Most strategic planning fails because it starts in the wrong place. Companies benchmark competitors without understanding why those strategies work. They extrapolate trends without considering structural changes. They assume what worked before will work again.

First principles strategic planning takes a different approach. Instead of asking "What are our competitors doing?" or "What did we do last year?", we ask: "What are we actually trying to achieve? What would have to be true for us to succeed? What constraints are genuinely immovable?"

In this topic, you will learn to build strategy from fundamental truths. You will identify your real objectives (not just the ones that sound good), surface the assumptions underlying your current approach, and construct plans that are grounded in reality rather than convention.