I struggle with writing. Not because I lack ideas, but because every time I sit down to put words on a page, a second feeling arrives right behind the first: nobody cares what I have to say. And in an age where an AI can produce vast volumes of prose in an instant, that second feeling has a new question attached to it: why bother?

This kicks off a familiar loop internally. Oh boy. Am I really that shallow? Is that what drives me to write — so I can send words into the ether and build a name for myself? Admitting it feels embarrassing. Saying it out loud feels worse.

But I’m coming to realize my discomfort was misplaced. There's an old line I've held onto — attention can be bought, but reputation must be earned. One is fleeting. The other persists. Reputation is the core that doesn't corrode when you stop paying for clicks.

And as I sit with it longer, another word surfaces: contribution. While reputation asks what people think of me, contribution asks whether what I said moved the shared thinking. One puts me at the centre (ugh!); the other puts the conversation there. If writing is contributing, then there’s no fear of seeming needy for a reputation.

Which brings me to the AI question. AI can generate outputs at any volume. It cannot contribute. Contribution requires having a stake — having actually thought something, being in the conversation, being wrong and willing to be corrected. AI isn't in the conversation; at best it renders one side of the conversation. Tempting as it is, the power of AI to generate attention removes me from the exchange of ideas, from contributing, and adding to something with lasting impact..

So I want to keep writing. Not to be noticed. To add one thought, in my words, on this day, to a conversation I want to be in. If that moves the shared thinking positively or negatively, I'll have contributed. Reputation, it turns out, is downstream of contribution, and that feels good to me.

Exploring my resistance to putting words on the page reconnected me with why I value the process. And to how the writing shows up in what we actually do at Tenacious. A recent example — the podcast and article on agricultural cooperatives – sparked exactly the kind of follow-on conversation I'm after—on new approaches for delivering impact from R&D.

I am also looking forward to engaging on topics like how startup and agribusiness boards should consider the role of AI in governance, and exploring novel financing structures to overcome the capital challenges in early-stage agtech. If any of those land, tell me. If they don't, tell me that too. That's the exchange I'm trying to build.

P.s. I am very resentful about the effective loss of my beloved emdash—one of my favorite forms of punctuation—seemingly consumed in the dumpster fire of AI slop.

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Note from the TV team

We're shaking things up at Tenacious — you'll be hearing from more of us on the team, with different voices, perspectives, and topics ahead. Hope you like it. Let us know.

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