🍣 Thinking is like the sun


I spotted this last week at Droga5's offices.

And you know what, it's great advice.

Especially for the over-thinkers out there (HI!).

Those of us who show up with a rattlebag of:

  • Intelligence
  • Cultural references
  • Peer reviewed studies
  • Specialised words because why not

(Latest for me is "category entry points".)

And yet, there is a danger of being so good at thinking.

We over-think things.

And as a result overload others that work with us.

Not a very good place to be.
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And the problem with this?

We don't get the results we want or need from others either.

We confuse them instead of clarifying them.

We've all done it.

We leave the meeting feeling that was a hell of a good performance.

And inevitably the team email you two days later asking what the focus of the brief was again.

A great source of wisdom here has actually been the best creative directors i've ever worked with.

The ones who can discuss strategy with me.

But also who can clarify the logic flow of a strategic argument in non-strategist words.

Another way i like to think about this: being book smart vs being street smart.

In the past, i've bonded with fellow strategists precisely because we didn't share the typical academic credentials.

In short, we were less interesting in sounding smart, and more in being smart.

Street smart strategy is probably a good definition of that ambition.

It's learning as much from Tony Soprano as we do from Tom Peters.

It's absorbing as much from Oswald Cobb (watch The Penguin) as we do from Ogilvy.

It's appreciating that Margaret Heffernan has tons to offer our minds, but so does Marty McFly.

Thinking, in that sense, is like the sun.

Don't do enough of it, we don't generate heat.

But get too close to it, and we might get burnt along the way.

Or at least burn others out with our desire to be clever, when the job is to always be clear.

"I need time to think about it" is almost always the correct answer to complex problems.

But maybe put a timer on how much time is enough to get going.

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Rob Estreitinho

Strategist, writer, maker

Whenever you're ready, here's 2 ways i can help you:

  1. ​Join the Salmon Crew. Access our private WhatsApp group, where you'll find a safe space to help you stop overthinking strategy. You'll get memes, questions, quotes and links, help from other smart folks, you can be a guest on future panels, and get to shape the future of Salmon Theory. Join smart minds from Leo Burnett, Genius Steals, System1, Flight Studio, VML, Miami Ad School, and more.
  2. ​Hire Salmon Labs. We help savvy brands swim upstream. From brand, comms and content strategy, to training on creativity and how to use AI, we like to do things in a fast and bespoke way. No fixed methodologies, moments of grand reveal or complicated language. Just pure shared problem solving.
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Salmon Theory

Helping savvy strategists swim upstream.

Read more from Salmon Theory

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Hey friend – Rob here. A few months ago i kicked off a video interview series, starting with Chris Rawlinson, founder of 42courses. You can watch it here. It was genuinely one of those wide ranging conversations where you start on point A and finish on point 37.1. And if that structure makes no sense, it's by design. I love randomness in exchanges. Anyway, there's tons of wisdom that i got out of Chris's brain, and some good lessons to help us all grow with a greater sense of compassion,...

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