strategy advice

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... See more

Most Briefs are wrong about something.

The truth is, most briefs are wrong about something. Not completely wrong, but wrong enough that good creative work requires course corrections along the way.

If you can’t admit this, and deliver a brief anyway, you are doomed to become the hurdle rather than the bridge.

The best strategists understand that... See more

And yes, your skills might need to evolve. The strategist of the future isn’t going to be a deck-maker who hands off to creative. They’re going to be embedded, fluid, multi-faceted – part strategist, part creative, part cultural translator, part systems thinker. The old silos are breaking down because the work demands it. But that’s not a threat.... See more

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... 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

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

... See more

I love this photo.

Because while it is a great shot on its own, understanding the context completely changes how you look at it. What it conveys and how it makes you feel.

It is a photo taken of two women watching the Apollo moon landing on TV.

Now, this is the place where I could easily say “thats what a good insight does. It changes how you see... See more