strategy

Most planning presentations open up possibilities but do not close them. They are exploratory; they analyze issues but never make choices, and for me, strategy is about choosing.

It’s the rent you pay to occupy space in my brain until this problem is nailed to your satisfaction. Sometimes I’ll do focused, dedicated work on the task. At other times I’ll let my brain do its subconscious thing, a looser more associative form of thinking. I’ll be thinking about it at some level on every dog walk and every bus journey.... See more

In this landscape, resonance isn’t about universality. It’s about strategic specificity—making things that speak directly to a subculture, and sideways to everyone else.

The best ideas don’t scale in size. They scale in dimensionality.

They feel intimate to one group, intriguing to another. They read as obvious to some, occult to others. They’re... See more

Culture brands don’t typically win by being better. They win by moving the goalposts for everyone around them. You should always be aiming to change the larger playing field.