14-Bullet Friday

Things I’m learning, testing, and laughing at this week

Before I set off for the Himalayas, here are fourteen things that caught my attention this week - ideas, tools, and tiny experiments worth sharing.

Some are deep (like being unexplainable in an AI world) while others are delightfully shallow (like discovering my weighted vest is also great for book storage).

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1. Speaker bio embarrassment (and the power of relatability)

I had the most cringeworthy experience this week.

I was speaking to a group and they introduced me by reading out my speaker bio word for word. The bio I sent was written for reading, not for speaking out loud.

She’s standing there reading this thing that took about four minutes. Four minutes! I’m sitting there dying inside because she’s talking me up with all this formal language and credentials, and it just felt so unnecessary for the small group we had.

But then - and this saved me - she got to the end where I’d included a couple of personal details: “Leanne is left-handed and is so scared of undercooking chicken that she overcooks it to the point of leather.”

Those two lines completely changed the energy in the room. Everyone laughed, people started nodding like “Oh, me too!”

Suddenly I went from being this intimidating expert to being a real person with relatable quirks.

Two lessons here:

• Firstly, read your speaker bio out loud to yourself. If it sounds cringeworthy when you read it, it’s going to be absolutely mortifying when someone else reads it to introduce you.

• Secondly, always include something relatable (and help me get over my fear of overcooking chicken pls).

2. Nepal podcast experiment (follow the adventure)

Right, so everyone keeps asking how I’m going to keep my daily Leanne on Demand podcast running while I’m trekking to Everest Base Camp / Lobuche Peak with the team from Experience Not Felt Possible.

My podcast producer Princess is going to work some magic. I’ll voice note her every day from wherever I am on the mountain, pending signal.

She’ll take those voice notes, add them to my podcast, transcribe them, and update my one-page Nepal blog article: Peak Views with Leanne Hughes, with daily updates.

You can follow along and drop comments on the blog. I genuinely want to hear from you while I’m up there - it’ll keep me connected to the outside world when I’m probably questioning all my life choices at 5,000 metres.

3. Tim Denning’s “Unexplainable” article changed everything I thought about positioning

I’m not exaggerating when I say this piece The #1 sign you’re winning in life: No one understands what the hell you do for a living by Tim Denning is probably the best thing I’ve ever read on the internet. Tim absolutely nailed something I’ve struggled with my entire career.

You know that dreaded question: “So what do you do?” I’ve always felt like I needed to have this polished 30-second elevator pitch.

But the truth is, I help different people get different results across different industries. I love that flexibility. I don’t want to box myself into “I help tech startups scale their teams” or whatever.

Here’s a banger quote:

The exact inability for someone to summarise your job at a glance is a strong sign: you’re not doing something routine. You’re doing something exceptional. You’re winning in life. - Tim Denning

Tim’s article explains why being unexplainable is actually a superpower, and I want to add two things to his brilliance:

• First, don’t confuse being unexplainable with being unreferrable. I still get referred constantly, and it’s often something like “You should just talk to Leanne” or “Leanne has great ideas.” There’s no specific reason people can articulate, but they get a vibe about why they should connect us. And that’s unexplainable in the best way.

• Second thought: if you’re unexplainable, you’re probably AI-disruption-proof for now. AI is brilliant at linear, process-driven work. But if you live and work in ambiguity, if your value comes from navigating complexity that can’t be easily systematised? That’s still our domain. At least until we get to super intelligence, and by then we’ll all have bigger problems to worry about…

4. The iPhone 17 Pro is worth the upgrade (and I’m tired of defending this choice)

Look, I know people get shade for always getting the latest iPhone. But here’s my logic. Firstly, I trade my iPhone in, and secondly, out of all the tools we use in our lives, our phone is the one we use most often, so the value-to-use ratio is actually incredibly low when you think about it.

Why wouldn’t you want the best version of something you interact with hundreds of times a day?

I got the iPhone 17 Pro specifically for the camera - it’s genuinely the best they’ve ever made. But the feature that sold me is this dual capture thing. I can record commentary while filming scenery simultaneously (video demo below).

For somewhere like Nepal, where you’ve got epic backdrops and I want to share the experience in real-time, this is going to be incredible.

The speed is also insane. No lag, everything’s instant. I got the orange version because life’s too short for boring phone colours.

5. Weighted vest adventures with Bethan Winn (and accidental billboard marketing)

Had the loveliest catch-up with Bethan Winn this week at South Bank. She’s a brilliant author from Perth, and I was lucky enough to blurb her latest book, The Human Edge.

Two funny things happened during our walk.

First, I had nowhere to put her book, so I just chucked it in my weighted vest. Suddenly I’m a walking billboard for her book - best product placement ever.

Authors, if you want to be featured in my weighted vest walking videos, seriously hit me up. I’m half-joking but also not really.

Want your book to be featured on my weighted vest walk? Msg me for my sponsorship prospectus 😅

Second thing: we’re just chatting away, and Bethan asks what I’m thinking of doing after Nepal. Without really thinking, I said “New York City Marathon.” Her eyes absolutely lit up, and before I knew it, we’d both committed to going next year.

That’s how good ideas happen, isn’t it? Not in boardrooms or strategic planning sessions, but in casual conversations while you’re walking around Brisbane with a book stuffed in your weighted vest.

6. Stop treating people like damaged goods (this is killing your change projects)

I did a whole podcast episode on this because it’s such a pattern I see everywhere. People struggling to sell change projects or get buy-in for new initiatives, and when I dig deeper, it’s because they’re approaching their audience like they’re broken and need fixing.

I hear it all the time: “Oh, we need to take it really slowly with this group because they don’t have the foundations yet” or “They’re not ready for that level of change.” Sometimes that might be accurate, but more often than not, I think the opposite is true.

Maybe they’re not embracing change because you’re taking it so slowly that you’re insulting their intelligence.

Maybe they’re not engaged because you’re not giving them a stretch goal that actually excites them.

When you treat people like damaged goods who need careful handling, you create that exact dynamic.

Try this instead:

• Look for the best in the people you work with.

• See their potential, not their gaps.

• Push them a bit.

People are way more motivated by growth and elevation than they are by being fixed or repaired. Give them credit for being capable of more than you think they are.

7. The “time short” myth (and the 6-hour emergency test)

I was chatting to Tom on this concept the other day - his clients are “time-short.” I laughed and said, “Yeah, but aren’t we all? Show me someone who’s time-long!”

But it reminded me of this exercise I used ages ago in a time management workshop.

Instead of warming up with small talk, I sometimes start with this deep dive scenario: “You’re offered the opportunity of a lifetime at work, but to commit, you need to find an extra 6 hours in your week. What would you do?”

There’s a brilliant TED talk by Laura Vanderkam about this - in an emergency, you very quickly work out what actually matters.

What we find every single time is that people figure it out. They just do.

They identify what’s actually important versus what’s busy work. They realise where they’re spending time that doesn’t matter. They get strategic about their priorities really quickly.

8. Taking it lightly (both practically and metaphorically)

One of my themes for this year has been lightness. Being light on your feet, adaptable, agile. But also practically light - not carrying weight you don’t need.

I travel a lot and spent ages researching the perfect carry-on. I was going to get a hard suitcase from July, but ended up with this soft shell from Kathmandu.

It’s not the most attractive bag in the world but it’s functional, reliable and only weighs 1.6 kilograms, contains 40 litres, and honestly, it’s the best purchase I’ve made in ages. You can fit so much into it, the zippers are robust, and it doesn’t add unnecessary weight to my luggage allowance.

When I was choosing hiking boots and trail shoes for the trek, the first thing I looked at wasn’t style or brand - it was weight.

How do you maintain a sense of lightness in your work, your commitments, your daily life? Where are you carrying heavy stuff that doesn’t serve you?

What would it look like to lighten the load?

9. The “client” perception problem (and other workplace ironies)

In our latest Con Con call, I shared a couple of videos that had me thinking about language and workplace contradictions.

• The first was this hilarious IG Reel about the word '“client” - no words, just watch the video.

• The second video was about this gorgeous irony: organisations putting on mandatory lunch-and-learns about burnout. You’re literally filling up people’s calendars to talk about how overwhelmed they are. The cognitive dissonance is just... chef’s kiss (screenshot below).

  

• Then there was this brilliant video about how the Romans built the Colosseum without Microsoft Teams. We have all these default ways of working now. But a nice reminder that you can achieve impossible things without using these tools.

10. Venue hunting with Sally Porteous (the venue is a main character)

This week I’ve been venue hunting with the incredible Sally Porteous for Con Con 2026 (June 16-18 on the Gold Coast - we’re completely sold out but there’s a waitlist if anyone can’t make it).

The venue is genuinely a main character in the experience you’re creating. You can look at photos online, study floor plans, read reviews, but it’s not until you physically walk through a space that you understand what it actually feels like.

I’m very specific about what I don’t want Con Con to be - we’re not sitting in the same conference room for two days straight. There needs to be a mix of experiences, different spaces for different activities, places where conversations can naturally flow.

Mel Kettle brought up this brilliant point in our Con Con call the other day: you need a gathering point. You need somewhere people can see each other across the room because it’s those spontaneous side conversations outside of the formal sessions where real value happens. People need to be able to spot someone they want to chat with and easily make their way over.

The venue hunting process has been eye-opening. Some places look amazing in photos but feel sterile in person. Others seem ordinary online but have this energy when you’re actually there.

11. Champagne moments with Neen James

Just dropped an absolute cracker of a podcast episode with Neen James, who’s just released her latest book called “Exceptional Experiences.”

We had this brilliant conversation about “champagne moments” and how you can create everyday luxurious experiences without breaking the bank or being over the top about it. It’s not about actual champagne or expensive stuff - it’s about those small touches that make someone feel genuinely special.

This is essential listening if you’re curating any type of experience for clients, team members, workshop participants, anyone really. How do you bring more luxury - and I don’t mean expensive, I mean thoughtful - into your day-to-day interactions?

Neen has this way of thinking about experience design that’s both practical and aspirational. She gets that luxury is often about attention to detail and intentionality, not necessarily about spending more money.

12. My unexpected favourite social tool right now

This might surprise you, but my favourite social media platform at the moment is Strava. I know, I know - it’s technically a fitness app. But it’s become this unexpected way to connect with people and share what I’m actually up to.

You can follow my hikes, see all the Nepal training I’ve been doing, track the actual adventure when I’m over there.

Plus, the encouragement culture on there is lovely. People genuinely celebrate each other’s efforts, whether you’re running your first 5K or climbing Everest.

13. Halloween Talk the Walk special

Alan Weiss and I are doing a special Halloween edition of Talk the Walk this Thursday 30th October at 5pm Eastern (that’s Friday 31st at 7am Brisbane time for my Aussie people).

We’re calling it “Consulting: Trick or Treat” and we’ll be diving into all the tricks consultants fall for, the treats that lead to repeat clients and referrals, and some real-world stories from my own consulting adventures - both the scary and the spectacular.

We’re definitely going to talk about ghosting, which feels very appropriate for Halloween.

Join us on LinkedIn Live and bring whatever you’re drinking. Alan will probably have a martini, I’ll definitely have coffee.

14. How I wrote this article (the power of voice-first content)

Right, so I took a different approach to “writing” this to you this week.

I lifted up my phone between venue hunting appointments and webinar prep, and just voice noted the whole thing. Fourteen points + a stream of consciousness..

Sometimes the fastest way to create content is just to talk it out.

Voice-first content creation is massively underrated. Your phone is always with you, you can capture ideas in real-time, and you can create while you’re walking, or doing other things.

That’s it!

I’d love to hear from you.

Which bullet point (1-14) resonated with you most today?

🌴 Leanne “Delightfully Unexplainable” Hughes

p.s. If something struck a chord, hit that little heart 💙 below. It gives me a signal that you’re connecting with these ideas, and helps other bright humans find them, too.