Strategy Assessment Inspired By Sun Tzu's Art of War.

This assessment applies Sun Tzu's Five Pillars of Strategy and Method of Strategy to your business. Answer 25 questions to reveal which pillar is your critical weakness — the pillar most likely to cause your defeat. And find out what to do about it.

1. I find it hard to be decisive when it counts — I hesitate or avoid hard calls.
2. My market position feels precarious — I'm not sure what ground I actually own.
3. I have a clear picture of where my business stands relative to competitors.
4. There is strong trust between leadership and the rest of the business.
5. The channels I use to reach customers are unreliable or poorly defended.
6. My employees seem to be here for the paycheck rather than a shared purpose.
7. We keep solving the same problems because there's no discipline in how we operate.
8. There is a gap between what I say our mission is and what we actually do day to day.
9. I have earned genuine trust and followership from my people.
10. My team genuinely believes in the direction we're heading.
11. I have deep knowledge of what my customers truly value and why they choose me.
12. Our core operations depend on improvisation rather than documented systems.
13. I can be too lenient on poor performance or, conversely, too harsh without reason.
14. I am decisive and clear-minded when making business decisions.
15. People in my business don't feel a personal stake in our success.
16. I lack the composure to stay calm and clear-headed when the business is under pressure.
17. Economic or industry trends are shifting, and I don't know how to respond.
18. I haven't chosen my competitive ground deliberately — I'm wherever the market put me.
19. I keep pushing forward without pausing to read whether the environment is favourable.
20. I actively consider how external cycles (seasonal, economic, regulatory) affect my timing.
21. Resources are managed well — I can clearly track where money and time are going.
22. My business feels like it is fighting against the current rather than riding it.
23. If I took a month off, the business would run smoothly without me.
24. I have a clear read on whether the broader market is moving with me or against me.
25. We don't have reliable supply chains, financial controls, or operational logistics.
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