Coaching
Geido- The Japanese Art Of Mastery
By Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia
In society today, we have people we regard as experts. We look up to these experts. We believe what they tell us and we respect their opinions. Have you ever noticed that for every opinion, you will find another‘ expert’ with an equal but opposite opinion? So, who exactly is an expert and how does one get so knowledgeable about a topic or a profession?
It is said that to master a profession or an art, takes years. According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours to master something. This translates into approximately 20 hours a week, every week, for 10 years. Yes, the math makes it 10 years. That is an incredible amount of time dedicated to mastering something.
As a marketer in 2026, if you begin the journey to mastering your profession, it will be 2036 by the time you have mastered it. You should be able to do it so effortlessly, that it would probably become a part of you. But when you are in that time zone, you don’ t even realize how much you are absorbing or learning.
Then there is the concept of life-long learning. It means learning never stops. Do you remember being in high school and when you finished, you thought that was the end of school. It was only the end of“ school” as it was organized in that fashion. Learning itself never stops, what changes is how learning takes place.
Back to being an expert. There is an ancient art in the Japanese culture that is called Geido. Geido is over 700 years old
Mastery of your profession is possible if you are open to being a life-long learner. You must be committed and determined to absorb things and learn from those who have walked the path ahead of you. You must be willing to practice and repeat as many times as necessary, to become better. You must be willing to accept that there are things you know and things you haven’ t yet learnt and still be willing to learn more every single day.
and simply refers to a structured way in which one can master a craft. Marketers love structured approaches, as the marketing profession is a very structured one. Frameworks and templates are the hall mark of a marketer.
The SOSTAC model, a widely used marketing and business planning framework by PR Smith, provides a structured, six-step approach: Situation( where are we now?), Objectives( where do we want to be?), Strategy( how do we get there?), Tactics( what specific tools do we use?), Action( what ' s our plan?), and Control( how do we measure success?). It helps create clear, actionable plans for marketing campaigns, from overall strategy to specific digital tactics, ensuring alignment and measurability for achieving goals.
The STP Framework( Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) is a core marketing strategy model that helps businesses identify specific customer groups, select the most profitable ones, and create tailored messages to effectively sell products or services, moving from a broad " speak to everyone " approach to focused, efficient marketing. It involves dividing the market( Segmentation), choosing which segments to focus on( Targeting), and then defining a unique value for that segment( Positioning) to gain a competitive advantage and improve marketing ROI.
The BCG Framework, or Growth- Share Matrix, is a strategic tool from the Boston Consulting Group that helps
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