the fruits of imagination

Time for a new definition of planning

I was talking to another planner the other day about job descriptions. The tried and true classic "the voice of the consumer" came up.

I think it's time to retire that one. 

First, because they're doing a pretty good job being their own voice these days, no?

Second, because I think we've all agreed that the term "consumer" just doesn't work anymore. And "voice of the people" sounds a bit too much like a Soviet state radio channel.

And third, because all the good stuff in planning these days is about being the intersection of research & strategy & creativity & media & business and lots of other stuff. Just defining yourself as being about insights now sounds pretty limiting.

Back again

Back from holidays.

Travel is good. Not reading any news or websites or blogs for a while is good. Getting outside of one's head is good.

Actually, I've been back for a week but have been busy catching up.  And ever since I got back, people keep asking me in that wry conspiratorial way that co-workers do, "so does it seem like it was ages ago already? Have you already forgotten what it felt like to be away?" 

I always say no.  And to be honest, I never really understood those kinds of remarks. I find travel sticks with me for a long time. Otherwise, what's the point?

"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees." 
                                             -- Marcel Proust