STRATEGIC FRICTION
THE DIAGNOSTIC BRIEF
If you're stuck or stalled, it's not because you're lacking skills, knowledge or that there is something 'wrong' with you.
It's because you are running a strategy that doesn't fit how you actually operate.
The plan makes sense. The next steps are obvious. You could tell someone else exactly what to do in your situation.
But you're not doing it. Or you're doing it and it's not working. Or you keep starting over with a better version of the same approach.
That's not a discipline problem.
That's a structural mismatch between your strategy and how you're actually built.
I call it Strategic Friction.
What Strategic Friction Looks Like
- Decisions that should take a day take three weeks
- Execution that requires constant force to maintain
- Success that somehow still feels heavy
- The same problems showing up wearing different clothes
Most people experience this as personal failure. They think they need more accountability, more clarity, more discipline.
They're solving the wrong problem.
Over 200+ diagnostic conversations, I've found the real constraint is rarely what people think it is.
It's usually one of three friction types, and until you see which one is operating, no amount of strategy fixes anything.
The Diagnostic Brief
I've written a complete breakdown of how Strategic Friction gets diagnosed and what happens when the real constraint becomes visible.
The actual methodology, laid out so you can understand the process with and decide if this work is relevant for you.
What's inside:
- The three friction types: (Identity, Reality, Permission) and how to recognise which is operating in you
- How the diagnostic session works: the "Empty Chair" approach that starts with your patterns, not a model
- What you receive: your Strategic Friction Map and 30-90 Day Alignment Brief
- What tends to shift: when the mismatch is finally visible, decisions speed up, execution becomes reliable, the business starts to fit. Read extended case studies from real client sessions.
- Logistics: The investment, the process, and how to book
Access The Diagnostic Brief
Enter your first name and email address below to receive access to the brief.
I'm Mark Austin. I work with entrepreneurs who know what to do but can't seem to do it. Most have already spent thousands on programmes and coaches.
They don't need more tactics. They need to see what's actually in the way.
I've trained across coaching, consulting, and therapy, but I don't practise any of them in isolation.
Twenty-five years building businesses. Fifteen working with founders on strategy and execution. Thousands of hours in conversations most advisors never have.
The work sits where those disciplines meet: commercial reality, psychological structure, and the questions that don't resolve cleanly.
That's where friction lives. That's where this work operates.
When you're ready, the chair is waiting.