The approach of autumn evokes many images, including the return of students to school. And that has us thinking about universities… and their fundamental link to the pursuit of universal knowledge. Of course, that pursuit shouldn’t end when you earn your degree. We’re big fans of lifelong learning, because we believe that building a diverse base of knowledge makes us better thinkers, better communicators and, frankly, better people.

In the business world, this has been described as having ‘T-shaped skills’. It’s a term that dates back to 1991 and an article by David Guest in The Independent about the hunt for ‘the Renaissance Man of computing’. It might sound quaint today, at a time when some view LLM chatbots as all-knowing answer machines. Which, of course, they’re not. And besides, many are coming to the conclusion that an overreliance on such GenAI tools is flattening people’s knowledge, making it more average or, in the words of the academic Tressie McMillan Cottom, ‘mid’.

When you build (and build on) your own knowledge – especially when you branch out into other areas outside your own field of expertise – you develop a richer appreciation about, well, everything, as opposed to depending on easy answers. This is why many of us study other languages, read novels and non-fiction books about subjects outside our comfort zone, and nurture a lifelong love of learning. And it’s why, even at university, some students are being careful about how they use GenAI tools to make sure they’re developing their own knowledge and critical thinking skills.

So, as students head back to school this autumn, it’s a good time for the rest of us to explore new avenues and investigate topics we’ve found interesting but haven’t made the time to learn more about. In a world of ‘mid’, creative and well-rounded thinkers will always be able to adapt more readily, be more resilient, and be better able to stand out from the crowd.

Until next time, 

The Collective Content Team 

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Word of the Moment: Final Boss

It’s going back to midsummer that we were introduced Ibiza Final Boss by clubber Jack Kay.

We thought it worth circling back to confirm that ‘final boss’ had up until then been a gaming term, not a haircut – the foe you must face at the end of video game (or level) on the path to victory or, more often, defeat. So, we got to talking, with some affection, about the final bosses that have featured in our lives; the ones that came most easily to our minds. Andrew’s is the magician from the first edition of House of the Dead. Tony’s is Bowser from Super Mario, while Daine’s is Doctor Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot. Here they are in all their villainous glory.

What’s the video game final boss that you think of first?