Meet We Are Strategists
Dr Kerstin Castle
The Founder
I founded We Are Strategists in 2024 to help business leaders create better strategies for their businesses.
The term We Are Strategists is an invitation for companies and their staff to partake in the strategy-making process.
Here is some information about me, and why I think I can help you with your strategy.
I started my career as a research chemist, and as a result, my default thinking is rational - logical, sequential and linear. This approach fits pharmaceutical research perfectly: you develop a solution to an existing problem using a carefully thought-out process starting with data analysis.
But it has its limitations.
10 years later, I moved into medical devices, first as a marketer and then as an innovation manager and consultant. There, I found the old formula often didn’t work. I suppose it is because business and people are not rational a lot of the time.
I found that a better approach to dealing with these situations is to think more holistically. This means observing without bias, collating ideas for possible solutions and then testing any assumptions before jumping to conclusions.
You can read more about my experience on LinkedIn, but in short, I have a PhD in Chemistry, decades of knowledge in marketing and a good grasp of innovation and IP. Mostly, I’m a practical person, who appreciates theory - to a degree.
Why We Are Strategists exists
Our Origins and Purpose
Strategy is a nebulous term and is overused – often by people wanting to sound clever or important. Since I am neither, let me tell you how I understand strategy:
The goal of building a great strategy is profit, long-term growth and resilience for an organisation.
And the choices made along the way have profound consequences for the future growth opportunities of the company.
Here are the things I believe to be the most important to consider:
#1 - Integrated Choices
The key to a successful strategy is making explicit, integrated choices - and then building a business case around them. Much has been written about the end of a sustainable competitive advantage in an uncertain and complex world. But that’s not what I see. Instead, I see great companies riding the waves of change totally in tune with the new demands of the world.
Every company has a strategy, whether it has been articulated and written down or not. It is how you act as an organisation that is the strategy. An ad-hoc approach to strategy can work well for startups, but if you want long-term success, you need to look at the future and plan for it appropriately.
#2 - Customer Focus
Customer understanding trumps everything. It’s the ace of spades in business. A deep understanding of your customers allows companies to position themselves, their brand and products in a distinctive way in any market.
While most organisations look at the promise they make to the customer as an outward-looking marketing exercise, it is equally important to recognise that this message is also perceived internally by employees. A clear customer-focussed strategy will steer thinking, behaviours and decisions your employees make daily.
#3 - Employee Alignment
“Our employees are our greatest asset” – we’ve heard it all before. So why is it, that so many employees don’t feel heard, and the best ones leave?
Your employees create value for your business. They are responsible for the culture inside and the vibe customers pick up outside of the organisation. Creating a shared vision on which the culture is built can unlock growth opportunities for any organisation.
Your employees want to engage in meaningful work. By allowing them to shape the strategy, they will have skin in the game and empower them to succeed.
Services we offer
Better Strategy Solutions
We Are Strategists exists to help companies create better strategies – for their customers and their employees.
All services are tailor-made for your organisation and the specific problems you want to solve. We can work together on a one-to-one basis (maybe start with diagnosis) or involve key members of your staff in the strategy creation process.
We can explore growth opportunities for your organisation, focus on the customer journeys, or develop future scenarios to prepare you for the next big change.
Our guiding principles
We Are Strategists Values
The We Are Strategists philosophy is grounded in customer-centricity, co-creation, inclusion and learning.
I find myself constantly reading on a variety of topics with an insatiable appetite for understanding how things work - a job never done in a constantly changing world.
My inspiration for better strategies comes from a number of experts in different fields:
In business strategy: Roger Martin (Playing to Win), Julia Hautz, Christan Stadler (Open Strategy), the classic Richard Rumelt (Good Strategy/ Bad Strategy) and value-based strategy by Felix Oberholzer-Gee (Better, Simpler Strategy)
Amazing strategic thinkers that developed the field of strategy: Clayton Christensen, Michael Porter, Henry Mintzberg, Kim and Maubourgne (Blue Ocean Strategy)
Branding experts: Marty Neumeier, Les Binet, Peter Field, Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow) and Jenni Romaniuk (Better Brand Health)
In digital marketing: Rand Fishkin, Andy Crestodina (Content Chemistry), Ann Handley (Everybody Writes) and many, many more
In entrepreneurship: Steve Blank, Eric Ries (Lean Startup), Bill Aulet and Michael Skok, as well as some profs at CJBS
Many people in the Design Thinking space: Michael Lewrick (Design Thinking for Business Growth), Jennifer Riel, Guilia Calabretta (Strategic Design)
In the business model and testing space: Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur and David Bland
Behavioural science thinkers: Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), Richard Thaler (Nudge), Cass Sunstein (Noise) and Rory Sutherland (Alchemy)
My approach to strategy is an amalgamation of the above. It is grounded in behavioural sciences, which connect your customers, brand, and employees in a world that is changing at an ever-faster rate. It aims to balance agility with depth of thinking.
How to Get in Touch
We Are Strategists is based in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
To explore how I might help you, please get in touch using the online form, or connect with me on LinkedIn - the button is in the footer below.