Navigating the Fine Line Between Strategy, Values, and Impact

In my spare time, I write. I bring together all my experience hustling between creating strategies for ad customisations and script strategies, quickly assigning URL placements, strategic audience understanding, and dynamic creative content. This content allows you to either understand your customer's life cycle or update cross-sells and relevant messaging online in real time. The ROI, more cost effective and personalised ad strategies.?

After a few hours of that, I stop and think, "What the heck am I talking about?" Ah, personalisation!

Yes, that's it. Personalisation is a sophisticated advertising strategy, to be honest. If I were speaking in Dutch, I'd pat myself on the back and say, dat ben echt tof hoor. But then I get up for a walk and think: in 30 years, will I look back at these URL and placement strategies and wonder, "Did I really make an impact with that?"

Becoming the leader you want to see in the world isn’t for the faint of heart. Walking the fine line and crossroads of choosing to act on your values can be paralysing. Sometimes, it leads to disappointment. But the taste of freedom you feel when you realise you stood firm for your value system? That’s priceless. It changes the smell of your morning coffee. But remember, this doesn't pay the bills. This is a different wealth altogether.?

As I sit here in a Bolivian coffee shop, in the Hague, sipping delicious organic brew freshly roasted by a small, home-run business called Illimani (like the mountain in the Andes), it’s raining in The Hague—no surprise there. At this metaphorical height, I contemplate those who do wrong and those who watch them. Who's really at fault?

Have we become so passive that we truly believe man rules the world? Read that again. I’m not talking about gender; I’m talking about humanity. Or have we forgotten that we’re merely stewards of the glory that surrounds us? It’s in moments like these that menial tasks begin to change in value. We start viewing everything not for monetary gain or the process of currency derived from gold or trees, but for intrinsic worth—impact. What we mean to the space we occupy, a space that should’ve been occupied by a tree.

If I’ve lost you here, take a breath, and paddle back down or climb back up, depending on how you look at depth.

I’m heading deep. If you prefer to wet your toes in the shallows, stop here.

People fear what they don’t understand or what differs from the norm. When someone behaves in a way that defies convention, the majority—the conformists—feel threatened.

The Hunter in the Farmer's World

Which brings me to the lessons from those with ADHD. In A Hunter in a Farmer’s World, it’s said: “It’s important to allow individuals with ADHD the space to speak up in environments that often quiet them down. Their divergent thinking is a gift, a different way of seeing the world.” I’ve come to realise how vital this truth is. Now, having experienced the immense risk of speaking up, I reflect on why I speak so boldly. It’s a combination of my ADHD diagnosis and my conviction, driven by a deep love for humanity through my faith.

I feel like I’m locked between the "hunter" state in a "farmer’s world"—constantly navigating the push and pull of society's norms and my own restless mind. Yet, I also carry the desire to encourage people towards something more enduring. It’s not money or success that makes us whole; it’s how well we serve each other. There’s a strength in that, a quiet durability.

In one of my last adventures, my team and I were called “Spartans.” We embraced it, but it made me think of Leonidas. He died fighting against the Persians, but his bravery set the tone for an entire united Greek army front. Leonidas’s 300 men were a symbol of resilience, and that’s how I see us. We may be few, but we set a tone—one of courage, of taking risks, even when the odds seem impossible.

This brings me to my point. Business is an entity that shifts accountability, and AI will soon be one too. But we are the creators of these rules, and we will need to understand the foundations of our own actions in order to quantify this data intrusion properly.

Trust me, I go to bed at night thinking, "Veronica, seriously, wouldn’t you rather just play with some makeup and keep it light?" And while I do love a good beauty tutorial, it’s not enough. Fighting for people, and for leaders to become the best version of their own ideals, seems like a more compelling way to spend time, don’t you think?