Are You Strategy Avoidant?

Let’s face it, when you’re a thought leader, strategy is overrated. This isn’t chess, this is barely checkers. You don’t really need a content strategy. You know where you’re going (well, sort of) and you know how you’ll get there (kind of). After all, you’re really busy, and busy is good (right?).

So, since we all hate strategy, here’s five easy ways to avoid being strategic.

Be Reactive! Zig when everyone else zags. Proactivity is so 2007. Just instinctively react to every inquiry that you get, to everyone from India or Poland that emails you and wants to be your partner, to every event (the Left-Handed Plumbers Association of Kentucky annual pipe fitting gala is a hoot) that asks you to speak, to everyone’s cousins’ brother-in-law that sat next to a guy on a plane that knows a guy who works at (or was it near) Google, and you’ll achieve your objectives. Planning is boring and being focused on your target markets takes all of the excitement out of being successful.

Tweet, A Lot! Spend all of your time on Twitter. These days, Twitter’s where decision makers go to find top quality thinkers. Tweet about everything you can think of, your content, your dog, your food, your kid; you’re definitely the only person that’s had a less than pleasant experience on American Airlines or with a unique opinion on Miami’s 97 degree weather. Avoid being insightful, and don’t even attempt to be interesting just keep Tweeting!

Resilience and Flexibility are for Gymnasts! You’re not Mary Lou Retton here—it’s ok to be stubborn. You are the expert after all. Ignore new thinking! Don’t integrate any relevant business or social trends into your work. Your ideas are flawless, timeless. Never adjust or modify them. Stick to direct mail and telemarketing because if it worked “back in the day,” then, by God, it’ll work now.

Be Everything to Everyone! Being strategic preaches focus and precision, then why would you mess with them when every man, woman, and child on the planet can so obviously benefit from your brilliance? Who cares if they can afford it or how they prefer their content; your stuff is so life-altering that they’ll all figure out how to pay for it and find it and master it. Target marketing is ridiculously limiting.

Do it All by Yourself! Clearly, you have all of the skills that it takes to leverage your content. You know exactly how to create it, how to get it published, how to develop it into every possible modality. Don’t forget that you’re an awesome marketer, researcher, business developer, social media expert, magician, contract negotiator, logistics ace, 4 star general, blogger, videographer, publicist, exterminator, instructional designer, web developer, graphic designer, geologist and zoologist. Keep all your juicy profits by excluding other experts or those simpletons that spend all their time just doing one thing. You’re a jack of all trades and it’s better to know a little bit about everything than it is to pour into what you do best.