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In the last edition of The Colab Brief, we got down and dirty with AI slop. Everything (and everyone) is starting to sound the same. The whole “neutral-toned modern farmhouse” aesthetic somehow bled into human communication. Whole lotta beige going on. 🍞

For a while, the internet felt like one giant LinkedIn post (before LinkedIn itself became an unhinged social experiment, but that’s another newsletter 💁‍♀️). Everyone was building “thought leadership.” Every executive sounded media-trained within an inch of their life.

Professionalism turned into a copy/paste culture.

Brands got so focused on sounding broad, unassuming, and universally appealing that they accidentally sanded off anything memorable about themselves in the process.

Which created a massive opening for people willing to act like…actual humans online.

Turns out being yourself became a strategy. Revolutionary. Cutting edge. Very “florals for spring” à la The Devil Wears Prada. Groundbreaking. (That’s all.)

The execs cutting through right now are becoming creators and media channels themselves. They have honest takes, quirks, humor, niche obsessions, and behind-the-scenes thoughts instead of another “5 Leadership Lessons” carousel.

Vanessa Barboni Hallik, founder of Another Tomorrow, built a following around an unusually specific obsession: rebuilding fashion’s supply chain from the ground up. Farm-to-closet traceability and blockchain resale might’ve once sounded too niche for mainstream brand storytelling. But now, damn, it’s workin’.

Then there’s Kinjil Mathur, CMO of Squarespace, whose version of weird is refusing to flatten herself into the typical tech-exec mold. Fashion, mentorship, culture, emotional intelligence—you couldn’t toss her voice into AI and get it back out the same.

And James Oliver Jr., founder of Kabila, is openly talking about founder burnout, loneliness, therapy, and mental health in a culture that historically spent years rewarding the exact opposite. Hustle at all costs, “grind now, rest later” energy, motivational-poster speak, blah blah blah. 

He’s building a mental health fund for founders, which is, admittedly, a pretty unconventional and weird thing right now...but maybe not for long? It pushes back against the mythological untouchable founder and replaces “look how beautifully I scaled my business” with “the only thing scaling beautifully right now is my anxiety.”

Not every exec needs to become a chaotic internet personality. But the old playbook of swapping opinions with corporate niceties is losing people. 🫠

PR teams should create room for personality instead of airbrushing it out of existence, and encourage execs to:

🙋‍♀️ Share actual opinions, not just industry-safe observations 

🧑‍🔬 Lean into niche interests and oddly specific expertise 

📱 Show behind-the-scenes moments and imperfect processes

💃 Sound like themselves, not like they swallowed a press release

Because brands aren’t for everyone anymore. The goal isn’t mass approval — it’s memorability.

And right now, being a little weirder than everyone else is a pretty big chef’s kiss.

Ash & Lizzy

Who's going where and why it matters. Not just job shifts - power dynamics, layoffs, and who's headed out.

👀 James Murdoch has acquired New York Magazine, Vox.com, and Vox’s podcast network for more than $300M. The podcast network, which includes shows from Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, is valued higher than the magazine (+1 for personality-driven content).

💔 Jeff Amy, a reporter covering free agency, along with 20 of his colleagues, was laid off from The Associated Press.

🎉 Lisa Bonos is now contributing to Inc., writing about Silicon Valley founders, companies, and culture.

🧳 Mark Wilson has left Fast Company, moved to the Bay Area, and joined the team at Hark. There, he will help the team build (in their words) “the most advanced personal intelligence in the world.”

🧳 Most recently acting as the game site’s EIC, Rose Pastore is leaving Gizmodo.

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