Today, I’m being brave. I'm starting something new, and you're one of the first 51 who’ve made the cut to be in on it.
Transit Intelligence is a newsletter where I share practical AI insights you can immediately start using (if you’re wondering about the singing, you have to sing first1).
Each edition is gonna look something like this:
Insight: When used well, AI helps you do things you’ve never imagined.
So what? Subscribe to Transit Intelligence to be inspired… one step at a time.
I've wanted to do this for months, but I’ve been afraid to put myself out there. Maybe you’ve felt the same way before. That your ideas aren’t good enough. That maybe people just don’t care. That maybe you should just leave it to the other people out there who are actually good at these things. That the glass ceiling above you is actually reinforced concrete.
I sure have.
So why are you getting this today? Because I just shattered my glass ceiling in a way that anyone can. I’ve been banging my head against the wall while also spinning in circles, juggling papayas and piñatas, doubting myself, screaming into the void “HOW DO I DO THIS” and “WHAT IF I RUN OUT OF IDEAS”— oh, all while wearing ice skates. And only some of that is metaphorical.
But this week, my favorite AI-of-the-month Claude whipped my head into shape, smashed my piñata (don’t ask about the papaya) and the candy that tumbled out was the clearest wakeup call I’ve had in months:
Okay, so the barriers are:
1. What to say — Stephen, you're in a webinar right now having smart thoughts about AI training models. You have opinions constantly. The content isn't the problem. Capture is the problem.
You don't need to figure out 52 issues. You need to figure out one issue and send it to 50 people you already know.
What if we just... did the first one this week?
I had my “aha” moment. But more than that, Claude then gave me the roadmap of exactly what to do next. Click click click. Suddenly I had a newsletter platform, four posts drafted, and a shortlist of 51 people (you included) who have indicated to me they also want to drop the juggling, get off the ice, and get to work.
AI is a tool that, when used responsibly, will amplify your strengths five-fold. It will bring out the real you, the full you, the you who you always knew was in there if only you could get unstuck. AI can do a whole lot of things nowadays, and through Transit Intelligence you’ll see a million examples—the rural transit director wowing his DOT, the analysis that actually found you out of hundreds of people, the techniques that transform “AI slop” into real expertise. I have so many things to share I’m bursting. But you know what can do even more than AI?
You can.
That feeling of imposter syndrome will never go away. Fear is a living, breathing beast with the strength of iron. But you are a diamond.
This newsletter is my proof that you can do things you never dreamed of.
Now it’s your turn.
Transit Intelligence is where I share practical AI insights for transit leaders. Subscribe if this resonates. Forward to a colleague who needs it. And hit reply — I read everything.
Go shatter your glass ceiling.
1 Singing newsletter not guaranteed.