A MindTools alternative
For the situation in front of you, not a library to browse
If you’ve used MindTools, you know the shape: a broad library of courses, articles and videos you subscribe to and read when you want to build a skill. Playbooks for Leaders is built for a different moment, the specific situation that’s just landed on your desk, and the move you have to make about it.
One Playbook from £9.60, or the whole Library. No membership to start.
MindTools helps you learn a topic. Playbooks for Leaders helps you handle a situation.
Each of the forty Playbooks names one real situation (“I’ve inherited a team and I don’t know what they should be working on”, “the strategy’s changed and I have to reset everything by Friday”) and works it through end to end: where you stand (Position), the behavioural choice and the one that plays to your team (Play), the tools in sequence, each ending in your next move (Plan), and the leaders who made the same call (Precedent).
Side by side, honestly
| MindTools | Playbooks for Leaders | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | A library of courses, articles and videos across many skills | Forty Playbooks, each for one specific leadership situation |
| Reach for it when | You want to develop a skill or read around a topic | You have a live challenge and need a move now |
| How it works | Browse and learn | Recognise your situation, choose your Play, walk in |
| Depth | Broad coverage across many topics | Each situation worked tool by tool, with real precedents |
| Pricing (indicative) | ~£110 / year for the library | £9.60 a single Playbook, or £180 / year for all forty |
| Commitment | Annual membership to browse | Take just the one you need, or the Library |
When MindTools is the better fit
If you want a broad, ongoing skills library to develop many skills over time, MindTools does that well, and at a lower annual price. Playbooks for Leaders doesn’t try to be that, and won’t pretend otherwise.
Reach for Playbooks for Leaders when there’s a specific situation in front of you and you’d rather have the move than the module.
The management resource you open mid-week, not mid-course
The quiet failure of most management resources is adoption, the membership bought, the logins unused, because there’s no trigger to open them. A Playbook has one built in: you open it the day a real situation makes the answer worth having, not because a curriculum says to. That’s the usage pattern that survives a busy quarter.
You don’t need a subscription to find out. One Playbook is open in full, free, no card and no sign-up, read it here. And if you take a single Playbook for your situation and want the whole Library later, what you paid for the one comes off it.
Start with the situation you’re actually in
Read a Playbook free, find the one that matches your week, or open the full Library, at the Founders’ rate.
Questions leaders ask
Is Playbooks for Leaders a MindTools alternative?
Yes, for leaders who want the move for a specific situation rather than a broad library of courses to browse. Different shape, different moment.
How is it different from MindTools?
MindTools is a topic library you learn from. Playbooks for Leaders is forty Playbooks, each for one named situation, worked tool by tool to a next move, with the precedents of leaders who faced it.
How much is Playbooks for Leaders?
You don’t need a subscription to start, a single Playbook is £9.60, so you can solve one situation without committing. The full Library is £180 a year, or a team licence for a group. Different value from a broad library: situation-specific depth.
Can I try it before subscribing?
Yes. One Playbook is open in full to everyone, no card and no sign-up, read it here.