Art credit @Madison Harney
Spark of the Week
The second is a similar status-seeking exchange between Elon and Satya. Leaving aside grok weighing in (which I agree is hilarious) I think we can all agree that the real status win goes to Satya who shows up with class.
I can’t help but ponder the need for more Satya’s. Leaders who understand that a real win is one that doesn’t require you to bring anyone else down.
Reading and Pondering
Trade policy volatility elevates focus on supply chain resilience.
Comfort Class - as someone who comes from a low SES background I think about this stuff - a lot. The world is different when you are poor and setbacks last longer.
1M more deaths than births in Japan last year.
Prioritize friendships - make friends with people of high character who are ambitious
Gates foundation investing in [young] women’s health
Outsider advantage example: Fidji Simo
Equality values declining in 8-10 grade boys
Importance of NDR/NRR to growth - obvious but often overlooked/poorly managed
The Unfortunate Economics of AI Companies ( Kieran Snyder ) Counter point from Emergence Capital - ( Jake Saper )
SaaS Metrics - Love the ROSE metric that includes not just Rev per EE but also impact of contractor spend (we ultimately need to add AI Agents at some point as well - driving clarity of AI to do tasks vs. AI as operating expense).
Time for economic systems thinking not incremental optimization.
Sector funding by gender (h/t Benn Stancil )
Amy’s Speech Bubbles Podcast - lots to reflect on this but the spark for me is about the reflection on paying (and being paid) well. Reminded me of this.
Billionaire insecurity a story in two parts Sam v Elon, Elon v Satya.
Work and Jobs
The ROI of college
Saying the quiet part out loud - employment loyalty is dead.
Podcasts are TV with better unit economics - Rev per EE expectation shift is industry agnostic
Wage garnishments coming for Student Loans
Enshittification and P(catastrophe)
ChatGPT sharing your personal data
More ChatGPT gender bias fun.
Personalization shifting the game of trust (I see this as a very scary trend while also appreciating the benefits of better media targeting)
Gatekeeping algos - why your LI feed is missing so many voices. LinkedIn Algo suppressing reach
Structural Isolationism by design, resilience vs. efficiency - a great overview of friction as a commodity.
Fraudulent scientific papers on the rise
Move fast and break things (GPT 5 edition)
AI re-wiring our brain - One skill we need to build is the realization that we must choose what we learn and what we make easy because there is a trade off. Not every task benefits from us learning but many do. (h/t Brian Solis ) Related - don’t outsource judgement
Where does this end? Enough quote was also here. (h/t Benn Stancil and CJ Gustafson )
AI can change your mind quickly - (Yes, we are all individuals) (h/t Zain Kahn )
Fun and Funny
Lifehacks - AI and Others
Prompt library (h/t Zain Kahn )
GTM deep research (h/t Kyle Poyar )
Looping Back to You
Thanks for reading, listening, sharing, and helping us think better. We love hearing where you agree, where you disagree, and what you're seeing from your seat.
If someone forwarded this to you, join the Insight Loop to get the next issue directly in your inbox.
And if you're already in the Loop, help us grow: forward this to someone who would enjoy it, and follow/subscribe to The Meg & Amy Show wherever you listen or watch.
Have a question you'd like us to tackle in a Leadership Corner? Send it to: [email protected]
Watch & Listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Youtube, etc.
More from Meg: Visit Meg's Website
** Typos and poor grammar either because I'm too lazy to edit properly, or to make you feel confident this was written by a flawed human and not AI generated.
