Business Strategist

Here are 25 powerful and sophisticated prompts for a Business Strategist, formatted for immediate use.

Category 1: Market & Competitive Intelligence

1. The “Second-Order Effects” Analysis
Act as a senior market intelligence analyst. My primary competitor, [Competitor Name], has just announced [specific strategic move, e.g., ‘a major acquisition of a data analytics firm,’ ‘a 30% price cut on their flagship product,’ or ‘an expansion into the Southeast Asian market’]. Analyze the potential second- and third-order effects of this move on the market, our company [Our Company Name], key suppliers, and customer expectations over the next 18 months. Present your analysis in a memo format, highlighting non-obvious opportunities and threats.

2. The “Strategic Blind Spot” Identifier
I am a Chief Strategy Officer for [Company Name], a leader in the [Industry] industry. I worry about complacency. Based on the theories of Clayton Christensen on disruptive innovation and Rita McGrath on transient competitive advantage, analyze our current business model and market position. Identify the top five most plausible strategic blind spots or unexamined assumptions that could leave us vulnerable to disruption. For each blind spot, describe the profile of a potential disruptor who could exploit it.

3. The “Analogous Market” Inspiration
Generate a strategic analysis by drawing parallels between my industry, [Your Industry], and a completely different industry, [Analogous Industry, e.g., ‘the 1990s personal computer industry,’ ‘the direct-to-consumer mattress industry,’ or ‘the SaaS B2B software industry’]. Identify three key strategic lessons or innovative business model tactics from the analogous industry that my company, [Company Name], could adapt to create a new competitive advantage. Explain the rationale for each adaptation.

4. The “Geopolitical Risk & Opportunity” Scenario Planner
Assume the role of a geopolitical strategist at a global consulting firm. My company, [Company Name], has significant operations in [Region/Country]. A new major event, [e.g., ‘a trade tariff policy change,’ ‘a significant regulatory shift on data privacy,’ or ‘a supply chain disruption due to a natural event’] is unfolding. Develop three distinct scenarios (optimistic, pessimistic, and neutral/adaptive) for the next 24 months. For each scenario, outline the key commercial risks, operational challenges, and potential strategic opportunities we should be preparing for.

5. The “Customer Job-to-be-Done” Re-Framing
Using the ‘Jobs-to-be-Done’ (JTBD) framework, analyze the core functional, social, and emotional ‘jobs’ that customers are ‘hiring’ our product, [Product/Service Name], to do. Then, identify three adjacent or entirely new ‘jobs’ that our customers have, which are currently being ignored by the entire industry. For each new JTBD, brainstorm a high-level concept for a service or feature that would address it.

Category 2: Internal Analysis & Capability Building

6. The “VRIO Core Competency” Audit
I need to assess the true strength of my company’s, [Company Name], core competencies. Take the following list of our stated capabilities: [List 3-5 capabilities, e.g., ‘our proprietary logistics software,’ ‘our brand reputation,’ ‘our R&D team’]. For each one, perform a rigorous VRIO analysis (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization). Output the results in a table. Conclude with a summary that identifies which competencies are truly sustainable competitive advantages versus those that are temporary or merely competitive parity.

7. The “Strategic Coherence” Stress Test
Analyze the following three key strategic initiatives my company is pursuing:

[Initiative A, e.g., ‘Aggressively expand into the mid-market segment’]

[Initiative B, e.g., ‘Invest heavily in AI to automate internal processes’]

[Initiative C, e.g., ‘Launch a premium, high-touch service tier’]
Critique the strategic coherence between these initiatives. Identify potential areas of conflict, resource cannibalization, or brand dissonance. Suggest specific modifications to improve their synergy and alignment with our overarching goal of [State overarching goal].

8. The “Resource-Pathway” Model
Develop a resource-pathway model for our goal to become [Strategic Goal, e.g., ‘the market leader in sustainable manufacturing’]. Start by identifying the critical tangible resources (capital, technology) and intangible resources (brand equity, talent, partnerships) we need. Then, map out the most efficient strategic pathways (e.g., build, buy, or partner) to acquire or develop each of these resources over the next three years. Highlight the most critical-path dependencies.

9. The “Culture as a Moat” Assessment
My company, [Company Name], describes its culture as [e.g., ‘fast-paced, innovative, and customer-centric’]. Act as an organizational design consultant and analyze how this culture might function as either a strategic moat or a significant liability in achieving our future strategy of [Future Strategy, e.g., ‘entering the highly-regulated healthcare market’ or ‘undergoing a major merger’]. Identify three cultural strengths to amplify and three cultural liabilities to mitigate.

10. The “De-Biasing” Strategy Review
I have attached our draft strategy document for [Project Name]. Please review it through the lens of common cognitive biases in corporate decision-making (e.g., confirmation bias, sunk-cost fallacy, groupthink, anchoring). Identify specific phrases, assumptions, or projections in the document that may be influenced by these biases. For each identified issue, suggest a ‘de-biasing’ question or alternative analytical approach to challenge the team’s thinking.

Category 3: Strategy Formulation & Innovation

11. The “Blue Ocean” Canvas Creator
I am a strategist in the crowded [Industry] market. My company is [Company Name]. Generate a Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas for my industry. First, map out the principal factors the industry currently competes on. Then, propose a new value curve for my company by applying the Four Actions Framework: Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, and Create. Describe the new market space this strategy would open up.

12. The “Business Model Canvas” Innovator
Deconstruct the business model of [Company Name] using the nine blocks of the Business Model Canvas. Now, acting as a disruptive innovator, generate three alternative Business Model Canvases for my company. Each alternative must pivot on a different key component:

A model that radically changes the Customer Segments and Channels.

A model that revolutionizes the Revenue Streams and Cost Structure.

A model that leverages a new Key Partnership to transform the Value Proposition.

13. The “Ansoff Matrix 2.0”
Apply the Ansoff Matrix (Market Penetration, Product Development, Market Development, Diversification) to my company, [Company Name], in the [Industry] industry. However, for each of the four quadrants, generate two distinct strategic options: one that is a conventional, incremental move and one that is a bold, digitally-native, or platform-based move. This will create a total of eight strategic options.

14. The “Wardley Map” Scoping
I want to create a Wardley Map for my business, which is [briefly describe business, e.g., ‘an online e-commerce platform for handmade goods’]. Start by identifying the core user needs. Then, map out the value chain components required to meet those needs, from the most visible to the user (e.g., website interface) down to the invisible commodities (e.g., cloud hosting, payment processing). Specify which components should be treated as custom-built, products/rentals, or commodities/utilities, and explain the strategic implications of this mapping.

15. The “First Principles” Deconstruction
Apply ‘First Principles Thinking’ to deconstruct the fundamental problem we are trying to solve for our customers. Our business is [Business Description]. Instead of reasoning by analogy (i.e., ‘what have other companies done?’), break down the customer’s core need and the components of a solution to their absolute, irreducible truths. From this foundation, generate a novel and unconventional strategic approach to solving that customer problem.

Category 4: Scenario Planning & Risk Mitigation

16. The “Pre-Mortem” Analysis Facilitator
Act as an independent facilitator for a ‘pre-mortem’ exercise. Our company, [Company Name], is about to launch a major strategic initiative: [Describe initiative, e.g., ‘Project Titan, our entry into the European market’]. The prompt’s user (me) will be the project lead. Imagine the project has failed spectacularly one year from now. Your task is to generate a list of the most plausible and insightful reasons for its failure, covering internal factors (execution, culture, resources) and external factors (market, competition, regulation). Frame these as a diagnostic report.

17. The “Red Team” Critique
You are a ‘Red Team’ of external strategists hired to find every flaw in our new corporate strategy. The strategy is as follows: [Concisely summarize the 3-5 key pillars of the strategy]. Your mission is to provide a mercilessly honest critique. Identify logical fallacies, unchallenged assumptions, potential points of catastrophic failure, and how our primary competitor, [Competitor Name], could exploit our plan. Do not offer solutions, only vulnerabilities.

18. The “2×2 Scenario Matrix” Builder
I need to develop a set of plausible future scenarios for the [Industry] industry over the next decade. Identify the two most critical and uncertain driving forces (e.g., ‘Pace of AI Adoption’ and ‘Degree of Regulatory Intervention’). Use these two axes to create a 2×2 scenario matrix. For each of the four resulting quadrants, give it a memorable name and write a compelling narrative describing what the world looks like in that scenario and the primary strategic imperative for a company like mine.

19. The “Antifragile” Strategy Design
Drawing on Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s concept of Antifragility, review our current strategic plan: [Briefly summarize plan]. Identify which parts of our strategy are robust (resist shock), which are fragile (break under stress), and which are non-existent but could be antifragile (gain from disorder). Propose three strategic modifications that would make our organization more antifragile, allowing us to benefit from market volatility, unexpected events, and stressors.

20. The “Early Warning Signals” System
For our primary strategic goal of [State Goal], I need to develop a system of early warning signals. Identify a list of 10-15 leading indicators (both quantitative and qualitative) that would suggest our strategy is either succeeding ahead of schedule or is beginning to fail. For each indicator, specify the data source we should monitor and the threshold or change that would trigger a strategic review.

Category 5: Communication & Implementation

21. The “Strategic Narrative” Architect
Craft a compelling ‘strategic narrative’ to communicate our company’s new direction to all employees. The old strategy was [Old Strategy] and the new strategy is [New Strategy]. The narrative must not be a list of bullet points. Instead, structure it like a story with four parts:

The Setting: Briefly describe our current market and position.

The Inciting Incident: Explain the change or opportunity that makes our new strategy necessary.

The Climax/Turning Point: Detail the new strategy as the heroic solution.

The Resolution: Paint a vivid picture of the successful future state we are aiming for.

22. The “Balanced Scorecard” Developer
Develop a draft Balanced Scorecard to help us translate our new strategy into a measurable action plan. Our core strategic objective is [Strategic Objective]. For each of the four perspectives (Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes, and Learning & Growth), propose 2-3 specific objectives, the key metrics (KPIs) to measure them, ambitious but realistic targets, and one key initiative to achieve them. Present this in a table.

23. The “Strategy-to-Execution” Bridge
My company struggles to bridge the gap between high-level strategy and day-to-day execution. Our new strategy is [New Strategy]. Create a clear, one-page memo that translates this high-level strategy into specific, actionable guidelines for mid-level managers in the [Specific Department, e.g., ‘Marketing,’ ‘Operations,’ or ‘Product Development’] department. The memo should answer three questions for them: What should we START doing? What should we STOP doing? What should we CONTINUE doing?

24. The “Stakeholder Alignment” Map
For our new strategic initiative, [Initiative Name], I need to ensure stakeholder alignment. Create a Power/Interest Grid analysis for the following stakeholders: [List of 4-6 stakeholders, e.g., ‘Board of Directors,’ ‘Engineering Team Lead,’ ‘Key Customers,’ ‘Investors,’ ‘Regulators’]. Place each stakeholder in the appropriate quadrant (Keep Satisfied, Manage Closely, Monitor, Keep Informed) and, most importantly, propose a specific communication tactic or engagement action for each one to secure their buy-in.

25. The “CEO’s One-Page Briefing” Synthesizer
I have provided you with three documents: a 20-page market research report, a 15-page internal capabilities audit, and a 10-page financial projection. Your task is to synthesize all of this information into a crisp, powerful one-page strategic briefing memo for the CEO. The memo must be structured with the following headings: 1) Situation Analysis, 2) Core Strategic Challenge, 3) Proposed Strategic Options (with pros and cons for each), and 4) Final Recommendation. The language must be decisive and data-driven.