# Brilliantcrank
> From the opinion desk of Greg Storey
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [Assets](https://brilliantcrank.com/assets.md)
- [Blogroll](https://brilliantcrank.com/blogroll.md) - This is a growing lists of personal sites that you should read and subscribe. I'm not crazy how this page looks and functions right now, but it's a start. Also, check out this other Blogroll, “a humanly curated list of fine personal & independent blogs that are updated regularly. No algorithms ever…
- [Build adaptability, resilience, and confidence through Creative Intelligence.](https://brilliantcrank.com/build-ai-literacy.md) - Buy Creative Intelligence + Everyday Field Guides together and save $10. Buy now The workflows are changing. Are you? AI mandates are forcing everyone not only to use the technology but to also figure out how to use it on their own. Training provided by companies are typically delivered through too…
- [Read the chapter that shows you how to stop thinking like an algorithm.](https://brilliantcrank.com/creative-intelligence-chapter4.md) - Get Chapter 4 from Creative Intelligence free and see exactly how to collaborate with AI instead of just prompting it. You know you're using AI like a vending machine. Push button, get output, rinse, repeat. But you sense there's more potential. Chapter 4 reveals the fundamental difference between…
- [Creative Intelligence: Everyday Field Guides](https://brilliantcrank.com/creative-intelligence-field-guides.md) - The practical companion for applying Creative Intelligence to everyday work. You've learned to think with AI instead of just prompting it. Now apply that systematic thinking to your day-to-day work. Buy Creative Intelligence: Everyday Field Guides Digital or Print Your Company's AI Training Failed…
- [The Creative Intelligence Workshop](https://brilliantcrank.com/creative-intelligence-workshop.md) - Creative Intelligence: Don't Ask AI, Think With It and Everyday Field Guides lay out a system for thinking with AI rather than surrendering to it. The workshop is where you put that system to work on a real problem, with Greg Storey in the room. Over three virtual group sessions and one 1:1, you'll…
- [Creative Intelligence: Don't Ask AI, Think With It](https://brilliantcrank.com/creative-intelligence.md) - The human centered guide for collaborating with AI. Buy Creative Intelligence direct or on Amazon, Apple, Kobo. Also available paperback Read chapter 4 for free Your company just mandated AI usage. Your training taught you prompting. You're now making worse decisions than colleagues who avoid AI en…
- [Eject Disk: The Zine Series](https://brilliantcrank.com/ejectdiskseries.md) - A series of zines inspired by Eject Disk, the rant I wrote for myself and for friends who kept coming to me in pain, asking variations of the same question: “What in the actual fuck is going on?” Why does everything feel like this? Why am I so exhausted? The response was immediate and overwhelming.…
- [.](https://brilliantcrank.com/ghoststories.md) - Ghost is the best publishing system the Internet has had since the early web. Simple and secure—backed by a non-profit foundation instead of VC money chasing mythical creature status. This independence has allowed the company to create an incredibly strong platform with smart constraints. Most cove…
- [(Untitled)](https://brilliantcrank.com/home-include.md) - Feature Publications "Essential reading for any critical mind seeking to think differently." — Steve Makofsky, SVP, NBCUniversal Creative Intelligence The practical companion for applying Creative Intelligence to everyday work. Everyday Field Guides Four zines for people who are done pretending eve…
- [.](https://brilliantcrank.com/knupunk.md) - In development...
- [Masthead](https://brilliantcrank.com/masthead.md) - I'm Greg Storey. I’ve been in this game long enough to know when something’s broken—and even longer to know when no one wants to admit it. I’ve led design orgs inside Fortune 100s. I’ve helped startups fake it till they break it. I’ve navigated the chaos of transformation, reorgs, mass layoffs, pol…
- [Now](https://brilliantcrank.com/now.md) - January 2026 Location— Las Vegas, Nevada 36.141369° N, -115.324028° W Writing— * Creative Intelligence for Project Managers * Street Smarts * Punk It Till You Make It * Knives & Bones * Kitchen Storey's Book on Bread * Eject Disk: The Zine Series * Creative Intelligence: Everyday Field Guides Readi…
- [Say something...anything.](https://brilliantcrank.com/reach-out.md)
- [Signal vs. Bullshit](https://brilliantcrank.com/signal-vs-bullshit.md) - You already know something isn't working. What you don't have yet is language sharp enough to name it. That gap, between feeling that something is off and being able to point at the exact thing, is where most people stay stuck. So they reorganize. They run another offsite. They hire consultants who…
- [Knives & Bones](https://brilliantcrank.com/steakhouse-resume.md) - An account of the steakhouses I have visited—a proper Steakhouse resumé: November 2007 — November 2025. Albuquerque, New Mexico * Juniper Steakhouse Atlanta, GA * Bones * Chops Austin, TX * Eddie V’s ** * Perry's ** * Flemmings ** * III Forks ** * Bob's Chop House ** * Trulucks ** * Trio * Vince Yo…
- [re: The Dice](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice.md) - The Dice is a curated newsletter that delivers six thought-provoking topics every issue—spanning culture, technology, design, and beyond. Each edition is crafted to surprise and inspire, connecting unexpected dots between the past, present, and future. Whether diving into the not-so-dead world of p…
- [The Emotional Climate of American Life](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-emotional-climate-of-american-life.md) - Deviation Index · United States · 1900–2025 Values represent deviation from the long-run historical baseline (0). Positive scores indicate conditions better than average; negative scores indicate worse than average. Derived from newspaper sentiment analysis, economic indicators, Gallup archival dat…

## Posts
- [“I will do.”](https://brilliantcrank.com/i-will-do.md) - Entitlement sure has come a long way, or so it seems. I remember my father telling me several times how spoiled my generation is—coming at me with sound bites he gleaned from work as if to start and win a debate competition that I never signed up for. At a time when I worked primarily with millenni…
- [The Dice — 046](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-046.md) - American Soccer Jon Tesh, get Paleolithic, I/O function for the soul, offline when cloudy, four hands holding light, blink tag forever, and a new Olympic bar.
- [Your inner critic charges rent.](https://brilliantcrank.com/your-brain-is-an-asshole.md) - I'm supposed to be slightly vertically inverted right now, sporting blue shades like a three dollar Bono. My mouth pried open, completely numb, with fingers and tools occupying what little space is available because the hinge of the human jaw has its limitations. But I'm off the hook, for now, beca…
- [Punk is the way.](https://brilliantcrank.com/punk-is-the-way.md) - Though I know the answer already, my mind sometimes wanders and then wonders if the world is ever going to feel normal again. And the answer is always "nope." There's simply too much change happening all at once and there's no way we're coming out of this with a reset button. That's like making sou…
- [Corporations desperately want what we all have and what we can build.](https://brilliantcrank.com/corporations-desperately-want-what-we-all-have-and-what-we-can-build.md) - About a year ago I wrote about companies stripping themselves to the studs—not just cutting costs but searching for their Minimum Viable Humans limit. Exploring what the corporation actually needs people for. Twitter was a very public prototype for this line of thinking, the work involved, and the…
- [A roadmap to a Viking funeral.](https://brilliantcrank.com/a-roadmap-to-a-viking-funeral.md) - This weekend I met with a long-time friend who was looking for direction on a new role. The legacy program they inherited is operating like it's 2005, the company is burning through money and leaving it on the table at the same time, and it's all happening because the entire company doesn't know wh…
- [Is it worth pointing out the use of technology anymore?](https://brilliantcrank.com/is-it-worth-pointing-out-the-use-of-technology-anymore.md) - What happens when a prolific author integrates AI into their work so much that it turns up wholesale in their writing? Seth Godin—said prolific author—recently posted an argument for hiring freelancers instead of using technology on his blog. While I agree with his message I paused when I began the…
- [Land of the offended. Home of the outraged.](https://brilliantcrank.com/land-of-the-offended-home-of-the-outraged.md) - I watched yesterday’s sports match at a sports bar. Specifically in a reserved seat at the bar in front of a gigantic OLED screen. I’m in Vegas which means that a good portion of the seats at the bar have a video screen in front of them where patrons can gamble. My seat at the bar did not have a vi…
- [Slop doesn’t slop itself.](https://brilliantcrank.com/slop-doesnt-slop-itself.md) - Proof that slop doesn’t just come from the robots is this article from CNN: Tired of AI, people are committing to the analog lifestyle in 2026. Before you get your hackles up, I’m not about to defend technology but rather call out real human stupidity. Ramishah Maruf writes, “Analogers are tired of…
- [Prepare for Martial Law.](https://brilliantcrank.com/prepare-for-martial-law.md) - Near the end of the Cold War I read an editorial cartoon that depicted a group of people running away from the Kremlin towards the word DEMOCRACY and another group of people running away from the White House towards the words POLICE STATE. I don't recall what was going on at the time that led to th…
- [The Dice — 045](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-045.md) - Critical ignoring, de-algo'd, certified authentic human, pure evil in an app, wildfire portraits, and Max Headroom poetry.
- [The Dice — 044](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-044.md) - Mirrors from '75, cultural change code cracked, mental health extraction, still bowling alone, building stories, and typography that shaped the world.
- [The Dice — 043](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-043.md) - Twenty years of talking points, indented clocks, the unconscious talking in circles. One Battle After Another Midnight Run, zine resistance, and covers covered.
- [Second verse, same as the first.](https://brilliantcrank.com/second-verse-same-as-the-first.md) - Over at Same Team Partners we're making a move that I'm excited to share. But before I get into that, let me provide some context. Back in 2013 Brett Harned came to me with a thought. There were conferences for designers, developers, UX researchers, content strategists, even for leaders. But there…
- [The Dice — 042](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-042.md) - International translations, zines as resistance, Flea’s plea, the future of journalism, YAMA is the new FOMO, and the lame race to repost research.
- [Trapped between equally impossible options.](https://brilliantcrank.com/trapped-between-equally-impossible-options.md) - Earlier this week the Eject Disk zine series was featured in the wonderful and must read publication Dense Discovery. Kai, the publisher, had the great idea of giving readers a copy of the first zine for free. So, we set it up and it’s been fantastic to see people grab their copy and also become su…
- [The Dice — 041](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-041.md) - The design of competitive Paris, Jack into ᑕ¥βєяรקค¢є, a signal for world revolution, seeking silence and a clear view without Akutaq. Frito is real, and it’s the scariest movie of 2025.
- [The Dice — 040](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-040.md) - Small spaces as resistance, Infinite Right Answers, wild salmon from bay to tray, ditch Adobe already, AI futures mapped month by month, and Vertigo rises from the grave.
- [The Dice — 039](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-039.md) - Gen X gets its magazine, phones that force you to stay put, Burkina Faso's peanut butter secret, X-ray vision for sentences, the ramen movie turns 40, a way to look at the future, and print that fills the void.
- [It's like Watson on repeat.](https://brilliantcrank.com/its-like-watson-on-repeat.md) - This post won’t be for everyone, but a project I’ve been working on for the last couple of months just went live and I’m proud of the outcome. Over the past few months, I've been working with two former colleagues from IBM who specialize in transformation—Matt Fangman and Sean Wood. Collectively we…
- [Desperately seeking coffee.](https://brilliantcrank.com/desperately-seeking-coffee.md) - In last week's School of the Possible open call, open call, an ad hoc group formed around the topic of sales for fractional or consulting work. Nobody in my circles has figured this out—and I know plenty of people trying. Not the solo consultants, not the design studios, not the engineering boutiqu…
- [The Dice — 038](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-038.md) - A new Trapper Keeper, millennials in power, the original fight against people wearing red, without reading we’re sheep, the WTF graphic novel, and a case for optimism.
- [Vibing is not the way.](https://brilliantcrank.com/vibing-is-not-the-way.md) - Microsoft just launched "vibe working" in Excel and Word. Now, I’m not clairvoyant but I can tell you there are scores of Microsoft employees Captain-Picard-level facepalming today. This insane timing couldn't be more perfect. Just last week, Harvard Business Review published, AI-Generated "Workslo…
- [Over to you, Bob.](https://brilliantcrank.com/over-to-you-bob.md) - The premiere episode of SNL in 2001 took place eighteen days after the 9/11 attacks. There's a lot I could try to write about all of the feelings going on at that time, but that's not the point of this post, so I'll use a shortcut to bridge the thought I want to express now. It was emotionally and…
- [The Great Canary is singing.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-great-canary-is-singing.md) - “Young workers are a labor market indicator: They are usually the last to get hired and the first to get fired. If we see high rates of youth unemployment, we are likely either heading into a weak economy or out of one.” Let that sink in when you read this: “Unemployment is rising, and young people…
- [“They're illusions, Michael. A trick is what whores do for money.”](https://brilliantcrank.com/theyre-illusions-michael-a-trick-is-what-whores-do-for-money.md) - I read this comment on LinkedIn recently: “I’ve been reading hearing the new best practice is not ‘prompt engineering’, but ‘context engineering’.” Jesus wept. Yet again. Listen closely. If the latest “hot tip” for working with AI contains the word engineering, ignore it. Delete it. Delete it. The…
- [Leave the token counting for Chuck-E-Cheese.](https://brilliantcrank.com/leave-the-token-counting-for-chuck-e-cheese.md) - This morning I came across a thread on Reddit asking, “Are people’s bosses really making them use AI tools?” To which I could point to more than a few mandates that have been handed down, but I love this anedotal, top comment: "I spoke to a good friend a few days ago who told me that his CTO has ex…
- [It’s time to work different.](https://brilliantcrank.com/its-time-to-work-different.md) - Over the past month, Matt Fangman, Sean Wood, and I have been rolling up our sleeves and looking closely at the fallout from AI pilots, experiments, and mandates. As former IBMers, we’ve seen this pattern before. The tools change, the buzzwords shift, but the confusion stays the same. Only this tim…
- [Don't sell yourself so Schrute.](https://brilliantcrank.com/dont-sell-yourself-so-schrute.md) - One of my first classes in college was a one-credit elective called LS A101: Introduction to Academic Library Research. The class “introduces academic library research strategies, tools and techniques for locating, evaluating and ethically using information.” I can’t remember why I opted to take th…
- [We made it.](https://brilliantcrank.com/we-made-it.md) - This morning I hugged and kissed my wife and said, “we made it.” Today marks our 30th anniversary together through thick and thin. And let me tell you, in that amount of time there have been plenty of both. For ten years my wife’s work kept her on the road for two-thirds of the year. There were tim…
- [The Arialpocalypse: Default thinking ate the world.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-arialpocalypse-default-thinking-ate-the-world.md) - There's a moment when you realize that the thing you've been staring at your entire professional life—the thing that's shaped too many emails, documents, and presentations you've endured—was designed as a cheap knockoff. And that this knockoff somehow became the visual soundtrack of capitalism. We…
- [LinkedIn does not equal opportunity.](https://brilliantcrank.com/linkedin-does-not-equal-opportunity.md) - The platform feels like a bad career fair hosted inside an empty mall with Spirit Halloween on one end and a Family Dollar on the other. Inside we're all wandering around like zombies from Dawn of the Dead, desperately trying to look employable. Especially the ones wearing that green sash. Pssst, t…
- [Borrow their courage.](https://brilliantcrank.com/borrow-their-courage.md) - The 3AM panic attacks started when payroll tipped over $500k. In the services industry, revenue is never guaranteed. Even after a contract is signed, there's always the threat of chasing late payments or enlisting legal help to collect what you're owed. These are worst-case scenarios, and though I…
- [The universe closed a door this week. And I’m done trying to pry it back open.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-universe-closed-a-door-this-week-and-im-done-trying-to-pry-it-back-open.md) - This week I put the final nail in the coffin of my attachment to a time in my career—and the relationships and organizations I built along the way. Each time I’ve tried to re-engage, it starts with excitement and energy and ends in retreat and collapse. Somewhere in a Zoom call transcript, email th…
- [No more good faith for good people.](https://brilliantcrank.com/no-more-good-faith-for-good-people.md) - I have many faults, but I do my best to live by the Golden Rule, which means that I extend good faith by default. I believed that if I showed up with clarity, honesty, and a spirit of collaboration, people would meet me there. I thought integrity invited integrity. There are too many so-called "goo…
- [“The place to do your work, to live the good life, is here.”](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-place-to-do-your-work-to-live-the-good-life-is-here.md) - This morning, a dead Roman philosopher called me out on my bullshit and held my favorite form of self-sabotage up to my face. I'm in my third year of reading Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic. Though I am in a much better place than when I picked it up and started a daily reading habit, the value of t…
- [It's not you, it's their bullshit.](https://brilliantcrank.com/its-not-you-its-their-bullshit.md) - LinkedIn reports that "the majority of U.S. professionals (58%) believe they have a wide range of skills that are being underutilized in their current roles." I see you. I know you. I am you. I have felt this in every job I've had in the last ten years. Years after departing IBM Design I had the ch…
- [The fuckity-fuck cycle we’re in right now.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-fuckity-fuck-cycle-were-in-right-now.md) - I don't remember what vehicle passed us but it made me think about how so much of our products these days look the same. From our vehicles to phones, even our color palettes, our world has been mostly homogenized. That got me thinking about the horrid colors, patterns, and design—or lack of—that do…
- [A better call to action.](https://brilliantcrank.com/a-better-call-to-action.md) - Oen Michael Hammonds is the epitome of integrity, truth, and trust. He's a rare breed and a wild duck—IBM style. When he speaks, I listen. And so I did this weekend when he posted in support of the Design= campaign. "Design= is a free educational program that introduces design, creative problem-sol…
- [It's happening.](https://brilliantcrank.com/its-happening.md) - I didn’t wake up this morning hoping to write yet another thing about AI but here we go. Another proclamation and requirement to use AI in order to be considered for promotion. Weeks ago it was Microsoft, today it’s Amazon. Tomorrow it's coming for your job—whether you're an employee, consultant, c…
- [Take the hill before it's taken for you.](https://brilliantcrank.com/take-the-hill-before-its-taken-for-you.md) - "Microsoft is asking some managers to evaluate employees based on how much they use AI internally, and the software giant is considering adding a metric related to this in its review process.” That’s from a Business Insider article published June 27, 2025. Today it’s Microsoft. Today it’s software…
- [Creative Intelligence is here, but I didn't mean to write it.](https://brilliantcrank.com/creative-intelligence-is-here.md) - A year ago I made plans to write a book, but not this one. Somewhere between researching something completely different and discovering how to use AI as an actual thinking partner, I realized a lot of people are treating this technology like a fancy vending machine. Push button, get output. Rinse,…
- [Lactic acid coaching.](https://brilliantcrank.com/lactic-acid-coaching.md) - It seems like every week I come across another LinkedIn post announcing someone's transformation into a coach. They've built services, created frameworks, developed "work therapy" for every rung of the corporate ladder. Decades of experience packaged up and ready to solve problems that thousands of…
- ["Same shit, different OKR."](https://brilliantcrank.com/same-shit-different-okr.md) - The headline is from a statement I wrote in chapter 2 of my upcoming book, Creative Intelligence, about how companies would start measuring AI use by their employees. I knew it was inevitable and this week it came true. From Business Insider: "Julia Liuson, president of the Microsoft division respo…
- [Going all-in on maybe.](https://brilliantcrank.com/going-all-in-on-maybe.md) - Across many recent conversations, a dark pattern keeps surfacing—one that clouds judgment and distracts too many people: carrying the stress and burden of decisions that have no business occupying the mind or wasting attention. There are too many “what if” questions orbiting too many people for my…
- [Ninety-nine percent finished is the new fifty percent done.](https://brilliantcrank.com/ninety-nine-percent-finished-is-the-new-fifty-percent-done.md) - Yesterday I shared some design exploration work for the Brilliantcrank brand and my upcoming book. Thank you to everyone who replied with your preferences and dialogue. It's both necessary and nice to have a community that I can interact with and get the type of critique that makes the work stronge…
- [In search of better ground.](https://brilliantcrank.com/in-search-of-better-ground.md) - For years, a good friend—and a respected book publisher—urged me to write a book. The idea intrigued me, but I was never quite sure what I had to say. Oh, if I could go back ten years, the books I would write... and may still. But those ideas are staying on the back burner for now, because today I'…
- [Every generation discovers the same monster.](https://brilliantcrank.com/every-generation-discovers-the-same-monster.md) - We're doing it again. Rolling Stone recently shared stories of people who believe AI has chosen them as messiahs. Families are watching loved ones disappear into "spiritual mania" and "supernatural delusion." One man became convinced he was "the next messiah" after AI gave him "answers to the unive…
- [Our beautiful walled gardens of moral purity.](https://brilliantcrank.com/our-beautiful-walled-gardens-of-moral-purity.md) - “Hey did we decide that [redacted] was a Nazi hot tub, or is it okay to use?” This showed up in a private chat group recently. A simple question about a platform, but embedded in those thirteen words is everything that's broken about how we navigate the world right now. We've turned each consumer i…
- [The luxury of saying no.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-luxury-of-saying-no.md) - Lets start this post with two statements 2,400 years apart. “This invention [writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will disc…
- [Minimum Viable Humans.](https://brilliantcrank.com/minimum-viable-humans.md) - A link for The Algorithm of Sacrifice landed in a group chat recently. The post details Microsoft's recent 6,000-person layoff amid record profits and $125 billion in cash reserves. The piece paints AI as the villain, arguing these employees were being sacrificed to automation after ironically buil…
- [The coyote trap.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-coyote-trap.md) - "There’s definitely something going on in the industry." I’ve heard that line on several phone calls with peers and I’ve read it scores more on social sites. Folks, there’s nothing going on, it’s already done. The direction is set. Call it whatever you will, I don’t care, but we’re on a new path an…
- [You are not your job search.](https://brilliantcrank.com/you-are-not-your-job-search-redux.md) - An epic for everyone feeling left behind. Eight years ago I wrote an essay with the same title during a brutal stretch of rejection, silence, and self-doubt. Back then, I was trying to make sense of what had happened. I believed if I just understood why, I could fix it. I was wrong. What I've learn…
- [It's time we stopped asking for vases.](https://brilliantcrank.com/its-time-we-stopped-asking-for-vases.md) - My first interactions with AI came in 2015 when I joined IBM. Watson was all the rage, but it was still early days for the technology. Despite the tens of millions of dollars poured into marketing these incredible capabilities, Watson wasn't ready for prime time. I came to learn that the singular e…
- [Open to work is the new tip of the sword.](https://brilliantcrank.com/open-to-work-is-the-new-tip-of-the-sword.md) - This isn't the light at the end of the tunnel. It's a lighter to hold up at a rock concert. In ten years, we're going to look at people we know who are still working in thankless corporate jobs like we do with people who are still playing World of Warcraft after everyone else moved on. Still loggin…
- [Redesigning design, the cliff in front of us all.](https://brilliantcrank.com/redesigning-design-the-cliff-in-front-of-us-all.md) - If designers want a better future for their trade, now is the perfect time to start from scratch. Not refresh. Not reboot. Start over—with clear answers to questions we seemingly didn’t get right the last time: What does design actually do? What does good design look like? How do we critique it, me…
- [Make no mistake, employees will always be just a line item.](https://brilliantcrank.com/make-no-mistake-employees-will-always-be-just-a-line-item.md) - As the world turns and countries and companies are still swirling in the latest round of primordial goo, it’s a good time to remind those who are employed and seeking employment that at the end of the day, you are nothing but a line item. The dedication and devotion you give, or hope to again some…
- [Kindness feels radical.](https://brilliantcrank.com/kindness-feels-radical.md) - I’m still taking in the response to Eject disk. The comments, reposts, and private messages have been unlike anything I’ve experienced before. It’s still building, and it’s sparked a kind of energy I haven’t felt in years. It’s helping me wake up. To see the world with clearer, rejuvenated eyes, a…
- [Mo prompts, same problems.](https://brilliantcrank.com/mo-prompts-same-problems.md) - Since the debut of Terminator 2, we’ve all been primed to watch for signs of the impending skull-crushing robot apocolypse. As we’ve drawn closer to that pivotal moments of robots replicating forms of human intelligence and motor skills, the horror isn’t about destroying human kind, but another kin…
- [LinkedIn is a waiting room of doom.](https://brilliantcrank.com/linkedin-is-a-waiting-room-of-doom.md) - It’s not a network. It’s a holding pattern for the white-collar workers who helped build the modern world—only to find themselves without a future in it. Two hundred and twenty million people have signaled they want out. That’s not a platform—it’s a collapse with metrics and a sales campaign. This…
- [Connection isn’t just personal. It’s political.](https://brilliantcrank.com/connection-isnt-just-personal-its-political.md) - I don’t need anything more to piss me off to keep writing about what’s broken right now, but after re-reading Why Are Democracies Reeling? I found more fuel for the fire. The surface layer bullshit so prevalent today is damaging more than we know. It’s literally tearing apart democracy. From the go…
- [We've built a society on bullshit and emojis.](https://brilliantcrank.com/we-built-a-country-on-bullshit-and-emojis.md) - I used to work for a company that was constantly celebrated for its incredible culture and commitment to employee well-being. They were lauded with awards like—Forbes' America's Best Employers and the Gallup Great Workplace Award. At the main campus everyone smiled. Meetings always began with small…
- [The First Amendment was enshrined for way more than a subscription plan.](https://brilliantcrank.com/resist-this-the-first-amendment-was-enshrined-for-way-more-than-a-subscription-plan.md) - Several of my friends are upset, borderline panicking about the unprecedented radical change that Trump and his administration are enacting across the federal government. The core of their fear is that the systems that are supposed to be in place do not appear to be fighting back in any way. The sy…
- [Availability is no longer a personality trait.](https://brilliantcrank.com/availability-is-no-longer-a-personality-trait.md) - A while ago, a friend told me I should write down my thoughts about relationships—but delete them after I was done. As someone who has rarely held back from saying or writing what I’m thinking, that felt like suggesting I should think about oxygen but not draw a breath. That said, there have been m…
- [The spinning beach ball in front of us all.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-spinning-beach-ball-in-front-of-us-all.md) - We’re all watching the wheel spin, hoping it doesn’t crash, but we're way past that point. Everyone I know, talk to, or come across is in purgatory. The people who have lost their job, as well as the people suffering through one. No one can seem to find a way in or out of it. The grind—it does not…
- [Eject disk.](https://brilliantcrank.com/eject-disk.md) - A manifesto for everyone stuck in the system that keeps crashing you. What follows here isn’t a framework or a fix—it’s a declaration. A reckoning. And a call to return to ourselves before we try to rebuild anything else. We’re all watching the wheel spin, hoping it doesn’t crash, but we're way pas…
- [This is your brain on nostalgia.](https://brilliantcrank.com/this-is-your-brain-on-nostalgia.md) - I’m already bent out of shape on a number of topics for a number of reasons, and this morning I came across one more to add to the list: whiny Gen X’ers who are gobsmacked because they fell backwards into a myth of tenure that many of us figured out wasn’t true thirty years ago. The New York Times…
- [45—54.](https://brilliantcrank.com/45-54.md) - This year marks my last in a demographic age range commonly used in drop-down form fields. Most people celebrate decade milestones that end in a zero, but for me, the real marker ends in a four. Thank you, Jim Avery, and my college degree in advertising. On his 60th birthday, a family member told m…
- [Still simmering.](https://brilliantcrank.com/still-simmering.md) - As she walked into the kitchen, I mentioned to my wife that it’s the five-year anniversary of the COVID pandemic. She stopped mid-step, like a record skipping, and uttered, “Nah uh.” I understood her disbelief and repeated the fact. She interjected, “It doesn’t feel like five years, more like three…
- [We need better assholes.](https://brilliantcrank.com/we-need-better-assholes.md) - The way I see it, there are two dominant leadership styles in business and government today. On one side, we have the ruthless and ambitious—but destructive—narcissists. These are the Elon Musks, Jeff Bezoses, Donald Trumps, and Peter Thiels of the world. They are relentless in their pursuit of pow…
- [Your network is broken. Fix it like a human.](https://brilliantcrank.com/your-network-is-broken-fix-it-like-a-human.md) - I keep hearing different versions of the same frustrated statement in conversations and coaching sessions: “My network isn’t helping me like it used to.” All those connections, follows, and likes? They’re not turning into opportunities. The people who used to pull you in for projects? Radio silence…
- [The Dice — 037](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-037.md) - Tactics for taking on anxiety include journaling, three-second breathing, practicing stillness, setting intentions, auditing thoughts, and reframing
- [The Dice — 036](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-036.md) - Types of distraction, Eustace turns 100, Land Shark at 50, Boom without the boom, taming AI, and No buy '25
- [AI wants to rule the World, but it can’t handle dairy.](https://brilliantcrank.com/ai-wants-to-rule-the-world-but-it-cant-handle-dairy.md) - One of my first projects at IBM Design was to find a way to make business process outsourcing “lovable again.” Though I’d never heard of this servce before I presumed it meant that I was being asked to make the process of people loosing their jobs to automation and cheaper labor a positive experien…
- [The Dice — 035](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-035.md) - America Needs You paired with solid lessons from Ikigai, Stoicism, Antifragility, Buddhism, and Ubuntu.
- [We made a thing you can hold in your hands.](https://brilliantcrank.com/we-made-a-thing-you-can-hold-in-your-hands.md) - Brett and I have made something—a physical product that’s shrink-wrapped. I’ve helped others create things like this before, but this is the first time I’ve done it for myself. If you’re curious, you can check out the first photos on my LinkedIn post. While you’re there, give it a clap. We created…
- [The Dice — 034](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-034.md) - A need for more literary men, watching the ball, indie web search, world revolution, make a better Instagram, and deconstructed Batman.
- [Empowerification and the art of saying “nope”.](https://brilliantcrank.com/empowerification-and-the-art-of-saying-nope.md) - Most of yesterday morning was spent trying to cobble the next issue of The Dice together. Around eleven o’clock I decided to put the computer away, get out of the house, and do something completely different. It just wasn’t going to happen. I started with Cory Doctrow’s recent post Enshittification…
- [A blog post from 1999.](https://brilliantcrank.com/a-blog-post-from-1999.md) - I was invited to participate in answering the following series of questions related to blogging. Maybe they’re right, it’s the 90s again. As more folks leave the platforms in search of something different it seems like blogging may grow again. In support of that happening, I offer these responses i…
- [The Dice — 033](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-033.md) - Don’t quit just yet, Space Force’s newest duty, cold hard soup, network television’s denial, kill your Faceinstathreads, and your newsletter’s favorite newsletters.
- [Prompt and circumstance.](https://brilliantcrank.com/prompt-and-circumstance.md) - After a long session working through a big problem with the robot I stopped to take a break. A question came to mind when I returned back to the desk and asked how most people use AI. It replied: “Most people use AI like a vending machine.” My mind went immediately to that Apple commerical with the…
- [The Dice — 032](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-032.md) - Fireproof homes, general intelligence, rewild everything, American job switchers, B&N: don't call it a comeback, stop eating plastic, and the Art of Noise
- [“Immigrants are grubby, filthy pieces of shit.”](https://brilliantcrank.com/immigrants-are-grubby-filthy-pieces-of-shit.md) - Unbridled hate speech is now allowed on Meta’s platform of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The awful title of this post comes directly from new Meta training materials as an example of an acceptable statement on the platform. Other disturbing examples are highlighted throughout The Intercept’s ar…
- [The Dice — 031](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-031.md) - Kidd Video, the original essays, Mr. Baseball, you must read to write, lessons learned from founder enshitification, meaningful year end reflections, and H4x0rOS for designers.
- [The year that was a masterclass in mixed signals.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-year-that-was-a-masterclass-in-mixed-signals.md) - I’ve enjoyed reading the personal reflection blog posts that pop up in my feed this time of year. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do my own reflection—this time in person—with a new friend I made in 2024. My takeaway from this introspection is that 2024 was a Year of Confusion, marked by a stea…
- [Ah, freak out.](https://brilliantcrank.com/ah-freak-out.md) - I’m not at all embarrassed at the use of the word freak. I think the way things are going in this country, it’s very honorable designation, and I’m proud of it. To be abnormal, to deviate from the style of government that I deplore in America today, is not only wise but necessary. — Hunter S. Thomp…
- [The Dice — 030](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-030.md) - The spice is right, hit pause, future reading, avoid cynisicm by traveling, intentional learning, critical thinking and sensemaking, and FAAFO in 2024.
- [The Dice — 029](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-029.md) - Kill your LinkedIn, retirement is a joke, Join or Die, the softer side of Formula 1, a princess design language, how to stop making poor assumptions, and Recall and Reset for 2025.
- [The Dice — 028](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-028.md) - Vive Notre-Dame! Internment typography, a 100% Rotten Tomato, Howard Rheingold was right, sixteen Instant ramens, a Jetta Wagon TDI, and role playing the TSA.
- [More like Apple Ineptitude.](https://brilliantcrank.com/more-like-apple-ineptitude.md) - Looking for diversions to fill the void previously filled by the news cycle, I have a hard time moving off of the topic of how stupid Apple Intelligence advertising and the application itself is so ironically dumb. This morning I was reminded of my own dumbfoundedness after reviewing Anh’s latest w…
- [Still loading, please wait.](https://brilliantcrank.com/still-loading-please-wait.md) - Hoo boy I was so not expecting to get a solid life lesson today when I visited Kottke, but it happened and I suspect some of you will want in on this. In his post We Never Stop Growing, Jason shares a knowledge bomb dropped he received during thearpy. When my therapist said “what you’re feeling is…
- [The turkey’s dry, the takes are wet, and the cringe is fully stuffed.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-turkeys-dry-the-takes-are-wet-and-the-cringe-is-fully-stuffed.md) - Ah, Thanksgiving—a holiday built on expectations, anticipation, and the resigned certainty that you’ll be navigating the inevitable stress of gathering family members with wildly opposing, politically charged viewpoints on, well, everything. Fun, right? It’s the price we pay—nay, endure—for a free…
- [The Dice — 027](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-027.md) - Livin’ la vida vigilada, Times New Dumbass, Apple’s new “think” campaign, an alt-weekly turns fifty, I got tweleve problems and Short ain’t one, turnin’ Swiftie and Lumpy the snowman.
- [The great escape from Reichsdummvogel.](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-great-escape-from-the-reichsdummvogel.md) - What does it say about the state of the internet when the migration of people from one platform to another generates so many headlines and excitement? And more importantly, why does this matter? I don’t care how many people have joined. Facebook has billions of users and that has zero impact on the…
- [The Dice — 026](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-026.md) - The second coming of Alt News, dead dinosaurs, a geo-morphing type system, Hunter’s knew all along, Un-Batman, The Art of Doing Dumb Shit, and Kill Your Television.
- [Unhinged no more.](https://brilliantcrank.com/unhinged-no-more.md) - Every time Pee Wee Herman entered his Fun House, he started the day by turning on his robot, Conky 2000, and asking for the “secret word.” After receiving the word on a piece of paper, Mr. Herman would hold it up for the audience to see and then instruct us to “scream real loud” anytime anyone said…
- [Burying the bird for good.](https://brilliantcrank.com/burying-the-bird-for-good.md) - Last Friday, I messaged some friends, "I just deleted my Twitter account. I should have done it a long time ago.” Like most folks I know, I stopped using Twitter around the time Elon started his mission of destroying everything, but I kept the account locked down to keep the username. That was my e…
- [There are no take-backs on this one.](https://brilliantcrank.com/there-are-no-take-backs-on-this-one.md) - I’m a new Rolling Stone subscriber and relatively happy with their mix of stories. Feels like Grantland without all of the sports. Front and center on their website this morning is Americans Didn’t Vote for What Donald Trump Is About to Give Them, an opinion piece by Jay Michaelson. I have enjoyed…
- [The Dice — 025](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-025.md) - Post-election hangovers, a war game created by a pacifist, crust hating men, online forums, dames and crime, that damn font again.
- [Ctrl+Alt+Delete.](https://brilliantcrank.com/ctrl-alt-delete.md) - Though this blog does not reflect it, I’ve written a few posts in response to the election. Twenty years ago, I would have typed furiously, clicked “publish”, and waited for the comments to roll in. Today I don’t have that kind of energy. I suspect neither do you. But think about the results and th…
- [What would Hunter do?](https://brilliantcrank.com/what-would-hunter-do.md) - A few weeks ago I happened to catch an episode of Freakonomics while listening to NPR. The theme was the election with a long segment on two questions. "What kind of chaos would a second Trump term bring?" They didn't beat around the bush on the elephant in America's living room, can “Trump really…
- [The Dice — 024](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-024.md) - Life advice from The Undertaker, real water damage, an infographic for the Eras, no schmaltz here, crazy construction, and billionaire threats
- [The Dice — 023](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-023.md) - 5 1/4-inch floppy disks, Costco Connections, a sweet popup book, America's love for instant noodles, a grand slam homerun, and "Democracy Dies in Darkness"
- [The Dice — 022](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-022.md) - Robtober, Kamala destroys Trump—57.2% to 28.2%, LEGO immigrant kits, What in the hell .ch means, book vending machines, Absolute Batman, and purple.
- [For Susbcribers Eyes Only.](https://brilliantcrank.com/for-susbcribers-eyes-only.md)
- [The Dice — 021](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-021.md) - The life and death of an alt-press, new depths discovered, Thought Cabinets, byebye.io, a volunteer’s story, and "do what you can."
- [The Dice — 020](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-020.md) - Manchild Mullenweg returns, a new dinosaur appears, human influence still works, roll a d20 for mental health, catalog nostalgia, and Crazy Stupid Tech.
- [Put that Fresca down.](https://brilliantcrank.com/put-that-fresca-down.md) - A link came across the old opinion desk today that I couldn’t help but find amusing: Fast Company’s take on the New York Times updating their sixteen-year-old mobile app by bringing back tab navigation. Naturally, since this is a design article, we need to slap a shiny new name on a well-establishe…
- [The Dice — 019](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-019.md) - Zippy the Pinhead, replicant Interviews, Live from New York, Celebrate Disco, Battle of the Balls, and ActivityPub grows up a bit.
- [The Dice — 018](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-018.md) - Space whack-a-moles, less beef and more ants, trust worth money, camera phones, dreamy trailblazers, and a different kind of resume service.
- [Nuts to this.](https://brilliantcrank.com/nuts-to-this.md) - Today a friend pinged me on a chat channel and asked if I had heard about a mutual friend of ours. The way their message was phrased I assumed something bad had happened and replied in kind. “No, I haven’t. Is he okay?” In response, he told me about an Internet social-post fight and provided links…
- [The Dice — 017](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-017.md) - Stupid Ford is stupid, Tomoki Tamura spins in-store, making failure fun, the Marber grid, American food is American jazz, and a full-size electric Lego supercar.
- [Achievement unlocked.](https://brilliantcrank.com/achievement-unlocked.md) - This week, I came across some social media posts with sentiments I can relate to. Take this question from John Hodgins about the latest iPhone announcements: “Is feeling ‘meh’ about the iPhone Pro versus the standard edition a sign of age? Like, giving up a bit?” Elsewhere, I read similar thoughts…
- [Who needs a race car when you can build the whole damn club?](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-road-less-raced-who-needs-a-racecar-when-you-can-build-a-whole-damn-club.md) - In middle school, remote control cars were all the rage, and the brand new Team Associated RC-10 was the car to have. My friends and I would go to races on Friday nights. The events were very ad hoc, and—because I grew up in Alaska—held in a school gym. I didn’t have a car of my own because my hobb…
- [The Dice — 016](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-016.md) - Two design legends, one amazing book, De-Googling Your Life makes Google angry, closet movies, how to brand a new country, and Polaroid speakers.
- [The Dice — 015](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-015.md) - The Sony HB-F1XD, brand new cities, Departure Mono and an asterism, the newspaper wars of 1896-1911, trust absolutely nothing, and a side of humanity with those fries.
- [The Dice — 014](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-014.md) - Topopointillism, The Art of Warez, Richard Turley, AI bubbles, Olympic photos, public access television, and PSL.
- [The Dice — 013](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-013.md) - Postcards for election conversation, print to save satire, the death of news radio, photography without AI, a lost ship and matzo balls, and better ways to inhabit the web.
- [Spending two minutes in the Design Pit of Despair.](https://brilliantcrank.com/spending-two-minutes-in-the-design-pit-of-despair.md) - Pinging around the Indieweb I came across the personal site for Jim Nielsen and his latest post, My Failed Personal Site Redesign. Scanning the headline, my empathy immediately kicked into high gear as I have been there myself too many times. And I know anyone reading this has likely been there too…
- [Hopefulness is the warrior emotion that keeps the devil down in the hole.](https://brilliantcrank.com/hopefulness-is-the-warrior-emotion-that-keeps-the-devil-down-in-the-hole.md) - An interview with the artist Nick Cave on The Late Show is floating around social this week and a clip of the last few minutes caught my attention. I don’t follow Nick or his work but I get the sense that he’s ruffled a few feathers in his life. The loss of two sons seems to have awakened a new typ…
- [The Dice — 012](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-012.md) - New magazines, the origin of Wayne's World, AI is drinking all of our water, meaningful Olympic photos, a stock photo resource to beat them all, and helpful messy studios.
- [The Dice — 011](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-011.md) - A cure for writers block, how D&D teaches accessibility, social media fasting, pulpy maritime crime comedy, who killed the world—question mark, and considering what's now.
- [Proof of life.](https://brilliantcrank.com/proof-of-life.md) - It’s rare to find anything useful on LinkedIn these days. I can’t think of a more apt description than “LinkedIn has become a cesspool of business-themed shit-posting.” In response to my thread on this article, Rob Ford of FWA fame replied, “It’s social media. All channels are the same. In fact, th…
- [Old rugged cross.](https://brilliantcrank.com/old-rugged-cross.md) - I didn’t get to know my grandparents very well since we lived thousands and thousands of miles apart. I can count how many times I recall being around them on one hand, maybe one hand and a finger. I do remember being extremely excited to see them each time but I also remember it felt like having t…
- [The Dice — 010](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-010.md) - Spy magazine, more Fediverse goodness, teriyaki chicken, a creepy documentary called Motel, Happy Net Box, and the perfect metaphor for creating a niche.
- [The Dice — 009](https://brilliantcrank.com/the-dice-009.md) - Terry “Knievel” Bolinger, happiness and delivering pizza, defend your mind, young Steve Jobs, lé breaking, and a firewall for AI.

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