“Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they? Yes, they are. In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand. But in practice, well, some may feel confined.”

— Beyonce, SPAGHETTII

It’s barely a day since Beyonce – not content with her status as Queen of Pop – released Cowboy Carter and rode into country music like she owns the place. 

She’s plucked a little bit of hip-hop here and mixed it with some psychedelic funk there, pulled in a bit of Miley Cyrus, covered a Beatles song and even reimagines Jolene, with fiercer lyrics and an intro from Dolly P herself. 

I’ve listened to it through over and over and I love every darn thing about it. I even went to a Bey special spin class this morning, in which Velo’s indefatigable Jeff can make a legit claim to have delivered the world’s first Cowboy Carter indoor cycling class. 

The album is a masterclass in reinvention, in bending genres to your will, in never sitting still, and not just being comfortable with change but embracing it, thriving on it and having everyone love you for it.  

I like to think I can be a little bit Bey. I mean, I have a career that’s veered from publishing to comms to tech to consultancy to… whatever this is.

But I am writing this weeknote from the hairdressers, where I am getting exactly the same haircut that I have had since 2005. 

Beyonce I am not. But I guess I’ll never be Jolene or Becky With The Good Hair either.

Some things I did this week

The big theme of this week was wrapping up. We’ve completed two discovery programmes recently. This week the focus was on helping both of those teams to socialise these internally and turn them into budget and support to move forward with the required change.

One of these teams is considering both build and buy options for their intranet. Every client is different so I can never give an answer without considering their specific circumstances and needs. But on the whole unless your needs are genuinely unusual, building your own is rarely worth it. I was reminded of this blogpost I wrote on exactly this; despite being five years old I still stick by this principle:

You could build it, and in doing so you could make it perfectly meet your needs. But, really, can you be arsed?

Between wrapping up and people being off for the long weekend it was a relatively quiet one. I took the opportunity of an entirely meeting-free day to skive off on a day trip to Maastricht. A rather delightful little city, with some interesting history, decent places to eat and a truly next-level bookshop. 

Between that and the trip down to Den Haag I zipped up and down the country twice for under €100 all-in, with no pre-booking or discount railcards or anything. In case anyone wants to know what a well-functioning nationalised rail network looks like. 

What I’m reading

Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future by Saul Griffith. 

The tl;dr is “make everything run on electricity, then we can use renewables to make it all work without everyone having to give up the stuff they like”.

The author isn’t just dreaming big; he’s got the science and engineering chops to back up his vision. He breaks down the idea of electrifying everything—from cars to homes to entire industries—with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, making it seem not just possible, but achievable (and even exciting?).

What I liked about this book is how it combines optimism with pragmatism. Griffith lays out a blueprint for us to follow, showing how current technology can be harnessed to create a sustainable future without sacrificing the comforts of modern life. Plus, he dives into how this shift could save money and create jobs, making the economic case for clean energy just as strong as the environmental one.

Amidst gloomy predictions about the future of the climate and increasingly extreme weather highlighting the pace at which this is becoming a lived reality, it was refreshing to think about the climate crisis in the context of a clear, actionable path forward. 

It’s a mix of inspiring vision and hands-on advice that could really make you look at the world differently and feel hopeful about our ability to tackle climate change head-on. If (like me) you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the doom and gloom of environmental Armageddon, this book offers a refreshing perspective.

Connections

When I wrote my last weeknote I had no particular plans to meet anyone. But the best plans are spontaneous ones.

Susan Hayes Cullerton (aka the Positive Economist) was in the Netherlands so we had a lovely catch up in Den Haag. A cracking evening of chat about the challenges and joys of running your own business.

Then the following day I caught up with AutogenAI’s Gurjinder Dhaliwal, a fellow Brit-in-NL, to talk navigating life in the Netherlands.

Something I learned

That coming up with a new Something I Learned every week is a huge PITA that makes writing a weekly note more work and less fun than I’d like. Binned.