From the pen of Spencer

What makes a good strategy?

I have worked with several agencies, consulted independently for 20 years, and held full-time roles at numerous organizations, big and small, creating and executing business and product strategies that have led to success and meaningful growth. I frequently encounter the same pitfalls from leaders and teams trying to build or execute strategy, and I also […]

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When Pygmalion Met Galatea

Pygmalion had an unusual name. It was one of the many things he felt judged for, and had begun to think people may be right about. As he walked to the cafe, he repeated in his head, over and over, how his boss had given his name a disappointing intonation. Oh, Pig-mawleeyawn, she’d say, drolling it […]

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From Autistic Masking to Resiliency and Self-Awareness

We’ve all taken personality tests in some form or another. During my career, I’ve taken DiSC and Myers-Briggs more times than I can count, often multiple times within the same organization. Something I have prided myself on is that every time I take one of these tests, I get an entirely different result. One time, much to the frustration […]

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Catharsis or complicity?

A good friend sent me the song Complicit, Repeat by Bambu, in between us talking about Apple’s TV show, Pluribus, and it got my mind churning. “The most miserable person in the world must save the world from happiness.” That’s Apple’s tagline for the new show, where all of humanity save for 12 people are infected with […]

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Using AI for Slop Answers In Education

I’m always learning something. Recently, I’ve been taking several drawing classes, as well as product management courses. What has surprised me is the amount of AI-slop responses that other students submit as answers to the optional group questions or peer-reviewed assignments. One of the platforms I use most is Coursera. On Coursera, there are often […]

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Project Basics

How do you actually start to turn something into a project? A good friend at work recently asked me for help. “How do you project-ify things?” She asked. Outside of meeting with her and coaching her through her first few projects, here are some of the things I shared with her. Making a project: Why, […]

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Effective Leaders Need To Pivot Communication Styles

I've been coaching a lot of teams and individuals the last few years, and I consistently come back to communication essentials. Whether unintentionally skewing toward command-and-control, lacking empathy, or simply ignorant to how their communication effects others, many aspiring leaders I speak to or hear about struggle to get the outcomes they desire from their […]

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Get Out

Nothing is better for a shift in perspective than travelling and experiencing other cultures, approaches, and frames of thought. One of the most dangerous things in the world is certainty. To paraphrase Conclave: Certainty is the great enemy of unity, and certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance. What have you allowed to become an […]

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Good design isn’t just useful or beautiful. It’s responsible.

Good design isn’t just useful or beautiful. It’s responsible. Responsible design cares about impact, not just outcomes. But working with this type of care and consideration means asking harder questions: This isn’t charity, either. Accessible, responsible, diverse solutions serve more people, better. It’s not just ethical to build this way… It’s good business. We act […]

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❌ Stop normalizing buying and selling people's personal info

I’ve gone to great lengths to scrub my personal phone number and details from business channels online. Yet there are entire companies—looking at you, ZoomInfo and friends—whose whole business model is to scrape, expose, buy, and sell people’s private information for profit. This isn’t “sales enablement.” It’s commodifying consent. Cold outreach already feels inappropriate to […]

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