π£ Thinking is like the sun
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Hey friend β Rob here. 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:
(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. 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. Keep swimming, Rob
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Salmon Theory
Helping strategists grow with compassion, clarity and creativity.
Hey friend β Rob here. Movember is upon us, and so is what many are considering "the masculinity election" in the US. Over the past few weeks, i've been reading, reflecting and riffing with others on modern masculinity. And because this is a platform about helping strategists grow, there's tons of growth we as men owe to ourselves. Not to mention to others. So, here are 30 personal mini-reflections on being a modern man. (And so it's 100% clear, i'm writing this as a cisgender man, there's...
Hey friend β Rob here. I recently went back to my vault of notes from the IPA Eff Test, something i do now and then. And boy do i have a nerdy new set of fun ways to think about effectiveness, hand-rolled just for you! I did this because a recent conversation emerged in our private community, on objectives and KPIs. So here's how i usually talk about it with clients, and yes this should be even before you brief the work. Broadly inspired by the wisdom of Binet & Field, who if you don't know...
Hey friend β Rob here. Memes are more than time wasting. They're research and development. You know why? Tension. Tension is interesting because it's hard. It's hard on our egos, who want it easy. It's hard because it signals trouble. It's hard because it's not linear. And yet, tension creates vibration. And vibration gets us hooked. And thatβs what every successful meme has. Tension. Followed by punchline. Plato was onto something similar: "Serious things cannot be understood without...