Umar Ghumman collected and compiled 30 definitions of "insight". Pints very much owed 🍺🤝 Two favourites from the pile…
Jeremy Bullmore: “Why is a good insight like a refrigerator? Because the moment you look into it, a light comes on?”
Faris Yakob: “A deep penetrating observation or interpretation thereof that unlocks growth and provides inputs into strategy and a launch pad for ideas.”
CYA (cover your a*se) all too often trumps ROI when it comes to great ideas. The risk aversion seeps in, the committee has its say and biddiby-bobbidy-bland, the genuinely transformative becomes marketing wallpaper. Thankfully, Jo Wallace has some advice on raising a glass to bravery.
“The creative that will matter most is the work that could only exist because a human had the conviction to fight for it in a room full of reasonable objections [...] When you feel worried about an idea, ask yourself ‘is this a genuine business risk, or am I just uncomfortable?’ Discomfort often means something is truly distinctive. Vague fears kill ideas, whereas specific concerns can be solved.”
Speaking of great ideas… Ilon Specht is the woman who penned L'Oréal's "Because I'm Worth It" slogan. The 17 minute documentary about her is, unsurprisingly, also thoroughly worth it.
If you only have time for a 1 minute amuse-bouche, open your video player to minute 9:53. I can only aspire to such levels of brilliance (worth plugging in your headphones, if you get my drift…).
Matt Schumer wrote a note to non-tech friends and family on what AI is starting to change. The crystal ball is cloudy and it’s hard to predict what’ll happen, but Matt’s advice still makes a metric tonne of sense… Just best read from behind your sofa. And with the lights turned on:
“The models available today are unrecognisable from what existed even six months ago [...] The debate about whether AI is "really getting better" or "hitting a wall" which has been going on for over a year is over [...] the gap between public perception and current reality is now enormous [...] Here's a simple commitment that will put you ahead of almost everyone: spend one hour a day experimenting with AI [...] something you haven't tried before, something you're not sure it can handle. Try a new tool. Give it a harder problem [...] Almost nobody is doing this right now. The bar is on the floor."
Related, Moltbook is “a social network for AI agents”. And, based on this write up from Astral Codex Ten, things are getting preeettttty weird out there.
If that all makes you want to run away to Tristan da Cunhato, may I suggest detouring via The BBC Archives on your way? They’ve recently started posting documentaries from back in the day, including this lovely bit of escapism all about windmills.
An answer to one of life’s great questions… What's the best way to dice an onion? I can rest easy at last.
For all the Paddington fans out there, Day 1803 of photoshopping the bear from Deepest Peru into movie, TV show, and pop culture scenes. Marvellous.
Bon weekend,
Fran