We Crossed 10,000 Subscribers—Now We’re Upgrading the Newsletter
New amenities, new community perks, and what we’re building next.
We just crossed 10,000 subscribers!
In many places, a town becomes a city once it reaches 10,000 residents. In Washington, it’s considered the moment a place becomes a “first-class city”!
Crossing this threshold feels meaningful to us because this newsletter is no longer just a side project — it’s become a real community. And now that we’ve reached the size of a city, we have decided to add a number of exciting new amenities.
When we started this newsletter, the goal was not just to build an audience or share the lessons from our book. It was to build a place where we could think more clearly about some of the hardest questions in modern society:
Why are people so divided?
Why do groups cooperate well in some moments and fall apart in others?
How do identity, norms, and institutions shape the way we see the world?
What would it take to build a stronger sense of “us”?
Over time, this newsletter has become a community of people who care about those questions — people who want more than slogans, outrage, or easy answers. This feels rare in our current political and technological environment.
We are living through a period of social strain and disconnection, political division, rising incivility, institutional distrust, economic inequality, and technological upheaval. We believe these are not separate problems. They are deeply linked.
There is no shortage of pithy answers and hot takes online. What there is a shortage of is careful, evidence-based thinking about why people believe what they do, why conflict escalates, and how we can create healthier forms of collaboration and disagreement.
That is what we are trying to do here. Sometimes that means writing about polarization and misinformation. Other times it means writing about teamwork, collaboration, belonging, and leadership. Sometimes it means thinking through how new technologies like social media and AI are changing the way we think, connect, and make decisions.
If someone shared this post with you and you haven’t subscribed yet, this is a good moment to join.
Why this milestone matters
Ten thousand subscribers is not just a vanity metric. (Although we did take a few moments to celebrate when we finally crossed the threshold!) It means there is a serious audience for thoughtful writing about these issues. It means people are hungry for work that is grounded in science but written for the real world. And it means this conversation is growing. It also means our newsletter needs to evolve.
This summer, we’ll be sharing more writing and conversations on the psychology of collaboration, why incivility is rising, how identity shapes conflict, the social effects of AI, and what it takes to create healthier groups, norms, and institutions.
We also have several major media projects, public conversations, and educational resources in the pipeline, and we are looking forward to bringing the best of those ideas back here. For instance, we spent last week talking with Oprah about these issues and will give you a heads up when that conversation will come out online.
This newsletter will continue to be the place where we can go deeper, think more openly, and stay in conversation with readers who care about these questions. If you are enjoying it, please share it with others.
If you’re new here
As always, subscribers get essays on identity, conflict, cooperation, and social change, new psychology research translated into plain language, practical insights for navigating division, leadership, and collective life, and updates on our latest writing, talks, interviews, and projects. Paid subscribers get extra perks like monthly ‘office hours’ to chat on a video call with with Jay and Dom, plus entries into monthly drawings for free books from the authors we interview.
We are also going to add more engaging content, including:
An “Ask us Anything” mailbox where you can send us your questions (we will select a few and share the answers each month on our newsletter)
In person events, like the AI Doc screening we hosted in New York City last month
Free content, like the first chapter and chapter summaries from our book
Education materials, like our online syllabus, recommended readings, and videos
Virtual courses for premium subscribers, where you can watch video lectures and then join us for live group discussions
If any of this sounds useful, we’d be happy to have you join our growing community. And we want you to tell us what else you want in the comments.
We are grateful to everyone who has taken the time and effort to join us in thinking deeply about these issues. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, read, shared, replied, disagreed, forwarded an essay to a friend, or brought these ideas into your classrooms, workplaces, and conversations.
And to everyone already reading: thank you. We are very glad you’re here.
With gratitude from Jay, Dominic, & Yvonne.
Ask me Anything
We have one final monthly virtual meeting (Ask Me Anythings) for paid subscribers this spring! This is a chance for you to meet one-on-one or in small groups with Jay and Dom to talk about anything you want (e.g., our book, the topics we cover in this newsletter, our latest research, a problem you’re struggling with, or whatever else you would like). Our summer series will be announced soon.
May 9th, 2pm EST with Jay
Paid subscribers received an email from powerofusbook@gmail.com with details on how to sign up. Reply to this email with any questions you have about this, or feedback on paid subscriber offerings.
Congrats!! You all are doing great work.