Philosophical vs. Tactical

Philosophical or Tactical. Aka, my *second* favorite organizing principle.

Not all problems are created equal.
And not all descriptions of problems are created equal.

Which means a big part of the problem with trying to solve a problem is being able to accurately diagnose and define the problem in the first place. Still with me?

Saying the problem is "staffing," or "operations," or "biz dev" doesn't actually tell me anything about the problem, it just tells me what category it lives in.

One of the first things I ask agency founders and senior creatives when discussing what they're up against or a decision they're struggling with is, is it a philosophical issue, or a tactical issue? And 9/10 times, I get a quizzical look and a "Hmm…I never thought of it that way before…" 🤔

A 𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 issue is intangible, directional, foundational. It's the why underneath it all, and/or the north star that presides above it all. It taps into bigger, deeper questions around purpose, impact, culture. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦?

A 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 issue is tangible, sometimes measurable, always execution-oriented. It's the who/what/how you need to get from Point A to Point B. 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘱 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦?

I love seeing the moment it clicks into place for people, when the gears start turning and it comes with a "Huh…when you put it that way…" Because once we're able to sort things into the right bucket—put the content in the right container (see, it works for everything)—it helps us get into a better headspace for thinking about it in a better way.💡