Hey, it’s me, Tom Critchlow, your friendly neighborhood blogger. It’s almost a year since my last email. Here’s a little about what’s going on with me. What’s going on with you?

The trouble with having a job is it doesn’t leave much room for blogging… Ok let me back up. I spent the last two years at Raptive, building and leading a 20+ person team. (I just quit, keep reading to find out what I’m up to next…)

While at Raptive, I averaged 19.8 meetings a week, with a total of 2,647 hours of meetings while I was there:

This is the defining experience of a lot of executives - and a lot of knowledge work in general I think. Meetings as the coordination layer of an organization.

AI fundamentally changes the coordination speed and throughput of organizations (not always in good ways!) - you’ll hear a lot more written about coordination costs.

An Embodied Season

Despite building my entire self identity around being an indie consultant, I really enjoyed working at Raptive (narrative violation!) - I worked more hours than I did when I was self employed but I was able to more mentally available for Erin and the kids. I was able to re-build a consistent exercise routine.

Family, Career, Exercise, Creativity. Pick 3.

Maybe that’s ok? I took a season of deliberately investing in my body and my family. But the blogging definitely suffered.

New Seasons Emerge…

I think when I quit my job everyone assumed I’d go back to working for myself but… Maybe companies are good actually? Maybe doing things with others makes me feel more alive? Maybe a degree of financial stability is good for my mental health?

Having 10 years of writing online is handy because I can do things like this:

Well anyway - ChatGPT told me to do it… So I started last week at Alephic: a small AI consultancy helping marketing leaders do new things using AI.

Read more about what I’m going to be up to in this interview: On AI Search with Tom Critchlow…. of Alephic! // BRXND Dispatch vol 116

I think ChatGPT’s read is right here - the bet I’m making joining Alephic is that I can learn and explore the AI frontier faster at Alephic than I could at Raptive.

What Comes Next?

I mean I certainly have no idea. Do you know what happens next?!

My bet is that I can do interesting work with Alephic. My bet is that organizations need help figuring out new ways of doing marketing for new kinds of consumers. My bet is that learning and sensemaking is perhaps THE thing to prioritize during this great AI upheaval. My bet is that being embodied with my family - present, active and available is an enduring GOOD THING.

A New Season of Blogging!

Too soon to call it but maybe, as the warm wind blows on long summer nights, adrift on the breeze there might be the faint sounds of music and the smell of blogging in the air.. Crickets chirping and fireflies flickering as the CPUs hum away softly.

Here’s a quick riff on the future of work I just published:

Of Termites & Tokens: Companies as Colonies

It’s a riff on the dumb moment we live in - that “automating workflows” is a small minded way to look at the AI opportunity and that maybe it’s not agents replacing humans but rather humans learning to work in a colony of swarming agents…?

What’s Erin up to? Cool stuff!

Talking of creativity - my partner Erin is running a workshop in NYC this Thurs at the Society of Illustrators to help you self-publish your children’s picture book! Please spread the word. It’s gonna be great.

I love you. I hope you hold space for your own happiness. What has happened in your life in the last year? Hit reply. I’m here. 💚