We should aspire to the standard that Bono spoke of - brands that talk, like they walk, like they perform, in which everything adds up. Want to find your brand’s true, compelling superpower, the true source of its value and magnetism in the world? Then strip it all back to just that, and that alone. Be the heartless truncator, the merciless editor, and take a scythe to the unwanted and unnecessary acres of fluff and bullshit.

All of which is to say that I’ve chosen to work differently and focus my efforts not on inputs, hours, costs, and activities but on what client organisations really want and buy, which is solutions to business problems. Exciting conversations about value as opposed to dreary conversations about time are where real relationships and partnerships - and transformations - are forged. I mean, there really didn’t see much point advising client organisations to adapt, evolve, think different, innovate, create meaningful and lasting value in the world, lean into the future, or grab a seat at the front of the bus while there still is one if I wasn’t going to do the same.

We say that it’s all about “the work” as if clients are merely shopping for outputs and assets. And then complain about squeezed revenue and margins.

But it becomes ever more clear to me. Point to what you are proudest of, and you’ll find the scope of your value.

Then he’s tasked with polishing forks. Fucking forks. And Richie’s ego begins to learn the most valuable lesson of all - it’s not about feeling important in the eyes of others, but about taking pride in oneself for the time and effort one puts into the details.

He then finds Chef Terry (exquisitely played by Olivia Colman) peeling a pile of mushrooms. Fucking mushrooms. He’s baffled. She quietly tells Richie that mushrooms do not, strictly speaking, need to be peeled: “It’s just a nice little fun detail so that when the diners see it, they know that someone spent a lot of time on their dish.” And now he gets it. Be of service. And care. Really fucking care.

Strategy begins with a leap - not inching forward methodically, but jumping into an imagined future that's better, more valuable, more desirable. But this imaginative leap is only the beginning. The real work lies in determining how to make that future real: What conditions must we create? What must we start or stop doing? What resources must we gather? What politics must we navigate? What collaborators do we need? How will we finance it all? Strategy is ultimately a practical, pragmatic undertaking concerned with change in the real world. While imagination is essential, it's only the first step. After that comes the hard yards of implementation - or as Kornfield might say, after imagination comes the laundry.

Taste then isn’t merely about unaccountable subjective preference. Taste involves making judgments about quality - which is why it should matter a very great deal to marketers, brand-builders, and communicators.

To do its work strategy needs be coherent - it is the art of deploying finite resources for maximum effect  after all. It needs to be persuasive if it is to engage the belief, enthusiasm, and resources of others to make it a reality. It should have as few moving parts as possible to reduce the risk of failure. And it needs to be compressed and memorable so people do not have to work out what it means or what to do, and there is no room for misunderstanding or subjective interpretation. David Gelernter, the professor of computer science at Yale University, talked about ‘machine beauty’ as the key to deveoping powerful software.  We should be seeking ‘strategic elegance’. Because elegance makes strategy more powerful.

The fact of the matter is whether as a human being, business, or brand, conviction born of self-knowldege is the thing that gets us through uncertainty, adversity, and turbulence. It is the root of agency, because it clarifies choices and decisions. Being deliberate and decisive, having real intention and doing things on purpose is impossible without self-knowledge, self-belief, self-respect and the resultant conviction. Without it, we’re just a victim of circumstances, responding and adapting to events as they happen, to bad advice, or to other people’s opinions, agendas, and actions without ever asking whether this is valuable, healthy, sustainable, desirable, meaningful for us. 

When we are able to truly and accurately name things we are able exercise some form of control and dominion over them. And when we are able to name things we have the ability to share and embed that ordering and meaning of things in the minds of others. And thus we govern, predict causes and effect, make things happen. Thus we do strategy.

Business leaders want honesty, not complicity. They are acutely aware that they’re living in a non-linear world and do not see the trends and dynamics of yesteryear playing out like a straight line into the future. They understand that the past as a solution set cannot be the only viable option and are hungry for a genuinely outside perspective. In such an environment, walking in smart is probably the dumbest thing we can do. But walking in ‘stupid’ and asking the questions that everybody with their experience and expertise has not thought of asking? That’s probably the smartest thing we can do. Emptying our cup is invariably the first step to filling it with something useful.

If you saw Bradley Cooper’s biopic Maestro about Leonard Bernstein, it’s worth noting that the movie chose NOT to tell this story. Yet the truth is far more inspiring. And for the practitioners, commissioners, and end-users of brand strategy, far more instructive.