The shape of a strategy

Last time I wrote about the shape of strategists. In keeping with the geometric theme I’m going to share something I often use in my coaching about the shape of the strategies we create.

Yes, strategies have shapes. Or they should anyway. Because at its core a strategy is a story. I’m sure you’ve heard that before - it’s not a controversial or innovative thought. Maybe you’ve even called yourself a “storyteller” in some context. But there’s some disagreement about why a strategy needs to be a story. For me, it comes down to the role of strategy - the work that strategy is meant to do for the business, or brand, or product, or campaign. The purpose of strategy is not to be right, or find a path, or even to prove something. Ultimately a strategy’s role is to drive action. That means inspiring its audience with confidence that overcomes objections and inertia. Doing that requires being clear about who the audience is and what action they need to take. And when we’re talking about telling a story to drive action from a live person, we’re not just talking about data and insights and hypotheses and recommendations - we’re talking about emotions.

Good strategy is equal parts analysis, creativity, psychology - and flair. The role of drama in strategy is real. That’s what I want to talk about today.

A strategy can have a lot of different shapes, but the one I usually incorporate first in my coaching (and my own work) is the simple checkmark:

Here’s how the different sections work:

Situation:
Where the business / brand is today, and the reason we’re doing whatever work we’re doing. The tone of this can be positive (a new opportunity), negative (an imminent threat), or neutral (it’s q4 again and we need a holiday campaign). This part of the story is mostly told with facts and observations.

Nadir:
This is the bad thing that will happen if we do nothing. Remember that our objective is to drive action, so we are positioning inaction as the enemy. The nadir could be a competitor’s ascension, a disruption from new technology / legislation / social forces, or the consequences on growth of a missed opportunity. It’s something to make your audience realize that even though things may look ok now, there’s a rip tide under the surface. This part of the story is told with hard hitting insights - combinations of data and context that paints a picture that is both unexpected and very believable.

Recovery:
Ah, some light ahead. It’s usually not a good idea to linger too long in the nadir. This work is supposed to be fun, after all. And the time your client spends with their agency is often the most interesting part of their day. So let’s not ruin it with too much fear, uncertainty and doubt. Another insight or two starts to telegraph the opportunity that exists for avoiding the unsavory fate from the nadir. The emotion we’re aiming for is relief.

Zenith:
If the message of the recovery was, “but it doesn’t have to be that way,” then the zenith says, “and actually, if we do this right we don’t just avert disaster - we unlock this whole new opportunity!” If we do this well, we’ve moved past relief to genuine excitement and optimism. We’ve told a story of defeat and redemption for our hero (your client’s business or brand or product), and we’ve acknowledged the role of emotions in decision-making - not instead of a well-supported argument of data and insights, but in conjuction with one.

Strategists I’ve coached have told me that this framework really helps focus thinking and accelerates a project, because you know what you’re aiming for. And I’m all for finding focus through the swirly parts of a project.

Obviously this isn’t the only way to tell a story in a strategy. But once you realize a strategy IS a story, it’s easy to see how other narrative structures might work as well. Here are a few from Kurt Vonnegut that might also influence how you structure your next project.


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