The benefits of strategy as a chaotic practice
Carat Melbourne’s head of strategy, Bethanie Blanchard, looks at strategy in the context of chaos.
It is an understatement to say that the times we are living in can feel heavy. For most people, this once in a lifetime pandemic event has shattered their expectations of stability and continuity. In our work as strategists, it can feel hard to plan in this environment. It seems there’s no equilibrium, nothing is certain, ‘everything solid melts into air.’
But strategy was born of chaos. Its origin was in battle and war, where so many of our seemingly modern marketing components have their basis. Chaos is where it feels most at home.
So, while the era we’re living through can feel difficult for any marketer, if I can put forth one positive idea, it is this: chaos is what strategy is made for. In fact, without chaos there would be no need for it.
It is my belief that there are two ways that strategy works positively with chaos: to tame it and, perhaps even more importantly, to harness it.
