock creativity, and move from possibility to strategic action.
Strategic planning. Design thinking. Executive coaching.
Creative practice. One radically different experience.
01The premise
What happens when you change the conditions for thinking?
Most strategic planning happens in familiar environments: conference rooms, PowerPoint, agendas, deadlines, back-to-back meetings.
The result can be predictable thinking.
The Strategic Imagination Lab creates a different environment. Space to pause. Space to listen. Space to question. Space to imagine. Space to make ideas visible. And space to turn those ideas into strategy.
02Inside the experience
This is not a strategy workshop.
Serious strategic work meets practices organizations rarely associate with executive strategy.
♫
Sound
Jazz and improvisation bring listening, rhythm, and responsiveness into the room.
✎︎
Creation
Drawing, mapping, and physical materials make abstract ideas visible.
❝︎
Conversation
Coaching and dialogue surface assumptions and perspectives planning can miss.
◈
Strategy
The work comes back to choices, priorities, decisions, and action.
The unconventional elements are not the point. They are the conditions that make deeper strategic thinking possible.
03Our framework
The 83 Method™
Eight movements. Three stages. One strategic direction.
01 / 08
Pause
Create space
02 / 08
Observe
See what is actually happening
03 / 08
Question
Challenge assumptions
04 / 08
Imagine
Explore what could be possible
05 / 08
Create
Make possibilities visible
06 / 08
Challenge
Test ideas and expose tensions
07 / 08
Decide
Identify what matters most
08 / 08
Activate
Move from insight to action
STAGE 01
Decompression
Quiet the noise
STAGE 02
Imagination
Expand what is possible
STAGE 03
Strategic convergence
Turn imagination into decisions
04The crayon moment
Yes. There are crayons.
At one point, we may ask an executive to put down the laptop, pick up a crayon, and draw the organization they believe you need to become.
What someone draws can reveal assumptions, aspirations, tensions, possibilities, and organizational realities that might never surface in a conventional meeting.
The crayons aren’t the strategy. They’re a way into the strategy.
05The Coltrane principle
Structure creates freedom. Improvisation creates possibility.
Jazz has structure. It also requires listening. Responsiveness. Interpretation. Improvisation. The ability to hear what is happening and respond in real time.
The Lab draws from that same tension. Organizations need strategy and structure. But they also need the capacity to adapt, imagine, listen, and create something that didn’t exist before.
Inspired by the spirit of John Coltrane
06Strategic Stillness™
Before we decide, we pause.
Strategic Stillness™ is a brief guided practice used within the Lab to interrupt urgency and create space for awareness.
This is not a meditation retreat. It is a strategic intervention. Because sometimes the best strategic question cannot be heard over the noise of everything demanding an answer.
07What remains
This is an experience. But it produces strategy.
The work becomes a shared understanding of the present, sharper strategic questions, visible possibilities, clear priorities, and a practical path forward.
The featured artifact is The 83 Strategic Imagination Map™ — a record of the thinking and choices made together.
The 83 Strategic Imagination Map™
01
Where we are
02
What we see
03
What we’re questioning
04
What we can imagine
05
What matters
06
What we choose
07
What we do next
08Who it’s for
For organizations at an inflection point.
01
Executive teams
02
Boards
03
Nonprofit leadership
04
Founders & entrepreneurs
05
Innovation teams
06
Department & functional leaders
The Lab in motion
The 83 Strategic Imagination Lab™
09Ways to work together
Choose the depth of the experience.
Investment is based on strategic complexity and preferred partnership.
The Strategic Imagination Session
Starting at $18,500
A focused entry point for a consequential strategic question.
- A tailored, facilitated session
- A new perspective on the question at hand
- Clear next steps and strategic insights
The Strategic Imagination Lab
$35,000–$45,000
The signature immersive experience for teams ready to think and decide differently.
- Discovery and custom experience design
- Immersive executive facilitation
- The 83 Strategic Imagination Map™
The 83 Strategic Transformation Experience
$75,000–$125,000+
A deeper partnership from strategic discovery through activation.
- Extended discovery and leadership alignment
- Multi-stage strategic experience
- Activation support beyond the room
10The investment model
We don’t price strategic thinking by the hour.
Our investment model reflects what the work actually asks of us—and what it can make possible for you.
01Scope
02Complexity
03Consequence
04Customization
05Activation
11A different approach
Why this works differently.
Traditional strategic planning
Design thinking
The 83 Method™
Starting point
Plans and priorities
Problems and users
Conditions for better thinking
Approach
Analysis and discussion
Ideation and prototyping
Reflection, imagination, dialogue, and decision
What it surfaces
Established perspectives
New concepts
Assumptions, tensions, possibilities, and choices
Where it leads
A strategic plan
Testable ideas
A strategic direction built for activation
12The person behind the work
Meet Dr. Aerial Ellis.
Strategist. Executive Coach. Communicator. Researcher. Educator.
Dr. Aerial Ellis leads Advisory 83 and brings together strategic planning, executive facilitation, coaching, organizational culture, creativity, and communication to help leaders make sense of complexity and move with intention.
She personally designed the Strategic Imagination framework in 2015 — inspired by art, jazz, and meditation as a design-thinking framework — and has since shaped it into a research-backed approach to strategic planning solutions.
"Change the conditions. Change the conversation. Change the strategy." - Dr. Ellis
13The journey
Designed for what happens before, during, and after.
What might the day feel like?
01Arrival
02Stillness
03Observation
04Question
05Imagination
06Creation
07Conversation
08Convergence
09Activation
14Frequently asked
Good questions deserve real answers.
Is this a retreat or a strategy engagement?
It is a strategy engagement. The environment may feel different from a traditional planning meeting, but the purpose is to make substantive strategic choices and create a path to action. We can design a retreat or facilitate inside of a retreat, but the engagement is meant to be transformative.
Is this team building?
No. Stronger connection may be a result, but the work is designed around your organization’s strategic questions, not team-building exercises.
Do we have to meditate?
The strategic stillness we integrate is a brief, accessible guided pause. It is a tool for attention and clarity, not a wellness program or a meditation retreat.
Why jazz?
Jazz offers a useful model for balancing structure with listening, responsiveness, and improvisation. No musical ability is needed.
Why John Coltrane?
Coltrane is our reference point for what improvisation really requires: deep listening, mastery of structure, and the courage to create something that didn’t exist before. His ability to honor a form while pushing beyond it mirrors what we ask of leaders — know the framework deeply enough to improvise within it, and listen closely enough to respond to what is actually happening in the room.
Why crayons?
Drawing can reveal assumptions and possibilities that polished presentations conceal. The materials are a doorway into serious discussion. Coloring and drawing also engage the senses — slowing the mind, heightening focus, and opening a different kind of awareness that spreadsheets and slides rarely reach.
How is this different from design thinking?
Design thinking is an anchoring influence. The 83 Method™ also integrates executive coaching, organizational culture, reflective practice, strategic planning, and activation.
Do you facilitate the full experience?
Yes. The experience is designed and facilitated as a strategic engagement, with the scope tailored to your goals.
Is it customized?
Yes. The strategic question, participants, format, materials, and outputs are shaped around the organization rather than a fixed workshop template.
What is the outcome?
The engagement produces strategy. Teams leave with a strategic direction they chose together captured in The 83 Strategic Imagination Map™ along with clear priorities, decisions, and a concrete path to activation.
What group size works best?
It depends on the decisions to be made and who needs to be in the conversation. Group design is discussed during the initial strategic conversation.
Where does the Lab take place?
The location is chosen to support the work. The right venue and setup depend on your team, context, and strategic challenge.
What does it cost?
Engagements begin at $18,500. Investment reflects scope, complexity, consequence, customization, and the level of activation support.
15Begin here
Let’s talk about what’s next.
Tell us what your organization is navigating. We’ll begin with a strategic conversation about what could become possible.
Change the conditions. Change the conversation. Change the strategy.