Smaller rabbit holes
The Future Future Club
The most valuable lesson I've ever learned.
2 mins
I don't, alas, have any '10 x your pipe by following this one simple trick' type hacks.
But I can share one of the most commercially valuable questions I've ever learned.
It isn't particularly sophisticated. It's just:
"So what?"
Repeatedly.
I didn't learn it from a strategy course, or an MBA. It didn't come from a management book with an airport on the cover.
I learnt it from (my) children.
If you've ever spent time around a four-year-old, you'll know exactly how this works.
"Why?"
Because...
"Why?"
Well, because...
"Why?"
Subtle eye twitch. Ok, so because...
At some point you realise they aren't asking the same question over and over again.
They're peeling back layers and, to them, every answer isn't actually The Answer. It simply uncovers the Next Question.
Somewhere along the line, I think most adults stop doing this, especially in business.
I'm not sure if you lose the innate curiosity but I do think we become very good at spotting and honing in on just the first-order effect.
AI is changing content.
New regulations are coming.
A competitor has merged.
The client has hired a new CMO.
Great. So what?
That's usually where the interesting conversation starts.
If AI makes content dramatically cheaper...
...so what?
Everyone publishes more.
So what?
Attention becomes harder to earn.
So what?
Original thinking becomes more valuable than production.
Now we're getting somewhere. The first observation wasn't particularly useful. The fourth one might be worth building a business around.
This is how I've come to think about strategy. Not as predicting the future, I'm deeply suspicious of anyone claiming they can do that.
Rather, more just thinking one consequence further than everyone else.
The agencies I admire don't just spot trends, they explore implications.
They keep asking "If that's true... what else becomes true?"
Sometimes the answer is nothing.
Sometimes it unlocks an entirely new proposition, a new campaign, or service, or product.
Or even just a new conversation or simply a better question to ask a client.
Most strategy stops after the first answer. Opportunity has a habit of appearing around the fourth question.
So what?
I don't, alas, have any '10 x your pipe by following this one simple trick' type hacks.
But I can share one of the most commercially valuable questions I've ever learned.
It isn't particularly sophisticated. It's just:
"So what?"
Repeatedly.
I didn't learn it from a strategy course, or an MBA. It didn't come from a management book with an airport on the cover.
I learnt it from (my) children.
If you've ever spent time around a four-year-old, you'll know exactly how this works.
"Why?"
Because...
"Why?"
Well, because...
"Why?"
Subtle eye twitch. Ok, so because...
At some point you realise they aren't asking the same question over and over again.
They're peeling back layers and, to them, every answer isn't actually The Answer. It simply uncovers the Next Question.
Somewhere along the line, I think most adults stop doing this, especially in business.
I'm not sure if you lose the innate curiosity but I do think we become very good at spotting and honing in on just the first-order effect.
AI is changing content.
New regulations are coming.
A competitor has merged.
The client has hired a new CMO.
Great. So what?
That's usually where the interesting conversation starts.
If AI makes content dramatically cheaper...
...so what?
Everyone publishes more.
So what?
Attention becomes harder to earn.
So what?
Original thinking becomes more valuable than production.
Now we're getting somewhere. The first observation wasn't particularly useful. The fourth one might be worth building a business around.
This is how I've come to think about strategy. Not as predicting the future, I'm deeply suspicious of anyone claiming they can do that.
Rather, more just thinking one consequence further than everyone else.
The agencies I admire don't just spot trends, they explore implications.
They keep asking "If that's true... what else becomes true?"
Sometimes the answer is nothing.
Sometimes it unlocks an entirely new proposition, a new campaign, or service, or product.
Or even just a new conversation or simply a better question to ask a client.
Most strategy stops after the first answer. Opportunity has a habit of appearing around the fourth question.
So what?