think-like-a-strategy-consultant

Runs a fast Company / Customer / Competitor scan of a business and forces the intersections to surface the real strategic opening. Use this skill whenever the user needs a quick situational read before a decision, says "give me a 3C", "size up this business", "what's our right to win", "who are we and who are we up against", or is writing background analysis that risks being three disconnected paragraphs. Trigger it whenever someone needs to understand a company's strategic position quickly, even if they don't name the 3Cs. Its whole value is the intersection, not the three descriptions.

Tests whether a company's strength is a real, defensible competitive advantage by running it through VRIO, then tiers it and gives a resource-allocation implication. Use this skill whenever the user claims or questions a competitive advantage, says "is this actually a moat", "what's our competitive advantage", "can competitors copy this", "run VRIO on our X", or is deciding where to invest to defend an edge. Trigger it whenever someone treats a strength as an advantage without testing it. The core lesson: every company has strengths, very few have advantages.

Rates an industry on Porter's Five Forces to judge whether the market is structurally worth competing in, flags dangerous force interactions, and is honest about where the model misleads. Use this skill whenever the user asks how attractive an industry is, says "run Five Forces", "is this a good market to be in", "what's the industry structure", or "how hard is this market". Trigger it whenever the question is about industry attractiveness rather than a company's own position. Do NOT use it to decide whether and how a specific company should enter a market — that is market-entry-analyzer's job. This skill judges the market, not your move.

Diagnoses which strategy framework actually fits a business situation described in plain English, or runs a full opportunity through the six-bucket Opportunity Assessment, and hands off to the right deep-dive tool. Use this skill whenever the user describes a business situation and isn't sure how to approach it, says "what framework should I use", "how would you analyze this", "where do I start with this problem", "should we pursue this opportunity", or dumps a messy situation needing structure. Trigger it whenever someone needs to pick the right analytical approach rather than a specific named framework. It is the anti-cheat-sheet: it teaches which tool fits, and refuses to force one that doesn't.

Diagnoses where a business is losing money by decomposing the profit tree and checking whether the unit economics are structurally sound. Use this skill whenever the user has a profit, margin, or profitability problem, says "our margins are shrinking", "profit is down", "we're growing but not making money", "where are we losing money", or asks whether a business actually makes money per sale. Trigger it whenever financial performance is the question, even if the user hasn't named the profitability framework. It exists to stop the reflex of cutting costs before you know which side the leak is on.

Generates one everyday-life strategy case per session, invites the user's structured attempt, and grades it on framework, hypothesis, and "so what". Use this skill whenever the user wants to practice strategic thinking, says "give me a case", "daily drill", "let me practice", "quiz me on strategy", "help me build the muscle", or wants a repeatable reasoning workout. Trigger it whenever someone wants reps rather than an answer to a real work problem. It turns ordinary observations into practice that makes the strategic mindset reflexive.

Chooses a coherent growth direction by routing a growth goal through whichever lens fits — Ansoff, the BCG matrix, or Blue Ocean — landing on a recommendation through elimination rather than stapling frameworks together. Use this skill whenever the user wants to grow and isn't sure how, says "how should we grow", "we've plateaued", "should we launch a new product or enter a new market", "which growth bet should we make", or is treating several growth options as equally viable. Trigger it whenever the question is which growth move to make, even if no framework is named. Its discipline is elimination before selection.

Walks a market-entry decision through the four buckets in the right order and chooses the entry mode with a Buy/Build/Partner analysis. Use this skill whenever the user is weighing whether to enter a new market, geography, or segment, says "should we expand into X", "should we launch in [country/segment]", "how should we enter this market", "buy build or partner", or is excited about an entry mode before checking whether they can win. Trigger it whenever the question is whether and how to enter a market, even if the user jumps straight to "should we acquire someone". It exists to stop entry-mode excitement from skipping the harder question of the right to win.

Estimates a market with TAM, SAM, and SOM using both a top-down and a bottom-up method, then reconciles the two and states confidence. Use this skill whenever the user needs to size a market or opportunity, says "how big is this market", "what's the TAM", "size this opportunity", "estimate the addressable market", or is about to quote a giant headline number as the answer. Trigger it whenever someone needs a defensible market estimate, even if they don't say "market sizing". Its discipline is that SOM, not TAM, is what actually matters.

Defines the real job a customer hires a product for, builds a needs-based segmentation and target choice, and writes a positioning statement plus the generic strategy it implies. Use this skill whenever the user is working on go-to-market, targeting, messaging, or differentiation, says "who's our target market", "what's our positioning", "why do customers actually buy this", "help me with our GTM", or describes their market as "anyone who cares about X". Trigger it whenever the question is who to serve and how to stand out, even if JTBD, STP, or positioning aren't named. It exists to turn a vague audience into a sharp, defensible position.

Helps the user form a sharp, testable hypothesis early and identify the single fastest test to confirm or kill it, instead of gathering data endlessly. Use this skill whenever someone is drowning in analysis, says "I have too much to look at", "what should I check first", "what's my hypothesis", or is about to research every branch of a problem equally. Trigger it when a user has structured a problem but hasn't yet committed to a point of view, or when they keep gathering information without forming one. Do NOT use it when the problem itself is still vague — run problem-framer first — or when the user is choosing an analytical approach, which is framework-router's job. This is the habit that separates senior strategists from thorough-but-slow analysts.

Builds a MECE issue tree that breaks a business problem into clean, non-overlapping, fully-covering branches drilled deep enough to reach testable hypotheses. Use this skill whenever the user wants to decompose or break down a problem, asks "build me an issue tree", "is this MECE", "map out the possible causes", "what are all the drivers of X", or is staring at a big messy problem and needs structure. Trigger it for both diagnostic problems (why did something happen) and solution problems (how could we achieve a goal). Use it even when the user doesn't say "issue tree" — if they need to structure the possible causes or options behind a problem, this is the tool.

Reads a news article, headline, or business story the way a strategy consultant would — finding the real decision underneath, who faces it, which framework fits, and what you'd need to know to advise. Use this skill whenever the user pastes an article, link, or headline and wants to "case it", "read this like a consultant", "what would a strategist see here", or wants to practice structured thinking on real-world material. Trigger it when someone shares business news and wants analysis beyond a summary, or explicitly wants a daily reasoning drill. It turns free news into reps for building strategic judgment.

Reshapes analysis into a one-page, answer-first recommendation: the recommendation up top, three supporting arguments with evidence, the options eliminated and why, and the risks. Use this skill whenever the user has done the thinking and needs to communicate it, asks to "write my recommendation", "make this a one-pager", "structure my findings", "how do I present this", or has a pile of analysis that needs to become a crisp, persuasive page. Trigger it when someone is about to bury their conclusion at the bottom of a long document, even if they don't ask for a "one pager". This is how you make a decision-maker act on your work.

Helps the user sharpen a vague or messy business problem into one clear, decision-ready question before any analysis begins. Use this skill whenever someone describes a business situation that sounds like a symptom rather than a decision ("revenue is down", "our team is slow", "should we expand?"), asks "what problem am I actually solving", "help me frame this", "how do I scope this", or brings a broad, unfocused ask that needs narrowing before work can start. Trigger it proactively even when the user doesn't say the word "problem" — if they're about to charge into analysis without a defined question, frame it first. Do NOT use it when the question is already sharp: a defined problem that needs decomposition goes to issue-tree-builder, and a defined question that needs a committed point of view goes to hypothesis-first-coach. This is the discipline that prevents weeks spent solving the wrong thing.

Turns an observation, data point, chart, or finding into a real insight — the implication and the action — instead of just restating what happened. Use this skill whenever someone shares a fact, metric, chart, or table and needs to know what it means, asks "so what", "what's the takeaway", "why does this matter", "what should we do about this", or is presenting findings that read as observations rather than conclusions. Trigger it whenever a user has data but hasn't extracted the decision from it, even if they don't use the phrase "so what". This is the instinct that turns a background slide into an actual recommendation.