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Is the next generation of strategy more action-based?

It’s possibly not too much of a generalisation to say that most independent strategy people have over-active brains.

It’s probably true for most strategy people at large too - but those of us who chose this way of working, or found ourselves working independently, I feel confident have more actively noisy brains than most.

There’s possibly an amount of neurodiversity at play, undoubtedly a large amount of creativity (despite what gatekeepers of capital-C creativity might say), and whether it’s causation or correlation - itchy brains, itchy feet and itchy hands are common in our world.

It can be a blessing (we connect the disconnected) and a curse (we struggle to put down ideas or problems), but in the next generation of the work we do - that almost-nervous-energy which often fuels our curiosity, motivation and desire to tackle a problem, will need to be applied, not just theoretical.

In a previous edition, Gareth Turner spoke about how strategy can be seen as theoretical, rather than applied, and suggested language like ‘growth’ could be more valuable. And I think we all agree that strategy is in the service of outcomes and action.

There’s currently no shortage of discussion around what “work” might look like in the coming years. ’s post on the shift in the advertising industry from towards makers (this isn’t new - I’ve seen this wheel turn 2 or 3 times previously); Graeme Douglas’ three points of career advices suggesting entrepreneurship over employment; countless industry folk building tools over delivering work whether it be platforms like Piotr Bombol’s adaily and Pip Bingeman’s springboards.ai, or shifts into building people platforms like The Zoo London, and countless (literally too many to count) side-projects that are more like side-products.

Some of this ‘get off your butt and build something’ comes from a healthy-dose of age/experience/wisdom/cynicism. Age in terms of ageism - the older you get, the harder it can be to get hired in the industry, so selling a service or product over time can be easier. Age in terms of thinking about the long-game and wanting to create value, not just income. Age in terms of wisdom - knowing what people need, spotting opportunities and creating something to address it. Age in terms of being fed-up working for (putting up) with someone calling the shots.

It’s also coming from a need to diversify and protect our income - with AI as a dominant force in shaking up and threatening ‘thinking only’ roles, but also potentially a flood of people using new tools to create ‘thinking’.

“Ideas are cheap, execution is everything” will never be more true - and whilst I’m not speaking to the quality of ideas - acting, doing, applying, making stuff happen is where stuff happens.

To my original point, that most of us are mentally hyper-active - when the tools to move from thinking to doing become commonplace, where the barriers to create code, tools, platforms and products are discarded, that mental action can be so easily transformed into practical action. From thinking to doing. From ideas to execution. From strategy to outcomes. Perhaps our over-active brains points to us being dormant ‘makers’, and now we have the tools to create - what might that mean for us?

I wonder if the next generation (or indeed the current generation, with a healthy pivot) of strategic people will be wholly focused on action and outcomes, and I wonder what that might mean for thinking before doing.

Perhaps thinking whilst doing?

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Who joined this week?

Each week, I’ll try to profile one of our members, so you get to know each other better, and find folk you might want to connect to. Shout if you fancy having your face here.

👋 Hey everyone, I’m Jamie.

I’m a brand strategy and strategic communications consultant, with 10 years of experience working across consumer and corporate clients such as Unilever, GSK, Dove, Lynx, Lipton and Hunter.

My expertise is in strategic communications, messaging and positioning, research and insights, and copywriting. I began my career at MullenLowe and M&C Saatchi, and have been a self-employed strategy consultant since the end of 2019, working on GSK, Pfizer, Heathrow, as well as a number of smaller, independent businesses and start-ups too.

During 2024, I’ve been using research and insight-led communications to drive impact and change for clients of all sizes, both internally and externally. For example, developing diplomatic wording and positioning around sensitive issues for GSK, and working with another client to write quantitative and qualitative research reports for Experian that understand employee wellbeing globally, offering suggestions on areas for improvement and impact.

During 2025, I’m very open-minded to what comes next, but would be particularly drawn to clients that I have a good working chemistry with, as for me it’s really important to connect on a human level and get on well. I would also love to work with more clients who are looking to use their brand to help others and drive positive change.

Things I’m reading/consuming/loving at the moment:

Watching - Black Mirror. The new season arrived yesterday and it’s just as addictive as ever!

Reading - Queer Intentions: A (Personal) Journey Through LGBTQ+ Culture. A powerful lived-experience perspective on life within the LGBTQ+ community.

Listening - Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos. A beautiful album looking at Puerto Rican music, history and culture, which has been on repeat here since it came out.

Say hello to Jamie on LinkedIn, or via the community.

Curiosity Stream

From our Friends

It’s the 10th anniversary of Planner Pints, a monthly meetup for strategy folk in London. I chatted to James Lees, Strategy Director at Matter Of Form + Co-Founder at Group Think, and host of Planner Pints.

Q. Tell us a little bit about Planner Pints

On paper, it’s a simple thing - It’s a monthly IRL meet-up, held in a pub after work, for strategists of all kinds (creative, consulting, media, brand, marketing, innovation etc.). No name tags. No tickets. No agenda. No awks.

Strategy/planning can be quite an odd/lonely job at times… Having a place for community that once a month enables you to share a drink with people who ‘get it’, has been quite important for a lot of people. It gives people a place to celebrate wins, decompress, learn from peers and make connections. It’s also a f***ing vibe.

Q. It's the 10th anniversary, how have you seen the crowd change over that time?

There’s a few different ways of answering this so I’m going to TLDR; it.

• The crowd is more diverse in terms of the skillset/applications of that skillset... No longer just “planners” but strategists employing creative thinking in a variety of contexts. Even strats in ad agencies (“Planners”) are having to broaden their skillset so, yeah, the crowd has evolved.

• I think there’s also a healthier mix of seniorities turning up every month ranging from Junior to Director level. I started Planner Pints at 22yrs old, so naturally we had a younger crowd and when we did get more seasoned vets along they probably felt a bit like a parent who’s wandered into a student bar… That isn’t the case anymore (even if occasionally there is a shot or two at the end of the night…)

Q. You must be listening into the juicy gossip - what are some of the most common topics of conversation within the planner/strategy community in London?

Goss tends to fall into a few columns…

• Redundancy scares - Last year there was a lot of chat about redundancies/threat of redundancies, how other agencies were doing and how hard it was to find a new role (seems to be lots of people staying put for job security?) The latest on this was there seemed to be a bit more optimism and hiring happening, but that was before this tariff situation…

• Freelance - The freelance arena seems to be a very odd place at the moment with some people struggling to find work (work which apparently used to be abundant) but then also a few other people kind of blessed with a strong pipeline of work.

• A.I. - OK, we’re probably all sick of it as a topic but it’s definitely not going away. There’s been lots of discussions about how people are using it, their agency’s stance on using A.I., or their clients stance/expectations when it comes to A.I. There seems to be a desperate desire from some strategists to find the next wonder tool and/or learn how to prompt better.

• Stupid shit and scandals - Always something crazy that comes out. Too spicy for print. Unless you’re Campaign…

Q. More and more strategists are going independent - and communities, networks and meetups are essential for so many reasons - why do you think Planner Pints is so important?

This won’t be exhaustive, especially as different people look to get a variety of things from Planner Pints but…

• A). If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound?* We’re social creatures and so when you’re independent, not being able to talk about the job, even in passing, in a way where it’s understood and respected by others… Well, it sucks. *Yes, I shamefully abused this proverb.

• B). I can see that WFH means a lot of people aren’t getting the same social stimulation, or strength of ‘relationships’ that were once formed in the office (even as a freelancer going in). Agencies/studios/creative consultancies typically used to represent a bit of a ‘lifestyle’ and invested heavily in office culture - something that created bonds between co-workers and across departments. That’s gone for a lot of businesses, so we’re compensating by seeking connections in other places.

Q. How can any of our independent folk sign up to the next event, and if we have folk outside of London, where can they go for a drink?

• For London folks - sign up to www.group-think.co.uk. You’ll receive an invitation email once a month to this meet-up and other events. You can also add me on LinkedIn where I similarly regularly post event deets.

• For Berlin people - created ‘Strategy Pints’, which is similar to Planner Pints I think, but maybe with a bit more of a ‘topic’? is also a regular host (an old Planner Pints regular <3)

• There’s also things like Future Friends which is an international community running events all over. In London it’s hosted by Amy Daroukakis, but they’ve run events in Lisbon, Sao Paulo, Am Damn etc.

Over the last decade we’ve inspired a few other markets to create their own version of a strategy social. But it’s hard for people to do it consistently and very few of these efforts survived the pandemic.

It can also be harder in satellite cities where agencies view each other as competitors in a very literal way (and therefore sharing wisdom is kind of frowned upon. It kills this stuff before it gets started). We’re also very fortunate in London to have a F*** TON of pubs and some empty function rooms that we can hi-jack as meet-up spaces…

The next Strategy Social (Planner Pints) is on Wednesday 16th (next week), from 6:30pm, UPSTAIRS at the Prince Arthur - N16EB. Lovely spot with a suntrap of a balcony. And the The 10yr Party will be on June 12th in the garden of Rolling Stock in Shoreditch from 6:30pm. Stick it in your diary.

» ’s take on ‘woke marketing’ in the Guardian prompted a number of responses from folk like Kian, Zoe, Anastasia, and others.

» Is the side hustle worth it? From Run Don’t Walk

» The Silent Exit of Experience from Karina Parker

» Exploring Brand Futures from Adrian Jarvis

&c.

» Reality TV deserves your respect (thanks Lucinda)

» Because you’re worth it (thanks Ellie)

» Escapism (thanks Ged)

» Fyre is back (thanks Ann)

» The fortnite accent

Wanna share your work, ideas or thinking with the community? - drop me a message, and I’ll pop it in the next issue. This is a scrapbook of our ideas, so please open up your brains.

Workplace of the Week.

Off work this week, but went to the illuminating (ha!) Anthony McCall Solid Light exhibition at Tate Modern. No coffee, despite Tate roasting their own coffee on the grounds of Tate Britain.

/gigs

Every week, we share a list of roles found and shared via the the community. Some are directly from businesses who come directly to share their briefs with us. You can get these in real-time if you’re on whatsapp, telegram and slack.

1. Freelance Creative Strategist (London,UK)
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250411-warmstreet.html

2. Open Call for Strategists (UK)
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250411-publicis.html

3. Director of Strategy & Transformation (6 month FTC) (UK)
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250411-macmillan.html

4. Freelance Creative Strategist (NYC,USA)
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250411-game.html

5. Freelance Digital Media Planner (Johannesburg,ZA)
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250411-digitalplanner.html

6. Senior Communications & Media Strategist with tech/SaaS experience in b2b + b2c. (London,UK (Hybrid))
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250410-manifest.html

7. Freelance strategist with knowledge of Korean market (Berlin,DE)
   https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250408-kemmler.html

That’s all for this week.
mk ✌️