Seek Patterns

“You have such an interesting range of experience, we need to get you involved,” she said, and it took me by surprise. You see, having range—or more bluntly, not fitting existing molds of operation in the advertising business—has in the past been an obstacle to work over. Over time, Bernbach’s creative team revolution became the norm that narrows the field of vision and makes it hard for multi-hyphenate talent to stand out. And it’s not just advertising. Take a look at the $5.3 trillion dollar technology sector or the $1.1 trillion legal sector, cemented on talent with niche expertise.

Until now.

Jack of all trades, master of none—once a sly insult—is fast becoming a badge of honor and required feature (instead of a bug). In an earlier world, deep expertise was the only passport to success. Specialists went deeper, built moats of knowledge, and extracted more value. Having range was a sign of shallowness, a lack of rigour and inability to focus. But the world shifted. Vibe-coding threatens the livelihood of trained developers and legal advice is no longer a $300 an hour cost. Hyper-connectivity, infinite choice, and AI-fuelled acceleration fractured the old order and left them looking for simple solutions in a complex world. Today, having a wide range of experience and being able to recognize patterns beyond verticals is no longer optional—it's the cornerstone of relevance, growth, and longevity.

As we migrated into a digital-first existence, consumer journeys splintered into chaotic, nonlinear pathways. Boston Consulting Group captured it bluntly: "The funnel is dead." But in the real world, perhaps it never existed outside PowerPoint decks. The world—and us humans—have always been more complicated than the neat top-down flowcharts we once trusted.

Global connectivity and AI have simply blown the cover off our comfortable delusions.

At the same time, society is grappling with a different threat: "brain rot." Our endless connectivity has curdled into an epidemic of doom-scrolling, passive consumption, and cultural short-termism. When every second brings new data, it becomes ever harder to distinguish signal from noise. Data might be the new oil, but what do you do when you’re drowning in it?

As complexity swells, so too does the value of pattern recognition—not within silos and verticals, but across disciplines, behaviors, and cultures.

Beyond Vertical Expertise: The Rise of Range Thinking

Vertical experts view AI as a threat. It threatens their moats, automates their specialized tasks, disrupts the status quo. Strategists with range who seek patterns embrace AI as an amplifier—a telescope to scan the cosmos of behavior, culture, and commerce. AI processes infinite noise and the human finds hidden harmonies.

When studying fandoms, the mistake brands often make is thinking rituals are isolated to their vertical. They optimise the buying journey and miss the deeper truth: the same dopamine loop that drives a TikTok swipe or a Netflix binge powers the bond between a fan and a brand. Patterns are universal; it’s the motives that vary. Toppings change, but the underlying needs—belonging, discovery, mastery—remain the same.

Strategists with range don’t just study "purchase intent"; they study ritual, identity, and cultural momentum. They understand that a Gen Z’s obsession with chess clubs or Dungeons & Dragons reveals more about human motivation than any survey on product preferences. They know that the psychology behind a "de-influencing" trend on TikTok matters as much as conversion rates on Amazon.

From Funnels to Influence Maps

Traditional strategic frameworks have not kept pace with reality. An "Influence Map" is a far better metaphor for today's decision-making chaos than the traditional funnel. In an influence map world, streaming, scrolling, searching, and shopping occur simultaneously, fluidly. No neat stages, no sequential paths.

What matters is influence that produces action: attention, relevance, trust. A display ad scrolled past without notice is not the same as a podcast recommendation that lingers in the mind for weeks. Influence > Reach. Even if the results don’t surface immediately.

AI is becoming the tool to map these flows in real time—to predict when a scroll turns into a search, when a search becomes a share, when a share sparks action. But humans remain irreplaceable for asking the real questions and making connections that defy logic. While a lot can be modeled, us humans are tricky beasts.

Pattern Recognition as Growth Engine

Pattern recognition isn't an intellectual parlour trick; it’s a growth engine. Connecting dots between streetwear fandoms and community banking models. Spotting how "slow consumption" movements in fashion signal opportunities for luxury brands. Applying the rituals of gaming clans to brand loyalty ecosystems.

Pattern recognition also demands intellectual humility. Even "bedrocks" like Newtonian physics crumble under scrutiny. Quantum physics shattered the classical worldview, merging science and philosophy. So too must strategists be willing to unlearn, to notice when old frameworks break down, and to design better ones.

New Tooling, New Approach

Strategists who want to thrive must cultivate a new skill set:

• Range with Depth: Not shallow generalism, but polymathic pattern spotting across domains.

• Tool Alchemy: Seeing AI, cultural analysis, and behavioral data not as ends but as elements to be recombined.

• Feral Curiosity: A relentless hunger to understand, to connect, to reframe.

In every strategy session, ask yourself: What are the hidden patterns? How can I add meaningfully to the human experience, not merely hack attention?

The brands that build relevance in the next decade won't just be louder or cheaper. They’ll be smarter at seeing, faster at adapting, and braver at connecting seemingly unrelated ideas into new value.

In a world overflowing with data but starving for meaning, pattern recognition is not a skill. It is a superpower. The future already belongs to those bold enough to connect the dots.