What matters most.

Why this matters

Step 2 clarified what must hold. Step 3 is where you choose what matters most.

This step helps you decide:

• where effort concentrates,
• what stops,
• what changes,
• what resources move,
• and what risk you are deliberately accepting.

Part 1: From problems to priorities

Restate the problem

Bring forward the biggest problem named in Step 2.

Generate possibilities

Before narrowing, widen.

Test the strongest candidates

Pick your 2–3 strongest candidates from above.

Name the priorities

Now name what you're actually committing to.

Test each priority:

• Does this strengthen our higher intent / preferred future?
• Does this reflect our chosen role?
• Does this help resolve a key tension?
• Does this play to our mission or competitive advantage?

If not, it is probably not a priority.

Resolve key tensions

Return to the enduring tensions from Step 1.

Part 2: Trade-offs and actions

Guidance:

• No-regret moves: robust across all plausible futures named in Step 1 — the safe bets.
• Options to keep open: worth watching or piloting, but not yet worth full commitment.
• Contingent moves: name the trigger. Without a named trigger, this is just a wish, not a plan.
• Subtraction: the discipline check. If this is empty, return to the priorities and posture nothing survives forever, and an empty subtraction list usually means the hard calls haven't been made yet.

Part 3: Resource alignment

You can’t have strategy without resource movement

If resource lines do not shift, you need to go back to examining your trade-offs

Part 4: Risk implications

Every strategic decision shifts risk.

Good strategy reduces some risks and deliberately accepts others.