Making Sense of Content + Design, Mindfulness & Modeling, Knowledge Management & Governance Support, Career Transitions, and Information Architecture all next week at The Sensemakers Club.

Overheard in Design Jam

How do you facilitate when half the room wants the big picture and the other half needs the details? This month's conversation explored setting expectations early, adapting language to your audience, and handling cognitive bias. Sometimes the smallest word changes create the biggest shifts.

"I think it's important to know that when you facilitate, you're going to have people that are going to come in with their own cognitive bias. And how do you handle that? You’re trying to get people to be open-minded, but that is off-putting to people because everyone thinks they're open-minded."

You might meet... fellow sensemakers who have learned the farther they wander from routine, the closer they are to finding their community. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/discussion-groups

Curious about AI but unsure where to start? AI Playground is a judgment-free space to explore, experiment, and ask questions about working with AI tools. Join Jessica Anderson and Dan Cooney every third Monday at 2pm ET to learn alongside fellow curious minds.

When we share our money fears openly, patterns emerge. This week revealed how often shame—not scarcity—drives our financial decisions. True wisdom lies in recognizing that money is just energy we've agreed to exchange, while the stories we tell ourselves about it hold all the power.

We've convinced ourselves that talking about money is taboo—but the real taboo is letting shame dictate our financial decisions instead of our values. Money is just an exchange mechanism we agreed upon. The fear around it? That's entirely our own construction.

True clarity doesn't come from more self-reflection—it comes when we speak our thoughts out loud and let others help us see what we couldn't alone. The answers emerge through connection, not isolation.

A member struggled to draw faces proportionally. Through the discussion, they discovered a simple cross-guideline technique—drawing the cross first, then adding the circle around it. Sometimes breakthrough moments come from flipping the order we've always used.

Making Sense of Your Values in Tech, Fiction as Future Prototyping, Neurodiversity & Inclusion, Seekers Who Make Sense, and Making Sense of Language all this week at The Sensemakers Club.

Making Sense of Your Values in Tech, Fiction as Future Prototyping, Neurodiversity & Inclusion, Seekers Who Make Sense, and Making Sense of Language all next week at The Sensemakers Club.

Overheard in Making Sense of Content + Design

Maybe AI's rise creates space for human creativity. Maybe fractional work beats the five-day grind. Maybe past experience in one field becomes the advantage in another. The future isn't about wasted time—it's about taking everything with you.

Join Uday Gajendar for monthly workshops exploring analog thinking in a digital world. The Analog Leap examines how tactile, physical approaches to design and sensemaking offer insights that screens can't capture. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/discussion-groups

Messy terminology kills clarity. Abby Covert's course teaches you how to wrangle language chaos and build controlled vocabularies that improve findability, communication, and alignment across your entire team. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/offers/sEESMFWm/checkout

You might meet UX researchers who keep it short because most people find their work boring. Knitters who radicalize peers about invisible labor instead of explaining stitches. And people realizing that shifting language for different audiences isn't about dumbing it down—it's proof of true mastery.

The curse of knowledge means expertise can actually make you worse at teaching. Masters forget what it's like to be a beginner and stop speaking the same language. But when you can shift your explanation for a child, a peer, and an expert? That's proof you truly understand what you're talking about.

Neurodivergent brains don't need fixing—they need environments that work with them. Clear expectations, movement, and physical tasks can make medication unnecessary. When structures shift to favor neurotypical processing, the struggle returns. It's not about effort. It's about design.

Making Sense of Change, Making Sense of Ethics, Making Sense of Other Humans, and Making Sense of Complexity & Chaos all next week at The Sensemakers Club.

Overheard in Making Sense of Money

The curse of knowledge: the more expert you become, the harder it gets to explain basics. Shifting language for different audiences isn't just simplification—it's proof you understand. Meeting people where they are separates mastery from surface fluency.

"I am a strong believer in beginners should teach beginners because masters don't remember what it's like to be a beginner and they don't even talk in the same Language."

New managers discovering protecting their team is just part of the job—managing up and across matter too. People realizing titles change everything. And reluctant leaders who never wanted the role but treat it as an obligation to help others succeed.

Diagrams shouldn't just look good—they should solve problems. Abby Covert's course teaches you how to build models that teams actually use to understand systems, make decisions, and stay aligned. Stop making pretty pictures that gather dust. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/how-to-diagram

Managing up and across matter just as much, but nobody tells you that until you're already struggling. Leadership isn't just about the people below you; it's about navigating the entire system around you.

Neurodivergent brains don't need fixing—they need environments that work with them. Clear expectations, movement, and physical tasks can make medication unnecessary. When structures shift to favor neurotypical processing, the struggle returns. It's not about effort. It's about design.

Understanding forms in conversation, not before it. We think we're sharing complete ideas, but the act of speaking to someone else is what actually builds them. Thoughts stay vague until we test them against another person's comprehension. That's when they become real.

Neurodivergent conversations don't move in straight lines—they spiral, jump, and connect ideas in ways that seem chaotic until the pattern emerges. The key is having someone who can hold the thread.

The Beginner's Meeting, The Analogue Leap, Design Jam, Making Sense of Facilitation, and Making Sense of Money all this week at The Sensemakers Club.

Expertise creates a curse of knowledge—the better you get, the harder it becomes to remember what not knowing felt like. Shifting language for different audiences isn't about dumbing it down. It's proof you truly understand what you're talking about.

"I am a strong believer in beginners should teach beginners because masters don't remember what it's like to be a beginner and they don't even talk in the same Language."

Stakeholder management isn't about convincing people—it's about understanding them. Abby Covert's course teaches you how to map influence, navigate competing priorities, and build the relationships that turn resistance into momentum. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/offers/rean2hXx/checkout

You might meet new managers learning that protecting their team is just the start—managing up and across matter too. People grappling with how a title changes how they're treated. And leaders who never wanted the job but treat it as an obligation to help others succeed.

The best leaders didn't chase the title—they accepted it reluctantly and treat it as a responsibility, not a reward. When leadership becomes about facilitating others' success instead of wielding authority, everything shifts. The managers who never wanted power often use it best.

The question "What do you do?" isn't about curiosity—it's about categorization. It's a shortcut to decide if you're worth talking to. Real connection starts when we ask questions that actually require people to think, not recite their job title.

Tuesdays, 3–5 PM ET Jan 13 – Feb 10 Don’t miss your spot. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/words-shape-belonging

Clarity emerges when we test our thinking against others. Hoarding half-formed thoughts keeps them vague, but conversation forces them into focus. Understanding doesn't happen alone—it needs the friction of other minds to take shape.

The decision to take medication isn't about weakness or giving in—it's about showing up as your best self. When you're struggling to function, choosing support over suffering isn't just good for you. It's good for everyone around you who deserves the fullest version of who you are.

Content + Design, Mindfulness & Modeling, Knowledge Management & Governance Support, Career Transitions, and Information Architecture all this week at The Sensemakers Club.

Overheard in Making Sense of Language

Making Sense of Content + Design, Mindfulness & Modeling, Knowledge Management & Governance Support, Career Transitions, and Information Architecture all next week at The Sensemakers Club.

The curse of knowledge: the more expert you become, the harder it gets to explain basics. Shifting language for different audiences isn't just simplification—it's proof you understand. Meeting people where they are separates mastery from surface fluency.

"Once you are super knowledgeable at something you have curse of knowledge, you forget the very basic and it's very difficult to explain things at that level, but it's also extremely important to be able to do that."

Stop guessing whether your IA and UX work is effective. Abby Covert's on-demand course teaches you simple heuristics to evaluate your work, catch problems early, and turn findings into actionable improvements. https://www.thesensemakersclub.com/offers/p2LFXHHo/checkout

You Might Meet.... People discovering that environments shape whether they need medication, realizing time blindness requires practical tools not willpower, and learning that conversations can jump between 25 topics and still find their way back.

New managers obsess over protecting their team—managing down—while completely missing that managing up and managing across are most of the job. You can be great at supporting your team and still fail because you're blind to the bigger picture. Leadership isn't just about the people below you.