High Agency

When to use this skill

• Founder and leadership decisions under uncertainty.
• Execution stalls where teams say "blocked" or "impossible."
• Vague constraints that hide solvable problems.
• Cross-functional deadlock with unclear ownership.
• High-stakes moments needing fast, pragmatic action.

How to use this skill

1. Define the decision, objective, timeline, and downside of inaction.
2. Convert vague constraints into specific facts and assumptions.
3. Separate controllables from non-controllables.
4. Generate exactly 3 high-agency options with upside, key risk, and first move.
5. Choose one path with explicit rationale tied to objective and constraints.
6. Build a 24-72h action plan with owners, concrete asks, and deadlines.
7. Define feedback loops: signal, checkpoint, and pivot trigger.
8. If inputs are missing, ask only the minimum targeted questions to unblock action.

Resources

• references/high-agency-principles.md

  - Core doctrine distilled from George Mack.

• references/high-agency-tools.md

  - Daily operating tools with usage conditions and failure modes.

• references/founder-scenarios.md

  - Founder/leadership playbooks for common high-pressure situations.

• templates/high-agency-decision-memo.md

  - Canonical output structure.

• examples/high-agency-decision-memo-example.md

  - Realistic worked example.

Output guidelines

• Default output is the

  High Agency Decision Memo

  template.
• Keep language concrete, operational, and timeboxed.
• Avoid abstract motivational advice.
• Include at least one stakeholder ask that can be sent immediately.
• Do not support illegal, harmful, or manipulative actions; provide a lawful and ethical alternative path.
• Respond in English.

Missing information to ask for

• Decision or objective to resolve now.
• Hard constraints (time, money, team, legal, technical).
• Deadline and decision window.
• Key stakeholders and decision owners.
• Available resources and current leverage.
• Risk tolerance and unacceptable outcomes.

Keywords