Strategy is not that hard, if you do this
That's right: there's a very simple blueprint for getting good at strategy.
First, you gotta know about business.
And markets.
And what profit ROI is.
And creativity.
And people.
And psychology.
And sociology.
And culture.
And commercial analysis.
Reading data.
Presenting numbers as narrative.
And unpacking ideas.
Having a point of view on them.
Presenting them.
But also not taking too long at presenting them.
Be creative.
But don’t try to be ‘the’ creative.
But help them get there.
Easy.
Know about marketing strategy.
And how it’s not brand or comms strategy.
Know media strategy 101.
Social.
Digital.
So on.
Enough to be dangerous.
Know short and long term effects, and how they can influence each other.
And how campaign effects differ from brand and commercial effects.
How effectiveness is not efficiency.
Differentiation is not distinctiveness.
We do need to keep things simple.
But not so simple that it feels lazy.
But also not so complicated that it looks self-important.
We should be clever, but not too clever.
Clear, but not too obvious.
Creative, but not too creative.
Challenging, but not so much it’s rude.
Straight-talking, but not patronising because who do you think you are.
To know the difference between strategy, planning and strategic planning.
That strategy is not tactics.
Tactics are not ideas.
Ideas are not executions.
You’d think this job is close to what Aristotle said:
“An educated mind is able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
But it’s easier.
It's just setup slides, brah.
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