AI-generated content is often devoid of character and authenticity. By delegating communication and content generation to LLMs, you’re signalling a lack of care, conviction and connection to your audience and consumers. To stand out in a crowd of AI-slop, consider being militantly human.

By delegating our cognitive struggles to AI, we dull our intellect, atrophy our hard-earned skills, and settle for mediocre outcomes.

I’m over long drawn, short message conversations on instant messaging, that neither connect people, nor address the depth and nuance the topics of discussion deserve.

I undertook a short, generative AI detox. It helped me reinforce that while LLMs aren’t indispensable, I don’t mind using them for boring work. I am, however, going to militantly avoid generative AI in activities that I consider to be my superpowers.

No company needs a “head of culture” until they need one.

To counter the addictive effect of LLMs, I’m embarking on a one-week generative AI detox.

Don’t trust the clammy scam artists who tell you AI is moving too fast for you to think straight about this technology. LLMs may well be cool, but most gains are coming from fine-tuning and post-training. Feel free to slow down and make well-considered moves for yourself and your business.

I’m a nature photographer who earns his living from tech. Sometimes I win. Often, I lose. Photography has taught be to be even-keeled in the face of disappointment.

I delivered a keynote to the latest cohort of Thoughtworks University. This post has the audio recording of the talk and a clean transcript.

Feedback that strengthens someone’s confidence can be a powerful motivator. Sadly, we don’t share such feedback enough.

If culture is the moving average of behaviour over time, then a change in corporate culture is inevitable. To retain their cultural distinctiveness, though, corporations must identify what truly makes them special – i.e. their immutable core.

Well-meaning executives often implicitly ask for overwork, without acknowledging that the upside for the hustle has disappeared for the average employee. To reenergise and motivate their workforces, executives must do more than just appeal to tradition. Employees must see a proportional upside.

Some teams exist to deliver value. Others enforce control. Some others, sit right in the middle. What kind of team are you?

When culture is a fuzzy concept, it’s open to interpretation. People unwittingly wield their interpretations like shields or swords. Well-documented cultures, on the other hand, are open to scrutiny yet transparent and easier to govern and co-own.

If AI commoditises outputs, then skilful, tasteful people will matter more than ever. Salary is the fundamental way corporations value such people. In addition to standard HR indicators, we need human ways to determine fair compensation.

By viewing rest as only a means to recharge ourselves for work, we undermine its role in living a deep life. Rest is valuable in and of itself.

When defining corporate cultures, too much emphasis goes to the values poster or the employer value proposition. Attractive, credible cultures however, ground their messaging in strong corporate theories.

Cybernetic collaboration with AI is making us conflate speed and productivity. There’s no alternative to deep focus, even if AI promises to create outputs at “warp speed.” In 2026, leaders will serve their teams best by creating a work environment conducive to deep work.

In the last few years, I’ve made minor tweaks to my life, to live a deeper life. A couple of months back, when my dad passed away, I reflected on the compounding benefits of these changes and how they’ve helped me savour life just a wee bit more.

AI is a now a significant contributor to the broader trend of enshittification. The market is full of AI-powered products, features and code that are costlier to use and run and often counter productive for the end users.