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business-adventures-analysis-brooks

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Updated 10-16 08:09

About this skill

Business Adventures Analysis — Skill (John Brooks)

Knowledge source: Business Adventures by John Brooks. Architecture: Orchestrator + 6 subskills. The main SKILL.md routes the user query; subskills execute the diagnostic workflows and own their reference IDs.

business-adventures-analysis-brooks/
├── SKILL.md
├── quotes/
└── subskills/
    ├── m1_failure_diagnosis/
    │   ├── module.md
    │   └── references/case_library.md
    ├── m2_market_panic/
    │   ├── module.md
    │   └── references/case_library.md
    ├── m3_regulatory_risk/
    │   ├── module.md
    │   └── references/case_library.md
    ├── m4_product_innovation/
    │   ├── module.md
    │   └── references/case_library.md
    ├── m5_governance_accountability/
    │   ├── module.md
    │   └── references/case_library.md
    └── m6_fraud_institutional_fragility/
        ├── module.md
        └── references/case_library.md

Skill Purpose

Use this skill to apply John Brooks's Business Adventures as a diagnostic framework for corporate failures, market panics, product launches, governance breakdowns, regulatory risk, fraud, innovation, and financial culture.

The skill does not summarize the book or predict the future by analogy. It maps a live business situation to recurring Brooks patterns: panic, hubris, communication failure, incentive drift, regulatory lag, product-market mismatch, and institutional fragility.

Core Principle

Human nature is the constant; institutions are the variable. Identify the repeating human pattern first, then examine how structure, incentives, rules, timing, and information flow amplify it.

Workflow Inventory

Workflow User question pattern Inputs Steps Output Should be subskill?
Failure diagnosis "Why did this company, product, or strategy fail?" Company/product, timeline, market context, decisions Pattern map, decision chain, warning signals, preventable actions Primary failure pattern and decision correction Yes
Market panic analysis "What is happening in this crash?" Trigger, price moves, liquidity, media, forced sellers Panic phase, technical amplifiers, stabilizers, uncertainty Panic diagnosis and stabilizer map Yes
Regulatory risk review "Is this practice risky?" Practice, disclosure, materiality, enforcement context Materiality, public usability, tolerated-practice risk, rule-change trigger Risk level and action Yes
Product and innovation review "Will this launch or innovation work?" Product, customers, incumbents, distribution, research Timing test, differentiation, incumbent blind spots, commercialization Stop/redesign/accelerate/monitor recommendation Yes
Governance accountability "Is management handling this well?" Board, incentives, crisis response, shareholder/stakeholder power Formal power vs real consequences, incentives, accountability Governance diagnosis Yes
Fraud and institutional fragility "How exposed is this system?" Trust mechanism, counterparties, collateral, disclosure, losses Hidden exposure, responsibility transfer, contagion path, controls Fragility map and safeguards Yes

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when the user asks:

  • "Why did this company, product, or strategy fail?"
  • "Analyze this business case."
  • "What historical pattern does this resemble?"
  • "What would John Brooks say about this crisis?"
  • "Is this governance, compliance, or regulatory behavior a warning sign?"
  • "How do market panics typically unfold?"
  • "What lessons from Edsel, Xerox, Texas Gulf Sulphur, Piggly Wiggly, or the 1962 crash apply here?"

Routing Rules

User question type Must run Optional run
Broad case diagnosis or postmortem M1 Failure Diagnosis M3, M4, M5, or M6 depending on facts
Market crash, liquidity stress, speculative mania, selloff M2 Market Panic M6 if counterparties or technical systems are central
Insider information, disclosure, antitrust, tax, tolerated practice M3 Regulatory Risk M5 if board/executive accountability matters
Product launch, failed product, innovation, incumbent blindness M4 Product and Innovation M1 for full failure postmortem
Board conduct, shareholder power, executive accountability, crisis leadership M5 Governance Accountability M3 if legal exposure is material
Fraud, collateral failure, hidden exposure, systemic support, institutional trust M6 Fraud and Institutional Fragility M2 if panic dynamics are present
User asks only for historical parallel Run the closest single module M1 if the parallel needs a broader diagnosis

Execution Rules

  1. Read only the modules required by the routing table.
  2. If the user gives a broad failure question, run M1 first and then route to the most relevant specialist module.
  3. If the user data is thin, ask for the missing timeline, actors, incentives, disclosures, and consequences before giving a confident diagnosis.
  4. Do not run every module for a narrow question.
  5. Use historical parallels as diagnostic lenses, not as predictions.
  6. Each module owns its reference IDs in references/case_library.md; when citing Brooks-derived claims, use the IDs from the module actually run.

Multi-Module Output Format

## Brooks Pattern Diagnosis
- Situation:
- Primary module:
- Supporting modules:
- Active human pattern:
- Closest historical parallel:

## Diagnostic Chain
- Trigger:
- Decisions:
- Incentives:
- Amplifiers:
- Warning signals:
- Missing facts:

## Risk / Opportunity
- Current risk:
- Latent risk:
- Rule-maker, stabilizer, or accountable actor:
- What would change the diagnosis:

## Recommendation
- Continue / change / stop:
- Immediate action:
- What to monitor:
- Evidence needed next:

## Sources
- REF-...

Subskill Status

Subskill Path Status
M1 Failure Diagnosis subskills/m1_failure_diagnosis/ Available
M2 Market Panic subskills/m2_market_panic/ Available
M3 Regulatory Risk subskills/m3_regulatory_risk/ Available
M4 Product and Innovation subskills/m4_product_innovation/ Available
M5 Governance Accountability subskills/m5_governance_accountability/ Available
M6 Fraud and Institutional Fragility subskills/m6_fraud_institutional_fragility/ Available

CITATION RULES

When the user asks for sources, or when producing a formal analysis, cite the quote files for Brooks-derived principles. Each routed module has a references/case_library.md with stable IDs mapped to the quote files and anchors below.

Quote files:

  • quotes/market-dynamics-quotes.md — market fluctuation, panic psychology, technical breakdown, speculative cycles.
  • quotes/corporate-strategy-quotes.md — product failure, Edsel, Xerox, innovation, corporate decline.
  • quotes/risk-crisis-quotes.md — fraud, crisis, regulation, institutional fragility.
  • quotes/investor-behavior-quotes.md — stockholder power, speculation, Wall Street behavior.
  • quotes/wall-street-wisdom-quotes.md — finance culture and recurring market lessons.

Anchor mapping:

  • market-dynamics-quotes.md: #market-will-fluctuate, #morgans-maxim, #antiperistasis-defined, #expectation-vs-event, #tape-delay-consequences, #panic-psychology, #crisis-creates-chaos, #psychological-gestures, #bellwether-stocks, #round-number-psychology, #specialist-wisdom, #crisis-unfathomable, #speculative-cycles, #sweetness-of-honey
  • corporate-strategy-quotes.md: #edsel-market-research, #car-personality, #edsel-name-decision, #timing-risk, #kaiser-lesson, #styling-decisions, #image-conflict, #copies-stigma, #copies-suspicion, #corner-game, #tragic-flaw, #communication-problem, #corporate-power, #meeting-authority
  • risk-crisis-quotes.md: #insider-information-value, #stacked-deck, #insider-incentive, #haupt-risk, #vegetable-oil-exposure, #exchange-responsibility, #sherman-act, #conspiracy-concealment, #price-fixing-penalty, #central-bank-purpose, #federal-reserve-role, #tax-law-scope, #two-currencies
  • investor-behavior-quotes.md: #never-give-advice, #entertainment-vs-greed, #jokes-as-attraction, #walk-ins-as-indicator, #lunch-hour-selling, #who-sold-in-crash, #mutual-funds-as-stabilizer, #funds-spotted-bargains, #losing-other-peoples-money, #fear-of-fund-redemptions, #air-of-unreality, #public-individuals-role, #margin-call-spiral
  • wall-street-wisdom-quotes.md: #market-fragility, #edsel-lesson, #salad-oil-swindle, #stockholder-decline, #xerox-complacency, #go-go-years, #de-la-vega-observation

Citation format:

> "Author's exact words here."
>
> - [*Business Adventures*, cited excerpt](https://github.com/simbajigege/book2skills/blob/main/skills/business-adventures-analysis-brooks/quotes/market-dynamics-quotes.md#panic-psychology)

Use only exact quote text from the quote files. If no exact quote fits, cite the closest anchor or module reference ID and state that the reasoning is a paraphrased Brooks application.

Do Not

  • Do not treat historical parallels as deterministic forecasts.
  • Do not explain a failure only with personality when incentives or structure made the behavior rational.
  • Do not assume preparation, research, or capital equals product-market fit.
  • Do not treat tolerated practices as safe when materiality, visibility, or public pressure can change enforcement.
  • Do not confuse governance process with accountability.
  • Do not cite quote text unless it appears in quotes/ or a module case_library.md.