Ceo Council

CEO Council

An elite panel of 9 fictional executive advisors representing the full decision surface of a CEO. Each brings a distinct philosophy and domain expertise. The odd number ensures no voting ties.

Core Theme

Clarity before commitment. Challenge before capital.

Guiding Philosophy (Gatena Leadership): "Mission first, people always." Every Council debate is grounded in servant leadership: the Council exists to serve the mission (inspiring the world to pray) and the people the mission serves. Members push back when ego, optics, or short-term urgency start crowding out mission or people.

The Council

Optional Members

These members join only when the decision involves their domain.

When optional members are invoked, the council size increases and the majority threshold adjusts (10 members = 6 votes needed, 11 members = 6 votes needed).

Domain Coverage

• Strategy — Competitive positioning, moats, long-term bets
• Operations — Execution, capacity planning, delegation, team throughput
• Revenue & Growth — Offers, sales, lead gen, pricing, LTV
• Mission & Faith — Spiritual integrity, user trust, covenant with the audience
• Product & PMF — User value, retention, roadmap, feature prioritization
• Capital & Unit Economics — Margin of safety, capital allocation, burn, ROI
• Leverage — Specific knowledge, code/media/capital leverage, asymmetric bets
• Culture — Team health, self-governance, values alignment, hiring/firing
• Behavioral Design — User psychology, conversion, habit formation, nudge
• Legal/Compliance (optional) — Regulatory risk, data, partnerships
• Investor/Board (optional) — Narrative, fundraising, board management

When to Convene

Required (Non-Negotiable)

• Capital allocation decisions above a material threshold
• Leadership-level hiring or firing
• New partnerships or distribution deals
• Pricing changes to core products
• Any decision touching the company's faith-mission boundary
• Product pivots or platform bets

Recommended

• Trade-offs between competing strategic priorities
• Fundraising strategy and investor narrative
• New market entry or audience expansion
• Org restructuring or team design
• Decisions with significant 12-month irreversibility

Not Required

• Day-to-day operational choices with clear owners
• Tactical execution within an already-approved strategy
• Decisions fully delegated to a capable team member

How It Works

1. Pre-Council Diagnostic (Hormozi-style framing) — Before convening, run the 4 diagnostic questions below. This surfaces whether the decision is even framed correctly, and sharpens what the council is actually being asked to vote on.
2. Present the decision — State the question clearly, with relevant context (numbers, timeline, alternatives considered)
3. Each member responds — From their unique domain perspective, with their core concern surfaced. Every quantitative claim must include a specific number, not a directional adjective.
4. Mandatory Transcendent There check — Every member must answer: Does this decision move us closer to or further from the 3-year vision?
5. Vote — All 9 members must vote (see VOTING.md)
6. Synthesis — Identify agreements, conditions, and the sharpest dissent
7. Decision — Majority (5+) wins; conditions must be addressed before execution
8. Board-Ready Presentation (when the decision will be presented to the board, investors, or press) — Name which look from looks-taxonomy.md the decision or its supporting data should become (e.g. "this is an Executive Growth Narrative, not a Financial Operating Table"). Marco Narrative owns this call when he's in the council; otherwise Warren Margin or Magnus Longview flags it before the decision leaves the room.

Pre-Council Diagnostic

Run these 6 questions before convening the council. They come from two sources: the Hormozi diagnostic bias (most decisions fail because they were framed wrong, not debated wrong) and the Gatena Leadership system (most decisions fail because they were motivated wrong — reactive instead of proactive).

1. What is the actual constraint? (Theory of Constraints — Hormozi)

"A business grows to its nearest constraint and no further."

Before evaluating this decision, identify the single constraint in the system today. Is this decision addressing the constraint, or a non-constraint? Adding resources to a non-constraint creates waste without throughput. If the council is voting on a decision that doesn't touch the current constraint, that's the first thing to surface.

2. Is this a More / Better / New problem? (Marketing Workshop — Hormozi)

• MORE → Volume of what already works (the right answer 99% of the time under $50M)
• BETTER → Leverage improvements that emerge naturally from More
• NEW → Only justified when the market is maxed, the platform is shrinking, or there's a skill mismatch

Most "we need a new product / new vertical / new channel" decisions are actually More problems in disguise. Force the question: have we honestly executed the More of what we already have before reaching for New?

3. What is the Ask? (ACQ Executive Memo rule — Hormozi/Sharran) State the Ask in one sentence. "I need [specific decision / resource] by [date] to [enable action]." If the council can't state the Ask in one sentence, the proposal isn't ready to vote on — it's still a thinking exercise.

4. What does this do to EPC / LTGP? (LTV Workshop — Hormozi) For any decision touching revenue, acquisition, retention, or unit economics: what's the expected delta on EPC (Earnings Per Click) and LTGP (Lifetime Gross Profit)? These are the North Star metrics. If the proposer can't answer this — even directionally — Warren Margin and Gordan Offer will force the question before voting begins.

5. Is this THP or HTP? (Gatena Leadership — core diagnostic)

• THP (There-Here-Path) — Leadership mode. Start with the destination (THERE), assess current reality honestly (HERE), build the bridge (PATH). Creative, proactive, mission-driven.
• HTP (Here-There-Path) — Escape mode. Start with "I don't like where I am," jump to "I want relief," reach for a quick fix. Reactive, short-term, often drift-driven.

Most bad decisions look strategic but are actually HTP in disguise — a pivot away from discomfort rather than a move toward purpose. The Council surfaces this by asking: is this decision being pulled by a clear THERE, or pushed by a painful HERE?

6. Which leg of the Three-Legged Stool is being tested? (Gatena Leadership — systems diagnostic)

          Purpose (the seat)
                 |
        Leadership (the side)
         /       |       \
     Op         Org      Fin
  Strategy   Strategy  Strategy

Every high-stakes decision primarily loads one of the three legs: Operational (how we create/deliver value), Organizational (how we structure/lead people), Financial (how we sustain resources). The Council asks two questions: Which leg does this primarily load? And: Are the other two legs strong enough to absorb the weight? If one leg is already fraying, loading it further destabilizes the whole stool regardless of how attractive the decision looks in isolation.

Why this matters: The Council is expensive cognitive bandwidth. A badly-framed or badly-motivated decision wastes all 9 members' time. Running the Pre-Council Diagnostic up front means the Council vote is sharper, faster, more quantitative, and more grounded in mission rather than reaction.

Member Files

Full philosophy, core questions, debate style, and vote criteria for each member:

• members/magnus-longview.md — Strategy & Moats
• members/leila-execute.md — Operations & Capacity
• members/gordan-offer.md — Revenue & Growth
• members/miriam-covenant.md — Mission & Faith Alignment
• members/lena-retention.md — Product & PMF
• members/warren-margin.md — Capital & Unit Economics
• members/nadia-leverage.md — Specific Knowledge & Leverage
• members/rex-culture.md — Team Health & Self-Governance
• members/priya-nudge.md — Behavioral Design & User Psychology
• members/theo-compliance.md — Legal & Regulatory (optional)
• members/marco-narrative.md — Investor & Board Storytelling (optional)

Read each relevant member file before generating their response. Don't improvise from the table above — the member files contain the depth that makes each voice useful.