Is there one link, story or idea that stopped you this week… and made you think, “someone else needs to see this”?

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 made a simple pact years ago. Once a week, each of us would share one link with the others… something we genuinely believed the other two had to see. No trend-hunting… no performance. Just six ideas exchanged with intent. What started as a small ritual between curious friends became Six Links That Make You Think.

These are the six links we passed to one another this week… take your time with them…

• Reluctantly Influential: Inside Lenny Rachitsky’s Demandingly Chill Life – Nate Martins – The Review. “A great profile piece on someone who avoids the limelight most of the time. Our good friend, Lenny Rachitsky, is one of the kindest, gentlest people I know. He absolutely embodies Tim O’Reilly‘s call to create more value than you take from the world.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• AI Is Not A Labor Crisis. It Is A Meaning Crisis. – Sam Lessin. “Sam Lessin‘s hot take may be a bit insensitive—there is definitely a labor crisis, particularly for certain kinds of work and new entrants. But his broader point is that work and striving is what gives life meaning, and the flip side of the abundance that AI boosters believe is right around the corner any day now will remove meaning from our lives. What fills that void is anyone’s guess, but he has a few speculations worth considering.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• The “Cognitive Offloading” Paradox – Dr. Phil’s Newsletter – Dr. Philippa Hardman. “Does using AI to offload cognitive work help or hinder your learning? Consensus was it hurts, but consensus is being challenged.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Behind The Curtain: The Kids Aren’t AI-Right – Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen – Axios. “I know teaching is hard, and changing teaching is even harder, but our institutions are failing our students. Though even if they were doing a good job of teaching students how to use AI sensibly, I suppose kids would have every right to be scared of it? Some incredible data here among GenZ: ‘Hopefulness about [AI] fell nine points to 18%, while anger rose nine points to 31%.’.” (Hugh for Mitch).
• Dumbsmarten – Kevin Kelly. “Lots to chew on here. Kevin Kelly’s take on ‘dumbsmarten’ feels right… but maybe not for the reason we think. It’s tempting to see AI as uniquely brilliant and baffling (or stupid) at the same time… but that’s not new… it’s just more visible now. What’s actually happening is less about machines getting weird, and more about us seeing how fragmented intelligence has always been… in systems, in organizations… and, if we’re honest, in ourselves. Most knowledge work has quietly lived in this space for years… high output, uneven depth, moments of clarity surrounded by blind spots (and some not so smart moves). AI doesn’t create that tension… it scales it, accelerates it, and removes the illusion that thinking is linear or complete. The real shift isn’t technological… it’s managerial and personal: can you recognize where the system is ‘smart’ and where it’s not… and can you build the judgment to navigate that without outsourcing your thinking entirely? Because the risk isn’t that AI gets things wrong… it’s that we stop noticing when it does… and start calling that efficiency.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Volunteers Turn A Fan’s Recordings Of 10,000 Concerts Into An Online Treasure Trove – Christopher Weber – AP. “One of my favorite bands growing up (and the first arena rock concert that I ever saw) was Triumph. They are currently on tour… 50 years later… and as the tour started in Florida, I was astounded to find multiple versions of the concert on YouTube… like almost immediately. This piece about Aadam Jacobs instantly pulled me in… not just because it’s about someone who recorded over 10,000 live concerts (back in the analog days), but because it captures something that feels increasingly rare in music culture… intention. Jacobs wasn’t documenting everything… he was choosing moments… hauling gear, showing up, pressing record and building something for himself… and in doing so, he built a living archive of performances that might have otherwise disappeared. As someone who grew up in and around music… collecting, listening, obsessing… there’s something deeply familiar about that analog mindset… the friction, the effort… the care. Today, we have infinite storage, perfect recordings, instant access to almost everything ever made… and yet it often feels more fleeting… less sacred or important. It’s both fascinating and makes me wonder who, out there, will dig into collections like this.” (Mitch for Hugh). 

If one of these sticks with you, pass it on… and let us know what earned your attention this week…

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