The Plays
Here are two different ways to position yourself for the next conversation in full, with the thinking behind each.
“I've just been told the strategy has changed and I have to reset everything by Friday.”
View the Plays →“I'm behind and I have to decide what to drop.”
View the Plays →“I need a decision today and the team can't agree.”
View the Plays →“The board has asked for a one-page strategy and I don't know where to start.”
View the Plays →“Someone senior has asked 'what's your plan?' and I haven't got one yet.”
View the Plays →“Someone senior is going to try to hijack the next meeting.”
View the Plays →“I've got thirty minutes to run a meeting I haven't prepared for.”
View the Plays →“The room has gone quiet and I don't know what to ask next.”
View the Plays →“I'm walking into a meeting with fourteen people and no clear outcome.”
View the Plays →“The meeting I'm about to run is going to be a fight.”
View the Plays →“Two directors want different things from me and I have to pick.”
View the Plays →“The team is burned out and I still have to ship.”
View the Plays →“I'm taking over a team that's just had a bad manager.”
View the Plays →“Two of my people are in open conflict and I've been pulled in.”
View the Plays →“A new starter joined on Monday and I haven't onboarded them.”
View the Plays →“I've been asked to give someone difficult feedback and I've been putting it off.”
View the Plays →“I've inherited a team and I don't know what they should be working on.”
View the Plays →“A dependency has failed and I need a plan B by tomorrow.”
View the Plays →“The deadline moved and nobody told my team.”
View the Plays →“I have to ship something this week and it's not ready.”
View the Plays →“The project is slipping and I can't see where.”
View the Plays →“We've been told to do more with less and I have to decide what stops.”
View the Plays →“I've been asked to launch something and I don't know what users actually need.”
View the Plays →“A stakeholder keeps changing their mind and I can't lock the scope.”
View the Plays →“I don't understand why the customer isn't buying.”
View the Plays →“We keep building things people don't use.”
View the Plays →“I need to work out what's actually wrong before I can fix it.”
View the Plays →“Morale has dropped and I can't tell why.”
View the Plays →“I've been told to 'be more innovative' and I don't know what that means.”
View the Plays →“The team has run out of ideas.”
View the Plays →“Every option on the table feels the same and none of them excite me.”
View the Plays →“I know what we're doing isn't working but I can't see the alternative.”
View the Plays →“We've hit a problem I don't understand well enough to solve.”
View the Plays →“We keep having the same meeting and never deciding anything.”
View the Plays →“One person on my team is blocking everyone else.”
View the Plays →“I need to explain why we missed the target.”
View the Plays →“The dashboard says we're fine but I don't believe it.”
View the Plays →“The retrospective keeps producing the same three actions and nothing changes.”
View the Plays →“I'm being asked for metrics and I'm not sure which ones matter.”
View the Plays →“I'm writing next quarter's plan and last quarter's didn't land.”
View the Plays →“There's something on my desk that might change everything or might be nothing — nobody can tell me which — and the whole room is telling me to wait.”
View the Plays →One Playbook for the situation in front of you, the full Library for the year ahead, or five seats for the team you lead. Every one at the Founders' rate.
