Signals & Patterns | Monthly Brief
Signals & Patterns is a monthly publication that curates weak signals, emerging shifts, and recurring patterns shaping workplaces, leadership, culture, and systems. It’s designed for leaders, practitioners, and decision-makers who want to move beyond headlines and understand what’s actually changing – and why it matters.
This is not trend-chasing. It’s sensemaking.
How to Use This Brief
Each monthly issue is meant to be:
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Scannable:Â short sections, clear takeaways
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Grounded:Â informed by real-world practice, research, and lived experience
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Responsive: tied to what we’re seeing right now, not annual cycles
Read it in under 15 minutes, or return to it as a thinking prompt throughout the month.
January 2026 |Â The Off-Season Effect
The off season is often treated as neutral time – but it isn’t – it's time to build. This brief explores how learning either compounds or erodes during periods of reduced structure across workplaces, classrooms, and sport, shaping performance long before the next “season” begins.
DownloadNot a trend report. Not a playbook. A thinking tool.
What We're Tracking
Each issue highlights three core elements:
Signals
Early indicators of change – small but meaningful shifts in behavior, language, policy, or practice that suggest something bigger is underway.
Signals are not yet dominant, but they’re consistent enough to pay attention to.
Implications
Why this matters now. Who it affects. What leaders, organizations, and institutions may need to reconsider or redesign.
Implications are framed as questions and considerations, not checklists.
Patterns
What’s repeating across sectors, regions, or roles. Patterns show us where systems are reinforcing themselves – intentionally or not.
Patterns tell us what’s becoming normalized.
Looking for more depth?
Signals & Patterns feeds into Learning Season, our quarterly deep-dive series.
Monthly briefs surface what’s emerging and quarterly Learning Seasons slow things down – signals become themes, patterns become priorities, and implications become learning, dialogue, and strategy.
Think of Signals & Patterns as the radar – and Learning Season as the work of sensemaking and skill-building.
Learning SeasonsStay Connected
Over time, the archive becomes a map of how priorities, language, and systems evolve.
You’re invited to:
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Reflect on what resonates (or challenges you)
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Notice where these signals show up in your own context
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Use the questions to inform strategy, dialogue, and design
Don't see what you're looking for? Share where you want us to investigate in a future issue.