The New New Thing
An update about where we're headed in 2024
Looking Back on Year 1
I started Business Letters way back in 2019, nearly five years ago. I started writing on Medium back then, but the newsletter you’re reading now on Substack didn’t launch until right around New Year’s of 2023 — just one year ago.
Looking back on those first posts… wow, I was just a baby, with only a handful of readers. I’m really proud that I’ve published once every week, without a miss, this entire year.
All 194 posts in the archive are free for anyone to read. If you find something there that you find useful, I hope you’ll share it and let me know. If you decide you’d like to become a paid subscribe, I’ll be so happy to welcome you.
What’s Next
If you follow me on LinkedIn you might have heard the news that I’m starting in a new job next week. I’m now CEO of Type Network - a company that represents an extraordinarily collection of commercial typefaces, created by the world’s most talented and prestigious type designers.
That’s right — fonts! Type Network licenses fonts to people like you, and we create custom typeface designs for corporate customers as well. I was the head of Type & Fonts at Adobe for many years, and this is a return to a part of the design industry that I know and love.
Becoming CEO of Type Networks is quite a serious moment. It’s humbling to be chosen to lead a company founded with such an amazing, talented, and committed team. We’ll be working together in a company founded by some of the most talented and celebrated people in the industry. It’s a lot!
More on all of that another time. For now, I am reminding myself that I started writing on topics like people management not because of how amazing I think I am of it, but because of how sorely I wanted to improve. I hope I have improve a little, and my short time in this new role has been an excellent reminder of how far I still have to go.
What’s Next for Business Letters
Nothing changes! I’ll continue writing the newsletter, aiming to put at least one thoughtful and concise (definitely thoughtful) in your inbox every week. I’ll be putting many of the ideas I’ve been writing about to work as a people manager and a product leader.
I’ll continue coaching. I have no plans to ever stop coaching, no matter what else changes in my career. I am convinced it’s most important and meaningful work I’ll do while I’m here on the planet. So I’ll continue to be available to new clients, although there will be a waiting list. Priority will go to referrals from existing clients, lapsed clients (call me!), and newsletter subscribers — that’s you!
A privacy note: It is now and always has been my policy to never write about real people or events in my newsletter. When talking about the experiences of my clients or my own personal experience, I liberally fictionalize the details in order to protect everybody’s privacy.
My Request
I have one request for you, reader: I’d like to ask you for your advice.
What’s the single most important thing you’d like the CEO of your company to know? What’s something they’re doing great, that you wish they’d do less of, or that you think they could do better?
Just hit reply to this email (or click here) and send me your best ideas. I need them now more than ever!
See you next week.
