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Leadership Strategy: Quickly Identify and Manage Assumptions

Great leaders don’t just lead. They question what they think they know. A smart leadership strategy starts by identifying and managing assumptions. Use the Known Knowns PowerPlay™ to align your team and reduce risk. If you want to be a better leader, stop making assumptions.

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Strong leadership strategy begins with clarity, and clarity begins with challenging your assumptions. In fast-moving environments, untested assumptions can derail execution, misalign teams, and create blind spots in decision-making.

That’s why my Known Knowns PowerPlay™ is a critical tool for modern leaders. Adapted from military strategy, this framework helps you identify and manage the assumptions driving your plans before they harden into risks.

The danger lies not in making assumptions, but in mistaking them for facts. This phenomenon, sometimes called the “ossification of assumptions,” can silently undermine even the most well-intentioned strategies. But you can stop it with a simple shift: a structured approach that separates what you truly know from what you only think you know.

The Known Knowns framework gives leaders a fast, repeatable way to:

• Align teams around verified information

• Expose hidden gaps in understanding

• Strengthen strategic decision-making

And no, you don’t need a military background to use it. Known Knowns is practical, accessible, and designed for leaders at every level.

Known Knowns: A Technique to Help You Identify and Manage Assumptions

Known Knowns quickly answers three basic questions to help you identify and manage assumptions:

• What assumptions do we know (validated)?
• What assumptions can we know but have not validated?
• What assumptions can we not know?

Watch the Known Knowns PowerPlay™ video and download the Quick Reference Guide here.

• Identify an opportunity with one of your teams to validate their assumptions prior to executing their plan.
• Use the PowerPlay™ to identify which assumptions are in the Known Unknown category that should be validated prior to execution.
• Have the team track the assumptions and their validations to completion.

Ready to Elevate Your Leadership Strategy?

If you’re looking to future-proof your leadership and drive smarter decision-making, explore my Lead for Tomorrow and Map vs. Terrain keynotes. These sessions go beyond theory to equip you with actionable tools—like the Known Knowns framework—to lead with clarity, agility, and impact. Discover how to navigate uncertainty, challenge assumptions, and align your team for success. Contact me to learn more and book your keynote.