The Art of Framing: How To Create Frames That Shape How Markets Think
What artists know that strategists must learn.
“Starving artists” starve because they take execution to the extreme - pursuing vision without market reality.
But the beginning of what artists do? That’s what separates breakthrough strategy from commodity strategy.
Let me show you what I mean.
Most strategy starts with frameworks. SWOT. Five Forces. Competitive positioning. You plug in your situation, the framework tells you what to do.
That’s not strategy. That’s frame application. And when everyone applies the same frames, there’s no advantage left to capture.
Real strategy - the kind that looks obvious only in hindsight - comes from seeing patterns others miss. Observing before framing. Creating frames instead of choosing them.
And that’s exactly what an artist does.
The Discipline Nobody Teaches Strategists
Artists pay attention to what’s already there - the things everyone else takes for granted. That’s the same thing that gives great strategists their edge.
For example: A photographer walks into a room and doesn’t see the room. She sees how light falls across the table. Where shadows create depth. What the window reveals about the time of day. Which objects catch light and which absorb it.
She’s not choosing a frame yet. She’s observing patterns that will tell her which frame to create.
A writer doesn’t start by choosing a narrative structure. He watches how people talk when they’re nervous. What they do when they think no one’s watching. Where their words and actions don’t match.
The story emerges from the patterns he observed.
After seeing the things everyone else takes for granted - artists ask: what if this could be framed differently?
This is The Art of Framing. And the same discipline sparked Airbnb’s path to a billion-dollar company.
Brian Chesky was a design major before he founded the company. No formal strategy schooling.
But he noticed what everyone else accepted as given: hotels felt transactional. Travelers felt like strangers everywhere they went.
The whole industry assumed that’s just how travel worked.
Chesky asked: what if belonging could be framed differently?
That’s not strategy school thinking. That’s artist thinking applied to a market.
Most strategists inherit frames. Artists create them.
Sure, Chesky’s an anomaly. Airbnb’s a unicorn. Easy to dismiss as the exception.
But last quarter, we ran an experiment that confirmed this pattern plays out everywhere - even inside a single company.
How Artists Beat System Thinkers
Every department got 30 days to build a knowledge management system using AI. Same tools, same data, same deadline.
HR’s system went live in week three. Within a week, 60% of the company was using it daily.
Engineering’s system was technically flawless. Better architecture. Faster queries. Cleaner taxonomy. It sat unused.
HR’s system looked primitive by comparison. But employees opened it first thing in the morning. They shared it with new hires. They asked for features.
Here’s what happened:
Engineering started with best practices. They researched how other companies organized information. They chose an architecture that could scale. Every decision was excellent within the frame they chose.
HR started by watching. They sat with employees during onboarding. They listened to questions people asked in Slack. They noticed when people gave up searching and just pinged a colleague instead.
Engineering chose a frame. HR created one.
What System Thinking Protects (And Its Limits)
When Engineering chose “knowledge management best practices,” they weren’t being lazy. System thinking protects you from chaos. It gives you structure when the problem space feels overwhelming. It lets you move with confidence instead of guessing.
But pure system thinking has limits.
Consensus over accuracy.
The moment you say “let’s use industry best practices,” everyone nods. No debate. Fast alignment.
But consensus on a borrowed frame is just shared blindness at scale.
Rigid assumptions.
Frameworks bundle assumptions - that’s what makes them useful. “Knowledge management” assumes people need better search. SWOT assumes internal strengths matter. Five Forces assumes industry structure determines profit.
Those assumptions might be right. Or they might be hiding the actual patterns.
System thinking gives you answers. But only within the frame the system already chose.
Borrowed frames.
When everyone applies the same frameworks, the frameworks themselves become commoditized. You’re not competing on insight anymore. You’re competing on execution speed within territory everyone can access.
System thinking tells you HOW to execute. It doesn’t tell you WHAT to frame.
HR’s approach felt chaotic to leadership. No best practices. No proven methodology. Just... watching people for a week?
That’s the point. See the reality before you commit to a system.
Engineering had excellent system thinking. HR had system thinking informed by observation.
Both systematic. Only one created new territory.
So how do you build observation into your process?
How to Practice The Art of Framing
Artists don’t just observe. They practice a specific discipline you can learn.
Step 1: Open the aperture.
A photographer doesn’t walk into a room thinking “I need a portrait shot.” She walks in seeing. Light. Shadow. Movement. She resists closing on a frame until the patterns tell her which one to create.
Most strategy skips this entirely. The moment you Google “best practices,” you’ve closed the aperture. You stopped observing your reality and started borrowing someone else’s frame.
Step 2: Observe the patterns.
A writer doesn’t just notice someone’s nervous. He sees specifics: she touches her collar when she lies. He says “fine” but his jaw tightens.
Patterns observed become patterns you can use.
Step 3: Create the frame.
This is where most strategy starts - and why most strategy is table stakes.
The frame reveals itself from what you observed. The photographer sees how afternoon light falls - and the portrait becomes obvious. The writer sees where words and actions don’t match - and the scene writes itself.
Most strategy starts at step 3. Great strategy earns step 3 through steps 1 and 2.
The Art of Framing Works On What You’ve Already Created
You don’t need to start from scratch. The observation discipline reveals frames hiding in work you’ve already done - even in campaigns you’ve already launched.
Example: When Hennessy Missed the Frame in Their Own Ad
Hennessy ran “The Second Decision” campaign with LeBron James - spoofing his famous announcement.
In the ad, LeBron crowns himself. Then he crowns the Hennessy bottle. Powerful visual. Celebrity credibility.
But watch what happens when you apply The Art of Framing:
Step 1: Open the aperture. Don’t start with “celebrity endorsement frame.” Observe what’s actually IN the ad you created. What exists? A crowning gesture. LeBron crowning himself. LeBron crowning the bottle.
Step 2: Observe the patterns. If HE crowns himself, and HE crowns the bottle... wouldn’t it make sense for the CUSTOMER to crown themselves too? The pattern’s already there. Self-celebration. Reward. Royalty. That’s not just LeBron territory - that’s everyone territory when they choose Hennessy.
Step 3: Create the frame. “Crown Yourself” - invite the customer into the gesture LeBron’s already doing. You still get the celebrity connection (”I’m doing what LeBron does”), but now the customer is the protagonist, not the spectator.
Instead, they stopped at “watch LeBron crown himself and the bottle.” The frame was sitting right there in their own creative - they just didn’t observe it.
Most strategists would see a celebrity endorsement and move on. The Art of Framing reveals the territory hidden in plain sight - even in what you’ve already created.
This is the pattern: system thinking executes within frames. Observation discipline reveals which frames to create.
Why The Art of Framing Matters
If you see what everyone else sees, you compete on territory everyone can access. That’s not strategy - that’s a crowded market.
The Art of Framing lets you see patterns others miss. And when you see what others don’t, you can claim territory they can’t.
That’s Prime Positioning. Not better language. Not smarter frameworks. Not faster execution.
Strategic territory that’s yours because you observed what everyone else took for granted.
Most strategists inherit frames and wonder why they’re fighting for the same ground as everyone else.
Artists create frames. And now you know how.
The question isn’t whether you have the right frameworks.
It’s what you observed before you framed.
Practice The Art of Framing With AI
You don’t need to master this alone. Use Claude or ChatGPT as an observation partner.
Copy this prompt:
I’m working on [describe your strategic situation].
Help me practice The Art of Framing:
Step 1 - Open the aperture:
- What frames am I inheriting from my industry?
- What assumptions am I treating as given?
- Where am I applying “best practices” without observing my reality?
Step 2 - Observe the patterns:
- What behaviors do I see that don’t match the inherited frame?
- Where do words and actions contradict?
- What patterns repeat that I’m dismissing as exceptions?
Step 3 - Create the frame:
- Based on these observations, what frame would match the patterns instead of fighting them?
- How would an artist frame this after observing what I just described?
Walk me through these questions one step at a time.This builds the observation muscle that makes strategic framing work.