Strands of Genius is a newsletter from the co-founders of Genius Steals, Faris & Rosie Yakob.
They are award-winning strategists, facilitators, creative directors, writers and public speakers who get excited about working with smart people on interesting challenges. You should probably go ahead and hit reply so we can collaborate on something together :)
We’ve officially made it to summer! It’s my favorite season of the year, and it’s when I feel most alive.
I really thought it was Dane Cook who had a joke about summer being the best season, and I tried to find it for you, but alas, I did not have much luck! Whoever it was spoke about living in LA, and how when he’d shared that with others, people made comments about LA missing all four seasons. To which Dane Cook (or some other comedian) responds, “I don’t need all four seasons, I just want one. The best one. Summer.” I so identify with that.
I do not want four seasons. I despise winter, and being cold. I don’t like sweater weather, or weather where pants are required. In Fall, the leaves turning are pretty, for sure, but the colors do not make up for cooler temps, or having to wear more clothes.
Spring is my number two ranked season, only because it’s like a Thursday: You know the good bit is coming soon.
In summer, the peonies bloom, the lavender thrives. We eat tomatoes the same way we eat peaches, biting chunks from the side, letting the juices drip down our chins. We go for walks with berry picking gloves on, and a grocery bag for our spoils, dropping pins so we remember to come back to the best places for future harvests. We play board games outside. In fact, we live outdoors as much as the sun allows: working from porches and gardens, cooking on BBQs, dining al fresco. Tis the season for shorts, swimsuits and sundresses. For meandering walks. For napping in the sun.
As I write this, though, a cold front has hit the UK, and it’s 52F / 11C. It’s rainy and windy and my fingers are numb. I do not want to go for a walk, instead I would like to teleport my hot tub from Chattanooga to the UK and spend the rest of the day daydreaming there, but this is where technology fails me. Some days it’s obvious we’re living in the future, and some days, we’re still dreaming about the future we were promised ;)
We’re going to be based out of the UK until the end of August, so if you’re also in or nearby to London, please hit reply and let’s grab a coffee! We will be attending the launch of The Anti-Ultra-Processed Planning Cookbook at C4 on Wednesday if anyone here is also going…Comms Planning is back, baby! Again. So it goes ;-) We’ll update you on the book and such in a fortnight - be lucky in the meantime. We love you.
THE NEWSLETTER SUBJECT LINE THAT KEPT COMING BACK TO ME: “i drink wine, i don't count my sleep score, i never use AI, i cancelled my amazon AND I AM HAPPIER THAN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Optimization culture is cracking. Sleep scores, macro tracking, frictionless living are all leading people to report they've engineered all the joy out of their lives. Now they (we) are actively, loudly rebelling. One writer this week called it "the great unoptimizing." The idea that conformity was never actually the cheat code. That clean, quiet, same-as-the-one-next-door is tired, and culture is already moving on.
Here's the irony that's been sitting with me: we spend our days arguing that brands need to stop sanding down their distinctiveness to appeal to everyone (and therefore no one), and then go home, track our sleep, try to be healthy, make sure we're watching the shows everyone else is loving, and quietly make ourselves more palatable.
And now AI is doing it at scale. AI means everything is a sea (slop) of sameness. Even brands are talking about how agency pitches are looking closer and closer to the same (is it bc the client wrote a tighter brief? agencies are better at what they do these days? or because everyone is using AI and arriving at the same ideas...)
I can't help but coming back to this idea... the weird, unoptimized version of you is actually the competitive advantage! (Especially in the freelance market!) [Trend Report]
CONNECTED INTELLIGENCE
Faris’ column is about the perennially persistent problem of knowledge management and dissemination in large organizations. Insight is genuinely a particular thing, just not exactly the reified strategic currency we overly fetishize in marketing. We reflect on observation to create compelling theses to explore. Like an idea, an insight is usually an non-obvious connection that inspires. Making sure research, or historical learning, is leveraged properly by any team that could use it is inherently challenging. Here’s where an AI layer could help:
DO NOT LET AI DO YOUR WRITING
It’s hard not to feel strongly about AI slop when you’re in the business (directly or indirectly) of slingin’ words. Kriss writes, “As it stands your sub-literate scrawlings are the best thing about you. At least they’re yours. But you people don’t listen. However bad a writer you think you are, you are not worse than AI. But you still keep letting it do your writing for you, as if I won’t be able to tell. Listen: I can tell. I can always tell. You think I won’t notice, but I will.” I’m sent so much writing that has been very obviously written by AI.
What is interesting is how the people who send it to me seem to think that I won’t know that it’s written by AI. I mean, I know there’s no way to 100% check, but as soon as I have an inkling, I plug it into Claude or Chat and ask if AI wrote it and if why or how it can tell. It infuriates me when the answer is always yes, this was most likely written by AI. But then again, I already knew it before I asked. It was so boring, and lacking so much specificity, that of course it had to have been written by AI. [Faris note: also AI enabled writing tends to be way too long, mistaking exhausting volume for value, IMHO] [Numb at the Lodge]
The algorithm gets me. I’ve seen this in so many places, been sent it by friends, and sent it to other friends.
This week, we’re writing to you from London(ish). We’re especially thankful for:
the arrival of baby Santi, the announcement of A&J’s pregnancy, Leffe Blonde beer, the CO2 refill for our Sodastream, Waitrose, Tony’s Chocolonely, Claude’s family movie suggestions, a BBQ turned kitchen table hangs, everyone who came, garden center trips, Sequence, Blockus, Backgammon & YOU!
Here for you when you need us! Hit reply and let us know how we can help :)
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @farisyakob.com is on Bluesky sometimes while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Forward this email to them! We appreciate you spreading the word.
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing [“Ex nihilo nihil fit”]. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)
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