💡 The Lightbulb

I’ve largely steered clear of engaging in the “AI is going to kill consulting” narrative. I think most of it is fear-baiting vs. a productive conversation about how we can continue to add value at the client-level. That said, I do my best to keep abreast of the developments, and caught two interesting podcast episodes this week that you might find helpful as you decide how optimistic or fatalistic to be in this moment. Or perhaps more productively, how you can best position your solo...

LinkedIn put out an interesting report on global small business trends this morning, which essentially tells the story of the structural shift happening toward solo and small businesses. Their recommendations weren't all that surprising: Embrace AI Invest in your brand Lean on your network But the many insights behind the recommendations were eye-opening. One of the more striking stats is that a solid 40% of of US professionals say they want to work for themselves in the near future. You...

I typically feature ‘in-the-wild’s’ later in the week, but this one was just too timely. Over the weekend, I stumbled on marketing analytics expert Phillip Law’s crisp visual takedown of Black Friday coverage. It doesn’t take too long to see Phillip’s point: Typical news headlines, or more concerning, corporate results announcements, tend to tout top-line sales in and around Black Friday… ...but they fail to take into account the dip before and after these much anticipated sales periods that...

When I say “flatten the curve” what comes to mind? It’s most likely some Q2 2020 quarantine flashbacks, right? We were collectively confused, frightened, exasperated and largely uneducated about the once-in-a-generation global crisis at hand. But despite the chaos, governments, health agencies and news organizations around the world coalesced behind a single visual framework to try to minimize the casualties. The premise was straightforward: If everyone gets sick at the same time, it will...

💡 -Wes