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When I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, summer was all about quasi-anarchic, unsupervised free-range child roaming. It was decidedly not about homework, so you may not recall those reading lists teachers used to assign us all that fondly. But I do! (I even once assigned myself a book report for the fun of itdont ask.) As a book hound who grew up to be a journalist who covers books and authors, I get pitched a lot of them, and more often than not theres a precarious tower of tomes on my desk. So as summer kicks off, its time to once again get lost in a reading list. Whether youre beach bound or holed up at home, these eight books offer myriad lenses through which to view the past, present, and future of design and the artsno book report required. [Cover Image: Phaidon] Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the US compiled by Andrew Satake Blauvelt (out July 3) Cranbrook alum Charles Eames once said, Eventually everything connects: people, ideas, objects. This book explores those intersections at the school that was essentially ground zero for the mid-century modern movement. Curated by Andrew Blauvelt (director of the Cranbrook Art Museum, which is hosting an exhibition of the same title through September 21), this 464-page tome explores work by the likes of Eero Saarinen and Florence Knoll, as well as women and designers of color who are often overlooked in the history books. Like Dominic Bradburys Mid-Century Modern Designers, Blauvelts examination offers a spotlight and reappraisal of these unsung heroes alongside the usual names, and it does so with a great editorial design system notable for its use of color, which extends to the cover, spine, and even those painted edges. [Cover Image: Penguin Random House] Exhibitionist: 1 Journal, 1 Depression, 100 Paintings by Peter Mendelsund Peter Mendelsund is the definition of a polymath: classical pianist turned book cover design extraordinaire, turned author, turned Atlantic creative director . . . But the one thing he never did was paintuntil he experienced a severe depression that nearly claimed his life. Exhibitionist is a memoir that might not be the lightest summer read, but it is a testament to the sheer restorative nature of art, and the work that just might have saved one of the best working artists today. [Cover Image: Princeton Architectural Press] 100 Logos: A to Z by Louise Fili (out August 26) This tiny treat features lettering icon Louise Fili’s favorite marks from throughout her career, from Ecco Press and Tiffany & Co. to more obscure regional clientswhere the work truly surprises and delights, perhaps the result of being untethered from boardrooms and committees. You could flip through the book in about 5 or 10 minutesbut you could also look at this collection of ornate logos for hours, given the artistry and attention to scrupulous detail that went into each one. [Cover Image: Yale University Press] Ruth Asawa: Retrospective edited by Janet Bishop and Cara Manes If youre only familiar with Ruth Asawas iconic wire sculptures, youre in for a treatbecause for a half-century-plus, the trailblazer was busy making paintings, casts, prints, and more, and it can all be found in this book. In 2020, Cronicle published the insightful biography Everything She Touched, and this volume is a robust, essential companion that goes further down the rabbit hole of Asawas brilliance. (Moreover, between the recently published Ruth Asawa and the Artist-Mother at Midcentury and the forthcoming Ruth Asawa: The Tamarind Prints, its a big year for fresh insights into the modernist whose work we might have thought we knew well.) [Cover Image: Tune and Fairweather] Process by Matthew Seiji Burns, featuring design by Mark Wynne The plot of this novel is straightforward enough (and likely uncomfortably familiar to many who work in Silicon Valley): Lucas Adderson is a young man driven by an almost animalistic need to find outsized success creating the next unicorn tech juggernaut. His days are riddled with surreal meetings and strange characters, anxiety, and self-torture. Finally, after years of trying, his goal is within his grasp, but its consummation occurs at a great cost to his humanity, and perhaps everyone elses too. What is wholly unfamiliar is the design by Wynne and publisher Tune & Fairweather, best known for its gorgeous books exploring the worlds of FromSoftware video games like Elden Ring and Bloodborne. Among Wynnes inspirations were visually interwoven reads like House of Leaves and The Medium is the Massage, and here he immerses readers in the story through experimental typography. The type shape-shifts; it expands and contracts; it fragments; as the main characters mental state breaks down, it does, too. It can be demanding at timesbut with that challenge comes immersion, and a curious new reading experience. [Cover Image: Assouline] Self-Portraits: From 1800 to the Present curated by Philippe Ségalot and Morgane Guillet Were accustomed to seeing self-portraits as curious one-off moments in an artists show or museumbut to see a collection of some 60 in one place is as obvious as it is remarkable. From Pablo Picasso to Paul Gauguin and Cindy Sherman, this intimate journey across art history ultimately fascinates in not just seeing how an artist distills themselves through their own filter, but in questioning and probing what self-portraiture means at large. While I wouldnt shove this book into a beach bagit is, after all, a luxe Assouline volumeit very much invites a place for pondering on your coffee table. [Cover Image: Skyhorse] The Education of a Design Writer by Steven Heller and Molly Heintz (out June 24) Im not recommending this book because I have an essay inside itIm doing so because of all the other people who do, too: Ken Carbone, Chappell Ellison, Jarrett Fuller, Rick Griffith, Karrie Jacobs, Mark Kingsley, Warren Lehrer, Ellen Lupton, Silas Munro, Virginia Postrel, Anne Quito, Angela Riechers, Adrian Shaughnessy, Veronique Vienne, Rob Walker . . . and the list goes on. With 200-plus books under his belt, Steven Heller (who Ive edited for a number of years) is perhaps the best-known design writer outside of Philip B. Meggs. So when he pulls together a book on the craft, as he did here with Molly Heintz, the rest of us are wise to listen (or, you know, readand then write). [Cover Image: Fuel Design] Ukrainian Modernism by Dmytro Soloviov Full disclosure: I know very little about Ukrainian modernist architecture. But Im apparently not alone Per Fuel Publishing, these ingenious buildings have not gotten their due for a variety of factorsincluding the stigma of belonging to the Soviet era, corruption, neglect, as well as the ongoing threat of destruction from both unscrupulous developers and war. So, Soloviov sought to give them their due, with their resilience perhaps a mirror to Ukraines people at large. Another full disclosure: I have not yet gotten my hands on a copy of this bookbut I cant wait to rectify my knowledge when I do. Homework: assigned. Extra Credit! The Invention of Design by Maggie Gram Draw by Kenya Hara Jason Polan: The Post Office edited by Jason Fulford (out September 23) Extraordinary Pools by Naina Gupta Good Movies as Old Books by Matt Stevens The War of Art: A History of Artists Protest in America by Lauren ONeill-Butler (out June 17) Gardens for Modern Houses by Beth Dunlop
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E-Commerce
Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is ruthlessly optimized to reward results. Nonetheless, failure is a part of everyones lifeand an essential part of achievement in fields ranging from sports to science. In fact, high achievers are those who fail more oftennot lessthan the average person. They take more risks, go outside their comfort zone, set more challenging goals, and engage more frequently and vigorously in improving their performanceand this is how they succeed. You cant lose if you never playyou also cant win. Runner-up But what about coming in second? Is there value to the near missto being so close to a win, but falling short? In education, being salutatorian is impressive. But it still means you miss out on the valedictory speech and its attendant scholarship. A high spot on the university waitig list rarely becomes an enrollment offer. In careers, the runner-up performer might earn a congratulatory email but not the promotion or hefty salary increase; the second-best job interview candidate gets little consolation from knowing they almost received a job offer but are still unemployed. Salespeople who hit 99% of their quota still forfeit the Hawaiian-vacation incentive and bonus. In research, the lab that publishes second loses the patent, the grant, and the headlines. And if you are the runner-up in a presidential election, theres at best a slim chance you can run again in the future, and your popularity may actually decrease after losing (in politics, this loser effect leads to a dip in confidence from voters, and theres often no time for a second chance). Near misses as opportunity And yet, near misses are not as disastrous as the above thought experiments suggest. Indeed, finishing a hairs breadth behind the winner still means youve outperformed almost everyone elsebe they hundreds of classmates, thousands of job applicants, or an entire electorate. Moreover, the person who edges you out isnt necessarily better on merit alonefactors like political currents, privilege, or just plain luck can tip the scales. Perhaps most importantly, coming up just short can serve as a springboard for growth, offering the chance to learn, adapt, and come back strongerprovided you choose to seize it. Heres why: Lessons learned First, while everyone prefers success to failure, it is often easier to learn from failure than from success. Success tells you that you are great; it is the socially accepted way to provide you with positive feedback on your talents, reinforcing your self-belief, and inflating your ego. While this sounds greatand without much in the way of downsidesuccess is also likely to generate complacency, overconfidence, and arrogance (its much easier to stay humble in defeat). Conversely, failures are opportunities to learn, especially when you see them as learning experiments that provide you with critical feedback on your skills, choices, and behaviors. As Niels Bohr wisely noted, An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. In short, a near miss can act as an inherently, if brutally honest audit of your assumptions and strategiesuncovering blind spots that success tends to conceal. By forcing youor at least inviting youto diagnose exactly why you fell short, a near miss suggests you refine your mental models; rethink and tweak your tactics; and build new, better tested, decision-making muscles. Failing enthusiastically Second, failure increases the gap between your aspirational self (who you want to be) and your actual self (who you are, at least from a reputational standpoint). This uncomfortable psychological gap is only reduced through hard work, grit, and persistence, which together strengthen your chances of succeeding in the future. At the very least, they help you become a better version of yourself, even if you dont succeed in achieving a sought-after prize or goal. As Winston Churchill famously noted, Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. Importantly, near misses can be a powerful form of failure precisely because they hurt the most. Being so close to a success can reaffirm your determination and reignite your ambition. Every extraordinary achiever (across fields) differs from others in one important way: they are less likely to be satisfied with their achievements. Indeed, the most common reason people fail to learn from failure is that they are too wounded or hurt by their lack of success, to the point that it extinguishes their drive. In contrast, extraordinary achievers will not give up or let goeven when their failures are hard to digest. This ambitious mindset helps them seek to understand the factors leading to their near misses without getting deflated or depressed by them. Instead, it makes them even hungrier for victory, resilient, and focused on bouncing back stronger. Emotionally resilient Third, the way you respond to any form of defeat or failure, and especially the painful near misses, sends a powerful signal to everyone around youinvestors, bosses, or teammatesthat youre emotionally mature, resilient, and coachable. Humans have a general tendency to attribute their successes to their own talents and merit, while blaming others, or situations, for their failures and misses. Avoiding this tendency makes you an exception to the norm. This will be noticed and will impress others. While resilience is largely a function of your personality (the more emotionally stable, extroverted, curious, agreeable, and especially conscientious you are, the more resilience you will show), we can all work to increase our resilience if we truly care about achieving our end goal, by becoming grittier and harnessing whatever mental toughness we have. When you dissect a near miss with curiosity and humility, you demonstrate a growth mindset that invites collaboration and sparks confidence in your potential. Visible resilience often earns more credibility (and resources) than a flawless run, because it shows youre willing to learn in public. Over time, people who witness your thoughtful rebound become your strongest advocates, eager to back the next iteration of your vision. Life, despte how it feels in disappointing moments, is not a final exam but a continuous assessment; what matters most is not brilliant one-off successes but reliable, steady, determined excellence. As Aristotle pointed out, We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Greater legacies To be sure, theres no shortage of prominent historical figures who confirm how near misses and other kinds of failures in their early career stages were poor indicators of their actual talent and potential but instead unfortunate or unlucky episodes, uncharacteristic of their brilliance. Consider Roger Federer: after six runner-up finishes on tour, he finally lifted Wimbledons trophy in 2003 and would go on to amass 20 Grand Slam titles. The Netherlands of 1974, whose Total Football lost the final, rewrote soccers playbook. J.K. Rowling, turned down by 12 publishers, went on to sell over 600 million Harry Potter copies. Barbara McClintock, whose jumping genes work was ignored for decades, earned a 1983 Nobel Prize for the discovery. Meryl Streep, whose first Oscar nod in 1979 went unrewarded, has since racked up 21 nominations and 3 wins. The Beatles were rejected by Decca as yesterdays sound before selling some 1.6 billion records. And Alibaba, once dwarfed by eBay in China, now serves over a billion annual active consumers. Each of these (and many other) examples provide evidence that near misses can herald even greater legacies. Ultimately, the sting of almost is less a verdict on your potential than an invitation to hone it. Near misses arent life sentencestheyre signposts pointing to gaps in your strategy, fuel for your ambition, and a live demonstration of your character to the world. While it is tempting to ruminate about what could have or should have happened, the truth is we never know. We all indulge in counterfactual fantasiesthose what if spirals where we picture an alternate universe in which we married someone else, took the other job, or moved to that city. Psychologists call them sliding doors moments: innocuous-seeming forks in the road that, in hindsight, feel like cosmic turning points. But while its human to ruminate, its wiser to remember that were not omniscient authors of our own lives. The illusion of total control is just thatan illusion. More often than not, the best way to recover from regret or disappointment is not by obsessing over the road not taken, but by taking a different road. Que será, será. Life is less about scripting your destiny than adapting to its plot twists. In other words, how you react to failure matters, but failure is too brutal and negative a word for simply not getting what you think you preferred or wanted, especially when it may not even be what you actually needed or ought to have preferred. When we embrace each narrow defeat as data, not destiny, we are able to build the very habits and resilience that turn almost into subsequent undeniable success. As the saying goes, experience is what you get when you didnt get what you wanted. We add that experience can be more valuable than the objective success of getting what you wanted. In fact, enjoyment of objectives successes including of awards and victories, tends to be more short-lived than we expect. We need not define ourselves by our past and present achievements. Who we are also comprises our future self, including our possible selvesthe parts of our character and identity that are actually the only ones we can influence.
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E-Commerce
A few weeks ago, I finally paid for ChatGPT Plus. It started with a simple goal: I wanted to create a personal archive of my published articles, but wasnt sure how to begin. That led to a long back-and-forth with ChatGPT, where we built a Python script to scrape my author pages, download the content, and format everything cleanly. By the time I hit the free usage limit, I was too invested to pause or switch to another chatbot. So I upgraded. In hindsight, the money ($20 per month) was well spent. For one, it worked: I now have a folder on my computer containing more than a decades worth of articles. More importantly, this was the moment that AI tools clicked for me. I’ve had little success using them to write, and often recoil at the images they churn out. When I ask ChatGPT and Google Gemini for factual information, they’re liable to get the details wrong on all but the most widely understood topics. But in this case, ChatGPT saved me days of tedious workand opened my eyes to what else might now be possible. (The idea of creating code without knowing how to code has even been coined vibecoding by Andrej Karpathy.) If I could use AI to build personal Python scripts, what other plugins or extensions could I try next? Web extensions, plug-ins, and more Unlike my colleague Harry McCracken, I’m not using AI to dream up entirely new apps. I already have too many apps from actual professionals on my phone and computer, and I don’t trust AI (or myself) enough to compete with them. What I’ve really gotten into, though, is using AI to extend and improve the software I use already. For instance, I take notes and draft stories in Obsidian, an app that’s endlessly extensible via user-created plug-ins. I’ve always dreamed of a quick note plug-in for Obsidian that matches the simplicity of Google Keep, but have yet to find anything that works. After a few hours of vibecoding, I finally built the plug-in myself. Now, through Obsidians right sidebar, I can view all the notes from any folder in a card-based layout and edit them directly from the sidebar. The plug-in also lets me pin notes to the top, create new notes with a single click, send notes to an archive folder, and search with real-time results. It even works in Obsidians mobile app, with the quick-notes view just a swipe away. I’ve also been tweaking some existing plug-ins for Flow Launcher, a free Windows app for executing quick actions from a command bar. I took a plug-in for window management and added some new sizing options, and I modified a browser history search plug-in to make it work with my current browser (Floorp). AI tools are also useful for creating browser bookmarklets, which are special kinds of bookmarks for doing things like decluttering web pages and speeding up videos. I already wrote an entire article about that, but now I’ve created an additional bookmarklet for downloading YouTube videos. This works by connecting to a local Python server that silently processes video links and sends them to my Downloads folder. In all cases, the process was the same: I would tell ChatGPT exactly what I was trying to make, and asked for clear, step-by-step instructions on how to make it. I’d follow the instructions, compile the code, and go back to ChatGPT for fixes or refinements. Some assembly required I dont want to oversell vibecoding as an effortless activity. Each of the above projects took hours to build, as I inevitably fall down a rabbit hole of tweaking, clarifying, and troubleshooting. Thats partly because AI can be as unreliable in coding as it is in other endeavors. ChatGPT has a habit of confidently declaring that its produced working code, only for errors to appear when compiling or running it. Ive spent hours feeding it error messages, trying to get it to recognize basic syntax issues or missing functions. On several occasions, Ive had to abandon a chat entirely and start a new one after the code modifications veered too far off track. Even when everything is working properly, its easy to fall prey to scope creep. You might think its simple to add a new feature or tweak the design, but those changes can easily turn into additional hours of refining and fixing. (In fairness, this happens in actual software development, too.) And while you can accomplish a lot without formal programming knowledge, youll still need a solid grasp of how file systems work and some basic sense of what code should look like. ChatGPT might ask you to replace one snippet with another, or mistakenly claim its providing full code when large portions are missing. Being able to spot when AI is about to screw up can go a long way. Take some control back One last disclaimer: I’m not nearly confident enough in what I’ve created to share it with the world, as I’m sure other folks would run into bugs or ask for features that I’m thoroughly unqualified to address. I also wouldn’t suggest vibecoding anything that handles sensitive data or important personal information. But for the things vibecoding is good atsmall, personal utilities that no one else would want to makeit’s immensely satisfying and even empowering. As Techdirt‘s Mike Masnick recently pointed out, lowering the barriers to software development is a great way to push back against enshittification by major tech companies, whose products inevitably get weighed down by the need to scale and extract more money from captive users. To that point, you don’t even need AI anymore once the vibe coding is done. Having built what I need for the foreseeable future, I cancelled my ChatGPT Plus subscription after a single month’s payment.
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E-Commerce
A CEO I recently worked with had become obsessed with speed and staying ahead of disruption. He launched an internal rapid response tiger teama small group of leaders and managers from a cross-section of departmentsto accelerate innovation. Within a quarter, they launched pilots, restructured teams, and redesigned workflows with promising early results. The dashboard lit up green. But beneath the surface, things were cracking. Departments were misaligned. Innovative pilots clashed with long-term strategic goals. Employees were burning out. Customers noticed. Were doing everything right, he said. Why isnt it working? It reminded me of something systems thinker Donella Meadows once wrote: Its almost certainly an example of cranking the system in the wrong direction. In this case, the issue wasnt strategy, talent, or commitment. It was the frame of thinking itself. Many organizations rely on forecasting as their primary tool for future thinking. Forecasts extend whats already knowntrends, data, and market behavior. Thats useful for near-term planning. But when youre trying to get ahead of disruption or be transformative, its not enough. Leading with foresight The path to the future isnt a straight line. Thats where strategic foresight comes in. Foresight isnt prediction. Its a discipline for understanding complexity, scanning for emerging change, exploring multiple possible futures, and using those insights to make better decisions today. It helps organizations shift from fragile to adaptable, from reactive to resilientand from watching the future unfold to actively shaping it. Foresight isnt theoryits practice. Heres how to put it to work. 1. Shift from linear forecasts to alternative futures Traditional planning assumes the future will look like todayjust more intense. More powerful technologies. More complex regulations. More global complexity. More demanding customers. Strategic foresight challenges the assumption of sameness. Rather than relying on a single, extrapolated future, foresight helps leaders explore a range of plausible alternativesincluding disruptive or counterintuitive ones. By doing so, organizations can stress test strategies, build adaptive capacity, and prepare for a broader set of outcomes. The futures that matter most arent necessarily the most likelytheyre the ones your organization is least prepared for. That requires taking off your organizational blinders. Historical data, internal benchmarks, and even industry norms can constrain your view. Leaders need to look outward across adjacent sectors, cultural shifts, and global forces that will shape tomorrows operating environment. Is the world you live in today what you expected ten years ago? Likely not. The straight-line future is the least likely one. Without broadening your perspective, you risk designing strategies for a world that no longer exists. Try this: Pick a strategic question. For example: What will it mean to lead in an AI-shaped economy? Then, build distinct scenarios that reflect recurring patterns of how the future unfolds: Collapse (no rules): a future shaped by systems failure or falter due to disruption Realignment (shifting rules): a future shaped by changing values, limits, or intentional constraints Transformation (new rules): a future shaped by fundamental emerging change driven via tech, culture, or new models Ground each scenario in early signals of social, technological, economic, environmental, and political change. Then ask: What would it take to succeed in each? What can you start doing now? In practice: A regional bank used this approach to explore the future of trust in financial services. By examining how decentralization, AI governance, and generational values might evolve in different directions, they identified core investmentslike transparency and human-centered designthat would position them well across multiple alternative futures. 2. Look for signals on the margins Most leaders wait for trends to become visible and validated before they act. But by the time something shows up in your dashboards, it’s already well underwayand likely already influencing the competition. Strategic foresight trains leaders to seek out weak signals: early signs of change that emerge at the fringes of industries, cultures, and geographies. These signals tend to look small, strange, or unrelateduntil they dont. When the same unexpected idea starts appearing in unrelated places, or niche behaviors spread across sectors, youre no longer looking at noise. Youre seeing early indicators of what could scale. Weak signals are the raw material for scenario development, and let you act before others do. Try this: Set aside 30 minutes a week to explore beyond your core market. Scan youth culture, subreddits, startup ecosystems, art, policy, or new language emerging online. Ask your team: Whats something strange, sticky, or unexpected youve noticed? Track them. Patterns will emerge, and youll spot change earlier. Common pitfall: Dont confuse noise with significance. Virality isnt viability. Look for persistence and spread across time and context. If an idea keeps resurfacingespecially in unexpected placesit may be a sign of deeper change. 3. Understand the systemnot just the symptom One of the foundational mindsets in foresight is learning to think in systems. Most leaders are taught to break problems down: analyze parts, isolate variables, and find the root cause. That works well in science and engineering. But in businessand in lifeit can be limiting. To lead effectively in complexity, we need to think holistically. Its not linear cause and effectits loops, interdependencies, and emergence. Without this lens, leaders risk solving the wrong problem, or worse, reinforcing the dynamics that created it. Systems thinking reveals the deeper structures shaping outcomesand where leverage really lies. Try this: Take a persistent challengesay, employee burnoutand map it. Place the issue at the center. Ask: What contributes to this? and What does this affect? Draw lines and arrows to show how elements interact. Look for loops and unintended effects. Better yet, build the map with colleagues from across the organization. Youll surface blind spots you didnt know you had. Counterintuitive insight: Effective solutions often feel unnatural. The best move might be to slow growth, loosen control, or redefine success. If your instinct is to push harder, try asking: What if the opposite is true? In practice: A global nonprofit used this mapping technique to explore volunteer attrition. Instead of ramping up recruitment, they found that increasing flexibility and reducing performance tracking led to better retention. 4. Plan from the future, not just for it Foresight isnt just about imagining what might happenits about deciding what should happen and aligning your strategy to make it real. Once youve explored possible futures, choose one youd be proud to help build. Thats your preferred future: not a prediction, but a direction. Then work backward to identify what must be true for that future to unfold. Backcasting reverses typical planning. Instead of projecting from today, it asks: If thats where were going, what decisions should we make now? Try this: Choose a future you want to help createsay, a climate-positive supply chain or radically inclusive service model. Ask: What needs to be true in five years? Three? One? Then identify the actions you can take today to start closing the gap. In practice: A health insurer used this method to envision a future where care is personalized, proactive, and home-based. By backcasting, they identified shifts in reimbursement, caregiver training, and diagnostics. Within months, they were piloting a solution tied to that long-term visionturning foresight into strategy and actively leading the way for an entire industry. From Forecasting to Foresight The most common reaction I hear from executive teams when I introduce foresight is, We already do that. What they usually mean is forecasting. And thats exactly the problem. Forecasting extends the present. Its helpful for budgeting and risk management, but not for transformation. It cant reimagine your business model, challenge outdated assumptions, or surface the early signals of change. Foresight can. More importantly, it gives leaders agencynot just to adapt, but to shape what comes next. This shift isnt just methodological. Its a mindset: one that calls for curiosity, humility, and the courage to act before the future is fully knowable. The future wont follow your roadmap, but that doesnt mean were powerless. Strategic foresight gives leaders the tools to act with purpose, even in uncertainty. Its not just about anticipating change. Its about becoming the kind of organization that helps shape it.
Category:
E-Commerce
When we hired a Gen Z marketer, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We expected fresh perspectives and a new approach to marketing, but as an older millennial, I didnt expect just how foreign her methods would feel. Our company is an AI-powered platform that helps small and medium-size businesses find top part-time professionals through network-based recruiting. As we grew, we realized we needed someone who truly understood how younger audiences communicate and consume contentnot just to market the product, but to shape how we tell our story in a changing world of work. For decades, marketing has been about connecting emotionally with audiences. “Hit the pain points,” they say. But now? Were living in a completely different world where short and authentic is king and Gen Z speaks an entirely different language. Try making sense of phrases like: Touch grass? I AM the lawn. Delulu is the solulu. Slayed so hard I need a rest day. I need a dictionary to decode this. Worse, I cant even evaluate the creatives our marketer brings to the tablethey’re so removed from my understanding of what works. It’s a puzzle. But what is also true is that we needed someone who gets it. In the same way that you need the right tech stack to build a successful product, you need the right people to resonate with your Gen Z audience. Heres what I learned about how marketing has changed from our Gen Z marketer. A Gen Z style ad for Intech. The rule of TikTok Theres a general rule when it comes to social media platforms teenagers dont want to hang out where their parents areor geriatric millennials. Instagram was built to solve a specific problem: sharing lifes moments in a simple, visually appealing format. It worked because millennials wanted to embellish their life. But that’s a negative vibe for Gen Zs only authentic content ethos. TikTok is different. It doesnt solve a problem, it is more of a content playground where attention grabbing creative content rules. TikTok is not about functionality but about the thrill of discovery. The same goes for YouTube Shorts. Micro-trends dominate One of Gen Z’s most defining traits is how quickly they move through trends. On Instagram, an ad can last for weeks before losing steam, but on TikTok, youll be lucky if a trend lasts a couple of days. Gen Z’s world is about micro-trends, and staying on top of these can feel like a full-time job. Remember that trends are not created by companies they are created by young people themselves. Advertising itself has become decentralized, and it cant look like advertising at all. A millennial style ad for Intech. Thats so me If you try to replicate Gen Zs style or worse, imitate them as a millennial or older marketer it comes across as inauthentic, and that’s a surefire way to alienate them. Gen Z has a radar for fake, and they’ll call you out for it. The content that grabs their attention is fast, compressed, and utterly focused on authenticity. Whether its meme-based or pure user-generated content , if its relatable, theyll engage. Furthermore, Gen Z is rejecting traditional advertising which paints a picture of a happier, more beautiful, successful life. For them, its about identity. If your content doesnt make Gen Z say ‘Thats so me,’ then its not worth their time. This could be a video of someone fake-smiling through a Zoom meeting while their laptop teeters on a stack of laundry, a meme about overthinking a simple text message for 15 minutes, or a skit that dramatizes the emotional rollercoaster of getting ghosted after a job interview. The goal isnt polished perfection – its emotional accuracy, humor, and the unfiltered truth of everyday moments. Let Gen Zers lead the way As a founder with over a decade of marketing experience, I’ve come to accept that I cant speak to younger audiences the way fellow Gen Zers can. Before, our marketing used to follow a classic structure: brand-building business-to-business positioning: thought leadership, long-form content, product launches, and sales enablementall based on the pain solution offer formula. It was clear, structured communication that worked well for a more traditional audience. After a Gen Z marketer joined the team, everything shifted: we stopped explaining the product and moved away from polished, heavily branded materials. Instead we prioritized native, meme-driven, user-generated, and highly contextual content. The goal wasnt to convince anymore, but to resonate instantly to make the audience say: Thats so me. Our marketer launched TikTok-style videos that used humor to show what it feels like to be stuck hiring from outdated platforms. She created Instagram Reels featuring mock text threads between overwhelmed founders and the dream hire who finally gets it. She even turned real user feedback into memes that felt like inside jokes for our audience. In the new approach, pain points are barely mentioned at allits all about cultural relevance and emotional recognition. At the same time, our return on ad spend jumped from around 30% to 120%. If your product targets Gen Z, or if you want to stay relevant in a future where Gen Z will be the dominant workforce and consumer group, you need to let them take the reins. Their instincts for trends and authentic content are unmatched. They understand the pulse of whats current and know what will resonate with their peers. If you want your marketing to succeed, you need to follow their lead.
Category:
E-Commerce
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