The Bottleneck You Did Not Know You Had
You'll see the real decision load on your desk — not your task list, but your actual decisions — and finally spot the bottleneck you didn't know you had.
Leadership & Strategy / Intermediate
The Decision Engine
Use AI to pressure-test strategy, model scenarios, and kill your own bad ideas before they cost you.
The problem
It starts with the situation you're actually in.
The decision costing your organization the most this year is probably one you've already made up your mind about — even though you have the data to know better.
Seven chapters, seven tools. This isn't cynicism — it's a documented pattern in how people adopt process changes.
Outcomes
What you'll be able to do.
The Protocol That Pays for Itself
You'll take any strategic proposal — yours, your team's, or one from a board conversation or a market opportunity too good to ignore — and run it through a protocol that pays for itself.
The Hire Everyone Agreed On
You'll catch what consensus hides: the VP of Product everyone came away impressed by, after three months of searching, a hundred résumés, six finalists, and four interview rounds.
The Compounding Gap
You'll run the pressure-test protocol once, watch the decision get clearer as assumptions surface, and see the gains compound across every decision that follows.
Inside the book
A closer look at the work inside.
Case Study: What Kodak Actually Got Wrong
Kodak's collapse gets blamed on a failure of vision. The sharper diagnosis is a failure of pressure-testing: engineer Steve Sasson built a working digital camera in 1975, and the company patented digital photography extensively through the 1980s and 1990s.
What to Verify Before You Trust AI Output
- I identified whether my prompt asked for structural generation or specific fact retrieval.
- I noted what context the model was missing when it answered.
- I checked any named statistics, studies, organizations, or regulatory claims against a primary source.
- I asked what the model did not include in its response.
- I treated the output as raw material for my analysis, not as a conclusion.
The Problem with the First Response checklist
- I identified whether my prompt asked for structural generation or specific fact retrieval.
- I noted what context the model was missing when it answered.
- I checked any named statistics, studies, organizations, or regulatory claims against a primary source.
- I asked what the model did not include in its response.
- I treated the output as raw material for my analysis, not as a conclusion.
Reading the Output as a Prompt to Your Own Thinking
The mental model behind every exercise: AI output isn't an answer, it's a structured prompt to your thinking. Ask it to critique your market entry strategy and the six objections it returns aren't a verdict on your plan — they're a checklist.
Worked Example: Assumption Surfacing
Say you serve marketing teams and are weighing expansion into a new vertical like HR. Instead of asking the AI "Should we expand into HR?" — a question that invites a vague, non-falsifiable recommendation — you construct a prompt that surfaces the assumptions underneath the decision.
The Decision Engine frameworkInside the book
Visual preview
A diagram you can keep open while you work.
Table of contents
8 chapters, built to be read in order.
01
The Decision Tax — Why Smart People Keep Betting on the Wrong Things
02
Inside the Decision Engine — What AI Actually Does When You Ask It to Think
03
Map Before You Model — Auditing the Decisions You Actually Face
04
The Pressure-Test Protocol — Stress-Testing Strategy with Structured Prompts
05
Running the Futures — Scenario Modeling Without a Data Science Team
06
Kill Your Own Bad Ideas — AI-Powered Pre-Mortems and Red-Team Reviews
07
From One-Off to Operating System — Building a Repeatable AI Decision Workflow
08
Your Decision Charter — Closing the Loop and Running the Engine for Real
160
Pages
20,425
Words
46
Exercises, checklists & tools
8
Chapters
Formats
Three formats. One purchase.
EPUB, PDF, and HTML are included so the book can work on an e-reader, as a designed copy, or as a searchable desk reference.
EPUB
For e-readers and reading apps.
The designed edition with diagrams and layouts intact.
HTML
Searchable, copy-pasteable, and practical as a reference.
Complete guide
The Decision Engine
$9.99
Intermediate guide pricing
- ✓EPUB + PDF + HTML included in one purchase
- ✓8 chapters from the complete guide
- ✓DRM-free files for your own devices
- ✓7-day refund review for duplicate purchases, access issues, wrong files, or materially defective downloads
Secure checkout / instant download / tax handled at checkout
Before you buy
Questions, answered.
Does this include the full book?
Yes. You get the complete edition, including the chapter sequence and internal materials described on this page.
Which formats are included?
EPUB, PDF, and HTML are included so you can read on an e-reader, keep a designed copy, or use the searchable browser version.
What is the refund policy?
Because this is an instant digital download, broad change-of-mind refunds are not offered after the files have been accessed. Refund requests are reviewed within 7 days for duplicate purchases, accidental purchases before access, access failures we cannot fix, wrong files, corrupted files, or pages that materially misdescribe the book.