Strategic Situation One-Pager
Distill any story’s situation, stakes, decision, and outcome onto a single page.
Mechanism Map
Map the causal chain: action → mechanism → first-order → second-order effect.
Second-Order Consequences Worksheet
Trace the ripple effects of a move two and three steps downstream.
Counterfactual Canvas
Structure the road-not-taken: the fork, the alternative, the divergence.
Pre-Mortem Worksheet
Assume the decision failed; work backward to the causes; pre-empt them.
Decision Journal & Log
Record a decision, its rationale, assumptions, and a review date to audit judgment later.
Thesis–Antithesis–Synthesis Worksheet
Force the strongest counter-argument to your strategy, then resolve it.
Stakeholder & Power Map
Map who holds power over a decision, what they want, and where they sit.
Strategic Assumptions Audit
Surface and rate the load-bearing assumptions; flag the fragile ones.
Lens Selector Wizard
Given a situation, branch to the archetype(s) that best illuminate it.
Strategy Narrative Builder
Turn an analysis into a board-ready narrative: situation → tension → choice → consequence.
Leading-Indicator Dashboard
Define the 5–7 metrics that signal early whether a strategy is working.
Trigger & Trip-Wire Register
Pre-commit to the conditions under which you’ll change course.
Opportunity-Cost Ledger
Make explicit what a choice forecloses — the cost of the road not taken.
Reversibility / One-Way-Door Assessment
Classify a decision as reversible or irreversible and right-size the rigor.
Evidence & Source Ledger
Track the proof points behind each claim — the ‘grounded in the record’ discipline.
Fork Decision Tree
Branch a binary strategic choice with consequences mapped at each node.
Reversibility & Exit-Cost Assessment
Score how reversible a fork is and map the cost of backing out.
Bet-Sizing Worksheet
Size a strategic bet against bankroll, conviction, and downside survivability.
Bet-the-Company Risk Canvas
Lay out the existential bet: what’s wagered, time-to-payoff, funding bridge, kill criteria.
Conviction-vs-Evidence Grid
Plot belief against proof; locate where you’re betting ahead of the evidence.
Counterfactual Timeline Builder
Reconstruct the actual path vs the road not taken, fork by fork.
Cost-of-the-No Calculator
Quantify the compounding cost of passing on an opportunity.
Identity Question Worksheet
Force the unresolved ‘what are we?’ question that silently drives decisions.
Reversal Readiness Checklist
Assess whether a public strategic reversal is survivable.
Sacred-Cow Audit
Identify the beliefs a reversal must kill — and whether you can.
Decision Stakes Classifier
Triage a decision (irreversible/high-stakes vs not) and set the process to match.
Default-Path Detector
Reveal the choice you’re making by not choosing — the structural default.
Time-Horizon Tension Map
Map where short- and long-term incentives pull a decision in opposite directions.
Funding-Bridge Planner
Plan how a paying present funds an unprofitable bet to its payoff.
Bet-vs-Gamble Distinguisher
Test whether you’re making a bet (capability you build) or a gamble (outcome you can’t influence).
Post-Decision Review Template
Audit a past fork against its original rationale and the actual outcome.
Unit Economics Canvas
Lay out per-unit revenue, cost, contribution, and where the real money is made.
Profit-Engine Map
Identify which part of the business generates the profit vs which is the hook.
Where-Do-We-Make-Money Diagnostic
Locate the true profit center — often not the obvious product.
Membership / Recurring-Revenue Model
Model a fee-based money machine: renewal, LTV, margin.
Pricing Power Diagnostic
Score your ability to raise price without losing volume.
Price-Architecture Canvas
Map the full price structure: tiers, anchors, psychological points, lock-ins.
Sticky-Price / Rigidity Analyzer
Diagnose what holds a price fixed — contracts, coinage, vending.
Value-Based Pricing Worksheet
Price to the value delivered, not the cost incurred.
Razor-and-Blades Designer
Design a loss-leader + consumable system and defend the lock.
Attach-Rate & Lock-Defense Checklist
Verify the consumable lock holds — IP, compatibility, switching friction.
Cross-Subsidy Map
Trace which profitable business funds which unprofitable one, and the donor risk.
Cross-Subsidy Sustainability Assessment
Stress-test whether the donor business can keep carrying the subsidized one.
Revenue-Stream Portfolio Canvas
Map all revenue streams by margin, durability, and strategic role.
Margin-Stack Decomposition
Break total margin into its sources to see what’s load-bearing.
Business-Model Stress Test
Score resilience to price war, disintermediation, and input shocks.
Monetization-Shift Planner
Plan a move from one monetization logic to another (e.g., product → membership).
Make-vs-Buy-vs-Ally Decision Tree
Choose whether to own, buy, or partner for a capability.
Vertical-Integration Assessment
Score whether to integrate a step: control, scarcity, margin, risk.
Value-Chain Control Map
Map the value chain and mark where you control vs depend.
Scarcest-Input Analyzer
Identify the bottleneck input worth integrating to control.
Asset-Light vs Asset-Heavy Comparator
Compare owning vs orchestrating assets across scale, risk, margin, speed.
Asset-Light Model Canvas
Design a platform that scales by orchestrating assets it doesn’t own.
Capital-Intensity Diagnostic
Measure how asset-heavy the model is and where to lighten it.
Distribution Channel Map
Map paths to the customer and where you control vs cede the relationship.
Go-Direct / Disintermediation Assessment
Score whether to bypass intermediaries and own the customer.
Channel-Conflict Planner
Manage the conflict of going direct against existing channel partners.
Own-the-Channel Business Case
Justify the cost of owning distribution vs the control and experience gained.
Dependency & Single-Point-of-Failure Audit
Find the suppliers and partners you can’t afford to lose.
Outsourcing Risk Checklist
Verify what you give up when you don’t own a step — knowledge, margin, control.
Boundary-of-the-Firm Canvas
Define what the firm should own vs orchestrate, end to end.
Moat Anatomy Canvas
Dissect an advantage into sources: scale, network, switching cost, IP, brand, supply.
Moat Erosion / Durability Assessment
Test how fast each moat source could erode and under what attack.
Supplier-Web / Cornered-Resource Map
Map the un-replicable supplier ecosystem behind a moat.
Flywheel Designer Canvas
Map a self-reinforcing loop where each step feeds the next.
Flywheel Reinforcement Test
Verify each loop step truly makes the next easier — real flywheel vs funnel-in-a-circle.
Cold-Start / First-Turn Planner
Plan how to get a flywheel turning before it self-sustains.
Reverse-Flywheel / Doom-Loop Detector
Check whether your loop could spin backward, and how to brake it.
Switching-Cost Ledger
Inventory every switching cost a customer faces — network, workflow, retraining, data.
Ecosystem Lock-In Canvas
Map the layers that lock customers in beyond the core product.
What-a-Challenger-Must-Replicate Worksheet
List everything a rival must rebuild to displace you.
Collective-Action / Defection Analysis
Assess whether customers can coordinate to leave — the network’s defense.
Standards-War Battle Map
Map a format war: complements, licensing, installed base, tipping dynamics.
Complementary-Goods Inventory
Catalog the complements that will tip a standards war.
Open-vs-Closed Strategy Assessment
Decide whether to license openly or stay proprietary in a standards fight.
Winning-Attribute Identifier
Find the attribute customers actually choose on — not the one you’re proudest of.
Tipping-Point Tracker
Monitor the leading signals that a market is about to tip to one standard.
Competitive Threat Radar
Scan and rank the vectors a competitor could attack your moat from.
Market-Entry Gambit Canvas
Plan an entry: demand creation, positioning, localization, defensibility.
Create-vs-Capture Demand Assessment
Determine if you’re creating demand or capturing it, and each path’s risk.
New-Market Readiness Checklist
Verify readiness: demand signal, localization, capital, defensibility.
Fast-Follower Exposure Worksheet
Find where your entry leaves a flank open to a cheaper local copy.
Beachhead Selection Matrix
Choose the first segment or geography to enter, and why.
Localize-vs-Standardize Slider
Decide what to adapt vs keep global in a new market.
Adjacency / Synergy Map
Draw the arrows: which adjacent businesses feed and are fed by the core.
Adjacency vs Diversification Test
Test whether a new business reinforces the core or just adds unrelated risk.
Adjacency Overreach / Fatigue Detector
Check whether the reinforcing loop is being overdrawn.
Cannibalization Decision Tree
Decide whether to launch a product that eats your own.
Cannibalize-or-Be-Cannibalized Assessment
Determine if disruption is inevitable and whether you can be the disruptor.
Cannibalization Timing Worksheet
Find the right moment to cannibalize — not too early, not too late.
Self-Disruption Readiness Checklist
Verify the org can build the cannibal without hobbling it.
Portfolio Roles Matrix
Classify each business or brand by role: engine, hook, bet, legacy.
Growth-Vector Prioritization Grid
Rank growth options — penetrate, enter, adjacency, cannibalize — by payoff and risk.
Portfolio Allocation Canvas (2x2)
Plot the portfolio on a growth × share (or custom) 2x2 to allocate resources.
Culture Doctrine Canvas
Articulate a non-negotiable cultural principle and the behaviors it drives.
Costly-Signal Audit
Test whether your stated values cost you anything — credibility equals cost.
Values-to-Economics Worksheet
Trace how a cultural principle produces hard returns: recruiting, brand, scarcity.
Constraint-as-Strategy Analyzer
Examine how a self-imposed constraint becomes a competitive advantage.
Founder Doctrine Canvas
Capture the founder’s core values and how they’re encoded into the company.
Mission-Durability Assessment
Test whether the mission survives a change of ownership or leadership.
Ownership-Structure Designer
Design control/cash-flow separation to lock in a mission.
Control-vs-Cash-Flow Map
Separate who controls from who profits; find the levers that could corrupt the mission.
Succession Readiness Scorecard
Rate how prepared the company is to lose its key person.
Key-Person Dependency Audit
Measure how much the company depends on one irreplaceable individual.
Succession Planning Roadmap
Sequence a handover: name, season, telegraph, transfer.
Decentralization Readiness Assessment
Test whether the org can run without the founder day to day.
Successor Selection Rubric
Score successor candidates against the role’s true requirements.
Founder-to-System Transition Worksheet
Convert founder instincts into durable systems and process.
Tacit-Knowledge / Institutional-Memory Map
Capture the undocumented judgment that would leave with a departure.
Governance & Board Design Canvas
Design the governance that protects strategy and culture over time.
Disruption Vulnerability Assessment
Score how exposed your core business is to disruption.
Innovator’s-Dilemma Diagnostic
Detect whether you’re protecting a cash cow against your own future.
Cash-Cow Trap Detector
Find where the locally-rational choice (defend the profit) is globally fatal.
Self-Disruption Audit
Test willingness and ability to disrupt yourself before others do.
Decline-Stage Diagnostic
Locate where a company sits on the decline curve, and the cause.
Turnaround Diagnosis Worksheet
Determine whether the problem is strategy (focus) or execution (effort).
Subtraction-as-Strategy Planner
Plan what to cut — complexity, ventures — to refocus on the core.
Complexity / SKU-Proliferation Audit
Surface the hidden complexity quietly eating margin.
Turnaround Roadmap & Sequencing
Sequence a turnaround: stabilize → refocus → rebuild → re-expand.
Trust-vs-Liability Decision Tree
Choose between protecting the balance sheet and protecting trust.
Over-Response / Recall Calculator
Weigh the cost of an over-response against the trust at stake.
Crisis Communication Template
Structure transparent crisis messaging to stakeholders.
Crisis Pre-Mortem & Scenario Planner
Pre-plan responses to plausible crises before they hit.
Reinvention / Pivot Readiness Assessment
Test whether the company can become a different company.