STRATEGY RESOURCES FOR NEW STRATEGISTS
OR PEOPLE LOOKING TO GET INTO STRATEGY
Credited by: John Simons, Olivia McGrath, Leslie Townsend, Kevin Nguyen, Baiba Matisone,
Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel, Ph.D, Here Be Dragons, Alex DeMuth, Mara Rada…
Have questions about this doc? Hit me up on LinkedIn.
STRATEGY TITLES
Strategy (or Planning) can be an ambiguous field filled with various titles. Here are a few
examples…
Disclaimer: if you disagree with the title definition, hit me up and I’ll get them corrected! I want
to be sure your role is properly reflected below.
● Planner: this is the traditional term for strategists.
● Digital Media Strategist: you’ll be running campaigns, measuring key performance
indicators (KPI’s), doing analytics reports and such for digital work through various
medias i.e. social, websites, apps, blogs, banners, etc.
● Social Media Strategist: you’re responsible for how your brand(s) show up on social
media on their various platforms, adapting ad campaigns to social, listening to what
people are saying about your brand(s), etc.. You’ll likely work with a content strategist.
● Brand Strategist: this is a jack of all trades strategist. You’ll touch on a lot of different
aspects of strategy from building the brand's architecture, competitive audits, social
listening, campaign work, creative briefs, etc.
● Creative Strategist: responsible for campaigns and works closely with creative teams
developing insights and providing research/reports to help sell through creative ideas.
● Cultural Strategist: you’ll observe cultural norms, helping to understand opinions, beliefs
and behaviors, centering artists, storytellers, media makers and cultural influencers as
agents of social change, how the brand can activate for justice, and ultimately tell
meaningful, inclusive stories.
● Data Strategist: a cool way of saying that you’ll be digging through excel sheets, graphs,
and turning numbers into observations and actions.
● Context Strategist: this is new; it seems to basically be a brand strategist, but with a
larger emphasis on understanding culture.
● Content Strategist: you may or may not be helping make the content for social, but you
will be responsible for customer journeys and turning the data you collect from social into
reports.
● Marketing Strategist: this is a tricky one. It’s whatever the company wants it to be, if I’m
being honest. Really read the job description for these.
● Media Strategist: responsible for channel analysis and recommendations, category
analysis (including share of voice/budget), reach, frequency seasonality
recommendations, ad placement and block positioning
Basically, read the job description regardless of the title and ask the interviewer to define the
role so you get a better idea as to if it’s the type of strategy you’re interested in.
If the above isn’t helpful, check out Youngbloods - https://lnkd.in/eqNAfCqX. It gives a
breakdown of the different types of agencies and roles within them.
STRATEGY 101
To get you started off with strategy, here’s a few key frameworks and terms a strategist should
know and will use throughout their career. They are…
● 4 C’s: category/competition, consumer, company, and culture. For each “C,” write a
headline that summarizes your findings.
○ Category/Competition: what are other brands saying and doing? What do they
look like? Do they lean into their features or claims? Do they make grandiose
statements? What do they have in common that you can say different? What do
your competitors stand for? Do they have similar services to you? Do you
basically sell the same thing? Do they talk the same across their
social/website/products/ads? Try to find what makes you different.
■ Where to look: social channels, website (look for competitive claims on
product pages), iSpot.tv for current ads running, MOAT (print ads + digital
ads), Numerator (if you have access - tv/print/digital)
○ Consumer: what are people saying about your (your competitors) product or
brand? How does the product fit into their life? Do they use it in an unexpected
way?
■ Where to look: product reviews from major retailers, reddit groups (brandspecific and product-type specific), social listening
(Brandwatch/Talkwalker/Twitter Advanced Search), publications about
the subject (NYT/HBJ/etc), YouTube reviews, MRI Simmons
○ Company: dig into the history, how the brand got its name, check their
socials/website/etc and find what you love about them that they aren’t doing now.
Or, find what you love about them and think about how to build it out.
○ Culture: how can the brand authentically stand out in today’s climate? Think
about your category. How do they affect people? How can they elevate a feeling
people have? Is there a medium that they should lean into? What’s a tension
they can help resolve?
● Qualitative Research: goal is to get stories/context
○ Observations: recording what you have seen, heard, or encountered in detailed
field notes.
○ Interviews: personally asking people questions in one-on-one conversations.
○ Focus groups: asking questions and generating discussion among a group of
people.
○ Surveys: distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
○ Secondary research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, images, audio
or video recordings, etc.
●
●
●
●
○ Basically getting people’s real, personal opinions on your brand
Quantitative Research: goal is to get numbers
○ Interviews: telephone, video conference, or face-to-face interviews
○ Surveys, with the goal to collect data, not stories
○ Polls
○ Basically getting quantifiable opinions on the brand
Research Types
○ Primary Research = data you collected
■ You initiative the research via surveys, interviews, observations, using
social listening tools to identify common themes and investigating them
○ Secondary Research = data someone one else collected
■ Research tools like MRI Simmons or CUE, or social listening tools like
Helixa, Brandwatch or TalkWalker, Twitter advanced search, Google
searches/articles, WARC, industry reports, surveys
Truths: the headlines you wrote for the 4 C’s. At most, they are a single line of
information that cannot be contested because they’re true. Some agencies use this term
and others don’t. Anyways, it’s helpful to have this skill.
Insight: a tool used to provoke an idea, challenge or opportunity.
○ Insights, whether you're Camp A or B, can be defined as a Problem + Truth
(informs the problems) = Insight; or re-framing the problem. To which, the insight
provokes an idea, challenge or opportunity. Insights are provocative because
they bring light to a tension, often done poetically.
Define what an insight is for yourself, using the material below:
Camp A: For Insights
● Julian Cole:
○ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-secret-source-insights-julian-cole
● Tom Morton:
○ https://www.slideshare.net/tommorton/a-hunters-guide-to-bsfree-insights
● Sweathead + Co:
○ https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Kl8w_BUfbIDEhGT9HhcX5PcOAyOyMbtQ5mFnOjBoTk/edit#slide=id.g5099cae64e_0_0
● Julian Cole + Cole:
○ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yaFe5_Dmf6NHFLckvO5YW0UzGmfTUPL
-3khzVQdsx58/edit
● Heidi Hackemer:
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHnxX2o2VTk
CAMP B: Ones Who Don't Think Insights Are Necessary
● Steve Walls
○ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/peloton-class-hotel-california-steve-walls/
● Martin Weigel
○
https://www.onstrategyshowcase.com/episode/when-labels-are-used-in-strategyas-proxies-for-genuine-knowledge
PROJECT WORKFLOW
Scenario: You’re new to the brand and category; there is no existing data. The client asks you to
increase consideration of their product. Your boss asks you to deliver a report on the state of
the business, define key barriers, themes and unlock opportunities.
You will be mostly responsible for Phases 1 & 2.
Phase 1: Secondary Research; 4 C’s. Refer to Qual/Quant above, you’ll want a mix of
that in each “C.”
- Company: review key messages and claims (if not shared originally with you),
company background/history, how do they show up on social/what channels do
they prioritize (why?)
- Competition/In Category: review key messages and claims key competitors use
on their ads, what are their values, historical background, where is their product
sold, define how they make money (rewards/giveaways/merchandise), statistical
industry insights from the trades (different for each category)
- Competition/Out of Category: what does your brand do that others do
(rewards/loyalty program/merchandise) that you can learn from and apply to your
brand
- Useful Resources: Company Websites, Glassdoor, YouTube, MOAT,
Social Channels
- Consumer: what do people love and hate most about the
company/product/competition, are negative/positive sentiment shared or is it
specific to your company/product/competition, do they talk about your brand
different than you do, what themes are you finding, how are people behaving
today in relation to your category/service, what statistics are out there about
consumers in relation to your category
- Useful Resources: Mintel, WARC, Reddit, Product Review Sites, Social
Channel Comment Sections, Social Listening Platform, Twitter Advanced
Search
- Culture: what external factors impact your business (shifting buying
behaviors/government policies), is today’s values reflected in your companies,
what are people dealing with (cost-specific), what are people doing
(travel/entertainment/television/social), what statistics exist as per your
observations, are there influencers/content creators making a buzz that the
brand/product could show up with
- Useful Resources: Gallup, The Skimm, Rosie & Faris, Shit You Should
Care About, Pinterest Predicts, TikTok Business Trends, Snapchat
Trends, NYT/HBJ, Twitter Trending Topics
Phase 2: Compile your findings and write out themes, observations, and barriers per “C.”
If obvious, write out a problem statement. Also, write out questions you want answered – it
could be you need to dig a little deeper or perhaps field some consumers.
Phase 3: Primary Research (this will be initiated by your senior strategist/director of
strategy/head of strategy)
- TBD
RESOURCES
To understand how strategy works and how to apply it, start here…
● Life, In The Shoes of a Strategist Career Breakdown –
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ict4StvDDuVY8xQI70IjrQAq9NHGCmCYUpqCckXkBU/edit?usp=sharing
○ This will give you what books to read as a Junior and throughout your career.
Pretty spot on.
● J. Walter Thompson Planning Guide – https://www.slideshare.net/williamtheliar/jwtplanning-guide
○ This is great for understanding the fundamentals of strategy/account planning
and is fairly quick to get through.
● Truth, Lies, and Advertising by Jon Steel — this book gives you real experiences of how
advertising works.
● Julian Cole Brand Strategy 101 Guide –
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qWr9bDhfHO1LhvSkdA5W2ksj0PfDx0xtwilBG7
JUBNM/edit?usp=sharing
○ Helps understand the basics of building a brand, a look into what made iconic
brands like UPS and Nike, and frameworks to make your own.
Now that you’re acclimated, here’s a handful of other resources to keep you going…
● ‘Got Milk’ Case Study –
https://drive.google.com/file/d/171xz6XM3RMDgjg1WgDOC57bEbqiNdDvH/view?usp=dr
ivesdk
○ How Chiat Day came up with the infamous ‘Got Milk’ line (from Truth, Lies, and
Advertising by Jon Steel). Not sure if I can be sued for this, so please don’t sue
me.
● Interviews with strategists for juniors - https://lnkd.in/gkpQedb3
● How to find stuff - https://lnkd.in/gGGhwmCw
○ This is literally incredible and so useful for when your manager gives you a task
and your first thought is “how the hell am I going to find that?”
● Brand building exercise – https://www.punchy.co/blog/6-fun-branding-workshopexercises
● Baiba Matison decks for beginners - https://lnkd.in/gPd5cQij
○ Unsure how to put your deck together or how to proactively contribute to an
existing one? This is what you need.
● Freakonomics Incentive Marketing Strategies –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ5GOpy0yzM&t=69s
● First New Years after WW2, published in 1946 –
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dxkPGXTPJ_nNsmXAehd7rFh6vasv4Atf/view?usp=drive
sdk
● Deck of Brilliance – https://deckofbrilliance.com/
○ For when you’re stuck building thought starters for your creative team, need to
refresh your mind when building a brand's architecture, or inspiration for writing a
creative brief.
●
Strategy Resources by Baiba Matisone —
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NGmAuVftEndRZbR_2-DXeSQCbA4H9Bad0gHZTnFHeE/edit
Cultural/Societal/Technological Tools — not something to get too deep into when you’re first
trying to understand strategy, but great for giving context to the strategies you’ll eventually
make.
● TechCrunch — reports on emerging tech, new businesses, and updates on bitcoin, NFT,
and the latest advances in auto and other tech-related markets.
● NPR — reports on top stories in the U.S. and world news, politics, health, science,
business, music, arts and culture. Nonprofit journalism with a mission.
● NY Times or Harvard Business Review (HBR) — both great for knowing what’s going on
in the world, how it will affect different businesses, and political schemes that will affect
culture.
● Pinterest Predicts — they claim to have been 80% correct for the past few years. This is
a good north star or could help prove/disprove a hunch.
● Crunchbase — reports the latest brands, what seed round their in, and is a great
resource for understanding how markets can potentially change and how people are
challenging different industries.
● Mintel — provides consumer reports about their behaviors, trends, and economic
outlook.
● WARC — industry reports
● Brandwatch/Talkwalker — social listening tool to understand how people are talking
about your brand/product.
● MRI Simmons — detailed consumer behaviors, interests, lifestyles, and demographics.
● Gapminder — https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street?p=1
○ Shows a peek into the lives of real people around the world.
● (Free) Winning Cannes Work – https://www.lovetheworkmore.com
● Consumer Behavior Report Outline – https://www.researchgate.net/
● Trend reports (2021-2022) - https://lnkd.in/gvpagjEk
● Beta Film Ai — film search engine; type in a word and movie scenes containing it will
come up
● Yarn — film/movie/music videos search engine, similar to Beta Film Ai
● Anvaka GitHub — a “search engine” for subreddits
● Quartz (QZ) — Global news and insights reported in real time.
● Pro Tip: make your life easier, by instead subscribing to multiple news report sites, add
them to your Google Alerts list so you get them in one digest.
Podcasts
● OnStrategy Showcase — Where marketers tell the stories behind the strategies that led
to amazing campaigns; follow Fergus on LinkedIn
● Sweathead — join the facebook page too, it’s such a helpful community
● Strategy Sheroes — Podcast presented by strategist Breda Doherty promoting the
voices of women leading strategy across different sectors and companies. Learn how
●
they have made the move into strategic roles, their biggest learning experiences and
advice they have for other women wanting to make the move into strategy or venture out
on their own as business leaders, and consultants.
The Overthinkers — The Overthinkers is a weekly, 20 min conversation between two exmarketing strategists: Rachel Mercer (@rachelmercer - co-founder and CXO at Proto)
and Shann Biglione (@LeShann - co-founder and Head of Product at Kelp). It is for
those who like to (over)think about strategic planning, with delightful guests occasionally
joining Rachel and Shann for extended discussions.
Books
● Truth, Lies, and Advertising by Jon Steel — this book gives you real experiences of how
Jon came up with strategies and gives an understanding of how advertising works
● The Anatomy of a Humbug by Paul Feldwick — provides frameworks for strategy and
how to appeal to people like a person and not like a marketer.
● Caste (Oprah's Book Club): The Origins of Our Discontents – https://a.co/d/i2Yf758
○ Not necessarily “strategic,” but it gives a lot of context to America’s problem with
the lower-middle-higher class system and its implications.
● Don’t Think Of An Elephant by George Lackoff — gives an understanding of political
frameworks and how politicians manipulate and deploy them. Helpful for framing your
strategies, whether political or not.
● How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp — how advertising works for brands and how to dig
up those most interesting insights.
● Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
● Range by David Epstein
● Strategy books by women - https://lnkd.in/gFAHeW3c
● Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
Newsletters to subscribe to
● DailySkimm — gives you highlights on what’s happening in the world/America that day.
Good for keeping up with cultural tensions/insights.
● Big Spaceship Newsletter — great for tracking trends and pop-culture.
● Delightful — Strategist Steve Bryant puts together his thoughts on what’s happening in
the world and shares with us because he’s a beautiful human.
● Strands of Genius by Rosie and Faris — each letter is curated by either Rosie, Faris or a
guest about what’s happening in the world.
● Ad Campaign boot camp created by Gabriel Sehringer - https://lnkd.in/gRAmmXsU
● The best ads of all time - https://lnkd.in/gx-GJgX2
● Canne Lions case studies - https://lnkd.in/gNPADxdM
● Ad Land mentors initiated by Zoe Scaman - https://lnkd.in/gg3VkABF
Agencies who kill it in campaign/creative strategy… <hit me up with other suggestions>
● Forsman Bodenfors
● VCCP
● Words From The Woods
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Translation
BBH (Bogle Bartle & Hegarty)
Big Spaceship
Mother
DDB Chicago
The Martin Agency
The Many
Highdive
TBWA/Chiat Day
McCann NY
No Fixed Address - Mischief
Orchard
DNA Seattle
Other strategy shops that focus more on consumer insights
● Egg Strategy
● Good Run Research
● McKinsey & Company
GETTING INTO STRATEGY
Higher Education — strategy can feel like a fortress; your trojan horse is having a portfolio
school on your resume or knowing someone. For when you don’t know someone…
● VCU Brandcenter — arguably the best advertising program that gives you a masters
degree. You have to move to Richmond, VA. They are a strict 2-year program, so you
will need to apply for the Fall.
● Miami Ad School — you get what you put into it. You will have to move to Miami, FL.
Their schedule is quarterly, so if you’re interested, you could hop in any time.
● Denver Ad School — most affordable ad school, but had a not-so-tasteful moment on
Twitter.
***If you don’t want to go to school, this is what I would’ve done, knowing what I know
now…
Disclaimer: before doing the below, be sure to have at least read or are in the process of
reading/practicing anything from the beginning of this doc.
● Tell your LinkedIn network you’re looking for a mentor. Or, maybe there’s a strategist
you know that could be a good mentor? Get 30min-1hr with them at least biweekly.
Whatever time they give you, ask your most dire questions first.
● Have an interesting observation about something you saw while walking around? Does a
culture interest you? Write about it and publish it! It’ll be nerve wracking, but do it.
● Write creative briefs. Write brand briefs. Do cultural research studies. Write studies on
things you find interesting. Begin showcasing how you think.
● Dissect your favorite ads and check out portfolio school student portfolio’s and
breakdown how they got to where they are. Most portfolio’s are live, so you could
probably even hit up some recent grads and ask them about how they got to the work
they made.
● A series of nice videos for beginners from Heidi Hackemer - https://lnkd.in/gaZxTKhh
● Course list for strategists created by Stephen Brooks - https://lnkd.in/eVghvaM8
Get your name out there in other ways
● The One Club has a lot of affordable and free networking+portfolio review events.
● If you’re a POC, get on this directory: https://www.diversecreatives.com.
● Cold email recruiters/strategists from agencies you’re interested in with your portfolio
and a reason as to why you’d like to work for them.
● Don’t have a book? That’s fine. Publish your thoughts on Medium and/or LinkedIn.
SEEKING MENTORSHIP
Tips for getting a mentor
● Determining the right mentor. (Notes taken from Ellen Ensher, Professor of
Management at Loyola Marymount University.)
○ In what way(s) do you want your mentor to help you?
○ What skills do you want to learn from your mentor?
○ What accomplishments will they help you achieve as a result of their mentorship?
○ Who is your ideal mentor? What’s their role? Where do they work?
● How do I ask someone to be my mentor?
○ When contacting them, be specific about why you’re reaching out.
○ Avoid being transactional and see how you can make it a shared learning
experience, such as “after reading about strategy, I’d like to compare my notes
with you.”
○ Ask for a short meeting, like 15min-30min for the first chat. After the call,
assuming it went well, asking at the end if they’d be interested in meeting again.
● Found a cool ad or campaign and really want to work there?
○ Go to iSpot.TV or Adsoftheworld.com and search for it. There, you should find
the strategist in the credits.
○ You can also advance find on Google by typing (“brand name” AND “AOR”) or
(“brand name” AND “agency of record”) and the most recent agency should be it
– however, not always.
● Who should I reach out to? After seeing what agencies are out there that you’re
interested in working at and start there. Then, go through their “People” section on
LinkedIn and search for a Strategy Director (or Director of Strategy). You want someone
with experience managing, time in the industry, and who can ultimately make decisions,
assuming your conversation’s go well and they want to hire you.
○ Note 1: people are busy and have others they’re managing, so be patient as you
wait for them to get back to you. Always send a 3-4 day follow-up.
○ Note 2: make it clear to the person you’re reaching out to that you’re looking for a
mentor. Some people don’t have the bandwidth to mentor, especially if it’s during
their free time.
● What do we talk about? If you have a portfolio, talk about that. Go through a piece of
work that you know needs some TLC. Also, ask them about their journey in strategy that
you can’t see from their LinkedIn. Come prepared with 10-15 questions. Most likely,
they’ll answer the first 7 or more without you even asking them (trust me, I know).
○ What do they look for in a portfolio?
○ Does your portfolio make you hirable?
○ What are critiques they have about your portfolio or a specific project?
○ If you get stuck on what to ask, use this guide: https://bit.ly/StratSkillMatrix
● Apply to the 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP), see LinkedIn
here to get involved
○ MAIP offers multicultural students a unique paid, full-time summer internship at
4A’s participating agencies nationwide, combining real-world work experience,
networking opportunities within the industry (2,600 alumni globally), and over 75+
●
hours of professional development and training to better position themselves in
the marketplace.
Apply to Keni Thacker’s The Giving Real Opportunity With Talent & Heart
(G.R.O.W.T.H.) Initiative, see LinkedIn page here to get involved
○ This new virtual agency program will allow a select group of multicultural college
students to gain advertising, marketing, media, and public relations experience
over ten weeks.
If you know of other mentorship opportunities, shoot me a note on LinkedIn and I’ll get it added!
INTERVIEWING
Preparing for an interview
● First with the recruiter - they want to know the basics and if you’ll be a good fit
○ Have a POV on why you’re interested in the agency - do not feel the need to over
explain
○ Have a POV on a campaign the agency has launched
○ Have a succinct story has to why you chose strategy
○ From the job description, choose your strengths and be sure to bring those up on
the call - not explicitly, but weave into your story
○ Be ready to discuss any point of your resume
● With a strategist - they want to know if you have what it takes to do the job
○ Get to know the person you’re interviewing with - look them up on LinkedIn or
find their portfolio (if they have one) and begin to build questions from that
■ Is there something about their career journey that interests you?
■ Is there a piece of work in their portfolio that interests you?
■ Is there something about them that you can relate to?
○ What’s a strategy they’re proud of that maybe didn’t lead to a great creative
output or that a client turned down?
○ Is there a strategic process outside of the 4 C’s? How do they build their
strategies?
■ Some are formal, which can be good for understanding frameworks
before you break them
■ Some are informal, which can be good for finding your own way to do
strategy and later applying it to frameworks or breaking them
○ How do they manage expectations?
○ How long have they been managing strategists and have those who’ve they’ve
managed been promoted and what did it take for them to do so?
○ Ask what kind of strategist they’re looking for i.e. creative, communication, social,
paid/earned media, etc. if it’s obvious from the application.
○ Have an idea of what skills you want to get better at i.e. writing creative briefs,
writing a comm’s plan, digging up consumer insights, etc.
● With a VP/Director of Strategy - at this point you’re smooth sailing, just breathe and talk
to them casually
○ Get to know the person you’re interviewing with - look them up on LinkedIn or
find their portfolio (if they have one) and begin to build questions from that
■ Is there something about their career journey that interests you?
■ Is there a piece of work in their portfolio that interests you?
■ Is there something about them that you can relate to?
As per Chief Strategy Officer
Interviewing with peers: ask about the day-to-day, what kinds of briefs they get from clients, how
is the team culture, working relationships with creatives etc
*Interviewing with strat directors: bigger picture questions about the client, where things are
headed, opportunities over the next 6-12 months etc
Interviewing with agency leaders / execs: ask about broader agency culture, business health
and direction, what they are looking to pitch, forecast for the future.
Strategists sometimes get dinged for not understanding how agencies make money and the
business side of things, so always good for leadership to hear your interest and desire to learn
more.
As per Group Strategy Director
*Ask about their favorite recent project. It gives insight into how they think (which matters if
you’re going to work with/for them and they’re going to review your work), what they value and
oftentimes their actual philosophy around strategy as a discipline, its role within the agency and
their clients.
* = refers to
ADVICE
From fellow strategists for when you’re in a storm of anxiety
Strategist/Comms Planner
● Make sure you have clarification from your boss or whoever on expectations and
deliverables and beyond that shh the overthinking and follow your gut instincts. They
tend to be right.
●
●
PHASE 1: Give it some structure
○ Opt 1 - Map it out:
■ Take everything you know and what you’ve done and just blast it across
an A3/A4
■ Rework it
■ Bin loose ends
■ Expand opportunities
■ Park things that don’t make sense OR might be useful
■ Perhaps colour code your decisions - green, orange, red
■ Put it in a simple/decent enough story structure
■ I sometimes like to revisit older decks for a bit of inspo/ clarity
○ Opt 2 - Set Rules for Yourself:
■ Take 2 hypotheses
■ Set an hour for each
■ Research the hell out of it to check if there is existing research to back
your theories
■ See which makes more sense or which has the best potential
PHASE 2: Road show your initial thoughts
○ Chat to your Strat Director / colleagues
○ Run it past the CD for potential
Strategy Director
● Ask your strat director/ report for some time to run through your thinking so far.
○ Position it as a check-in.
○ Organize what you’ve done/ what you’re planning to do, into a structure or story.
■ Then all you need to do is explain what’s happening (or what will happen)
and give your reasoning.
■ E.g if it’s a brief, show your thinking and explain how you’ve got there. It
can sometimes help to think of an alternative way of approaching it, so
you can say “I did think of approaching it like this, but the reason I haven’t
is…”
● If you’ve strayed off course, just think of it as an answer you’ve now discounted.
Misunderstandings happen. It’s best to check in earlier and discuss and amend it.
○ And remember, worst case - it happens to us all. My very first presentation as a
director was for an enormous global project and… they hated it! It wasn’t the
wrong answer, it was just a miscommunication. So I dusted it off, approached it
●
●
●
differently and got to where we needed to be. It’s not the end of the world, as you
say - it’s a simple task. You’re doing it to learn.
Nobody gets everything right the first time - even CSOs.
Asking questions and jamming on your thinking is the best way to escape the feedback
loop. It still happens to everyone.
If you’re not comfortable with presenting it to someone more senior, ask one of your
peers for some time to have a chat about it, see if they can poke any holes or have any
suggestions. It could be a fellow planner, a friendly suit or even a creative (more so if it’s
a creative task).
Strategy Director
● Fail fast. Show your progress early and often.
Senior Strategist
● Without any framework of expected deliverables or past samples, strategy IS a
hellscape of overthinking.
● Saying this as someone who has worked in strategy for 8 years - you’re not bad at what
you do, it can quickly snowball into nonsense even for the best of us �
Group Strategy Director
● Never underestimate the power of taking a break and letting your mind think about
different stuff for a bit.
Takeaways
Don’t underestimate the ask
If it seems too easy, it isn’t. Ask for past examples of what they’re looking for.
Make a process (or borrow one) and follow it.
Show your progress to colleagues if you feel stuck - more eyes/opinions on it could help
de-fog some of the thoughts
5. Schedule a check-in with your manager to show your initial thoughts / thoughts along the
way
6. Step away when you can
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ALTERNATIVE STARTER PACKS
Here are other starter packs that are brilliantly put together:
● Strategy Starter pack by Jennifer M. Chang - https://lnkd.in/eZtjJs8b
● Starter pack by Will Poskett - https://lnkd.in/gyGzAB2C
● Strategy and Planning ScrapBook by Alex Morris - https://lnkd.in/gWuGhp3a
● Strategy Jumpstart by Janine Perry – https://www.janineperry.com/strategy-jumpstart
● How to Break Into Strategic Planning by Jess Watts –
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-break-strategic-planning-jess-watts/