Appreciated Fred Tally-Foos' piece niching down is bad and inhuman about the idea that “we need to be able to give our elevator pitch, explain who we are in a concise way on a resume or an Instagram bio, and use that clarity to move forward in life.”

I imagine prior generations weren’t considering very often the idea that they might be seen by countless masses of people who would need to understand “who they are” quick enough for a sound bite. Quick enough for a viral share or a Love Island intro. What’s your Housewives tagline? What’s your deal? Who are you?

I’ve been thinking about this too, as I think about re-doing my website and going back to having a newsletter. I’ve been seeing the same line of thought from others online, including Charlie Gilkey who recently merged two different newsletters (one on personal productivity, one on team habits) because separating the two topics he was interested in had become confusing and a drain on his energy.

At a certain point, we have to trust that the combination of things that are interesting to us are interesting to others as well.

Who sold us this idea that we need a “tagline”?

It comes from forms of communication that we did not invent around our own interests.

(A related interesting read recently was Tara McMullin on the crisis influencer and particularly the concept of moral injury as it relates to this phenomenon.)