Strands of Genius: Ask Polly, The Hard Truth, Men Should Care About Feminism Too
Guest curated by Christine Olivas, CEO & Founder of No Single Individual
This edition of Strands of Genius is guest curated by Christine Olivas, CEO & Founder of No Single Individual. (Faris and Rosie will be back next week!)
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, CHRISTINE OLIVAS ::
LOCATION: Washington
It's never been easy for me to accept the status quo. I'm obsessed with shining light on new ways of doing and thinking about things. And I love to connect with others who innovate, speak their truth, and persist despite 'nos' and 'shouldn'ts.'
Oh, and: karaoke.
:: WE ASKED CHRISTINE FOR HER HOT TAKES ON GREAT IDEAS ::
Great ideas don’t happen in isolation. The most powerful brands, campaigns, and innovations are born from the friction, fusion, and fire of collaboration. When we create together—whether with colleagues, clients, communities, or even competitors—we build something bigger than ourselves.
Collaboration isn’t just about working alongside others; it’s about unlocking something greater than the sum of its parts. One brain can be brilliant, but when ideas collide, challenge, and build on each other, that’s when real magic happens. The best marketers, strategists, and creatives know that co-creation isn’t a step in the process—it is the process. It’s not just about making decisions together; it’s about amplifying ideas, embracing unexpected perspectives, and pushing creativity further than we ever could alone.
But true collaboration requires stepping beyond the echo chamber. It’s easy to partner with people who think like us, but real breakthroughs happen when we invite in fresh voices, challenge our own assumptions, and co-create across industries, cultures, and disciplines. The future of marketing—and creativity—belongs to those who don’t just collaborate, but co-elevate.
This June, let’s break down silos, listen more, share more, and create in ways that spark something truly new. Let’s say yes to unlikely partnerships, invite in perspectives that make us uncomfortable, and lean into the messy, magical process of making something together. Because the best work isn’t just made for people—it’s made with them.
What’s the biggest challenge when collaborating with teams or clients who have very different perspectives? How do you navigate that tension?
Our entire business model is built on curating small, expert, diverse teams to loan to agencies, so I would say the first challenge here (resistance to collaboration) is something we've successfully tackled. And most of our agency partners are so excited to have support and fresh thinking that they're not resistant to us. That said, we do often lose business (or decline it) when we encounter agencies that are still stuck in a mindset that freelancers should fly solo - or that only creative departments get the advantage of the team model. We navigate it by simply telling them that we only work in teams and that we do our best work that way. Sometimes, they don't understand; other times, they come back us some time later and give our model a chance.
What tools or processes do you use to streamline collaboration across teams, agencies, or even external partners?
We live and breathe in Slack, and whenever possible, we love to be in our agency clients' Slack or Teams instances. That helps us not just partner with them on work, but get a tight sense of their agency's culture and people. After all, great work is half craft and half connection.
:: THE LINKS ::
ASK POLLY
A brilliant advice column that helps a reader love herself and hold men accountable at the same time. It's about dating, but it's also about seeing anything and everything as more layered - and simple - than it originally appears. (The Cut)
THE HARD TRUTH
A NYT guest columnist shares the truth about nicotine in the spirit of harm reduction. While it carries health risk, smoking cigarettes is significantly more harmful, so why aren't we as a society encouraging people to switch vs. abstain altogether? (New York Times)
MEN SHOULD CARE ABOUT FEMINISM TOO
A feminist writer puts a stake in the ground: we shouldn't be centering men in our discussions of feminism. Even if it ultimately benefits men to be feminist, it's about justice. This is a necessary piece in the current cultural moment that is both cuttingly direct and critically nuanced. (Zawn)
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
Game :: Checkers
City :: Rome
Book :: The Great Gatsby
Podcast :: Good One
Song :: Why Not Me - The Judds
:: TIME TO SHINE ::
:: ‘TIL NEXT TIME ::
This edition was guest curated by Christine Olivas, who is always down for wine, Thai food, al dente pasta - you can find her on LinkedIn. Your regularly scheduled hosts, Rosie & Faris Yakob, will be back next week!
Strands of Genius is currently read by more than 15,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)