Tools - Basic Arts

Four useful ways to think about “insight”

Is “strategy” the shittest word in business? No! Although it is indeed misunderstood, and although it’s used to cloak all manner or useless jargony guff,

7 sticky statements for effortless strategic thinking

To be frank with you, I don’t really say anything new in these “news”letters. New to you possibly, but not new to the world at

Why post-rationalised strategies are better

OK, here’s an obvious thing that you should have picked up in my writing by now: Leverage comes from doing things differently. Basic right? And

What is “insight speed” and how do you get there?

In my consulting work with clients, I have two practices which I’ve come to realise are very unusual: I favour long meetings (2+ hours) over

The 3 step process I use on every project

People often say that strategy is both “art and science”. I do agree, but I think there’s a better way of putting it: Strategy is

The ONE word missing from almost every strategy I see

As you can imagine, I get a lot of people sending me strategies for feedback. And thanks to the fact that most of them have

How to 10x your strategy with one conversation

When you’re developing a strategy for your business, you know who the most helpful person is? It’s not your co-founder. It’s not your head of

This is a leader’s biggest responsibility – but nobody talks about it…

There’s a simple exercise that you’ve just got to try. Not only try in fact; you must make it a ritual. Every year, or half

What should strategy feel like?

DON’T THINK. This is the message that the great sci-fi author Ray Bradbury had taped to his typewriter. He believed that his job, when he

The Cringe Test

One of my favourite things is to come up with new ways of explaining old concepts. They say there’s nothing new under the sun, and

The secret process of expert thinkers

I’m going to level with you. It’s about how I work. And I’ll admit up front, it makes me look kinda lazy and unprofessional. But

How to make strategy stick

The other day I stumbled across this Kevin Kelly quote which really sums up something I’ve learned in the past couple of years: “To make