Outside View Brief

The exercise

If you want useful counsel, start by giving a clear outside view of the situation.

Write this as if you were briefing a serious advisor who does not know you.

1. What is happening?
2. What do you want to be different?
3. What have you already tried?
4. What keeps not changing?
5. What are the stakes if this continues?
6. What are you responsible for here?
7. What are you not responsible for here?
8. What have you been avoiding saying plainly?
9. What would someone close to you say you are missing?
10. What would your harshest fair critic say?
11. What would your wisest friend say?
12. What decision, conversation, or action is probably overdue?
13. What kind of help do you think you need: one sharp conversation, sustained advisory, a better plan, a hard conversation, more courage, more information, or something else?
14. Why now?

I completed the Outside View Brief. Help me turn this into a clear summary for someone whose judgment I trust.

Create:
1. A concise version of the situation.
2. The decision, tension, or question I most need help with.
3. The facts that matter most.
4. The assumptions I may be making.
5. Three direct questions I could ask an outside advisor.

Do not add drama. Do not make me sound helpless. Make the brief clear, honest, and useful.

Here are my answers: