Sometimes the best path
Is the slow and watchful.
Recently, I’ve been asked to design some signs — which, on a remote road, ask kindly:
“Please Go Slower.”
Sometimes in the planning of strategy, for your life, brands and other enterprises — striking out the mapping of the path — moving forward: slow down and study the surroundings as you move forward.
Climbing a mountain with an experienced alpinist, I noted that his movements, while skillful, were largely unaware of the vistas which lay around us, and the moments of the movement upward — and, while we summited, the speed of our climb discounted any instant to instant study of the stone that we crossed, the crags that we cracked our way upwards, the icy fields that we canvassed — it was all a quick sprint. It was mountain bagging.
That’s something, but I like to go slower, look, go deeper —
get in t[here].
Pay close attention to the movement, by: market landscape changes as you move. And the strategy should be a feeling watchfulness.
Driving, the country roads of old Kauai, I found this old, weather-beaten sign board (“SLOW“). Watching it, studying the character of the sign, the lettering, (“TRY SLOW”) I almost drove off the road, down the hillside.
Looking at the road, I’d missed the point — the wisest map of route might be simply paying closer attention to the movement itself. Go forward and watch, embrace what happens in the stride itself — which is you.
The brand is at the center: that might be you, you’re the leader, you’re out front — walking forward — look out, your own sentinel, looking out, surveilling the evolutions of what is happening in the grace of transition.
And, if you’re a brand manager, the selfsame layering applies.
Sometimes, working on maps and planning — one month, two — a year, there is no accounting, no reckoning, of landscape. Just barreling. Go slow, you see more.
Visioning evolves. The stride is tuned, keep moving.
Like the classical navigator, shifts in weather and surging tides will prevent staying on the planned route. Move on.
Till the end, which might be just the beginning of the next routing.
Go: instinctive — watchful feelingness.
Discoveries will emerge in your sentience.
Tim | GIRVIN | The Waterfront Studios + Libraries + Laboratories
––––
Crowdweaving innovation >
ideation, charrettes + brand events
Girvin BrandQuest® | http://bit.ly/eiFIuP