Imaginal AI editorial library
Better decisions need more than more answers.
Substantive guides across strategic decisions, business, philosophy, psychology, ethics, leadership, economics, negotiation, advisory councils, and evidence-based review.
Subscribe to resource updates →Foundations
Understand the system before you trust it.
Explore this topic →AI mentoring
What is an AI mentor? A practical definition, limits, and evaluation guide
Understand what an AI mentor can responsibly do, how source grounding changes the experience, and what to test before trusting one with a decision.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free ai mentor evaluation scorecardRead guide and use the field kit →
Comparison guide
AI mentor vs AI coach vs chatbot: which kind of support do you need?
Compare AI mentors, AI coaches, general chatbots, and human advisors by evidence, continuity, accountability, expertise, and decision risk.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free support-type selection matrixRead guide and use the field kit →
Trust and method
Know where an answer came from.
Explore this topic →Grounding method
How corpus-grounded AI mentors work: retrieval, citations, and boundaries
A plain-language guide to isolated mentor corpora, retrieval before generation, passage citations, insufficiency, and cross-corpus safeguards.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free corpus-grounding inspection checklistRead guide and use the field kit →
Trust and rights
Source rights and provenance for AI mentor corpora
See how edition records, territorial rights, translation review, checksums, source attestations, private uploads, and deletion gates work.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free ai corpus provenance release checklistRead guide and use the field kit →
Councils
Build a room with productive disagreement.
Explore this topic →Council design
How to build an AI advisory council for a real mission
Design an Imaginal Council by defining the mission, assigning functional seats, preserving disagreement, and converting counsel into accountable action.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free ai advisory council design canvasRead guide and use the field kit →
Personal advisory board
How to build a personal board of advisors—and make it operational
Create a personal board of advisors with clear seats, meeting rhythms, decision records, human and AI members, and practical accountability.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free personal board charter and seat mapRead guide and use the field kit →
Council quality
Cognitive diversity in decision-making: design disagreement that improves the work
Build useful cognitive diversity by separating roles, sources, assumptions, and incentives—then preserve independent views before synthesis.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free cognitive-diversity seat plannerRead guide and use the field kit →
Leadership council
How to build a leadership advisory council with distinct roles
Create a leadership advisory council that separates strategy, operations, people, power, ethics, and dissent before turning counsel into accountable action.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free leadership advisory council charterRead guide and use the field kit →
Business and strategy
Pressure-test consequential choices.
Explore this topic →Founder strategy
How founders can use an AI advisory board without outsourcing judgment
A founder-focused guide to using multiple AI mentors for positioning, economics, operations, organisational design, red-teaming, and review.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free founder advisory-board decision briefRead guide and use the field kit →
Decision framework
A strategic decision-making framework for complex, consequential choices
Use a seven-part strategic decision framework to define the choice, map assumptions, compare options, preserve dissent, and schedule review.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free seven-part strategic decision briefRead guide and use the field kit →
Uncertainty
Decision-making under uncertainty: how to act without pretending to know
Learn to separate uncertainty from risk, use reversible moves, seek disconfirming evidence, set thresholds, and update decisions without shame.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free uncertainty register and action planRead guide and use the field kit →
Adversarial review
How to run a red-team council and pre-mortem without creating theatre
Use a structured red-team and pre-mortem process to identify failure mechanisms, assign evidence, set triggers, and strengthen a real decision.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free red-team and pre-mortem worksheetRead guide and use the field kit →
Economic reasoning
Opportunity cost in business decisions: a practical comparison framework
Compare the next-best use of money, time, attention, people, and strategic position instead of treating the visible price as the full cost of a choice.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free opportunity-cost comparison sheetRead guide and use the field kit →
Systems thinking
Second-order thinking: how to examine consequences beyond the first result
Map behavioural responses, feedback loops, dependencies, precedent, delayed effects, and adaptation before a locally sensible decision creates wider harm.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free second-order consequence mapRead guide and use the field kit →
Competitive strategy
A competitive analysis framework for startups and strategic decisions
Analyse customer alternatives, competitors, capabilities, incentives, likely responses, uncertainty, and strategic choices beyond a static feature table.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free startup competitive-analysis evidence boardRead guide and use the field kit →
Practice and review
Turn insight into an operating cadence.
Explore this topic →Execution system
From advice to action: turn counsel into commitments and learning
Convert mentor conversations into a decision, owner, dated commitment, success signal, follow-up, block diagnosis, and evidence-based review.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free counsel-to-commitment ledgerRead guide and use the field kit →
Learning loop
How to run an after-action review that improves the next decision
Use a concise after-action review to compare intent with reality, separate decision quality from outcome, capture surprises, and update the system.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free after-action review agendaRead guide and use the field kit →
Decision practice
How to keep a decision journal: a practical template for better judgment
Use a decision journal to record context, options, assumptions, confidence, dissent, triggers, and results without letting hindsight rewrite the choice.
7 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free copy-ready decision journal templateRead guide and use the field kit →
Philosophy and ethics
Test duties, consequences, character, and judgment.
Explore this topic →Philosophical method
Socratic questioning for better decisions: a practical guide for leaders
Use Socratic questions to define claims, test evidence, uncover assumptions, examine consequences, and improve a decision without turning dialogue into theatre.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free socratic decision-question ladderRead guide and use the field kit →
Philosophy in practice
Stoic decision-making under pressure: control, judgment, and deliberate action
Apply Stoic distinctions to high-pressure decisions without confusing acceptance with passivity, suppressing emotion, or ignoring evidence and consequences.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free stoic pressure-decision cardRead guide and use the field kit →
Ethical judgment
An ethical decision-making framework for business and leadership
Use duties, consequences, character, rights, stakeholders, reversibility, and public defensibility to examine difficult organisational choices.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free five-lens ethical decision recordRead guide and use the field kit →
Psychology and teams
Design for bias, voice, learning, and behaviour.
Explore this topic →Decision psychology
Cognitive biases in business decisions: a practical audit for teams
Audit business decisions for confirmation, anchoring, availability, overconfidence, sunk-cost, status, and outcome bias without turning bias labels into blame.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free business decision bias auditRead guide and use the field kit →
Team psychology
Psychological safety and constructive dissent: how teams surface risk
Build a team climate where people can question, report errors, challenge authority, and disagree constructively while preserving standards and accountability.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free constructive-dissent meeting protocolRead guide and use the field kit →
Leadership and operations
Translate authority into accountable action.
Explore this topic →Operating leadership
A delegation and accountability framework for leaders and teams
Delegate outcomes with clear authority, constraints, resources, checkpoints, escalation rules, and review—without micromanaging or abandoning responsibility.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free delegation and accountability charterRead guide and use the field kit →
Negotiation practice
A negotiation preparation framework: interests, alternatives, authority, and process
Prepare a negotiation by mapping interests, alternatives, evidence, authority, concessions, process, ethics, implementation, and walk-away conditions.
6 minute read · Updated 31 July 2026Worked example + free negotiation preparation briefRead guide and use the field kit →