The Satisfaction of Relevance

The best discoveries feel both fresh and familiar — like puzzle pieces finally clicking into place. That’s the quiet satisfaction of relevance.

You’ve probably had someone send you a song, a book, a podcast, a film or even introduce you to a person with the words, “You’re going to love this.” And somehow, you do.

That’s not just because it matches your taste, but because it fits your timing. It meets your moment. It’s what happens when someone knows not just what you like, but what you’re ready for.

That’s the essence of storytelling, leadership, and communication that lands: knowing what comes next.

Curation is How We Make Meaning

In my TEDx talk, I shared three essential skills for the 21st century: vet, synthesize, and curate — skills I revisited in The Three Skills That Still Matter Most. Curation is the one that turns knowledge into connection.

It’s not about collecting — it’s about choosing - knowing which ideas, stories, or signals belong together and in what order. It’s the skill of sequencing meaning. When someone says, “You need to hear this,” and they’re right, they’ve curated for you. They’ve translated abundance into relevance. They’ve found the next right note. 

That’s not prediction. That’s intuition.

The Storyteller’s Instinct

Every great storyteller is a curator. They don’t just know what to say — they know when. They feel when to pause, when to hold back, and when to hit the next beat. It’s the rhythm that keeps people with you.

A good story feels inevitable in hindsight. Each moment builds precisely on what came before. Even when it surprises you, it feels right — as if it couldn’t have unfolded any other way. That’s relevance in motion: a continuous act of curation, moment by moment, choice by choice.

Knowing What Song Comes Next

Think of a great DJ. They don’t just play hits; they read the room. They sense the energy, the emotion, the tempo that  carries the crowd forward. They’re not just playing music — they’re designing experience.

That’s what great storytellers and great leaders do.  They know the next song. They’re not trying to impress; they’re trying to connect.

The same applies to leaders, teachers, and mentors. Your job isn’t to dump everything you know. It’s to recognize what the other person is ready to absorb, process, and apply. That’s what makes your guidance stick.

How Businesses Can Come Close

So how can organizations — with all their systems, data, and technology — come close to that kind of intuitive timing?

The smartest ones don’t try to automate it. They use technology to surface possibilities rather than make decisions for them. AI can help you read the room, but it can’t feel it. 

Knowing what fits still depends on awareness, empathy, and timing — the human ingredients of intuition. Relevance isn’t declared by the sender; it’s felt by the receiver. 

The real opportunity lies in pairing scale with sense. Technology can handle the mechanics — tracking signals, identifying patterns, surfacing trends — while people focus on meaning. The goal isn’t to remove the human layer but to give it more room to operate: to listen, interpret, and decide what comes next.

When that balance right, technology becomes a tool for context rather than control. It helps people tune in, not tune out. And that’s where relevance begins — in the shared space between what’s knowable and what’s felt.

The Surprise Of Relevance

Relevance feels like surprise – something new that somehow fits so perfectly that it feels familiar. It’s the moment when our expectations and curiosity meet — when the next note feels both unexpected and right.

I think of it as narrative resonance — that instant when a new idea harmonizes with the story you’re already living and something clicks into place. It’s what makes a great story satisfying, an  idea memorable, and a connection meaningful.

It echoes what I wrote in What Cuts Through the Noise: clarity and resonance are what make ideas stick, but relevance is what makes them land in the first place.

The best storytellers, teachers, and leaders don’t just inform; they reveal what their audience was ready to understand all along.

The Art of Listening Ahead

At its core, curation is empathy in action. It’s listening forward — sensing the next question before it’s asked, the next scene before it’s written. The ability to anticipate what people might need next is what makes a great editor invaluable, a great teacher unforgettable, and a great colleague irreplaceable.

In a world overflowing with signals, stories, and content, technology can help us listen at scale. But the act of interpreting what we hear — deciding what truly matters — still depends on people. Relevance isn’t the product of data; it’s the outcome of discernment. It’s the difference between knowing something and understanding it.

When we listen ahead, we create space for relevance to emerge naturally. It’s not forced or fabricated; it’s the result of attention, empathy, and timing converging in the right moment.

Berkson’s Bits

There’s always someone more talented, more polished, more connected. 
The only thing you can really control is how well you remember who YOU are.

What Am I Listening To…

The leaves are showing off their fall colors in NYC, and Autumn by Couch is playing in my head.

The satisfaction of relevance isn’t prediction — it’s intuition. It’s the quiet sense that tells you what someone needs to hear next, even if they don’t know it yet. Technology can reveal the moment, but it still takes people to understand it.

When you share the right thing at the right time, it feels like magic. But it isn’t. It’s what happens when listening turns into understanding. Relevance isn’t coincidence. It’s intuition, applied with care, and now, amplified by the tools that help us listen better.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how we stay human while learning to work alongside machines that are getting better at sounding like us. I don’t think technology replaces intuition; I think it tests it — reminding us that what truly connects isn’t what we know, but what we notice.

So here’s my question for you: 

When was the last time someone shared something with you that landed perfectly — not because it was clever, but because it was right on time?

I’d love to hear about it.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation...

Alan