strategy advice

Can we at least stop pretending the world is as tidy as our deliverables make it look? A strategy that cleans too early often creates a distorted picture that feels clear in the room but collapses in contact with the real. Cartography accepts that things wobble, and it uses that wobble as data. False certainty and failed outcomes greatly slow us do... See more

The Strategist is no longer a diagnostician offering a coherent intervention. The Strategist is the Stalker inside the Zone: feeling, watching, hesitating, acting. They’ve developed a skillset of how to notice what no longer fits , what doesn’t sound right , what wasn’t supposed to repeat and now won’t stop. They are quick to notice that the path t... See more

Freelance Learnings/Skills relevant to full time employment.

• Clarity . Above all, it is this. As a freelancer, the risk of a missed deliverable outweighs the risk of asking a dumb question (most of the time I’ve found, everyone else had the same question as well).


• Honesty . About what is possible in a given amount of time. About what is worth doing

... See more

The long term thinking problem:

Brand building is a long term project. Just like parenting. (ok not really that similar... your kids should have more than topline awareness of your existence)

But I make the comparison because as a parent – how the hell do you think about preparing your child for adulthood when you genuinely don’t know what the next 5... See more

The key takeaway isn’t just ‘tell a story with your data’—it’s that when the full story is told, the data disappears. You don’t see individual bricks; you see a house.

The same applies to strategy. We’re often asked to include stats or data as proof, but strategy is built from many interconnected pieces of information. Isolating a single brick doesn... See more

The role of strategy is to support and elevate.

The more senior you get, the more your scope of support widens.

Those people who were filling the void you now fill?

Your role is to elevate those people further.

This is true full time or freelance.

Strategy’s job is to elevate the creative.

Strategy Leadership’s job is to elevate their team.

Strateg... See more

Tips for being a better strategist:

• ONLY ONE FRAMEWORK AT A TIME.


• STOP TRYING TO PROVE YOUR WORTH


• OPEN WITH THE DECISION, THEN BACK IT UP.


• DON’T BE PRECIOUS, BE USEFUL.