strategy before execution: what traveling taught me

🌍 Finding clarity before action can often be more challenging than the execution of a task itself.

For me, travel is where that lesson has been shaped.

It usually begins the same way: A new environment. New challenges. Whether it’s joining a new team or landing in a new country, the first task is never execution. It’s orientation. Figuring out how things work. Asking yourself: “how do I respectfully orient myself here.”

From the moment you land in a new country, unanswered questions quickly surface. 🤔What’s the safest, most efficient and affordable way to get to where I’m staying? What assumptions do I need to let go of? How do I move through this environment respectfully as a guest?

In work, the questions aren’t so different.💼What does the customer truly need? Who are the stakeholders? What are the constraints?

A question I often get is, “do you plan everything out when you travel?”

As someone with a packed Google calendar📆 and heavy reliance on Google Sheets📊, the obvious answer should be yes.

Truthfully, the answer should be no.

Honestly, the answer is flexibility, adaptability, and balance⚖️.

The process begins long before landing. Comparing flight configurations. Weighing time versus cost. Organizing information into spreadsheets for easy access. The real learning comes from knowing what to plan for, and where to leave room to adapt.

As you spend time in a new place, patterns emerge.🧩 How people communicate. What’s valued. How things get done. You learn just enough of a new language to get by; “Tack, Dank je, Gracias, Arigato, Shukran, Salamat”🌐. You adjust how you show up.

And you quickly realize that what works in one country, or one market, rarely works the same way somewhere else.

The parallels between the strategy behind traveling and problem-solving at work are everywhere. New teams. New markets. Evolving goals. Ambiguous situations. But the same instincts apply: understand the environment/your customer, recognize constraints, and develop a plan that fits the context.

Growing up, I moved every two years. Learning adaptability at a young age was a necessity. Travel refined that adaptability. Turned flexibility into efficiency. Made uncertain situations energizing🔄.

People ask me, “why do you travel?”.

It’s simple. I’m uncomfortable staying within my comfort zone🚀.

There are few experiences that teach you so much as quickly and honestly.

You learn the most by doing, throwing yourself in unanswered situations.

Travel forces you to problem-solve, communicate across differences, make quick but informed decisions, and stay open when things don’t go as planned.

If you’re able to travel, at any stage of life, I can’t recommend it enough. Not for the destination, but for how it teaches you your place in the world and how to move through it🌎.

I’m forever grateful and honored to have touched the land I have, and for how my experiences continue to shape how I think, work, and show up, long after I land home 🤍