š” The Lightbulb
A daily email about monetizing and visualizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.
š” Leveraging robo-critics
Iām not going to be outsourcing visual creativity to an AI tool anytime soon. But, I really wouldnāt mind a virtual critique by a few ārobo-criticsā before things go out the door. Over the weekend, I was inspired by Charlie Hillās newsletter issue titled āStop asking AI āWhat do you think?āā where he offers a bunch of ways to avoid chatbots from leading you astray. Admittedly, Iāve asked Chat/Claude āwhat do you thinkā frequently on a lot of things, including early visual drafts, and...
š” Sentient spaghetti
Do you remember this ad? A woman at a nice dinner with friends is about to take a bite of yummy spaghetti whenā¦ ā¦the spaghetti on her fork starts whipping her in the face before it gets to her mouth. Itās a TV commercial for TUMS released in 2010. I was in my invincible twenties at the time, so I didnāt really understand the premise. I probably didnāt even have Tums in my apartment. But now, 15 years and a few too many heartburn-induced sleepless nights later, every time I take a bite of...
š” Hired help? Or human helper?
I helped a friend pack up his apartment last weekend. After 33 years in the same cozy space, Steve made a snap decision to jump on a vacancy at a coveted senior living center across town. So now came the dreaded part. Three decades of belongings ā books, clothes, furniture, drawers, closets, and cabinets ā all needed to be combed through and packed, tossed or donated. I reported for duty, and when he suggested I focus on getting his clothes packed into suitcases, I got right to work. As heās...
šø The only fit
Find your match and speak directly to them. Everything else is force-fitting. š” -Wes
š” [Teardown] That silly FT AI chart
You see a lot of visuals on LinkedIn. Most are forgettable. Some are cheap scroll-stoppers. And a rare few are actually great. On Thursdays, I examine a visual, or āIntellectual Headshotā as I call them, that caught my eye, and break down why it works (or doesnāt). Today, itās a viral chart that tells us everything and nothing at the same time. Letās hop in. via Financial Times A bit of levity today. You probably saw this visual from the Financial Times making the rounds this week ā I saw it...
š” So, is it time?
It's live! Last week I sent you something a little different - a visual explainer of my flagship 1:1 service instead of my usual Lightbulb format. My own version of walking the walk. The response was warm. Many of you wrote back, offering praise and a few welcomed edits. The word I kept hearing was āclear.ā Which, given what I do for a living, felt like the right kind of compliment. So hereās the straightforward follow-up: I currently have room for 2 Sprint clients in March. Far from...
š” Why some audiobooks can never
Iāve been reading (and listening to) a book called Kin: The Future of Family. Sort of a modern take on the idea of āit takes a villageā, it explores the importance of those people in your life that lie somewhere between friends, partner, and biological family. Your ākinā. The author, Sophie Lucido Johnson, is also a cartoonist, which means the book has a sprinkling of really helpful illustrations to bring some of the key points to life. My favorite visuals were featured right up front in the...
š” When a visual backfires
There was one news story from last week that struck me as a shining example of the speed and power of a single visual. Too bad the visual set off the wrong vibe. The story was about the backlash to the Super Bowl ad for Ring, the doorbell camera brand owned by Amazon. It was supposed to be a slam dunk: pull on Americaās heart strings by talking about lost dogs and highlight the new Ring feature that helps you find your runaway pet. (Ringās new feature activates a āSearch Partyā of Ring cams...
šø Why burnout stings
Exhaustion and overwhelm are the obvious symptoms. Knowing you're capable of so much more is salt in the wound. But when you self-deploy, the gap is yours to control. š” -Wes
š” [Teardown] 'The Software Shakeout' 2x2
You see a lot of visuals on LinkedIn. Most are forgettable. Some are cheap scroll-stoppers. And a rare few are actually great. On Thursdays, I examine a visual, or āIntellectual Headshotā as I call them, that caught my eye, and break down why it works. Today, itās from SaaS thought leader and CSO at Faire, Dan Hockenmaier. Last weekās lesson of the-simpler-the-better strikes again. You might look at the visual above and say, āthatās just a 2x2 with logosā And Iād say, thatās exactly why it...
A daily email about monetizing and visualizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.