Nonstandard methods (wk 29/2025)
Human mRNA; strategy for resilience and uncertainty; meaning-making and work in a time of AI; Slovenian stone; art thinking, stovetop espresso, more clothing manufacturers, our weird timeline.
Hello friends,
I’m in Slovenia again this week, teaching at the University of Ljubljana on strategy for resilience and uncertainty and on meaning-making as a lens for rethinking business and work in a time of increasingly ubiquitous AI.
Here are the most important points in my meaning-making talk, on a single slide — note that I use “meaning-making” specifically to refer to any decision we make about the subjective value of a thing:
Each time I come back to Ljubljana, some aspects are more salient than others. In previous years, I noted the profusion of Serbian grilled meats and the excellence and refreshing properties of the grapefruit flavoured radler made by Pivovarna Union. This visit, I noticed for the first time a form of rustication on architectural stone that I’ve not seen anywhere else. Rough at fine scale, but appealingly even at coarse scale. (This is a very interesting introduction to the geology of the architectural stone of some Ljubljana landmarks.)
If you know what this style of rustication (if it even is rustication) is called, please let me know.
Writing
Before heading to Ljubljana this week, I had a long call with a client who’s been struggling for years to get the different parts of their organisation to keep each other in the loop and share information proactively. The first instinct is usually to build some kind of rule or procedure for information-sharing. Sometimes that works. What works much better — but looks much stranger — is what I call human mRNA, which I wrote about several years ago based on what I observed and participated in while working at Google. Here’s the tl;dr:
Messenger RNA (mRNA) plays a critical role in moving genetic information around within cells. Organisations (especially those trying to innovate or working in uncertain environments) benefit when they empower people to act as human mRNA, to actively seek out, translate, and move critical information around the organisation. Unlike rigid internal communication rules and protocols, human mRNA don’t just relay messages — they sense gaps, connect overlooked dots, and adaptively stitch together context, insight, and meaning. By doing so, they transform scattered potential into coordinated, timely impact that highly structured systems rarely achieve.
👉 Read more here about human mRNA.
Elsewhere
A roundtable on art thinking and uncertainty: Next Tuesday (22/7), I’ll be in Paris for an ESCP roundtable on using art-oriented ways of thinking to handle the increasing uncertainty in the world. Other roundtable-ists: Chuck Eesley (Stanford), Thomas Friedberger (Tikehau Investment Management), Jean-Michel Pailhon (Ledger & Capital Grail), Ellen Oh (Stanford Arts), Corine Waroquiers (Office of the Prime Minister of France), Amy Whitaker (NYU), Seamus Yu Harte (Stanford d.school). Register here if you’re in Paris and want to attend.
Stovetop espresso from the bottom up: “By day, Will pursued a Ph.D. in jet engine thermodynamics at The University of Cambridge Whittle Lab. However, his passion for thermodynamics didn’t end with jet engines. By night, he could be found in the garden shed analysing the thermal performance of his La Pavoni lever espresso machine. These late-night experiments proved to be more than just a hobby—they led to a groundbreaking idea. Will patented the innovative concept of using two saturated steam boilers at different pressures and temperatures; one to generate 9 bars of pressure, and the other to regulate the brew temperature via an inter-boiler heat exchanger.”
Many more clothing manufacturers to consider in the suggestions that poured in after my plaintive cry two weeks ago: Lady White Co. and MAN-TLE (Sachin); Original Fibres and NN07 (Dave S.); 3sixteen, Buck Mason, Corridor, The Real McCoys, Beams, Wythe, Merz B Schwanen, Steven Alan, Gitman Vintage, Form and Thread; Toast (Rachel); Wool and Prince (Ben M.); Battenwear, Manresa, 18 East, Warren, Swrve (Ben W.); Hinoya (frdysk); ATON (Christophe); Garnet Hill and LL Bean (Maura).
This timeline just keeps getting weirder: “Under the umbrella of Grok For Government, we will be bringing all of our world-class AI tools to federal, local, state, and national security customers,” xAI said in a statement on its website. “These customers will be able to use the Grok family of products to accelerate America—from making everyday government services faster and more efficient to using AI to address unsolved problems in fundamental science and technology.”
The consequences of using risk mindset to deal with uncertain situations: “Over the past three years, Eric Adams, the New York City mayor, has allocated more than $1bn to stormwater improvements in the city. Still, that amount is far lower than what experts say is needed to update the city’s ageing infrastructure for the current climate reality, not even what is expected in the future. “We have an infrastructure that was designed for an environment we no longer live in,” Rohit Aggarwala, New York City’s chief climate officer, told the New York Times.”
See you next week,
VT
Love the human mRNA concept - recognise the culture from many places I have worked
Ljubljana is awesome. Will you make it over to Bled?