A quick note from the birthplace of the Renaissance

Ciao!

This week I’m taking some proper time off, traversing through Tuscany—specifically Florence, otherwise known as the birthplace of the Renaissance. And while the experience is incredible, it’s got me seriously worried about our brains.

It’s hard not to marvel at the engineering feat that is the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, juxtaposed against the average person’s inability to write an email without ChatGPT—or the sheer number of hours we waste away on TikTok, or believing YouTube gives us real news (and can you believe it’s free?!).

Whew. All that said, I’ve got a ranty piece incoming—but not today. Because I’m off to eat my 87th cone of gelato and go play with Da Vinci’s flying machine.

In lieu of a long read this week, check out a few of my other pieces:

🍋 Humans Are the System: How to really motivate people at work.
🧵 Jack of All Trades, Master of Your Threadline: A read for portfolio careerists (or the portfolio-career curious).
🧹 Nearly Every Business Is a Mess: A diagnostic tool for figuring out the mess in your org—with some tips on how to clean it up.

See ya next week!

Onward,
Mary Alice

P.S. 💬 Did ya know I answer reader questions every week? If you’ve got a burning question about self-employment, solopreneurship, small businesses, team stuff—anything even vaguely “work-related”—send it my way and I’ll feature it in a future email. 📬