' This technology isn't going to go away. We need to figure out what role it has.'
George Walkley is a legend in the publishing world. Over the last three decades, and particularly at Hachette, he has not only witnessed but helped shape the digital transformation of the industry, and these days he's focused on how publishers respond to the challenges and opportunities of AI.
While the book itself has proved remarkably resilient as a technology, technology has transformed the ways in which they are written, discovered, read and published. What are the ethical and practical considerations of AI for publishers, authors and readers? And what does all that mean for George himself as he writes and considers how to publish his OWN book?
Essential listening for anyone curious about where publishing is going, and the implications for authors, plus top tips on building an audience through writing an unmissable newsletter.
When we talk about writing business books, we usually focus on concepts, models, clarity, structure, impact. But alongside the head work is a whole invisible heap of emotional labour: behind every sentence lies a secret history of fear, doubt, frustration and occasionally joy. In this Best Bits episode, we're bringing that emotional undercurrent front and centre.
Because writing a business book, just like starting a business, isn’t simply an intellectual exercise. There's a profound inner journey behind every book, from the creative spark of the idea, so often born of frustration, through the gritty, vulnerable, exhausting middle, the stress of overwhelm and deadlines and the courage it takes to complete, and throughout it all, the unexpected moments of joy.
Writing a book is a whole-brain, whole-person exercise, and these conversations prove it. Hear from:
The work is real - but the good news is you don't have to do this alone.
'If you haven't diagnosed where the problem lies in the first place, how do you know which lever to pull?'
If your idea of a rebrand is a new colour palette and an updated logo, think again.
Too often, superficial design changes don't just fail to deliver growth, they actively damage the brands they were intended to bolster. Rachel Fairley and Sarah Robb have helped some of the world's biggest companies refresh their brands from the inside out. They argue that rebranding is more a strategic undertaking than a design project, and it's definitely NOT something that should be driven by a new leader's ego.
This is a conversation for anyone invested in understanding the deeper mechanics of making a brand work over the long term, but also for anyone who wants to write a book that makes a real difference for its readers.
’That's all we've got as well in this age of AI… we have to put heart and soul into what we create.’
When someone cheerfully tells you that when one door closes another door opens in the midst of the rawness of redundancy, you’d be forgiven for wanting to punch them. Eleanor Tweddell certainly did. But then she made a conscious decision to ‘lean in’ to the idea of another door. It turns out that opportunity is often disguised as messy chaos – it’s all about how you choose to view it.
Eleanor shares how her ‘Another Door’ blog, podcast and book came about – the idea that wouldn’t leave her alone, the conversations that moved it forward and the creative process that begins – like all good things – with a whiteboard and is so very, very different from the polished, orderly approach of her corporate comms background.
This is a conversation about what it means to be human in the act of creation, and to seek out connection before your ideas feel ready to share. It’s about jealousy and comparisonitis and courage and designing for your reader, and it might just be the best thing you hear this week.