Think for yourself.
Live on your own terms.
Essays on power, systems, and change.
Tools and training to live and lead with conviction.
You’re not lazy. You’re not unfocused. And you’re definitely not stupid.
But it is getting harder to think clearly, make decisions you trust, and hold a thought long enough to do something meaningful with it.
The way I see it, you've got two options here.
- Let your overwhelm and insecurity take the wheel. Check your ideas and options before you do anything. Shrink. Outsource your workflows, do what you can to toe the line and keep your job. Do what everyone else is doing, for fear of missing out.
- Double down on independent thought. Stake a claim on your cognitive sovereignty. Ask tricky questions, dig a layer deeper and build more confidence in yourself and your judgement than ever before. Take risks. Live a life you're proud of.
If option one works for you: close the tab.
If not, you're in the right place.
Welcome to your life of the mind
Crazy idea: It's time for a Second Enlightenment. A New Renaissance. A moment for bold thinkers, weird art, and stories that grab you by the guts. An opportunity to raise your eyebrow to lazy narratives about how dumb and incapable we are and ask: Really? Who benefits from that story?
In 2026, you can commit to a life of the mind. Isn't that grand? A life powered by your wonderful, brilliant, independent mind.
I made this space for you
I write for overworked, distracted people to reclaim our thinking, live deliberately, and navigate this wild life with confidence and agency.
This is where smart, curious thinkers come to get no-bullshit insight and jolts of reality. Leaders and decision-makers subscribe here because they're hungry for more depth and don't mind a cheeky challenge.
My work is for you if:
- You’re smart, capable, and feel the systems around you aren't firing right.
- You're sick of living and leading under constraints or on autopilot.
- You care about power, equity, and fairness. You want your life and work to mean something.
- You want a deeper, richer, intellectual life that stretches and tests you.
- You're over shallow social media, clickbait, and performative productivity.
What you'll find here
Deep thinking
Feature essays on power, systems, culture, media, and technology.
Insightful prompts
Weekly posts to challenge your thinking (and make you laugh).
Practical toolkits
Tools, frameworks, and resources to help you take aligned action.
Personal and professional development
Workshops, events, and behind-the-scenes insights into building a creative life.
Who the hell am I?
I'm Alicia McKay, a writer and speaker from Aotearoa New Zealand. I write essays, newsletters, and books, create tools and guides, run workshops, and speak at events.
I make sense of the systems we live in and the stories we tell, exploring things like power, change, class, ambition, media, identity, technology, and culture. There are no sacred cows.
My writing is like me: Funny, but spiky. Firm, but loving. Not for everyone. A bit sweary. No buzzwords. No bullshit.
Why listen to me?
I'm not an ivory tower theorist - my dreams of academia were scuppered by mouths to feed. I'm an entrepreneur and practitioner who understands power and systems from four key lenses:
- Cog in the wheel. I was shaped by powerful social systems. I grew up working-class, spent my teen years in foster care, and became a Mum at 16.
- Trusted advisor. I started a consulting business in my 20s and I've spent over 15 years with politicians and CEOs, trained thousands of leaders on strategy and change, spoken on stages around the world, and written three business books.
- Quizzical observer. I'm a political science major, philosophy nerd, systems thinking buff, and lifelong learner. I read over 120 books a year.
- Challenger. I write and speak to help others see clearly and think for themselves. I ask things like: Who makes the big decisions? How? Who benefits from that? Why are we the way we are? How can we change things?
Why subscribe
I have no interest in giving you more content to scroll or more emails to archive. I’m here to help you think and live differently.
Subscribe if you want to:
- Have more trust and confidence in your judgement and choices.
- Cut through the noise and spot the invisible systems shaping your life.
- Think for yourself and reject common sense and narrative capture.
- Access tools and frameworks to help you live according to your values.
- Join a thinking community with tens of thousands of serious readers.
Start here
Six essays to sharpen your thinking today.
- 2026: The State of It. Three trends to watch and three skills to master.
- Opinions are like assholes: An enema for your thoughts.
- From custom to conscience: Calling bullshit on old thinking.
- What the AI bros won't tell you: Better conversations for boring conferences.
- Poppy loppers: Why Kiwis snark at success.
- Scrolling is the new smoking: How Big Tech copied tobacco's playbook.