I am turning 34 tomorrow! Thank you in advance for the birthday wishes. 😉

Looking back, the last three years have taught me more than the previous thirty combined. While my foundations were important, real-world exposure changed everything. I’ve spent that time learning out loud with you here, on LinkedIn, and on YouTube.

But today, I want to be transparent with you about why I do this and where I got it wrong.

I started this journey because of real problems. I had questions about sustainability that I couldn't find answers to, so I started researching and answering them online. Back then, it wasn't about the numbers. I used to get three likes: one from my wife ❤ , one from my brother, and one from a friend I’d personally nagged to read it.

But during the past year, I’ll be honest: I lost my way. I became so focused on myself that I forgot the "why" behind this newsletter. I fell into the social media trap, focusing on the "post" more than the "purpose." I chased quantity over quality. I focused on selling and marketing courses rather than answering the questions that actually matter. It was consuming, tiring, and ultimately, it felt like doing more while achieving less.

This year, I am returning to what matters. I am returning to the pain points.

I am researching the hard questions and sharing the journey. As I do this, some of you will find it irrelevant and leave. In fact, my unsubscribe rate is higher than ever right now and I’m okay with that. It means the people who stay are the ones truly invested, engaging, and communicating.

I am moving toward a community, not just a newsletter.

I want you to be a genuine part of this. I want to know what you like, what you dislike, and what challenges you are facing in your career. However, I am setting a very clear boundary on our focus:

AI is fundamentally changing the job market and how we perform our roles. I am convinced that if we don’t learn to bridge these two worlds now, we will fall behind. I am currently learning and applying AI to my own work in real-time. I will be sharing my wins, my failures, and my methods here and on my YouTube channel.

If you want to join this specific journey, I’d love to have you here. If not, I truly don't mind if you hit unsubscribe. I want this space to be for those who genuinely care about the future of AI and sustainability and want to apply AI to work.

If you are part of that group, I have one birthday request: Subscribe to my YouTube channel. Seeing you there would be the best gift I could ask for as I start this 34th year.

You might wonder why I’m sharing a lecture from my ESG Masterclass right after telling you I’m focusing on AI.

It’s simple: You cannot optimize what you do not understand. To use AI effectively in sustainability, you first have to understand the core mechanics of how corporate sustainability actually works. You need to know what a Sustainability Manager does in their day-to-day life before you can use AI to multiply their impact.

The Masterclass is the "pure" foundation. It’s the "what" and the "how." Moving forward, we will take these exact lessons and layer AI on top of them to enhance and automate the work.

In this week's video, I’m diving into the third lesson of the series. I’ve moved away from "promoting" the course as a product and instead, I'm sharing the knowledge freely because I want us to solve these problems together.

This is a must-watch if you want to understand:

If you missed the beginning of the journey, you can [start from Lecture 1 here].

As I mentioned, I am turning this into a community. I want to hear from you:

I’ll be reading every response as I celebrate my 34th year.

Best,

Zyad Hatquai