Strands of Genius: We Like a Lot of Things on the Internet - What Do We Love?, All You Geniuses Need to Steal This Stuff, Help Your Self Help Yourself

Guest curated by Tim Leake

Jul 22, 2021

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, TIM LEAKE ::

LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: RPA

Hi, I’m Tim. I’m a writer, speaker and creative marketing & innovation leader — proudly working at RPA advertising as the SVP / Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer. I got my start in the ad industry as a copywriter and creative director for a good many years — and had the chance to work with Rosie at a big ol’ agency in NYC along the way. I realized the pace of change was accelerating so quickly that I could either be run over by it, or start leading it. So I pivoted, and begun working with a Swedish digital school and consultancy called Hyper Island – helping people and companies adapt for the future. And later had the opportunity to join the executive team at an amazing independent agency, and combine all my experience in a unique way. Very excited to be able to guest curate for the inspiring Rosie and Faris!

Editor’s Note (Rosie): Tim is someone that I've always loved learning from, whether he's teaching me brainstorming techniques, rules of improv, or just sharing what he's been up to over coffee. I'm absolutely delighted to have him curating Strands today, and so thankful that our paths at Saatchi overlapped. You're in for a treat! Thanks, Tim!!!

:: THE LINKS ::

WE LIKE A LOT OF THINGS ON THE INTERNET. WHAT DO WE LOVE?

Nearly a decade ago, Robin Sloan wrote a “tap essay” called FISH. I’ve always loved the format and am surprised we don’t see more done in this style. The only way to experience it is to download it as an app, which reinforces the main theme of the essay — that internet content is designed to be liked (and therefore temporary), rather than loved (and therefore revisited often). I’ve had the app on my phone since 2012, and I revisit it often. It continues to resonate with me, even more today than when it was first released. It reminds me where the bar should be for stuff we make. And it makes me appreciate other people’s stuff in a different way. It’s a very quick read (less than a couple minutes) and hopefully a few of you will also find it worth having on your phones and revisiting for years to come. (Robin Sloan)

ALL YOU GENIUSES NEED TO STEAL THIS STUFF.

Hyper Island is a digital school in Sweden, originally built to teach things that were so new, nobody could really teach them yet. (This was CD-ROM design when the school was first founded. Things have evolved since.) I’ve had the joy and honor of working with them for many years, helping people and organizations own their future. Key to the methodology is focusing on HOW things are done, in addition to WHAT is being done – often taking advantage of the incredible power of facilitation to bring the most out of groups. Several years back, they had the brilliant idea to document and share many of the workshops and tools. And there is SO MUCH good stuff here. I regularly refer to it, grab an idea / tool and remix it to serve whatever I’m trying to do at the time. Steal away. (Hyper Island Toolbox)

HELP YOUR SELF HELP YOURSELF

I love writing, but I hate writing. I think many of you know what I mean. Getting started is always the hardest part. My brain serves up all kinds of distractions and excuses — and generally works really really really hard to make sure I don’t make any fast progress. So this little tool is both simple and brilliant in fighting it. It’s called The World’s Most Dangerous Writing App, and it works like this: if you stop writing, everything you’ve written so far will disappear. That’s it. Once you make it past 5 minutes (or whatever length you set), you’re safe – and by then you’ve likely gotten past the hurdle of “starting” that is, for some reason, so hard. I would very much like a plug-in with this same functionality for Word or Scrivener. But in the meantime, I often just start at the “app” (which is really just a website) to get going, then copy over to my writing platform of choice. (Squibler)

Looking for more from Tim Leake? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: The card game "Set"

:: City :: Los Angeles (It's why I live here!)

:: Book :: (Of the last few months?) Klara & The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

:: Podcast :: Song Exploder

:: Album :: "Diary" by Sunny Day Real Estate

:: @GRANDPACHAN ::

@Grandpachan on TikTok started as a way to bond with grandkids and now they’re legit TikTok famous. They’re just so wonderful and always make me smile.

Tim Leake

tim@timleake.com

twitter | linkedin

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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. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, 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 :)

Strands of Genius