a strategist’s convictions

Everything you need to know about being a top performer: the hierarchy of helpfulness https://t.co/UNLV4Tguq0

Good questions compress the search space, increasing the density of viable opportunities per unit of effort. They reduce opportunity cost: the better the initial inquiry, the lower the probability of burning resources chasing irrelevant possibilities.

Good questions are compression devices which shrink search space. Bad questions are expansion... See more

Take 30 minutes every day to journal on an idea and explore its repercussions or deeper considerations. Then, go share those reflections with someone. If you don’t have someone to have that conversation with, spend 30 minutes instead reaching out to people who might be interested. This is the real practice of “digesting” our information.

After all what clients really want (and need and want more than ever) are outcomes , not just processes, deliverables, and assets. It tilts those formative and vital opening conversations decisively - what better condition are you seeking? How would your company be different as a result of this work? What harm would be alleviated? How much would... See more

The biggest predictor of quality insights that you can use to reach and move real people is the quality of the question.

If you’re looking to reveal the innate truth of a brand, you need to ask good questions, listen really well, and have a good nose for where the answer lies in amongst everything that people tell you.

Something sinister happened over the past algorithmically driven decade: brands took a sharp turn toward efficiency and benefits mindshare, often focusing on a laundry list of functional and emotional whoop-de-doos.

It’s this paint-inside-the-lines mentality that stokes irrelevancy and meaninglessness. And the whole point of a brand is to create an... See more