nineteen

I didn’t sleep well that night. I don’t think I have ever felt so alone. The situation seemed quite bizarre – everyone wanted to help, but so far they had all walked away. Is this what strategy is really like, at its heart? Just one man or woman, with a promise to make and keep, a mountain to climb and goodness knows how many unexpected pitfalls and hazards to deal with? I had understood strategy to be a team game, all-conquering with a clear plan of attack. Or a seventy-eight page document making statements of genuine intent but that nobody really held anyone accountable for.  I was also bemused why someone like Juliette would find strategy such a turn-on and expect others to feel the same?

Maybe it was the sense of influence over events that a real strategy gives people. That they can deal with whatever happens, steer things whenever they can, towards the promise they’ve set themselves. Harnessing the vagaries of the world, of fate and...