Strategic Intelligence™ Score Bands

(45-point assessment)

There is no “good” or “bad” score. Each range reflects how decisions are currently being made — not your intelligence, ambition, or potential.

 

🟡 0–15 — Foundation Building

You are operating on instinct and effort — not intelligence yet.

 

What This Means

At this stage, decisions are largely:

• reactive

• intuitive

• driven by urgency or cash stress

• made without clear visibility into numbers, capacity, or constraints

This is not a failure.

Most businesses never get guidance at this stage — which is why so many problems compound later.
It is the normal starting point for most small businesses.

Most owners in this range are:

• doing the work themselves

• wearing every hat

• relying on gut feel and hustle

• making “reasonable” decisions — just without full information

What’s Actually Happening

You are making decisions inside the business, not about the business yet.

That works early — until it doesn’t.

What Matters Most Right Now

Your next step is clarity, not growth.

Focus on:

• basic cash visibility

• identifying your real constraints

• understanding where effort ≠ progress

• stopping decisions that increase stress without payoff

What to Avoid

• scaling tools

• hiring prematurely

• “advanced” strategies that add complexity

• copying what bigger businesses are doing

Translation:
Don’t optimize yet. Don’t expand yet. Build the ground you’re standing on.

Best Next Step:
Foundations / CLARITY / Breakthrough Number work
(Not full strategic execution yet)

Free Workbooks

 

🟠 16–22 — Stabilization & Early Transition

You know things need to be different — but don’t yet know how.

 

What This Means

You’ve started to see:

• repeat problems

• capacity limits

• financial surprises

• decisions that feel heavier than they should

Some structure exists — but it’s inconsistent.

You may:

• review numbers sometimes

• plan occasionally

• document some things

• still rely heavily on memory and heroics

What’s Actually Happening

You are outgrowing intuition, but haven’t replaced it with frameworks yet.

This is where frustration often spikes — not because you’re failing, but because the business is asking for a different way of leading.

This is where owners often feel like they’re working harder and trusting themselves less.

What Matters Most Right Now

• decision frameworks (before strategy)

• constraint identification

• understanding which problems repeat — and why

• stabilizing execution without adding complexity

What to Avoid

• chasing growth to fix discomfort

• adding people to solve structural issues

• mistaking busyness for progress

Translation:
The business isn’t broken.
It’s asking you to lead differently.

Best Next Step:
CLARITY + basic decision frameworks
(Still not full-scale strategy yet)

resources hub

 

🟢 23–35 — Constraint & Transition Management

Your business works — but decisions are starting to drag.

 

What This Means

You have real traction.
Revenue exists.
Customers return.
Demand is proven.

But:

• capacity is strained

• decisions feel slow or risky

• execution doesn’t match opportunity

• you’re revisiting the same questions

You’re no longer guessing — but you’re not fully deliberate either.

What’s Actually Happening

You’re hitting structural limits:

• solo capacity

• systems maturity

• delegation gaps

• sequencing mistakes

This is the most expensive stage to stay in — not because it’s broken, but because mis-timed decisions here have lasting consequences.

What Matters Most Right Now

• constraint diagnosis

• sequencing decisions intentionally

• deciding what kind of business you’re building next

• preventing repeat decision loops

What to Avoid

• reactive hiring

• scaling without clarity

• “just push through” thinking

• assuming effort will fix structure

Translation:
You don’t need more hustle. You need better intelligence.

Best Next Step:
Strategic Intelligence Brief™
(90-day decision clarity + execution alignment)

strategic intelligence brief

 

🔵 36–45 — Strategic Readiness

You are capable of leading deliberately — now it’s about leverage.

 

What This Means

You:

• understand your numbers

• anticipate constraints

• use frameworks (even if imperfectly)

• adjust based on real data

• think in sequences, not reactions

Decisions feel:

• intentional

• grounded

• less emotionally charged

• more predictable

What’s Actually Happening

You’re no longer fighting chaos.
You’re managing complexity.

Your biggest risks now are:

• mis-sequencing

• overconfidence

• under-utilizing leverage

• moving faster than your team or systems can absorb

What Matters Most Right Now

• accelerating execution without destabilizing

• increasing leverage, not workload

• aligning people, systems, and timing

• refining, not reinventing

What to Avoid

• adding complexity for its own sake

• ignoring team absorption limits

• skipping reflection because things “feel fine”

Translation:
You’ve earned the right to move faster — not because you’re immune to mistakes, but because you know how to correct them as long as intelligence stays ahead of action.

Best Next Step:
Advanced SI / Quarterly Planning / Leadership Alignment tools

success studio