Analog wisdom for a digital world.
Kenzie Notes is a weekly letter about systems, leadership, creativity, and the skills that actually matter. Written by Kelsey Ruger.
Join readers from around the world · Weekly on Wednesdays
What you'll get
One thoughtful essay per week
Not a link roundup. Not a listicle. A single idea, explored properly.
No fluff, no hustle culture
Written like a person talking, not a brand performing. Honest, warm, occasionally funny.
Bridges multiple disciplines
Systems thinking meets leadership meets creativity meets technology. The interesting stuff lives in the overlaps.
What readers say
The best part of Kelsey's newsletter is that it turns lived experiences into lessons you can actually use. It mixes tactical advice, everything from people management to difficult scenarios, with frameworks that make it easy to apply. It's actionable and grounded in real world experience.
Sarang
Director, Product Management
Kelsey has a way of walking you through leadership problems so creatively and thoroughly that by the end, you already know how to solve your own. His approach to humanizing automation completely changed how I show up every single day. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, what your title is, or how many years you have under your belt. You're going to leave with something real. His leadership has been one of the most formative parts of my career.
Jillian B.
Director, Strategy & Business Operations
Kenzie Notes is a rare thing: a newsletter that is both thoughtful and immediately actionable. You will find yourself not just reading Kenzie Notes. You'll save it, share it and revisit it often. The stories and insights stick. And the 'old school' in me keeps thinking how great it would be if the best of it lived in a moleskine I could carry around with me.
Sean
Communications Executive
There are a lot of leadership newsletters. I don't read most of them. I read Kenzie Notes. It consistently makes me pause and zoom out to look at the system, not just the surface-level problem. A few essays have genuinely shifted how I make decisions and how I structure work so it actually works. I've referenced multiple pieces while thinking through program design because the ideas actually stick. It doesn't feel performative or overly intellectual. It feels grounded. Clear. Like someone who has done the work and is still doing it, and is generous enough to share what they're learning in real time.
Latoya
Executive Director