Sage Advice

On why you’re here, what you’re building, and the generation watching you do it… The last time I felt this particular flavor of economic vertigo was 2008, when I was in my late twenties.

On creative flattening, attention colonization, and what it means to make something real when everything around us—governments, financial systems, society at large—are phoning it in and cashing out

To be honest, it initially seemed out of the blue that this particular (problematic?) ideology would pop into my mind. But I’ve come to realize: when I’m called to think about something, even when it feels off-base, there’s a thread I need to pull, something intuitive working before my conscious mind catches up.

Commercialization doesn’t just enter markets. It colonizes feeling. And here’s what I need you to understand before we go any further: this is not simply a marketing problem. It’s not a trend you can out-strategy.

We're living through a moment where geopolitical economic greed has become its own religion. Private equity consolidation. Wealth concentration. Extraction until collapse.

People aren’t hungry for something that's different’ish—we are wanting something else entirely. And I think it’s mystery, discovery and actual human connection. Seems silly, maybe even a regressive statement to make I know.

Okay so… let's talk about the thing we're all thinking about but maybe not saying out loud. AI. Artificial Intelligence. This topic is heavily charged—an emerging market where the impacts on our work and livelihoods feel fraught and liberating simultaneously.

If… every decision must be justified with market research or established norms. If every move we make must have precedent to make us feel comfortable… Then when and where do we have the gall to rock the boat? 

Why I value gatekeeping (yes, really). Damned be the days of Jills of all trades—that leads to milquetoast snoozefests. That’s not what this moment is calling for. Which brings us back to gatekeeping. The word's gotten a bad rap, but I see value in it—embracing curated exclusivity.

Presence fills conversations and yet also feels so far away… keeping a hold of the quotidian-ness of life feels like something I’m grasping for—for myself, my business, my clients and their businesses, all of you.

Recall the concept of adaptive entrepreneurship. It’s not exclusive to forward thinking, progress- oriented realities—it can and should be embraced in the face of conservative regression.

I’m asking myself, what’s canary and what’s bellwether? Attempting to understand the businesses I passively observe, and in supporting the businesses I work with, I am pondering what is landing whom where and… why?

I often find myself mitigating utterly unrealistic expectations from entrepreneurs wistfully hoping for intrepreneurialism from their low-paid, benefits-free workers.