10+ Essential Newsletters you should read

One of the exciting development of recent years is the appearance of several truly high-quality newsletters. Instead of just providing a digest of existing content, many writers give truly original content periodically, often providing curated content and links, and leading a discussion with readers. Several platforms (such as Substack and Revue) help writers truly focus on content, and a few of these also deserve a subscription, for the high quality of content they provide. Lately, also Linkedin has started rolling out a Newsletter functionality, although so far, I have seen many being a bit too commercial. Following this trend, I’ve also recently entirely revamped my newsletter. Every week, besides a round-up of my recent posts, I publish an exclusive piece of content, linked to a discussion or a topic “hot” from the week, and a curated list of posts from other sources of the web that I find useful and intriguing. Plus, I’ve added a “fun section” with a cartoon or an image to enlighten the spirit. Please subscribe if you have not yet done so.

In any case, following the spirit of my “Essentials” posts of blogs I follow, I wanted to share the newsletter I am following and find more interesting. There are, for sure many more out there, and this list probably will say something about my “eclectic taste” as you will see, these are not solely focused on one topic.

As you pile up newsletters subscriptions, it might be useful to consider a specialized app to keep track of them. For example, Stoop and Inspiratio are two possibilities, although there are more coming out on the market (like FlowBox, which promises to summarize your newsletters). But let’s start with the list of Essential Newsletters. This time I have added a “rating,” and they are ordered by it. The rating states how often I read the newsletter in its entirety. I know not very scientific, but it should give you an overview of the “level of interest” that the newsletter provides me. Here a quick guideline on the ratings:

• Always read thoroughly (5 / 5)
• Read thoroughly almost every time (4.5 / 5)
• I open it every time and browse it, and read the most exciting parts (4 / 5)
• I open it most of the times to look for interesting content (3 / 5)
• Well, let’s skip the twos and ones for now:-)

I hope you enjoy this list of Essential Newsletters, and feel free to suggest other newsletters I should consider.

Exponential View (5 / 5)

Exponential View is the newsletter by Azeem Azhar, which has some free content and some paid subscription. The newsletter is an excellent insight into technology and human development, with a thorough understanding of future trends’ weak signals. A must-read, with a specific section every week on Global Warming, and often a leading Friday Discussion forum among the newsletter subscribers.

Benedict Evans Newsletter (5 / 5)

Benedict Evans is probably one of the best analysts on technology trends, and his essays and yearly presentations are a “must-read.” His newsletter, available both in a premium and a free version, is a trove of treasures, both in terms of new analysis and content curation. A must-read if you are interested in trends around technology and their impacts on humans.

a16z newsletter (5 / 5)

a16z newsletter is issued weekly by Andreessen Horowitz and brings periodic updates on the Venture Capital firm’s content established in Silicon Valley by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The newsletter often gets exclusive views on the world of technology, from a highly unique perspective, with genuinely “top-notch” content in many ways.

Katrina’s Letter Of The Week (4.5 / 5)

Katrina’s Letter Of The Week is effectively a letter that Katrina Kibben writes every week “about anything. My goal is just to make you think.” Katrina is a copywriter for HR and an expert in recruiting. She has a very diverse experience, and her newsletter truly brings up always an interesting perspective.

Laetitia@Work (4.5 / 5)

Laetitia@Work is the English newsletter of Laëtitia Vitaud, an expert in Future of Work. She writes out of France, and has often a very unique point of view on future trends at work.

The Range Report Newsletter (4.5 / 5)

The Range Report Newsletter is issued regularly by David Epstein, author of  Range: why generalist triumph in a specialized world, a book that I have highly appreciated. Although sometimes promotional, the newsletter brings about some exciting content on the topics touched by the book and on some collaterals.

EmpiricalHR (4 / 5)

EmpiricalHR – data-driven employee decision is a newsletter issued by Andrew Marritt, founder of OrganizationView, a firm specialized in People Analytics. I’ve subscribed only recently, but have browsed through the past issues, and the content seems truly interesting, with much exciting analysis on current people trends. Particularly interesting their work on Remote Work and current perception by workers.

Friday Forward (4 / 5)

Friday Forward is the weekly newsletter of Robert Glazer, Founder & CEO of Acceleration Partners. Born as a weekly internal motivational newsletter for his team, it has quickly become one of the most followed newsletters in the business world. With a high personal touch, the author picks every week a topic and provides food for thought (together with a smart quote). A great read.

OrgDev (4 / 5)

OrgDev is a newsletter focused on Organisation Design and Development. Every Thursday, Raluca and Bülent Duagi provide an interesting piece on an Organisation Design topic and a curated section on the web’s resources.

Reshaped (4 / 5)

Reshaped is a free weekly newsletter issued by Federico Cuppoloni, which focuses “on the social and economic factors that are driving the huge transformations of our time. “Besides the curation of external content, Federico provides every week with a high-quality essay on some exciting topics that sit between economics and other development trends.

Sociology of Business (4 / 5)

The Sociology of Business is a weekly newsletter edited weekly by Ana Andjelic. It focuses on analyzing consumer value changes and how to transform brand communication, strategy and execution, and business growth.

Alex Danco’s Newsletter (3 / 5)

Alex Danco’s Newsletter is all about innovation trends. Every Sunday, a new piece will analyze one current trend affecting innovation through essay-long articles that bring a lot of content and inspiration (and some period more than one issue).

Scott Dust Newsletter (3 / 5)

Scott Dust Newsletter Resources for Human Capital Enthusiasts is a semi-monthly newsletter focused on evidence-based insights on Human Capital. Despite its academic background, Scott Dust provides a pragmatic view of some fascinating topics and highly curated references to current research.

Monday Musing (3 / 5)

Monday Musing is the weekly newsletter of David Perell, a young digital writer, who is the author of an online digital writing class: Write of Passage. His newsletter provides much different content, spanning the diverse realm of interests, and his curated section always brings up some surprises.

gapingvoid newsletter (3 / 5)

The gapingvoid newsletter issued by the gapingvoid Culture Design Group brings every week a quick update on the current content published by this consulting company specializing in corporate culture change and leadership and some curated content. But what I love the most is the continuous output of excellent inspirational illustrations that excellently highlight one element of a culture or one workplace issue.

Any Essential Newsletter I am missing?

If you feel I should subscribe to another newsletter or have any feedback on the ones I suggested, please add your suggestion and feedback in the comments section.

Cover Photo by Yannik Mika on Unsplash