Happiness is Strategy
Happiness is strategy. Strategy is happiness.
Today is international happiness day. As good a day as any for a strategist to overanalyze and wreck it for everyone.
What is happiness?
Is it knowing what you need to do? Or not knowing?
Is it knowing only if you can do something about it?
Is it knowing that you’re doing enough? Or that you did your best?
Is not knowing at all, but the ability to do something regardless.
In relation to marketing, I suspect for different brands at different times, all the above could be true, to certain extents.
You know, I’ve heard wise heads say that strategy without action is daydreaming, and action without strategy is chaos. Both of those could make the right type of person pretty happy, but perhaps not all the time. No one is The Dude 24/7, and no one is the Nihilist all day every day. Perhaps we’re all Donny most of the time.
Is happiness the feeling of control and commitment, regardless of outcome? Rarely that’s the case, except maybe for 5% of the budget earmarked for moonshots.
I still say that great strategy is compelling opportunity made simple. And when you get that right it makes me pretty happy.