The Decision Maker's Persona Canvas

When you're preparing a pitch, you probably think about what you want to say. This canvas flips that. It's a one-page research tool that forces you to think about the person who'll decide whether your idea moves forward. Four quadrants, four questions: What metrics drive their performance evaluation? What initiatives have they recently championed? What business priorities are they personally on the hook for? And what organisational goals have they publicly emphasised? The answers to these four questions tell you exactly how to frame your pitch so it lands in their world, not yours.

When to use it: Before any pitch or proposal where a specific person (or a small group) holds the decision. It's most valuable when you're presenting to someone you don't interact with regularly, like a senior leader two levels up, a board member, or a client stakeholder you've only met once. But it's also worth filling out for people you think you know well. You might discover that you've been framing your ideas around your own priorities rather than theirs.

How to get the most out of it: Do your homework before you fill this in. Check their recent presentations, company reports, LinkedIn posts, quarterly updates, anything that reveals what they care about right now. The canvas is only as good as the research behind it. Start with the Metrics/KPIs quadrant, because that's where the real pressure lives. If you can connect your proposal to a number they're being measured on, you've dramatically increased your chances. The Initiatives quadrant is your alignment opportunity: if they've already championed something related to what you're proposing, reference it. That signals you've paid attention. And if you can't fill in a quadrant confidently, that's a sign you need to learn more before you walk into the room. A half-empty canvas is better than a confident pitch aimed at the wrong priorities.