AI Digital

I'm tired of AI. And of the chaos around it. Media planning is dead. Creative design is dead. This is dead. That is dead. Too many dead bodies right now. Please stop it! Meanwhile, every knowledge worker I know is just exhausted. New tools. New companies. New hot takes. Most of it is not useful. All of it is loud. As AI anxiety intensifies and digital exhaustion hits new highs, I keep thinking about something Anthropic did last October. They opened a pop-up in Manhattan's West Village called a "Zero Slop Zone" where 5000 people showed up. And what was inside? Coffee. Books. Pen and paper. No screens allowed. One of the most sophisticated AI companies on earth built a space where people put their phones down and just thought. This is a brilliant example of brand experience. But here's the bigger thing. It's a signal of where tech brand marketing is heading. As AI and tech noise gets louder, companies go more remote, and people feel more isolated, offline experiences are going to become one of the strongest brand moves a company can make. The brands that pull people out of the scroll and into a real room? Those are the ones that will be remembered. Not the ones posting another "X is dead" headline. Please stop it!

I'm hiring 50 people this year. In 2,5 years I grew my team from 7 to ~120. Here's everything I've learned about when, how, and who to hire. The best hiring managers understand this. They know that: 🎯 Every hire should solve a capacity problem 🎯 Every onboarding should be architected, not improvised 🎯 Every miss should be owned fast But here's the key: it must be done with systems. Let me share the frameworks I actually use: 🧩 The 80% Rule (When to Hire) Don't open a role until the scope fills 80% of a full-time seat. Before that threshold: → Redistribute internally → Cross-train the team → Work smarter, automate, standardize The signal you've crossed it? You're missing deadlines — not from laziness, but from capacity. 🔮 The 70/30 Hiring Standard (Who to Hire) → 70% skill match = enough. Stop chasing unicorns. → 30% = your investment in their growth → 100% attitude match = non-negotiable You hire for skills. You fire for attitude. Build your interview around both. Use "Who" method and for every role, you ask the same five questions: → What were you hired to do? → What accomplishments are you most proud of? → What were some low points/fails? → What's your manager's name and how would he rate you from 1-10 when I contact him/her? 🎯 The Three-Strike Framework (When You're Wrong) Hiring fails ~50% of the time. Own it. → Strike 1: Instant feedback. Name the pattern. → Strike 2: Structured course correction. Build a plan together. → Strike 3: The decision. Stop fixing. Start replacing. 🎮 The Onboarding Truth Orientation is Day 1. Onboarding is six months. If your onboarding plan ends after the first week, you don't have one. → Clarity: What does winning look like at 30/60/90 days? → Connection: Who are the key people and unwritten rules? → Feedback velocity: Real-time corrections from Day 1 🎭 The Ego Check Before someone starts, ask yourself: → Is the process documented? → Is the knowledge base ready? → Am I truly ready to hand this off? That last one is the hardest. Letting go of work you used to own feels like losing something. It's not. It's the exact moment you become a leader. Hiring at scale isn't about getting lucky. It's about building a machine that finds, evaluates, and develops the right people even when you're moving at a pace that terrifies you.