I’ve always liked the story if how Andre Agassi learned to play tennis. Basically, his Dad made him hit the ball as hard as he could; Mike Agassi reasoned that eventually his son would learn to get the ball in.
He did of course, few players have ever hit the ball so hard and so accurately…his power just blew opponents away. Now for the forced link to planning…..
I used to work as a suit in place where the head of planning was brighter than a brain pie. His thinking was intimidatingly elegant, his briefs Wittgenstein-esque. In fact, his briefs were so beautifully constructed that no one could work from them, most people couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. Most of his thinking was elegantly wasted.
There’s too much of this about. Great strategy that’s impossible to work from, and it’s not just brand consultacies that are guilty – although how the hell can people so divorced from execution get away with the unusable stuff they spew out?
Anyway, all you need is a really well thought out objective and a good observation. It can be an insight, a user truth, a brand insight – whatever suits the objective. But it needs to be interesting, it needs to be engaging, not just right.
In your thought processes don’t look for what’s 100% correct at first, look for what’s 100% interesting. In other words, learn to hit the ball really hard first.
When it’s something you really want to talk about, craft it, post rationalise it, make it work, make it go in.
Write things down, write a manifesto, write a film script, whatever works for you, but make it intuitive. Once it’s good, craft it. If it refuses to be crafted, start over.
Like most things in life, the more artfully something is carefully put together, the more likely it is to fall down. Find a great solid foundation and then make it work.
NORTHERN PLANNER 
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