28 February 2017

New Coalition Forms to Drive Leadership in Strategic Initiative Management

Leading Organizations Join Forces as Brightline™ Initiative to Transform How CXOs Manage Strategic Change

BOSTON, 28 February 2017 — Agile Alliance, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Project Management Institute (PMI), today announced the formation of a coalition dedicated to becoming the leading authority on strategic initiative management with the aim of helping enterprises reduce the failure rate of large-scale strategic initiatives and avoiding the resulting loss of competitive advantage and destruction of value. As founding members of the Brightline Initiative, these three organizations are developing a platform that will offer CXOs insights and solutions to bridge today’s recurring and expensive gaps between strategy development and strategy implementation.

A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit of more than 500 senior executives worldwide found that 61% admit their organizations struggle to deliver the expected results of strategy planning, and only 56% of strategic initiatives were implemented successfully. The amount of money wasted as a result of poor implementation is a staggering 30 cents on every dollar of investment in organizations that are the worst performers, PMI research shows. According to BCG, only 24% of organizations deliver consistent total shareholder returns. Being able to adapt to regulatory changes, competitive pressures, and stakeholder needs requires the ability to develop and successfully implement strategy.

The work of the Initiative will be shaped through a diverse coalition of highly influential thought leaders from the business, government, academic, and social sectors. Along with Agile Alliance, BCG, and PMI, new members of the Coalition from other sectors will join in to develop and champion best practices for strategic initiative management. Coalition members will also help shape the Initiative’s principles and global standards and framework for strategy implementation.

Ricardo Vargas, Executive Director of Brightline™, describes the Initiative this way:

The Brightline Initiative, bringing together the thought leadership of the Coalition will integrate the best of the existing knowledge surrounding strategy implementation and link it to initiative management. It will deliver insights and solutions, empowering leaders to successfully transform their organization’s vision into reality through strategic initiative management.

The Initiative will take a holistic approach, providing thought and practice leadership that will include frameworks and cutting-edge research, networking through events and membership, and capability building through a resource library, education programs, and publications.

About The Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with 85 offices in 48 countries. For more information, please visit bcg.com.

About Agile Alliance

Agile Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development as outlined in the Agile Manifesto. With nearly 35,000 members and subscribers around the globe, Agile Alliance is driven by the principles of Agile methodologies and the value delivered to developers, organizations and end users. Agile Alliance organizes and supports events to bring the Agile community together on a global scale.

About PMI

Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s leading association for those who consider project, program or portfolio management their profession. Founded in 1969, PMI delivers value for more than three million professionals working in nearly every country in the world through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research. We advance careers, improve organizational success and further mature the project management profession through globally-recognized standards, certifications, communities, resources, tools, academic research, publications, professional development courses and networking opportunities. Visit us at PMI.org, www.facebook.com/PMInstitute and on Twitter @PMInstitute