The conversation around taste tends to focus on what it takes to develop it, but not what it takes to use it and unlock its potential, which is confidence .
Having and developing taste is one thing, but remaining connected to our taste is another. In order to take advantage of our taste, we have to be able to access its insights and guidance, which... See more
But taste requires subtraction. It means not participating in every viral moment. It means not resharing something just because it’s getting attention. It means opting out of the churn.
That doesn’t mean being contrarian for the sake of it. It means noticing when the culture’s default setting no longer reflects what’s true for you—and walking away.
The shift isn’t just about the aesthetic, it’s structural. As loneliness become endemic and public life becomes performative, people seek spaces with intention, coherence, and shared values. Curators, whether they’re running book clubs, shaping playlists, hosting salons, or steering micro-communities, they are steeping into a vacuum left by... See more
Trust, over time, confers authority — this is perhaps the more powerful direction of the relationship.
When someone is consistently credible, competent, and transparent, people begin to grant them informal authority that often exceeds their formal role. Think of the team member everyone actually goes to for decisions, regardless of org chart.
There is an extreme kind of philosophical skepticism – dating back to the ancient Greek Pyrrho – that there is no such thing as “truth” or the answer. We have only interpretations.
The value of curation is in the interpretation for an audience
What it produces is something like hypomania: a state where your productive capacity genuinely increases. You’re not imagining that you’re getting more done, you actually are, but your evaluative faculty is unaccustomed to this mode of creation. You lose the ability to distinguish between “this is good” and “I feel good making this.” Everything... See more
Collectors are hedging their bets. Keeping options open. Avoiding commitment because what if something better comes along. Curators make choices. They build around a vision. They understand that committing to one thing means letting go of another and that is not a loss. That is how meaning gets made.