Fear

i have never begun any business strategy without some measure of apprehension -- almost fear

the questions that spawn the apprehension are many;
who is this client -- really?
how does the company function in reality; not how the org chart says it should
how do they think?
what are their foregone conclusions?
where is there ego
what data/facts will be open and what will take extra work to discover?

you would think that after 30 years of in-depth and ever changing, cross-industry strategy experience the fear would go away -- but it doesn't

so what is the message -- it's that fear doesn't go away, we must just face it and move forward

the second message is to have an "empty mind", no foregone conclusions, and to let the data speak.

if you don't know the answer yet; that means that you don't have enough input -- dig more, ask more questions -- probe client minds

when you have the input (data), just read and study it, listen and think.  let the data speak and the answer will become visible