Too many strategists float above reality. Here's how to avoid those ones.

“The goal is not the thing itself. Talking about it is not execution. Please stop confusing goals and plans with the actual doing of things.” @GymJones

Too often ‘developing strategy’ is a bookish, quasi-academic exercise. Purple Cows are thrown into Blue Oceans to find the Tipping Point that will Nudge the Herd to Eat The Big Fish.

Correspondingly, self-proclaimed ‘strategists’ are often aloof, elite and too removed from the reality of closing sales and making shit happen.

Certainly too few marketing strategists have ever made anything, sold anything or been hands-on responsible for the execution of their plans. The cock is never on the block.  And this is why they confuse planning with doing.  (Which, in turn, is why they drive creatives and clients crazy, but that’s another story…)

But I’ve recently figured out a solution for ensuring your planners or strategists never confuse thinking with doing.  Firstly, try and hire strategists who have owned a business. Secondly, try and hire ex-salespeople.  Failing that – and this is the crux of the solution as there are rarely enough ex-salespeople or ex-business owners available – only hire strategists who lift weights, or play competitive individual sports, ideally combat sports.

Why? Because (to quote Henry Rollins) “the iron never lies to you”. You either pick it up, or you don’t.  You achieve your goal, or you don’t.  Strategizing and thinking will not get the bar off the ground.  The task is clearly in the doing.

The same applies to competitive individual sports. You win, or you don’t.  You can’t post-rationalize away a failed outcome – “the director screwed it up”, “the client’s an idiot”, etc – because if you lose it was because they were better than you and you alone.  End of story.  You have to take responsibility for the outcome, positive or negative, hence the genius of weights and fighting: they force you to face reality on a regular basis.

So to make your planning or strategy department better, mandate they do a real martial art (Brazilian jiu jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, MMA, catch wrestling) or lift some weights. You’ll sort the wheat from the chaff in no time.

(This originally appeared on Mumbrella on 7 Nov 2012... but getting it up here, too, with some slight edits.)