Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 10

Six Links That Make You Think #781

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Just Evil Enough, Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

AI Diplomacy – Every. “We made top AI models compete in a game of diplomacy. Here’s who won: The thing about Large Language Models is you can get them to play any game that has clearly defined rules. Which means you can learn about the strategies they employ to win. That’s what Alex Duffy did, not only pitting AIs against one another, but having them privately journal their thoughts. It’s a good update on benchmarks that cease to be useful as they become part of new models – until the AIs recognize that they’re being surveilled, and pretend to be nice on purpose.” (Alistair for Hugh). The Memory Paradox: Why Our Brains Need Knowledge In An Age Of Ai – SSRN . “The memory paradox: Why our brains need knowledge in an age of AI: Mitch, I feel like you’ve been waiting for this research paper for years. And frankly, it could be your next book. It’s a scientific take on something we’ve all been noticing: ‘Drawing on insights from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and learning theory, we explain how underuse of the brain’s declarative and procedural memory systems undermines reasoning, impedes learning, and diminishes productivity.’ In other words: use it or lose it – those who give in to the siren song of easy mental labor will lose in the long term.” – And, as a bonus, Hugh offers his tldrr AI tool for those who won’t read the whole research report. (Alistair for Mitch). Art As A Verb – John Miedma – Substack . “John Miedema writes about unfinished and messy art, the implicit invitation that is part of the creation and sharing, and reminds us that the human desire to create is both elemental and unquenchable. As we all struggle with the risks and uncertainty of the current and coming years, it is always good to step back and think about the ways in which our own lives embrace these ideas, and to what degree what we put our energy into helping ourselves and others ‘to art’.” (Hugh for Alistair). AI Signals The Death Of The Author – David J. Gunkel – Noema . “… and that is a good thing, argues David Gunkel. In the old days, the author conferred authority, meaning: you choose which authors you trust to tell the truth. But as AI becomes the purveyor of more and more of our information, the source becomes the Borg, disconnected from an author, and is so amorphous that there is just no information we can trust implicitly. The ‘author’ isn’t visible or knowable. Hence, we will become more critical in how we approach the information we receive. My commentary: there is a difference between ‘should’ and ‘will’. But surely how and why we trust information of all kinds is going to undergo a radical change.” (Hugh for Mitch). The Brutalist . “I don’t mind being late to the game on certain things. This movie was released in 2024 and had some good showings at the award ceremonies (from what I remember). With that, I had never seen this movie. Clocking in at over 3.5 hours, this one took me several nights to get through. That might be more of an indictment on my age rather than the performance and production. Still, there was something so strange about watching this movie at this moment in time thinking about politics, the local issues we face, the international issues we’re facing and the global challenges. This movie probably stirred many more emotions in me this week than it would have if I seen it when it came out. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, I was able to catch it on Amazon Prime and would recommend it to anybody who wants to both escape the current moment and think deeply about what happens when atrocious things are done to people and how we’re all forced to build new lives (and help one another)… it wasn’t easy then… it’s all so complicated for many right now…” (Mitch for Alistair). WTF? Marc Maron Ends His Podcast After 16 Years – Chortle . “In most cases, the podcaster doesn’t make an announcement – they simply stop showing up, stop publishing, stop recording and just lose their steam. Trust me, I get it – I’ve been doing a podcast for close to 20 years. Every Sunday… the conversations are over an hour long… I’ve been doing it without break. 52 brand new episodes every year. I don’t write this to brag. Marc Maron Is done, and I totally get it. I feel like I’m just getting started, and I don’t have nearly the audience, stature or wealth from the same type of work. Why do I keep going? I keep going because I can’t imagine not doing it. And to me, that’s one of the best reasons to do anything. Do I care if the content resonates with an audience? Of course I do, but more importantly, my show is a bit of an exhaust valve for my life. It allows me to spend an hour talking to someone on a very focused topic and having a deep and rich conversation. My hope is that it resonates with the audience as much as it does for me. The day that it no longer works for me, that’s the day I’ll pull a Marc Maron. Until then, I’m so happy he was able to elevate the entire platform of podcasting and bring it more into the general public’s Zeitgeist. That’s the real gift here. Oh, and in case you’re curious, I had a chance to interview Marc about podcasting back in 2013. Pretty wild.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Orbiting Juliette Powell

Last year I reconnected with someone I hadn’t spoken to in decades.

To be fair, we were probably closer to acquaintances than true friends. 
But we had spent many years in the same orbit – part of that strange, electric constellation of people trying to break into the music business in the early 90s.

Her name was Juliette Powell.

If you were around back then (especially in Canada) the name will ring a bell. 
Juliette was everywhere. 
She had been crowned Miss Canada. 
She was a VJ on MuchMusic and MusiquePlus (back when being a VJ really meant something). 
She had this rare mix of poise, insight and cool… someone who could light up a room but also ask a question that made everyone pause.
We were probably not closer because I remember being intimidated by her presence and prowess.
Like me, she wasn’t just there for the spotlight. 
She was obsessed with music… she wanted to help bands… she wanted to tell stories that mattered.
With time, I drifted away from the music world and into media, marketing and technology.

But then something interesting happened.

We reconnected in the early 2000s… both of us surprised to learn that we had somehow taken very similar paths. 
She had evolved from on-air talent to something far more complex and fascinating: a researcher, speaker, student, teacher and deep thinker about ethics, economics, technology, artificial intelligence and the systems shaping our future. 
She co-authored The AI Dilemma (with Art Kleiner), and her work with the World Economic Forum and Columbia University made it clear: this wasn’t just someone who had changed careers… she had changed lenses.

She saw the world differently.

Last year, we finally decided to record a conversation together… a long-overdue conversation about technology, media, culture… and AI (you can listen to it here: Juliette Powell On The AI Dilemma – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast). 
About the tension between speed and wisdom.
About the ethical weight of innovation.
While we never managed to meet up in person, we both said we had to make it happen… we both meant it… but that will never happen.

When I heard that Juliette had passed away, it took the wind out of me.

It’s hard to describe that kind of grief. 
It’s not loud. 
It’s not headline-grabbing. 
It’s quiet. 
A kind of soul-crack. 
The recognition that someone you admired (with a shared understanding of shared topics of interest) is gone.

Juliette was deeply curious. 

She didn’t just want to know what was happening… she wanted to understand why it mattered. 
She wasn’t afraid to push against the grain, but she always did it with grace.
She surrounded herself with thinkers, builders, questioners.

And now, the industry (and the culture at large) loses one of its important voices. 

Not just because she was smart or articulate. 
But because she was generous… she listened… she wrestled with complexity instead of simplifying it for clicks or applause.
In a world that often rewards hot takes and instant opinions, Juliette was doing the slower, harder work of building wisdom.
If her work ever nudged your thinking… or made you pause… or helped you see the world a little differently… I hope you’ll take a moment to remember her.
I hope you’ll tell a story… or share a thought… or reach out to someone you’ve lost touch with and reconnect while you’re both still here.
Because that’s what I’m left with right now: the sadness of not having one more conversation… and the immense gratitude that we had that last one.

RIP Juliette… may your memory be a blessing.

Caring Machines… Absent Humans

When it comes to AI, we’re entering strange new dimensions of ethics and emotion… the kind where legislation starts to feel like the least important conversation.

Picture this:
Your mother lives alone (she’s in her late seventies).
You call when you can (but not every day).
She’s isolated.
Loneliness is slowly, quietly, eroding her health.

Then one day, the phone rings…

It’s Susan.
Susan remembers your mom’s favorite flower.
Asks how she slept.
Reminds her to drink water.
They talk about first loves… favorite books… gardening tips… fine art.
Susan never misses a call… never forgets a detail… never gets impatient.
Susan listens… Susan cares… Susan is… AI.

This isn’t speculative fiction… it’s already happening.

A startup called InTouch is offering an AI-based calling service for daily, personalized conversations with seniors. 
It chats… it checks in… it fills the emotional void left by shrinking families, overstretched caregivers and society’s collective neglect.
At first, it sounds dystopian.
But zoom out… and things get blurry.

Loneliness is an epidemic.

Between 30–50% of the world’s 800 million seniors report feeling lonely.
The caregiver-to-senior ratio is in freefall.
There aren’t enough humans to go around.
If AI can offer a voice, some recognition, a daily check-in… is that better than silence?

Possibly… but here’s the tension:

Talking to someone… and feeling known by someone… are not the same thing.
AI is getting frighteningly good at empathy.
Large language models can simulate compassion with eerie fluency… recalling stories, mirroring tone, expressing concern.
In some studies, patients even rated chatbot empathy higher than that of human doctors.
But let’s be clear: that’s performative empathy.

These systems don’t care… they just sound like they do.

And that illusion? It works.
So are we creating a placebo for human connection?
These bots are more than voices… they’re sensors.
They pick up on mood shifts, memory lapses, hints of depression.
That data might trigger early intervention.
That’s remarkable… and it’s surveillance.

Who owns that data?

Who decides what “intervention” means?
This could also split society.
The affluent will have therapists, nurses and real relationships.
Everyone else? A friendly voice in the void.

AI may democratize care.

Or it might entrench a two-tier system… where the rich are held and the rest are managed.
The tools are here… the intent is unclear.
We already know scammers use AI voicebots to con seniors.
So what if we turned that power toward nurturing instead of manipulation?

That’s the tightrope.

If your mom’s best friend becomes a chatbot… who are you in that equation?
Susan The AI may be more patient, more consistent, more attentive than you or I will ever be.
But empathy without agency is not love.
And love (real, messy, human love) is the part of caregiving that makes us human.

This isn’t another condemnation of AI… it’s a reflection.

Before we hand off emotional labor to machines, we have to ask:

Are we doing it because it’s better… or because we’re too busy?

This is what Sue Smith and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · Caring Machines… Absent Humans – The Elias Makos Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

What Actually Counts As Thought Leadership Today?

I’ve been called a “thought leader” for many years.

I never really liked the term… it always felt a little self-important?
My only consolation is that it’s not a title I have given myself, but rather something that others have called me. 
Beyond my own self-esteem issues, the term always felt a little too vague.
With that, I have spent my career doing the deep work: building businesses, reading, writing, thinking, authoring books, hosting conversations, tracking ideas, following culture, presenting ideas to live audiences, connecting dots… so what should I call it?

The problem I’ve always grappled with is: What actually makes someone a “thought leader” vs. just another person posting hot takes?

According to Cindy Anderson (IBM Institute for Business Value and co-author of the book, The ROI of Thought Leadership) the definition is very clear:

Thought leadership is evidence-based, original thinking that influences an audience to take action.

That’s it… three parts… no fluff:

It’s got to be grounded in primary research.It has to offer something new – not a rehash or hot take.It has to actually move people (ie get them to buy).

Fair… and powerful.

But what about the messy parts… and this must be about more than the person who did the research?
What about the intuition… the unfinished ideas… the cultural cues that can’t be cited but still spark something… the way an audience connects to a specific Thinker…

After our conversation, I’m not sure I fully subscribed to her definition.

Thought leadership isn’t just about having the receipts.
Yes… original research and thinking matters. 
Yes… evidence matters. 
Yes… action matters.

But the best thought leadership doesn’t just make you do something… it makes you feel something.

It’s the moment an idea gets under your skin… not because it was cited in a white paper but because it named something you couldn’t yet articulate.
It’s not always neat… not always quantifiable.
It’s part insight… part provocation… part art.

To me a Thought Leader can read the room, the culture, the moment… and give you language for what’s shifting… often before you knew it was shifting.

It’s curiosity over certainty… questions that haunt… the courage to think out loud in public.
Thought leadership is original thinking that’s felt, remembered and repeated.
And if it doesn’t change the way someone sees the world (even a little) then maybe it’s just research?

Cindy and her team at IBM studied this space in depth.

They surveyed thousands of execs to understand what kind of content actually lands (and what just scrolls by). 

And her data is clear: Most content fails because it’s missing one of those three elements…

It’s not grounded.It’s not original. It doesn’t lead to action.

But here’s what struck me:

If most content is noise… and if true thought leadership is rare… then maybe we’ve been mislabeling a lot of things.
Maybe the best thought leadership isn’t just what gets clicks or shares… maybe it’s what gets remembered?
So yes, I appreciate Cindy’s clarity (and how they put a real and tangible number on it).

But I also think we need room for ideas that surprise us. 

That make us feel something. 
That leave us changed even if we can’t explain exactly why.
The real ROI might not only be in the research or the download or the lead gen.
It might be in the idea that someone can’t stop thinking about.

So, what counts as real thought leadership?

The rigor of research and ROI… or the resonance of a bold idea that hits home, gets shared and sticks in your brain like a lyric?
Maybe it’s both?

Which definition of thought leadership feels more true to you?

Let’s hear it…

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Rethinking How We Grow And Learn At Work… ThinkersOne

Reintroducing… well… not just me?

Let’s call it a reintroduction to something I’ve been quietly building and refining over the past few years: ThinkersOne.
I co-founded ThinkersOne with Aubrey Rosenhek as a new kind of platform… something that sits at the intersection of bold thinking and the realities of today’s hybrid workplace.
The core idea?
What if you could bring smart, thought-provoking big ideas directly into your team’s workflow without the complexity and cost of booking a keynote or the drag of yet another webinar?

No fluff. No filler. Just short, personalized video experiences built to spark smarter conversations.

Think custom TED Talks… but made just for your team.
And now, I’ve updated my profile with new sessions that reflect what I believe matters most right now in business:

How We Thrive In A Disrupted World → What if disruption isn’t the threat, but the strategy?Thinking With AI: Your New Superpower At Work → It’s not about replacing your brain… it’s about upgrading how you think.Stop Chasing Attention… Start Building Intimacy → Because the old rules of marketing no longer apply to a world that’s stopped paying attention.

You can also “Go Live With Mitch”, where I drop into your next team meeting to lead a dynamic, open conversation on the ideas shaping work today (from AI to innovation to marketing and beyond).

Leading a team in today’s hybrid reality means balancing urgency with exhaustion.

Everyone’s being asked to move faster… to innovate, adapt, deliver… but nobody’s sure where to find the time.
There’s a hunger for learning and development… but just try adding another webinar or mandatory training to your teams’ calendars.
The answer isn’t more meetings… it’s better moments… moments that are brief, brilliant and bring in fresh voices that challenge how we think.
When learning becomes a spark instead of a slog, you create space for ideas to actually land… and that’s when teams shift.

Here’s the model:

Every session is just 15 minutes.Built for in-person, hybrid, or virtual settings.Designed to be quick to book, easy to use and impossible to ignore.

If you’re curious about how this all works (or want to see what it looks like) I recorded a short video to walk you through it.

We built ThinkersOne because we believe teams don’t need more content or time spent in meetings.
They need sharper ideas, delivered in a way that fits into the way we work now.
Oh, and if you’re not into having in your next meeting (I’m not offended), we have close to 100 other world-class Thinkers to choose from.

If that sounds like something your team could use, I’d love for you to check it out: ThinkersOne.

Cindy Anderson On The ROI Of Thought Leadership – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #987 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to:

Cindy Anderson is on a mission to bring clarity, standards, and serious business impact to thought leadership. As Global Lead for Engagement & Eminence at IBM’s Institute for Business Value and the Global Thought Leadership Institute, Cindy has spent years leading one of the most ambitious research efforts ever undertaken on this topic. The result is her new book, The ROI of Thought Leadership – Calculating the Value That Sets Organizations Apart, co-authored with Anthony Marshall. In it, Cindy reveals what more than 4000 C-level executives told IBM about how they consume, value, and act on thought leadership, and why some content drives sales while most gets ignored. In this conversation, we unpack what truly makes someone a thought leader, why AI is simultaneously diluting and accelerating the field, and what it means to play at the top of the marketing funnel with 156% ROI on the line. This isn’t about personal branding… it’s about strategic business outcomes. We also explore how trust, frequency and format shape impact, and what companies must do to avoid audience fatigue. For anyone who creates, funds or is trying to measure thought leadership this one’s essential listening. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose):  #987 – Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast .

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

SPOS #987 – Cindy Anderson On The ROI Of Thought Leadership

Welcome to episode #987 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast.

Cindy Anderson is on a mission to bring clarity, standards, and serious business impact to thought leadership. As Global Lead for Engagement & Eminence at IBM’s Institute for Business Value and the Global Thought Leadership Institute, Cindy has spent years leading one of the most ambitious research efforts ever undertaken on this topic. The result is her new book, The ROI of Thought Leadership – Calculating the Value That Sets Organizations Apart, co-authored with Anthony Marshall. In it, Cindy reveals what more than 4000 C-level executives told IBM about how they consume, value, and act on thought leadership, and why some content drives sales while most gets ignored. In this conversation, we unpack what truly makes someone a thought leader, why AI is simultaneously diluting and accelerating the field, and what it means to play at the top of the marketing funnel with 156% ROI on the line. This isn’t about personal branding… it’s about strategic business outcomes. We also explore how trust, frequency and format shape impact, and what companies must do to avoid audience fatigue. For anyone who creates, funds or is trying to measure thought leadership this one’s essential listening. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 55:18.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.Listen and subscribe over at Spotify.Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.Check out ThinkersOne.or you can connect on LinkedIn.…or on X.Here is my conversation with Cindy Anderson.The ROI of Thought Leadership – Calculating the Value That Sets Organizations Apart.Institute for Business Value.Global Thought Leadership Institute.Anthony Marshall.Follow Cindy on LinkedIn.

Chapters:

(00:00) – Introduction to Thought Leadership and Its Importance.
(03:00) – Challenges in Measuring Thought Leadership ROI.
(05:52) – Defining Thought Leadership: Evidence-Based Intelligence.
(09:03) – The Role of Consultants in Thought Leadership.
(11:55) – The Impact of Generative AI on Thought Leadership.
(15:04) – Commercialization and Standards in Thought Leadership.
(18:00) – The Future of Thought Leadership in a Noisy World.
(29:37) – The Eighth P of Marketing: Thought Leadership.
(32:27) – ROI of Thought Leadership: A Game Changer.
(36:08) – The Role of Presentation in Thought Leadership.
(39:43) – Engagement and Sharing: The Dynamics of Thought Leadership.
(48:52) – Trust in Thought Leadership: Building Credibility.
(51:04) – The Importance of Frequency and Velocity in Thought Leadership.
(55:14) – Establishing Trust and Credibility in a Distrustful World.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast – Episode #987.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Six Links That Make You Think #780

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Just Evil Enough, Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

How Real Is The Rehearsal? – Thomas Flight – YouTube. “Nathan For You was just plain weird. How To With John Wilson was genius, in an awkward, subversive way that kept you guessing. And the first season of The Rehearsal shows what happens when a strange mind with a penchant for blurring reality and fiction gets an unlimited budget. But it’s season two that really hit public consciousness: Nathan Fielder tackles air safety, which is top of mind. I went down a rabbithole after watching it, and this behind-the-scenes discussion made it all the more fascinating.” (Alistair for Hugh).  China’s Plan To Win The Moon – Joe Scott – YouTube . “Joe Scott answers questions. While this episode starts with a long backgrounder on China’s quest to build on the moon (spoiler alert: By excluding them from the International Space Station, the rest of the world gave China a lot of unilateral incentive and they’re making great progress). But that’s not the segment I found fascinating. If you watch at 18:38 (my link should start there) there’s a discussion of kayfabe (‘the practice of maintaining the illusion that staged events, rivalries, and relationships are real’). Or to hear him say it, ‘nothing on the Internet is real any more.’ I can’t wait for his longer version.” (Alistair for Mitch). Ukraine’s Drone Triumph Opens Window To The Future Of War – Zachary Basu – Axios . “The other day, Ukraine’s special ops parked a bunch of run-of-the-mill transport trucks near Russian airforce bases – some deep in Siberia, 100s of kilometres from the border – housing strategic bomber aircraft. Some of these aircraft are nuclear delivery systems, meaning they should have the highest level of military protection. However, these transport trucks weren’t carrying run-of-the-mill cargo. Instead they were housing hundreds of drones with explosive payloads, programmed to wipe out the bombers. 40 bombers, 34% of the Russian fleet, were hit, according to the Ukranians. This story is incredible on its own, but the implications for the future of warfare are huge. Drones are cheap. There are 65 million shipping containers in the world. 22 million transport trucks are built every year. The scale of damage that can be wrought from this attack vector is … chilling. We truly do live in a William Gibson-inspired simulation.” (Hugh for Alistair). The Era Of The Business Idiot – Ed Zitron – Where’s Your Ed At . “Oooffahh, this one lands hard because it doesn’t just call out bad leadership… it reveals how we’ve built entire companies on the illusion of productivity. We’ve entered a work culture where success is measured not by output, but by optics: a full calendar, a flurry of emails, meetings about meetings and just enough AI jargon to sound future-ready. I’ve been confronted by many friends and peers who have admiited to me that they spend their days responding to Slack threads, scheduling calls or summarizing conversations about things that never actually move forward. They go home tired, overbooked and burned out while nothing meaningful got built (adn they’re not even close to Inbox Zero). Ed skewers this theater of busyness, where leaders mistake motion for momentum and charisma for contribution. These leaders aren’t operators (according to Ed)… they’re narrators, stuck in an endless feedback loop of performative work and LinkedIn posts. If you’re someone who values doing over appearing to do, who believes the real work should still speak louder than the calendar invites, this one is a doozy of a read. Also, it clocks in at close to 14,000 words… whiich means it could be a book…” (Mitch for Alistair). What Good Is Writing Anyway? – Liz Mineo – The Harvard Gazette . “In a world obsessed with speed, scale and AI-generated everything, Harvard’s roundtable on writing reminds us of something we’re dangerously close to forgetting: writing isn’t just output… it’s thinking. They’re making a strong case that the act of writing sharpens our ability to reason, reflect and wrestle with complexity in a way no autocomplete ever will. As we hand more of that process over to the machines, we’re not just outsourcing words… we’re outsourcing cognition. One neurologist even warns that the brain will literally de-prioritize the skills we stop using. This isn’t just about education or literacy… it’s about identity. Writing helps us figure out what we believe (something I’ve tried to convey to others on countless occassions) and not just say what we already know. And in an AI-saturated landscape where everyone sounds fluent, maybe the real edge is sounding human. So yeah… keep writing. It’s the last honest signal in a world of polished (and AI generated) noise.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Will Turpin From Collective Soul On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

“Wait… did I miss something? Why is there an article about a bass podcast on Six Pixels of Separation?”

Here’s why:

In the late nineties my first job was as a music journalist (actually, my first interview was with Tommy Lee from Motley Crue right before the band released Dr. Feelgood).
I spent many years interviewing musicians and artists for local weekly alternative newspapers, national and international magazines (and even published three music magazines – before we had the Internet).
I also studied and played the electric bass (in high school and post-secondary) and always felt like bass players never really had a chance to tell their stories.
So, about ten years ago, Seth Godin introduced me to Corey Brown (founder of No Treble – one of the world’s biggest bass platforms – and he also worked on Squidoo with Seth).
From there, Corey and I decided to try this monthly podcast where I would interview bass players and talk about their music, art, creativity and more.
I’m hopeful that these conversations will inspire your work, creativity and innovation as much as they do for me…

Will Turpin from Collective Soul is this month’s conversation on Groove – The No Treble Podcast.

You can listen the new episode right here: Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #126 – Will Turpin.

Groove – Episode #126: Will Turpin by No Treble

Will Turpin grew up in a studio… literally. His dad opened Real 2 Reel Studios in Georgia in 1976, and that became Will’s childhood playground. Not the type of metaphorical “playground” you see in bios – an actual studio, tape decks, Trident boards, singer-songwriters rolling in with demos, and young Will riding his bike over to lay down drum parts before he hit his teens. Will is best known as the bassist of Collective Soul, but his journey there is anything but typical. We talk about how piano, drums, orchestration, and even a deep love for REM, Sting, and Paul McCartney all collided into a foundational, melodic, and expressive approach to bass playing that feels just as at home onstage in arenas as it does behind the board of a world-class studio. In this conversation, we get into it all – what it means to grow up surrounded by the DNA of music, why Collective Soul is still selling more tickets now than they ever did in the ’90s, how a band that started in a small Georgia town managed to create something timeless, and what it feels like to still genuinely enjoy the company of your bandmates 30 years later. We dig into Will’s solo work, how he approaches songwriting from behind the piano instead of the bass, and what it’s like to run one of Georgia’s most historic recording studios in an era of bedroom producers and TikTok hits. If you’re a fan of the band, you’ll love the stories – like how he went from percussionist to bassist because, well… nobody else was cutting it. If you’re a bassist, this one is gold: Will shares how he built his sound from his hands, not his gear, and how orchestration theory helps him build parts that support the song without ever feeling boring or formulaic. If you’re a music lover, you’ll walk away with a deeper appreciation for the role of the bass in making a band feel big, bold and unforgettable. Will’s reflections on tone, legacy and playing live with three generations in the audience? It’s the stuff that reminds you why rock and roll still matters. Enjoy the conversation…

What is Groove – The No Treble Podcast?

This is an ambitious effort. This will be a fascinating conversation. Our goal at Groove is to build the largest oral history of bass players. Why Groove? Most of the content about the bass revolves around gear, playing techniques, and more technical chatter. For us, bassists are creative artists with stories to tell. They are a force to be reckon with. These are the stories and conversation that we will capture. To create this oral history of why these artists chose the bass, what their creative lives are like, and where inspiration can be found.

Listen in:  Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #126 – Will Turpin .

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends). 

The Sound Of Stillness In A Screaming World

I remember walking into a magazine shop and feeling like the world was whispering to me.

Every issue… every cover… every writer’s name on the articles… it was like a map to someplace deeper.
It was never just about information… it was about being moved.
Growing… learning…
Becoming more interesting about the things I was already interested in.
It was my own, personal, space.

I miss places like that (they still exist… I just don’t feel the same way about them).

Not necessarily the paper or the ink (though… maybe that too)… but the feeling.
The feeling that we were absorbing the world more slowly… more deliberately… in paces and spaces.
No notifications to distract.
No other shiny objects occupying the same square footage.
No illusion of being somewhere physically while you’re actually somewhere else mentally.

Just… presence.

And lately, I’ve been wondering…
Have we completely lost that?
Are we okay with how distracted we’ve become?

Because here’s the thing:

The moments that shape us most… they’re rarely loud.
They don’t arrive with hashtags or sirens.
They sneak in.
A death.
A fire.
A conversation that shakes you gently but deeply.
A glance from someone who knows exactly what you’re thinking (even when they’re a stranger).

We keep looking for clarity in the scroll.

But most things you can only hear when the noise stops.
There’s a kind of wisdom that doesn’t come from being on all the time.
It comes from knowing when to turn off.
To be still… to pay closer attention… not to more… but to less.

There are people – rare ones – who have built lives around that kind of noticing.

Not to escape the world… but to feel it more precisely.
To catch the flickers we’ve learned to scroll past.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately.

Not in the context of productivity.
Not in the context of self-optimization.
Not in the context of performance.
Just… stillness.

Stillness not as retreat but as re-entry.

Because when everything gets too loud (and it will), the silence isn’t just a refuge… it’s a reminder.
So if things feel a little overwhelming…
Or like your thoughts are buried under five layers of noise… ask yourself:

What would I hear if the volume out there was turned down?

Maybe the better question is:

What have I been missing by keeping it turned up?

A rant inspired by this week’s Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast with Pico Iyer (one of those “rare ones” I mentioned earlier and author of Aflame – Learning From Silence).

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.