The Strategist as an Individual: Taste, Awareness, and the Limits of Standardized Models
Published on: Mar 5th 2025.
My approach to strategy has been shaped by every book I've read, every project and brief, every failure, and every success. I’ve worked client-side, agency-side, freelanced across roles for companies big and small, taken on side projects outside my day jobs, and spent years as an entrepreneur. Because of this, I developed my own frameworks organically rather than adopting standardized approaches from larger agencies or more senior strategists.
This independence allowed me to create methods tailored to my thinking patterns and the challenges I encounter most often in my work. It’s probably why I never quite fit into some traditional agency roles—their preference for rigid, pre-set frameworks and playbooks didn’t sync with my need to build something bespoke, which I suspect limited them as much as it freed me.
Other strategists follow their own separate journeys, shaped by unique filters—pattern recognition, risk tolerance, or intuitive timing—that lead to wildly different outcomes, even when starting from the same framework or data. In creative strategy and research, my aesthetic sensibilities, metaphorical thinking, and personal lens transform insights into directions another strategist might never consider. This explains why the most valuable strategists develop personal frameworks beyond established rules. The frameworks I've created over time reflect my unique way of seeing and making sense of complexity. They become tools tailored specifically to how my mind works.
The standardized frameworks teach strategists discipline and provide a common language. They serve as valuable starting points, but the real magic happens when strategists adapt and evolve them into something personal—something that captures their individual strategic vision. What makes a strategist effective goes beyond technical knowledge or methodological rigor—their irreplaceable perspective allows them to see opportunities others miss. The best strategists master the rules, then reshape them to match their own way of seeing the world.
A strategist’s effectiveness depends on more than frameworks or methodologies. The real edge comes from the person behind the process—their way of seeing, their ability to filter complexity, and the depth of their perspective. Without that, strategy becomes a mechanical exercise, moving pieces around without any real intuition guiding the choices.
Taste plays a huge role in this. The strongest creative decisions come from a refined sense of what resonates. That instinct doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It’s shaped by experience, by paying attention to culture, by knowing how to recognize something fresh before it becomes obvious to everyone else. A strategist who develops their own aesthetic sensibilities will approach work with a sharper, more distinct perspective.
Values act as a filter, shaping the kind of work worth pursuing. Strategy without a point of view leads to ideas that feel surface-level—technically sound yet missing something essential. A clear set of values creates sharper decision-making, helping cut through the noise and focus on what actually matters.
Awareness—of oneself and the world—is the most valuable tool a strategist can develop. The ability to recognize connections between seemingly unrelated fields, to pull from a broad range of disciplines, and to experiment beyond industry norms separates those who innovate from those who simply optimize. Self-actualization plays a role in this. The more deeply someone understands their own instincts, tastes, and intellectual leanings, the better they can navigate complexity and uncover patterns.
This is where rigid frameworks often serve institutional needs more than creative ones. Many large agencies rely on standardized strategy models not because they lead to better ideas, but because they create the perception of rigor and control. These structures help agencies justify decisions to clients, offering something quantifiable to point to, even though the most impactful creative work tends to be more instinctive, harder to map, and deeply tied to personal judgment.
Traditional frameworks persist because they reinforce the status quo. When agencies prioritize adherence to these systems over original thinking, they end up producing the same kinds of ideas repeatedly—work that appears strategic on paper yet lacks any real cultural sharpness. In many cases, the process becomes strategy for strategy’s sake, optimizing for alignment rather than breakthrough thinking.
These structures also create barriers, favoring those who know how to “speak the language” over those with genuinely disruptive perspectives. By making strategy seem more codified than it needs to be, agencies reinforce hierarchies that reward compliance with the system rather than raw creative instinct.
Cognitive biases also play a role in why these frameworks persist. The mere exposure effect—the tendency to prefer what feels familiar—keeps agencies cycling through the same models, mistaking repetition for reliability. Confirmation bias leads decision-makers to seek out information that validates pre-existing methodologies rather than challenging them. Meanwhile, groupthink discourages deviation from the accepted norms, making it easier to follow the framework than question whether it’s actually the best approach.
A broad, eclectic knowledge base fuels better strategy. Exposure to art, science, literature, philosophy, and subcultures fosters a multidimensional perspective, allowing strategists to anticipate shifts before they happen. Experimentation matters just as much—pushing beyond comfort zones, testing ideas in unfamiliar territories, and seeking inspiration outside expected sources cultivates originality. Those who stay too close to prescribed paths end up playing within boundaries set by others.
Frameworks provide a starting point, but they don’t replace the need for independent thinking. The best strategists move past formulas and build their own way of seeing, turning their personality, taste, and values into their real competitive advantage.