NORTHERN PLANNER

I did this talk years ago. I'd forgotten about it.

A talk in front of your peers, about what you care about. In three minutes (trust me, condensing it all into three minutes is harder than doing it in 20). 

It's about swimming but it's really about having the courage to do what you love. It's about the intense joy of doing something you love really, really well. Or finding what you're really good at and learning to love it. 

It's about celebrating the potential in everyone.

That's the thing about being a good planner or strategist. You'll do it really well if you truly love it. When it comes to cracking briefs, the trick is to find something you love about what you're helping sell – or perhaps more potently, why the company loves it. Don't believe the marketing folk, talk to the people who make it or do it, find a way to bottle that. 

Enthusiasm is infectious. Logic and precision are not.