The Constitution Model

Rented frameworks versus owned constitutions

The business world is saturated with frameworks. OKRs, EOS, Scaling Up, the Balanced Scorecard — each promises to bring order to chaos. Some of them are good. Most are useful in parts. But they all share a structural limitation: they are rented.

A rented framework is designed for general application. It works across industries, which means it works deeply in none. It requires ongoing interpretation by the founder, which means it depends on the same person it was supposed to liberate. And it creates allegiance to the framework itself rather than to the specific reality of the business using it. When the framework does not fit, the instinct is to force the business into the framework rather than adapting the framework to the business.

A constitution is different. A constitution is not a general framework applied to your business — it is a codification of how your specific business makes decisions, derived from your specific context, constraints, and values. You own it completely. It does not expire when a subscription lapses or when a consultant leaves.

What a Decision Constitution contains

Identity anchors. What the business is, who it serves, what it will not do. These are not aspirational statements — they are operational constraints. An identity anchor is a decision filter: when an opportunity arises, the anchor tells you whether it is within scope before you spend energy evaluating it.

Decision rights matrix. Who decides what, at what thresholds, with what escalation paths. This is the single most impactful component. Most governance failures trace back to unclear authority. The matrix makes authority explicit, which makes accountability possible, which makes delegation real instead of theoretical.

Decision cadence. When decisions get made, in what sequence, at what intervals. Weekly, monthly, quarterly rhythms with defined agendas and outputs. Cadence prevents the two most common failure modes: accumulation (decisions pile up until crisis forces them) and reactivity (decisions get made whenever stimulus arrives, with no filtering).

Verification protocols. How to check a decision before committing to it. Not bureaucratic approval chains, but structured questions: Does this align with identity anchors? Does the person deciding have authority? Has the relevant data been consulted? Is this reversible? Verification catches misalignment at the point of decision rather than after the consequences arrive.

Decision memory system. Where decisions are recorded, in what format, with what metadata. Date, decision-maker, rationale, constraints, expected outcomes. Decision memory is what transforms a business from one that repeats its mistakes into one that learns from them.

Why constitutions survive stress

The true test of any governance system is not how it performs during calm periods. It is how it performs during stress — cash crunches, team departures, market shifts, personal crises. This is where rented frameworks fail. Under stress, the founder abandons the framework because it feels like overhead. They revert to instinct-driven, fear-based decision-making. The framework, being external, has no grip.

A constitution survives stress because it was built from the business's own reality. It does not feel like overhead because it codifies what the founder already knows to be true about how their business should operate. Under stress, the constitution serves as a stabiliser — a reference point that prevents reactive decisions from overriding deliberate ones.

This is not theory. Businesses with explicit decision constitutions recover from disruption faster because they do not lose time re-establishing decision authority, re-arguing resolved questions, or re-discovering what was already known. The constitution holds the ground while the people adapt to new conditions.

Building versus installing

A constitution cannot be written in a workshop. It must be detected from the business's existing reality before it can be codified into operational infrastructure. The sequence matters: detect first (what decisions are actually being made, by whom, with what quality), then constitute (codify the system), then install (implement with the team), then transfer (hand over complete ownership).

The detection phase is where most approaches fail. Consultants arrive with a template and fill in the blanks. The result is a document that looks professional but does not reflect how the business actually operates. A real constitution requires forensic diagnosis — understanding the existing decision patterns, including the ones nobody is proud of, before designing the system that replaces them.

The transfer phase is where the sovereignty principle applies. A constitution is only real if the business can operate it without external help. If the founder needs a consultant to interpret their own governance system, the constitution has failed. Ownership is not a metaphor. It is the design criterion.

The Constitution Model is implemented through the Founder License — a 9-month governance installation that transfers complete ownership.