Strategy in Its Purest Form

Perhaps strategy is one of the most misused terms in the world of agencies and companies. You can already see this in the inflation of compound labels like AI strategy or TikTok strategy. If every new technology, platform, or tool immediately calls for its own “strategy,” then what’s happening is almost anything but real strategic thinking.
Strategy in its purest form means letting go, stripping away, and taking the often painful path toward what truly matters. It is the opposite of bullshit and strategy FOMO. It means clarity about the current state, the goal, and the way from A to B — instead of hot air and daydreams that burst quickly, leaving no one really believing in them. Strategies today seem to have an oddly short half-life, almost as fleeting as the very trends they’re supposed to address.
This may have to do with the growing superficiality of our society and of our own media consumption. But a strategy worthy of the name is not just another trend we have to chase. With this almost purist view of strategy, Kristina Bonitz — my guest in episode #123 — founded her consultancy Serotonin. Previously, she served as CEO of diffferent and as head of strategy at SinnerSchrader (now part of Accenture Song).
The multiple and ongoing crises we face today inevitably force us to ask deeper questions about meaning and what constitutes a good life. We are being asked to learn how to let go. And that, in turn, quickly raises the question of what is essential and fundamental. For Kristina, strategy has from the very beginning of her career been the way to get to that essence — whatever consequences and costs it may entail.
That is why she is troubled when strategy becomes locked into an unhealthy dependence on execution. Implementation must, of course, be taken into account, but strategy should not be dictated by it. Strategy should deliver an independent diagnosis of where the real issues lie — not simply provide a justification for whatever solution the implementers happen to want to sell. A digital agency will always recommend a digital solution; a content agency will always recommend a content solution.

Sometimes you don’t need a strategy at all. If everything is meant to stay exactly as it is, then strategy is wasted money and wasted energy. More often than not, it also ends up stepping on the toes of those doing the operational work. They don’t need inflated words to do their daily jobs. Better to save the money and redirect it toward real missions — the ones involving risk, uncertainty, and critical business decisions. That, after all, is where strategy truly belongs.
And here, straight talk always helps, using the simplest vocabulary of all. All too often, big words and clever-sounding phrases are little more than cover for a lack of real purpose. In this sense, Paula Bloodworth, who spent many years at Wieden+Kennedy, argues for the power of stupidity — a healthy, deliberate naivety. Strategy should ask the questions that people within an industry bubble have long stopped asking, in order to challenge supposed certainties.
Every successful strategy needs at least one convinced person to push it through. There is no single, objectively correct strategy — if there were, it would be easy. Only those who are personally convinced and invested have the necessary energy and staying power. That’s why strategy so often gets lost in purely rational arguments. After all, who has ever changed what they believe simply because of a rational argument?

A strategy naturally requires data, substance, and a solid foundation. But if it doesn’t reach people emotionally, if it doesn’t truly move them, how can it ever be realized? First and foremost, it is about moving the people inside the company to walk that path. That’s why the key question is how to tell a strategy in such a way that everyone involved can imagine it and believe in it. To do so, it needs reference points to the company’s vision — and those must also resonate on a personal level.
The principles of a good life are the same as those of good business and sound economics. They include knowing yourself, seeing your strengths and weaknesses clearly, and having the imagination to envision something else, something new, that could exist. What’s needed then is the energy and discipline to carry it through. This applies just as much to strategic work as it does to any other form of enterprise.
A clear focus can be a radical liberation. But the road to it is painful, because it forces us to confront all the things we can no longer do — and should no longer do. Egos, emotions, fears of loss, and nostalgia are tied up in this. Yet without shedding that skin, we become interchangeable. And that’s exactly what has happened, both at the agency and corporate level. We look at what others are doing, at best practices and lessons learned. That can be useful, of course — but only to a limited extent, because the starting point is always entirely different.

Agencies today are neither radical enough nor truly strategic. There was a time — or maybe it’s just a myth — when agencies attracted rebels. The true believers who broke through walls, withstood resistance, and refused to play by rules and processes. Very little of that spirit remains. Agencies have turned into small corporates, presenting themselves in pitches with processes and methodologies. We’ve become too much like our clients. It starts with surface details such as the ubiquitous open workspaces. Even our clients now work in agile squads, developing digital products.
To still claim the avant-garde in this environment takes real effort. Have we misinterpreted the idea of closeness and fallen into the commodity trap? The true raison d’être of agencies lies in having a deep understanding of cultures, of zeitgeist, of societal change. In seeing what resonates and translating that into brands — or, conversely, embedding brands into those cultures, those social currents, and the spirit of the times. Instead, we spend our time on stakeholder management, process handling, and Excel sheets.
What our industry lacks are people willing to question our business models and working processes, to think in entirely different directions. It feels as though control has become our response to overwhelming complexity. But that runs counter to our business model and the essence of our offering. The much-demanded “brave creativity” doesn’t really exist. What does exist are bold strategies — and true creativity that aligns with them. Too often, we try to convince with the wrong arguments, ones that don’t play to our real strengths.