Origins of MAPS
MAPS did not emerge from futurism or consulting trends. It comes from legal practice—acquisitions, financings, restructurings—where decisions cannot rely on intuition. Before buying, financing, merging, or pledging anything, reality must be broken down. What exists? Who has authority? What is actually being acquired? What obligations are already embedded in the future? This is the discipline of due diligence: making reality inspectable.
That discipline corresponds to what is now called Computational Thinking: breaking complex realities into parts, distinguishing what is material from what is incidental, recognizing structural patterns, and grounding decisions in explicit logic rather than intuition.
An organization is not a story. It is a structure, a portfolio of assets, and a set of commitments that produce consequences
MAPS applies that same rigor to leadership.
The Three Maps Behind MAPS
MAPS is built on three fundamental maps that already exist implicitly in professional reasoning but are rarely articulated as a stable system.
The STRUCTURE Map
Structure clarifies authority and control. It shows who can decide, how decisions move, where coordination happens, and where accountability sits. In transactions, unclear structure destroys value. In operations, it dilutes responsibility and hides dependencies. When structure is not visible, execution depends on personalities rather than design.
The ASSETS Map
Assets form a portfolio. Before financing or restructuring, assets are identified, acquired, evaluated, and understood as a whole. The map makes visible what the organization actually owns, what it depends on, and where value and fragility sit.
Contracts, data, skills, licenses, processes, brands, and exposures are part of that portfolio. When assets remain implicit, value is misjudged and risk is misplaced.
The TIME (HORIZONS) Map
Organizations carry future obligations—deadlines, clauses, maturities, regulatory commitments, and strategic windows.
The Horizons map distinguishes what must be defended now, what is transitioning, and what must be built for later. It does not predict the future; it clarifies how time shapes present decisions.
From Implicit to Visible
Most organizations are not designed; they accumulate. Authority layers informally, assets scatter, and future commitments remain buried. This works until scale, complexity, crisis, or change exposes the limits. MAPS does not judge that evolution. It makes it visible so decisions can be grounded in what actually exists.
What MAPS Brings
MAPS produces structured visibility. Structure becomes clear. The asset portfolio becomes explicit. Time and commitments are mapped. When these three are seen together, structural patterns appear. Leverage points and risk concentrations become obvious. Governance strengthens, transactions become cleaner, strategy becomes concrete. MAPS does not promise success. It improves the conditions under which rational decisions can be made by anchoring them in structure, assets, and time
© christian royer 2026. All rights reserved.
