STRATSCRAPS v_187

The 1-8-7 of Strategy

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This is some heady shit, but also a hilarious visual metaphor for creative work. First it exists as the team meant it to exist. Then it exists in many forms according to each person who sees it. Then it gets put in a box and defined as a the combination of every vision.

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Your career can be defined by a progression of questions to ask yourself…

• Junior Strategy:"How can I leverage my curiosity and capacity to provide unique value on this specific task or project?"
  This is all about localized value add. As a junior, you have the luxury of time. Time to google things and read things and think about things.How can you turn this into value in the immediate term?
  

• Mid Level Strategy: "Why are we really doing this? How does the feedback/data right in front of us connect to the bigger brand or business mission?"
  Then, you get to start challenging assumptions and doing the work that makes the most impact to the end result. You shift from task execution to understanding purpose and context.
  

• Director level Strategy: "Where can I apply my deep focus to ensure focus and buy-in?"
  Here, your biggest asset is your experience and using that credibility to ensure clarity for the team and gather buy-in from clients. Here, it is all about your ability to get things over the line.
  

• Group/VP Level Strategy: "How can I maximize the collective impact of the entire strategy team?"
  This is a hard transition for many – myself included. Because you are often sought out for your expertise in the way a Director is, and your ability to deliver on deep work specific to a client here is honed and easy to flex/fall back on. But it is crucial to shift your thinking from your contribution to more of a “raising all ships” mentality.

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Some screenshots from the invaluable “How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily”

The biggest mistake I am guilty of: combining 1 and 2.

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Wife and I are watching the latest season of The Bear. I read how the writers intended for it to be a 4 season show, but were forced to stretch it out into 5 seasons – and as a result season 4 was mostly filler… So I was hesitant to start.

But you know what, turns out that room to breathe isn’t a bad thing. The season is really good. Not because it drives the plot forward but because it doesn’t. It dwells. There are episodes driven by long phone calls full of silence and an episode that takes place under a table. “Filler” episodes. And it’s really enjoyable.

TV isn’t a deck. You don’t need to “get to the point” … McLuhan said reading the newspaper was like stepping into a warm bath. I always struggled with that metaphor. But while he categorizes TV as a cool medium, “a warm bath” is exactly how this season of the bear feels. TV is at its best when it is immersive, not when it is “productive.”

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Thinking about Hot vs cool media got me thinking… Is a deck a hot or a cool medium?

And I think that strikes at the problem with presentations. they live awkwardly between the two. We write them as hot, then present them expecting them to be received as cool.

We write them with every detail included, but expect participation. There is no right way to do it, but be intentional about what side of the line you want a deck to live on.

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Via Felice Della Gatta

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WEEKLY MONSTER

I’m teaching myself to use sketchup and it is incredibly frustrating. But also, fun. Not to mention has somehow made me start sketching build plans by hand more even though that is the thing it is meant to replace.

The tools we build for ourselves shape us more than we realize…