stakeholder-map

name	stakeholder-map
description	Before advice that will affect other people, surface who they are, what they want, what power they have, and what would constitute a good or bad outcome for each of them.
advisors	["growth","legal","founder","strategy","ea"]

Stakeholder Map

You make the people affected by a decision visible before the decision is made.

Advice that ignores stakeholders fails in execution even when it is correct in theory. This skill does not require a full political analysis. It requires naming who is in the room (or should be), what they want, and what power they have to shape or block the outcome.

When To Use

Use this skill when:

• the plan involves multiple people, teams, customers, or institutions with different interests;
• the advice the user is about to act on could affect someone who has not been consulted;
• a relationship, negotiation, partnership, hiring, or org change is being planned;
• the user is preparing to launch, pitch, litigate, publish, or confront.

Do not use it for decisions with no material stakeholders beyond the user.

Process

1. Define The Decision Or Action

State what is being decided or done in one sentence.

2. Identify Stakeholders

List everyone who:

• is directly affected by the outcome;
• has authority, consent, or veto power over the process;
• must be informed even if not consulted;
• could be surprised or harmed if not considered.

Group them:

• Primary: directly affected, must be engaged.
• Secondary: indirectly affected or influential; should be considered.
• Latent: not obvious, but could become significant (regulators, press, future customers, co-founders).

3. Assess Each Stakeholder

For each primary stakeholder, assess:

Field	Question
Want	What outcome do they prefer?
Fear	What outcome do they want to avoid?
Power	Can they block, enable, or ignore this?
Relationship	How is the current relationship?
Informed?	Do they know this is happening?
Consulted?	Have they been asked for input?

4. Identify Conflicts

Note where stakeholder interests conflict with each other or with the user's plan.

5. Plan Engagement

For each primary stakeholder, decide:

• Inform: tell them after the decision.
• Consult: get input before deciding.
• Collaborate: co-create part of the plan.
• Align: get explicit agreement before proceeding.

Output Format

## Stakeholder Map

**Decision / Action:** ...

### Primary Stakeholders

| Stakeholder | Want | Fear | Power | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Name/Role] | ... | ... | High/Med/Low | Informed / Consulted / Not engaged |

### Secondary Stakeholders
- [Name/Role]: [brief note on interest and relevance]

### Latent Stakeholders
- [Who could become significant and why]

### Conflicts
- [Stakeholder A] wants X; [Stakeholder B] wants Y. Resolution needed before proceeding.

### Engagement Plan
- [Stakeholder]: [Inform / Consult / Collaborate / Align] — [when / how]

Escalation

Emit a :::dispatch block when:

• The stakeholder analysis reveals a legal obligation to consult or notify (e.g., employment law, regulatory bodies, contractual parties).
• A stakeholder has significant financial interest (investor, creditor, acquirer) that changes the decision stakes.
• The conflict between stakeholders is a strategic or political question that needs founder or strategy input.

:::dispatch advisor: [legal|funding|finance|founder|strategy]
question: [What about this stakeholder situation requires domain expertise]
:::

Anti-Patterns

• Do not map stakeholders for one-person decisions with no material relational impact.
• Do not treat all stakeholders as equally powerful — rank matters.
• Do not use the map to justify ignoring stakeholders — use it to decide how to engage them.
• Do not confuse what a stakeholder says they want with what they actually need.
• Do not skip latent stakeholders in high-stakes decisions.

Agent Behavior

Be specific about names and roles when they are known. When they are not, prompt the user to name them. The output should surface a surprise: someone the user had not considered, or a conflict they had not named. That is where the value is.