Xavier Bertels

In a world where instant is the norm, it seems anachronistic to stand out by taking pause and being steadfast.

There is no hack to win in your category. No shortcut to win at sales. You must put in the work of coming up with a 10-year plan. Even when that may seem pie-in-the-sky, philosopher-like or unattainable. And you must defend the plan with vigour. This is the part where people try to convince you you’re the crazy one, and everyone else is normal.

There are no long term results with short term thinking. If you want long term results, you need to apply long term thinking.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer to everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

In an age where every reader can become a writer we must wonder: are we still asking the right questions?

No feeling ever really tops Launch Day. How will new features be received? Will the app manage the load? Did we forget some critical detail?

Today we launched an entirely new product. With the biggest French real estate network on board from day one. A way to search for real estate directly from ChatGPT.

It’s difficult to explain the mix of emotions: excitement, doubt, satisfaction, uncertainty . . . But it’s Launch Day. So now we get to work.

I used to love you, em dash—
with your casual flair,
your stylish pause—
until you became
the calling card of lazy bots
churning endless thoughts—
soulless
and bare.

But perhaps—
one day,
you’ll reclaim your throne—
the elegant interruption
of writers
once again
alone.

You’re staring at the final build before launch. It’s midnight. The microcopy feels off. The animation doesn’t quite land. The loading time is 20ms slower than your goal. You could fix it, but your team is waiting. And the deadline was yesterday.

When you’re building a product, you make trade-offs. All the time. It’s important to zoom out in these contexts and remember that not everything is critical to the success of your product. Shipping something, at some point, is part of your trade-off matrix.

It is also important to do things to the best of your ability. Even when others don’t seem to mind. If you’ve sent a Slack message to colleagues and you notice spelling mistakes: correct them. If you’ve designed a signup flow and it’s being developed, but you notice a mistake: go fix it. If a colleague is doubling down on a terrible idea, try to talk them out of it one more time.

A negotiable standard isn’t a standard. So yes: ship. Move fast. Make the trade-offs. But when your gut whispers that something isn’t right, even if no one else notices? Listen. The difference between good and great often hides in those ignored corners.