title typo credit to Duncan. thanks for reaching out and telling me he was glad the newsletter was pronounced Strat Scraps and not Strat Craps. Which i’ve never officially stated, so who knows.
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Lets work together.
Personal website is a WIP. But capabilities/book of work/case studies etc available upon request.
alex@stratscraps.com - hire me.
(I did create some cool visuals that were absolutely a waste of time but super fun)
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I wish there was a catalogue of pointlessly heated debates.
Here’s one I found recently. And I can’t decide my opinion on the matter. Listening is fundamentally a different experience than reading. But I am pretty sure it’s ok to just say “I read” – simply based on the argument that anyone who would try to correct you in conversation is more wrong than you were by saying it in the first place
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At the intersection of hot takes and conversations I’ve had with subscribers,
someone said this to me recently:
“as i got better at thinking as a strategist, i got so much worse at thinking”
Thanks Amyri, that thought keeps messing with my head.
(other notes from that conversation:
“strategy is something to be implemented, not executed.”
“my favorite part of the job is a minority of what the job is”
(this is a leading thought behind going freelance… a somewhat flawed thought, but present all the same)
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A semi related quote:
“everyone wanna be big, but nobody wants to lift heavy ass weights”
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Something I’ve said before – the order of operations matters.
This is especially true when it comes to something like the 4Cs.
Here’s how I see it:
The 4Cs are a nesting doll.
A company is part of the category.
The category is defined by the consumer.
The consumer exists within the bigger culture.
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So, to visualize it another way:
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I’m only going to say one thing on the topic of AI/ChatGPT, etc.
Read media theory.
We are talking about what AI can do in specifics a lot.
Nobody seems to be talking about how this will change us.
And it will.
The way that no presidential race was the same after JFK and the first televised debate.
The way that our social circles were reshaped by the internet.
The way 24hr news cycle has created a theater of spectacle and manufactured outrage.
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Now the part where I do the whole “what did ChatGPT have to say on the matter?
“Regarding AI, McLuhan might argue that AI is a new form of media that will fundamentally transform the way we experience and understand the world. He might suggest that AI is an extension of our nervous system, much like the telephone or television, and that it will have a profound impact on our cognitive processes.
McLuhan would likely be interested in how AI is changing the way we communicate and interact with each other. He might see AI as a new form of language that is changing the way we think and relate to one another. He might also explore the role of AI in shaping our perception of reality and the way we make decisions.”
The today’s future will be very different than yesterday’s.
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What I’m taking away from this is that money can absolutely buy happiness if you know what to spend it on.
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the same systems that empower us also subject us.
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A parenting thought related to Strategy:
Work today is similar to how parenting used to be:
For a long time, parenting was a knowledge set passed along from generation to generation. And there are certainly still elements of that. But increasingly so, it is a field of study rather than a trade learned from the prior generation.
I trust a lot of what my parents think re; parenting, but my wife and I parent through an attachment theory lens first and foremost.
Parenting used to be based on the experience of others, now it is based on the latest evidence.
White collar work (or at least the advertising world), still operates like parenting did in the past.
Knowledge and “expertise” is passed from mentor to student. from authority to subject.
Rather than based on the latest research.
I’m not sure why? My guess would be the power dynamic between the old guard and the new. Parents used to hold a lot more power. Similar to the power a manager does today…
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Tired of not having a second keyboard while using your laptop?
Try Lapboard.
We’ve peaked as a society.
WEEKLY MONSTER
Sketchbook Latest:
Looking at them together like this makes me realize that the past few weeks have been pretty stressful.