SWOT reframed as an ethical audit
Dharma–Adharma SWOT
What it is
A standard SWOT with an ethics screen applied to every entry before scoring.
When to use it
Annual planning, entering a new market, or evaluating a fast-money opportunity.
Run the four quadrants, then add a fifth question to each item: does this strength, weakness, opportunity or threat move us toward dharma or away from it? Opportunities that require adharma are recorded as threats, because that is what they eventually become.
How to run it
- 1List strengths and weaknesses honestly, without narrative
- 2Tag each opportunity as dharmic, neutral, or corrosive
- 3Discard corrosive opportunities before scoring
- 4Rank what remains on fit with svadharma — your true competence
Gita anchor
Chapter 3, Verse 35 — better one's own duty imperfectly performed
In practice
A fintech drops a high-margin lending product whose economics depend on customer confusion, and redirects the team to its underwriting edge.