50 hard truths learned from 15 long years in strategy
Today i wanted to share what the last 15 years of working in strategy have offered me in terms of little mantras or reminders. This is based on working at agencies like The Grand Union / Fullsix (#1 digital agency in Portugal), Above+Beyond, Wednesday, VCCP, and more recently, 1 year of running Salmon Labs, my own strategy studio.
I'm still learning (aren't we all), but it all adds up. Anywho, let's get into it.
Strategy is nothing without action. Anyone who says otherwise is stuck on their own intellectual ivory tower.
People who argue over definitions should probably get a hobby and get out more.
Once you move around enough, you realise everyone's 'proprietary methodology' is anything but. This is ok.
The quality of your work isn't in the methods you use, it's in the meaning you give to the clients you serve.
"Why is it important?" is a more powerful question than "why is it interesting?".
Daily sprints are an extremely underrated tool in strategic development.
Sometimes asking clients for more time means they feel less control, and this has consequences.
The moment a meeting becomes about presenting over discussing, you've created an unnecessary barrier.
You can always make your argument shorter.
Listening and playing back can be more valuable than pretending to know stuff your clients never thought of.
Most clients are intelligent individuals who, unlike external advisors, operate in tricky political systems.
Being a contrarian in public is not the same as being a useful thinker in private.
The most effective marketers may be people we've never heard of, because they don't care about awards.
The role of a strategist isn't to sound smart, it's to help peers, teams and organisations be smart.
The opposite of a strategy must also be a valid strategy (e.g. highlight positives vs dramatise negatives).
What counts as strategy at one level level translates to an objective to the level down, and so on, and so forth.
Having a great opportunity without an operational model to capitalise on it will likely result in frustration.
Anyone who thinks strategy doesn't mingle with company politics is being naive about strategy and politics.
What you want is to be aware of the political dynamics without letting yourself get consumed by them.
A useful structure to write a strategy: we will [objective] by [strategic choice] because [reasons to believe].
Another one (and this will trigger some): get [audience] who [barrier] to [objective] by [strategic choice].
The longer we spend discussing briefing templates and not the work itself, the faster we erode our value.
No one is a generalist, all you have are domain specialists (e.g. brand) or technical specialists (e.g. CRM).
If that previous point triggered you, consider that some CEOs are specialists in being a CEO within a sector.
(Does that make those CEOs generalists or specialists? Does it matter? Return to point 2 for the answer.)
All strategy is contextual, so anyone who offers you guaranteed results is likely to be hiding something.
Your slides are your assistants in a presentation, not the headline act.
One way to see impostor syndrome: you think you're so smart you were able to fool everyone all these years.
Until you can explain your strategy on a page, you don't have one. This is what senior clients ultimately buy.
But you can't get to a strategy on a page until you've written tons. Sometimes this is what clients buy too.
Strategy is born out of evidence, rigour and laws of how marketing works, but deep down there are no rules.
Insights are as important as the work they influence, so you want insights and ideas to feel like close cousins.
Smart clients don't buy a single right answer, they buy trust the ability that you can get to a fresh one.
(If you're confused about the different between right answers vs fresh ones, return to point 15.)
Pitches without a budget will likely end in disaster, or work that helps no one (customers, clients, your soul).
A good pitch is equal parts chemistry and capabilities between buyer and seller.
The ABC of strategy: Always Be Clarifying. Language is a slippery thing.
There's a fine art in getting people to feel challenged in a gentle way. It's worth the time trying to master it.
"What do you want to build?" is a phenomenally underrated question for clients and teams.
We all want to find meaning in our work, and see it materialise in front of us. The rest is propaganda.
If you can frame your work as helping with direct sales or direct savings (now or in future), you're golden.
Clarity on problems makes chaos around solutions feel 10x more exciting. The opposite is near impossible.
"I can see you put a lot of thought into it" is almost always said before disagreeing with the work.
Quantity eventually leads to quality, but only if you develop judgement along the way.
If you're downplaying the role of Gen AI because it can't do everything you do, think more neurodivergently.
Years ago, someone described strategy to me as either stories or systems. This still rings true to this day.
There are no shortcuts in this industry, only head starts. (Even, i like to think, if you're a nepo-baby.)
Clients respond to specifics, even if wrong, so the faster you get to specifics the faster you get to answers.
The world of marketing becomes easier if you assume there are no right answers, just less wrong ones.
People pleasing serves everyone but your most long-term client – yourself.
Forward this to a friend or colleague who may need some energy in their life.
Or just to feel validated by things they already believe in.
