Butterfinger, Beyoncé, and How Being Human Is the Advantage

Hi Friends!

February is meant to be a month punctuated by love. We just celebrated Valentine’s Day, which always takes me back to my first job out of business school.

I was managing Nestlé’s $38M Valentine’s confections business, which sounded impressive on paper, but in reality, felt like I was drowning. Many mornings, I’d buckle my seatbelt in my green Honda Civic, turkey sandwich in the passenger seat, and listen to Beyoncé’s Irreplaceable while feeling, well, completely the opposite. I was highly replaceable and in fact a "fraud" in red heels. Terrified of Nielsen pivot tables and Walmart pitches, sitting in the Glendale parking garage with tears in my eyes before swiping my badge each day. If there was ever a career chapter where I needed grit, it was this one.

That season taught me that we need others to help pull us up when we’re hurting. It was a manager who saw my struggling and a team that chose to teach rather than judge that finally gave me my footing. When we remember that, even at work, we are all still the same. Imperfect.

I share this story because I believe through vulnerability, we are leading with strength of another color. We’re building the ultimate differentiator: trust. In a world increasingly crowded by noise, the most "irreplaceable" thing you can be is human.

Sending you all my love this month. Now, go get yourself a Butterfinger and read on!

Warmly,
Jess

Are we at the end of “good enough?” As AI lowers the barriers to execution, the premium on "competent work" is collapsing. What do I mean by that? When everyone can generate 100 versions of a digital ad or a script in seconds, the "doing" is no longer the differentiator.

We are living through a strange moment of digital and professional agreeableness. Because AI tends to average out its outputs and because our current political and social climate has made everyone terrified of saying the wrong thing in the wrong context, we are seeing a flood of "safe," neutered content.

Nobody wants to be distinctive. Nobody wants to risk disapproval. So, we default to a robotic voice that says nothing, offends no one, and leaves zero impact.

But as a leader, your edge belongs in knowing:

Being medium isn’t going to cut it. If you want to be irreplaceable, you have to be brave enough to have an opinion that an LLM (or a committee) wouldn't suggest. You must hold a point of view.

When so few seem interested in being a real person with real convictions, isn't that the best time to be one?

I have always been good at math, specifically the practical stuff like business math and statistics. To me, a clean spreadsheet is a love language.

But we’re often taught a false binary: if you’re a "numbers person," you can’t be a "words person." I’ve never bought that. I’m a hybrid kid: one foot in Gen X, one in Gen Y; a lover of SoCal sunsets and PNW forest hikes. I love data, and I love language.

So when I stumble onto a piece of writing that moves me (you had me at Margaret Atwood), it reminds me all over again why being a thoughtful writer is vital.

Effective communication is table stakes. But writing in a way that actually moves people? That’s the bar. When Atwood says, "We are learning to make fire," 😳 How does she come up with that?

This month, what I’m loving is our uniquely human ability to write in ways that stir the soul. It is an expression of our artistry, our imperfection, and our specific point of view. That is something uniquely yours.

God, it’s good to be alive right now.

Now, go write something. And then? Hit publish. (Go, go, go!)

We’ve just come through a gauntlet of "The Future is Here" moments: CES, Davos, and now the Super Bowl. If there was any lingering doubt that AI has gone mainstream, it’s officially gone.

But amid all the noise about "AI revolutions" and "world-changing tech," most companies are still getting it wrong. They’re treating AI like a vague, distant miracle instead of a practical tool.

That’s why the Google Gemini New Home ad was my favorite of the game.

While I use Gemini as one of my AI platforms, I wouldn’t say it's magically better than every other model. But the spot won because Google remembered how to market technology: make it human-centered, practical, and emotionally compelling.

How do I show my kid what our future home will look like with his stuff in it? Maybe more importantly, with him making new memories there.

While I appreciated the Anthropic poke at ChatGPT’s launch of ads, not everyone understood it. Meanwhile, Google just shows a mom and her son using a tool to visualize their new chapter. It showed how a complex procedure (image generation) solves a human problem (the anxiety of moving).

As a leader, this is your new North Star. As AI expands and moves faster and faster, your judgment becomes a superpower. 

I see this as running two different operating systems at once:

The leaders who will outperform the market are those who can switch between these two modes fluently. I think about my girlfriend who teaches English in a Chinese immersion school. Those kids spend half the day in one language and the other half in another. At the age of six, they are learning to operate in two languages. 

We need to do that too.

This month, I’m shining a light on my new Executive Assistant, Kelly Morrison. She is only three months in and already providing so much value, allowing me to grow and think about what’s next. I couldn’t be happier to see the Co-pilot team grow and welcome Kelly as the newest teammate. Here’s a bit about her:

Kelly Morrison brings over 17 years of experience in online business support and operations to her role as Executive Assistant at Co-pilot. Since graduating from Louisiana State University (Geaux Tigers!), Kelly has spent the last 18 years supporting entrepreneurs behind the scenes of multiple six- and seven-figure businesses, with a deep focus on systems, client experience, and operational flow.

At Co-pilot, Kelly supports both Jess and their clients with all things administrative - from scheduling and day-to-day client support to building and refining systems that allow the business to run smoothly, as it grows. She is also playing a key role in supporting the upcoming ALTITUDE spring cohort, helping bring structure, organization, and momentum to the launch process.

Welcome Kelly!

I’m launching a new thing.

Why am I doing this?

After conducting over 50+ LinkedIn audits this fall 💪🏽, there are clear patterns. Many of us feel unsure where to start with professional brand building, what to write about and how to do it again and again over time. 

Good news: All of this is solvable!

ALTITUDE is a small-group professional branding program for business owners (2+ years in business) who want to show up more clearly and confidently on LinkedIn.

After this six-week session, participants in the cohort will walk away with an updated LinkedIn profile, editorial calendar, measurement dashboard, AI content creation prompts and the confidence to convert connections into real relationships.

I’m bringing all the best of these conversations into one forum.

Cohort begins April 15, 2026. There are only 8 spots available.

Enrollment isn’t open yet.  Join the waitlist below to be notified when registration opens.

I’d love to see you there!

January’s photo was a tough one to solve. Shout out to James DeBragga for getting closest with his guess. The pic was shot in San Francisco with Chef’s Table Executive Producer, Andrew Fried, on the set of Qualcomm’s first reality YouTube series called #InventOff. A career highlight experience to be sure!

Over the past year, I’ve had some extra opportunities to travel north for client work and it gives me the great joy of also visiting with decades-old friends along the way.

Can you guess which waterfront I’m at here?

Hint: A recent remodel was led by the landscape designers who also led the High Line project in NYC!

The first person to reply with a correct guess gets a shout out next month.

Thanks for being here. 💛 Remember: You are wildly capable.

— Jess

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