Mark Polson: The hell with strategy and 'big picture' - find what matters

When I worked for big organisations, a good way to get further up the greasy pole (so many jokes) was to get known for having a ‘good strategic brain'. No-one really knew what that meant, but ‘strategy' sounded better than ‘tactics', and it meant you didn't get your hands dirty with work when you could be in a meeting. As a service industry which doesn't produce anything physical or concrete, we are primed to create our own validation for what it is that we do - and for many, that ends up being about big picture, five-year plans, helicopter views and all that kind of thing. The thi...