Page 35 · Module 01, Think Like a Strategist · this screen continues that page
All 108 frameworksFirst Principles Thinking
You're stuck because you've inherited a way of doing things that nobody has questioned.
The prompt
Copy & paste readyLabelsReplace theseSwap the role below
Pro tip, from the book
The most valuable output isn't the new idea, it's the list of assumptions you'd never questioned. That list alone is worth running this prompt every quarter.
Who should run this prompt
Module role profileWho should reason through this problem? The quality of your thinking is shaped by whose lens you borrow. A strategist and a risk analyst look at the same problem and see completely different things — both useful, both necessary. Before you prompt, choose who you need in the room. These profiles give you six internal perspectives and four outside views that challenge your assumptions before you commit to them.
Choose any role to drop it into the prompt above. Only the highlighted opening clause changes — the rest of the prompt stays exactly as printed.
◆◆◆◆◆ → ◆ seniority, board level down to specialist◈ outside the organisation
How to make any role sharper
- Add years of experience: "...with 15 years in enterprise SaaS" produces different depth than just the title.
- Add what they care most about: "You care most about [X]" shapes every word of the output.
- Add their communication style: "Be direct. Flag risks first. No jargon." changes the tone entirely.
Use this when
The problem it solvesEvery solution is a variation of the same approach. You need a breakthrough, not an iteration.
How the framework works
From the printed pageFirst principles means decomposing a problem to its fundamental truths, stripping away assumptions, analogies, and 'how it's always done', then rebuilding from scratch. Aristotle formalised it. Physicists rely on it. Founders use it to build things that shouldn't be possible by conventional thinking. Most people reason by analogy instead, copying what already exists with small variations, which is faster but caps you at incremental improvements on someone else's idea.
The method, in four moves
Do these in orderDefine the problem or current approach you want to question.
List every assumption embedded in that approach, write them down.
For each assumption, ask: is this actually true, or is it inherited?
Reconstruct using only the things you know to be genuinely true. Break every assumption. Rebuild from the ground up. Elon Musk used First Principles to reduce SpaceX's rocket cost by 10x. The industry assumption was that rockets cost $65M. He asked: what do the raw materials actually cost? Carbon fibre, aluminium, titanium, copper about $2M. SpaceX built its own rockets for $6M. The assumption was the business model, not the physics. IN PRACTICE
Where the framework comes from
Aristotle — applied as business thinking by Elon Musk, popularised 2012–2018
Pairs well with
As printed with this frameworkModule 01 — Think Like a Strategist
Learn to work with AI. Then learn to think. Both are non-negotiable.
13 frameworks, printed on pages 22–47.
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