The consolations of other disciplines

Great strategists are lateral thinkers, able to create patterns no one else saw. It’s an unquestionable truth and a powerful tool. It means that we can approach a given problem by looking not at it, but away from it. By looking at other categories. Other types of products. Other industries. Other places. Different moments in time. The road for insight is filled with crooked lines, but it works.

This benefits creative thinking. It allows us to create connections that help unlock a problem. But is there a role for lateral thinking in providing reassurance and consolation?

Strategists tend to be of the anxious type. Often the conflicted type. The type that sees both sides of the table debating at the same time. That understands, to some level, both sides of the argument without going mad. That, in the end, like an exhausted court judge after a 10-hour trial, needs to decide what to do. While making that decision interesting or useful in some way.

This is where the consolation of other disciplines might play a role. Reading about politics, the economy or gossip can clarify us on what gets the nation talking. But it can also help calm us and bring perspective to the job that we do.

Reading about 14-hour policy meetings can make two-hour creative reviews feel ok. Understanding the faults of the GDP or Dow Jones can put us at ease when doing our own performance reviews. Reading about startup horror stories puts our own hardships into perspective. Acknowledging the pressures of fame can help us question our own motivations for the job.

All in all, strategy is hard, but so are many other areas of society. And somehow that can make our own lives seem more bearable. Even more enjoyable. Behavioural economics states that we don’t make choices in isolation. We always choose based on a given context that affects our views on the choice we made. Maybe the way we find consolation when the going gets tough works the same way.

Other disciplines can help us look at things differently. But they can also help us find perspective in sources we never thought of looking in the first place. If strategy is an exercise in anxiety management, becoming ‘better’ can start here. In finding ways to get unexpected inspiration, but also much needed consolation.

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