Exciting things are cooking at Insight.
Our team, along with our design partner A2Z The Agency, is deeply immersed in a refresh of the magazine. We are so excited to debut the updated and elevated (if I do say so myself) magazine come the November issue — the hard-won result of a months-long process that began with scouring other print and digital publications, collecting inspiration and developing concepts.
While this work is exciting and necessary, it’s also hard.
It requires every one of us to unlearn — and relearn — things that have come to be second nature. For our sales team, it means relearning a product to best guide clients. For our editorial team, it means learning a new approach to stories and news coverage. For our designers, it means slowing down and relearning layouts they used to be able to execute in their sleep.
I had a coworker once who used an apt analogy for this: “It’s like cooking dinner in someone else’s kitchen.” The ingredients and the tools might be the same, but it takes you five times as long to find them. It’s a learning process that requires time and patience — things that aren’t necessarily synonymous with the bustling pace of a deadline-driven media organization.
But something magical happens when you are forced to take a long, hard look at the conventions of your working procedures. Sometimes you discover the institutional wisdom behind them, and sometimes you realize there is a ton of room for improvement.
In both cases, you emerge more informed and energized about the work at hand. I see this already happening here at Insight.
The themes of education and learning show up a lot in this issue of Insight. A good place to start would be this month’s cover story (page 22) featuring NWTC President Dr. Kristen Raney and her bold vision for the college’s future, which she is calling “NWTC 3.0.” Our Industry Report (page 56) takes a look at how local businesses are partnering with K-12 schools to meet future workforce needs.
Lastly, in this month’s Commentary (page 76), I share a few of my favorite lessons bestowed by Publisher Brian Rasmussen, in honor of his retirement this month.
I hope you learn something fascinating this month and when you do, please share it with me at awolff@insightonbusiness.com.
