About the firm

Idea Normals is a strategy practice built on a single observation: every idea has a surface, and every surface has a normal, the direction that points straight out of it, perpendicular to everything the idea is already doing.

Most teams spend their time moving along the surface of their idea. They refine it, extend it, and defend it. Those are useful activities. They are also, by definition, the directions everyone is already considering.

We look along the normal.

What that means in practice

We run short, structured engagements that map what a plan assumes, identify the direction nobody on the team is facing, and test whether the idea holds up when it is moved somewhere else. Most of our work is ordinary good strategy. Some of it is geometry. We find it is usually best not to tell clients in advance which part is which.