cast | something's out there.
You have a project, a brief, a room that needs to get smart on something.
What you need isn't more research in the same direction. It's the lateral thing — the angle your team wouldn't have found, the rabbit hole worth chasing, the idea that makes someone say wait, what?
You have a project, a brief, a room that needs to get smart on something.
What you need isn't more research in the same direction. It's the lateral thing — the angle your team wouldn't have found, the rabbit hole worth chasing, the idea that makes someone say wait, what?
Most teams only have time to look where everyone else is already looking.
A Casting goes somewhere else entirely — into a library built sideways over fifteen years, across disciplines and decades and fields that have no business talking to each other. What comes back isn't a trends report. It isn't a summary of what everyone already knows.
It's the question underneath your question, named.
Eight or nine thematic angles on what your team is actually trying to figure out — each one loaded with sources, each one ending with something your room can argue with or build from.
Lateral fuel. Pre-brief provocation. The thing that changes the conversation before the work begins.
——
Casting is for the moment before the room commits to a direction — when the question is still live, the stakes are real, and there’s still time to be genuinely surprised. It works best when the brief feels thin or suspiciously certain of itself, and the team doesn’t need more of what they already know so much as something lateral to loosen the frame.
It’s especially useful when someone needs to say the thing the brief is dancing around (and you’d rather it came from the library than the loudest person in the meeting.)
Most teams only have time to look where everyone else is already looking.
A Casting goes somewhere else entirely — into a library built sideways over fifteen years, across disciplines and decades and fields that have no business talking to each other. What comes back isn't a trends report. It isn't a summary of what everyone already knows.
It's the question underneath your question, named.
Eight or nine thematic angles on what your team is actually trying to figure out — each one loaded with sources, each one ending with something your room can argue with or build from.
Lateral fuel. Pre-brief provocation. The thing that changes the conversation before the work begins.
——
Casting is for the moment before the room commits to a direction — when the question is still live, the stakes are real, and there’s still time to be genuinely surprised. It works best when the brief feels thin or suspiciously certain of itself, and the team doesn’t need more of what they already know so much as something lateral to loosen the frame
Most teams only have time to look where everyone else is already looking.
A Casting goes somewhere else entirely — into a library built sideways over fifteen years, across disciplines and decades and fields that have no business talking to each other. What comes back isn't a trends report. It isn't a summary of what everyone already knows.
It's the question underneath your question, named.
Eight or nine thematic angles on what your team is actually trying to figure out — each one loaded with sources, each one ending with something your room can argue with or build from.
Lateral fuel. Pre-brief provocation. The thing that changes the conversation before the work begins.
——
Casting is for the moment before the room commits to a direction — when the question is still live, the stakes are real, and there’s still time to be genuinely surprised. It works best when the brief feels thin or suspiciously certain of itself, and the team doesn’t need more of what they already know so much as something lateral to loosen the frame.
It’s especially useful when someone needs to say the thing the brief is dancing around (and you’d rather it came from the library than the loudest person in the meeting.)
what you receive
→ A lateral inspiration sandbox. Eight or nine thematic angles on what your team is working on — not the obvious ones. Each section named as a provocation. Multiple sources per section, drawn from across disciplines. Delivered as a private page at a bespoke URL. Permanent. Downloadable as PDF.
→ The ask under the ask. The framing names what the brief was actually circling before it opens into the reading. Teams often find this reframe alone is worth the commission.
→ A charged closing question. Not a summary — a single question for the room to sit with. The one the whole brief has been building toward.
→ Live links throughout. Every readable source links directly. The reading is immediately inhabitable — your team can start pulling threads the day it arrives.
→ A lateral inspiration sandbox. Eight or nine thematic angles on what your team is working on — not the obvious ones. Each section named as a provocation. Multiple sources per section, drawn from across disciplines. Delivered as a private page at a bespoke URL. Downloadable as PDF.
→ The ask under the ask. The framing names what the brief was actually circling before it opens into the reading. Teams often find this reframe alone is worth the commission.
→ A charged closing question. Not a summary — a single question for the room to sit with. The one the whole brief has been building toward.
→ Live links throughout. Every readable source links directly. The brief is immediately inhabitable — your team can start pulling threads the day it arrives.
→ A lateral inspiration sandbox. Eight or nine thematic angles on what your team is working on — not the obvious ones. Each section named as a provocation. Multiple sources per section, drawn from across disciplines. Delivered as a private page at a bespoke URL. Downloadable as PDF.
→ The ask under the ask. The framing names what the brief was actually circling before it opens into the reading. Teams often find this reframe alone is worth the commission.
→ A charged closing question. Not a summary — a single question for the room to sit with. The one the whole brief has been building toward.
→ Live links throughout. Every readable source links directly. The reading is immediately inhabitable — your team can start pulling threads the day it arrives.
Not a better answer.
A more alive question.
Not a better answer.
A more alive question.
how to commission a reading
how to commission a reading
01_Leave a voicemail. Tell the practitioner about the project — and then tell her what your team would chase if they had two weeks and no deliverable. The rabbit holes. The tangents. The angle that keeps coming up in conversation that nobody's had time to actually pursue. Written briefs tell you where to look. The voicemail tells her what you're actually hungry for.
02_The practitioner goes looking. She listens for the question underneath the stated brief, then goes into the library sideways — not toward the center of your category but around it, under it, into the fields that rhyme with your problem without being your problem. She's looking for the angle your team wouldn't have found with more time in the same direction.
03_The brief arrives. Within one week, your private URL lands in your inbox. Share it with the room, pull it up in the meeting, send it ahead of the session. The live links mean your team can start pulling threads immediately. The PDF means it travels.
01_Leave a voicemail. Tell the practitioner about the project — and then tell her what your team would chase if they had two weeks and no deliverable. The rabbit holes. The tangents. The angle that keeps coming up in conversation that nobody's had time to actually pursue. Written briefs tell you where to look. The voicemail tells her what you're actually hungry for.
02_The practitioner goes looking. She listens for the question underneath the stated brief, then goes into the library sideways — not toward the center of your category but around it, under it, into the fields that rhyme with your problem without being your problem. She's looking for the angle your team wouldn't have found with more time in the same direction.
03_The brief arrives. Within one week, your private URL lands in your inbox. Share it with the room, pull it up in the meeting, send it ahead of the session. The live links mean your team can start pulling threads immediately. The PDF means it travels.
01_Leave a voicemail. Tell the practitioner about the project — and then tell her what your team would chase if they had two weeks and no deliverable. The rabbit holes. The tangents. The angle that keeps coming up in conversation that nobody's had time to actually pursue. Written briefs tell you where to look. The voicemail tells her what you're actually hungry for.
02_The practitioner goes looking. She listens for the question underneath the stated brief, then goes into the library sideways — not toward the center of your category but around it, under it, into the fields that rhyme with your problem without being your problem. She's looking for the angle your team wouldn't have found with more time in the same direction.
03_The reading arrives. Within one week, your private URL lands in your inbox. Share it with the room, pull it up in the meeting, send it ahead of the session. The live links mean your team can start pulling threads immediately. The PDF means it travels.
$3500
the brief.
the reading.
→ Lateral inspiration brief within one week.
→ Permanent URL, downloadable PDF.
*48-hour rush delivery available for $500 additional
→ Lateral inspiration brief within one week.
→ Permanent URL, downloadable PDF.
*48-hour rush delivery available for $500 additional
→ Lateral inspiration reading within one week.
→ Permanent URL, downloadable PDF.
*48-hour rush delivery available for $500 additional
the brief + the provocation.
the brief + the provocation.
$4500
→ Lateral inspiration brief within one week.
→ Permanent URL, downloadable PDF.
→ 60 minute virtual provocation session to help team
process and progress inspiration brief.
Teams who commission regularly can ask about retainer arrangements — a hard cap of four to six spots, scoped for ongoing ignition work. Reach out to discuss.