The100: Happy days, Internal architecture & Tom Cruise.

Happy days are good days and last week, I had a very happy day. We had almost 300 people in a room in London to listen to 10 ace speakers and a super client panel, all on the subject of ‘Communication: Less conversation, more action’. 

It’s a subject that’s extremely relevant in today’s world, and what was doubly nice was that it was a break from the incessant chatter about AI… just lots of lovely humans mixing with each other and listening to lots of amazing speakers. The lack of slides was noticeable. The humanity was compelling. The messages were received loud and clear. Refreshing doesn’t cover it. It was nourishment for the soul. 

We will be sharing various things we picked up over the next few editions of The100, so keep a look out for those. 

Observation, obviously 

One of our speakers used an epic phrase: ‘Observation is your superpower’. This clearly links quite nicely into what Watch Me Think does, and it might be stolen and used as our new tagline ?

Related to that, I really enjoyed reading these 21 observations from people watching as noted by a wedding photographer. People watching. That sounds like a good idea for a business. Oh, wait. 

And in another nod to things you can pick up by watching people, this piece in the FT showing ‘Three things we learned about Sam Altman by scoping his kitchen’ is a good illustration of what can be picked up if we open our eyes and don’t just listen to what people say. And it’s funny. 

Shottingly good for you 

Those weight loss jabs increasingly seem to be a veritable Swiss army knife for our health. 

From reports of them benefitting people with ADHD ($), arthritis and Alzheimer’s, Hollywoodians have now begun microdosing. It’s increasingly obvious that these serendipities will have multiple impacts on multiple industries ($). With Weightwatchers recently filing for bankruptcy, and health food shops reformulating their offerings to cater for the more than half million folks in the UK alone on GLP-1s, things are getting shaken up. 

Which is why – after doing a huge syndicated study in the US a few years ago – we’re about to kick off another in the UK. This time focusing on the emotional impacts, following people’s journeys, and all the time identifying opportunities and threats. If you want to chat about it with me, and trust me, I’m fascinated by this topic, email me. 

Dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins

Aka the effects of transformational storytelling… Jeremy Connell-Waite has very generously shared his book The 109 rules of storytelling (which you can download from his website for free). I would strongly advise you to have a read and digest this in detail. Let’s just quote his first rule:

“Great stories make an audience FEEL something. 

The best stories make an audience DO something.“

Irrational answers needed

Lauren Leek writes brilliantly about the quiet collapse of surveys and why.

She also gives some ideas for what we could do about, one of them being:

“Surveys aren’t the only way to understand people. We can also learn from digital traces, behavioral data, or administrative records. Think of it as moving from a single snapshot to a fuller, blended picture. Yes, it’s messier – but it’s also more real.”

Real. I’m here for that. 

And finally…

Tom Cruise miming Meatloaf. No words. 

AI first. Turns out that it isn’t as straightforward as Klarna thought it would be. 

Some rather good photos from space. Maybe better than good (h/t storythings)

Oh, and fact of the week:  a few days ago I was told that Netflix announced its streaming service in the same week Jobs announced the iPhone. That’s a hard week to beat when it comes to announcements.