How to View Protected Content on this Site?

Due to the internal nature of the strategy work that I do, much of the work remains confidential. For this reason, I have passworded content that has yet to be released in the public domain. Additionally, many of the documents exist in screen shot format rather than the entire document.

Please email me at wilarch@hotmail.com and I will be happy to email you the password, as well as arrange for viewing the documents that correspond to the screen shots contained within the blog.

 

What Makes a Good Strategist?

Also further content from a speech I gave at ID Branding’s retreat…but I thought I’d share with you today the abstract version. Further elaboration under each item has been eliminated in the interest of briefness.

1.Good strategists are able to discern when subjectivity is necessary, and when objectivity is necessary, and know the difference between them.

2.Good strategists are able to be macro and micro at the same time.

3.Good strategists are able to live in the past, the present, and the future.

4.Good strategists are able to live in ambiguity.

5.Good strategists are able to trust their gut.

6.Good strategists have many different experiences (and often careers), but understand how the principles translate.

 

Defining Strategy

There’s a lot of confusion around strategy, or strategists for that matter these days. What is strategy, and what is it not? I did a little presentation for ID Branding’s annual retreat that I wanted to share with you today, which was my philosophy on strategy.

• Key Idea: The act of strategy is not the same as the deliverable of strategy.

Why is this important?

Because often I see the deliverable (i.e. research report, insights report, brand platform) substituted to describe what strategy does, rather than understanding the process. And this all makes sense, as strategy is an intangible thing, and we as humans want to pin down in something physical.

However, consider the following….

• Strategy is a way of seeing, observing and looking for patterns, and then asking the harder question of ‘why?’
• A Strategy Deliverable is a set of guiding principles that help to communicate the point of view of whatever the context (brand, interactive, business, media)
• Strategy has no right answer. It’s all about the angle of approach and weighing the consequences.
• Strategy is both a science and an art. When you deal with human behavior, organizations, and cultures, there are basic rules….but always an exception to the rule.
• Strategists take in information in the following ways:

1. Intention – what i meant to do
2. Action- what I did
3. Perception – what I think about it all