Being an idea leader is a great way to effect change at work. Even if you don’t have “Manager” in your title, fresh thinking gets your boss’s attention, increases the likelihood of a future promo, and may just lead you to invent the next Uncrustables.

To be an idea leader who promotes creativity above your pay grade, try to:

Make space for new ideas. When a coworker has a new idea they want to run with, chances are they won’t be able to drop all the other things on their plate. Even if you’re not responsible for someone’s workload, you can help them explore their innovative idea.

• Offer to be a sounding board as they work through things, and provide other resources like networking & even subscription log-ins to the extent you’ve got ’em.
• Clear a path by helping protect their time. Nudge your boss to re-prioritize, prevent another dumb meeting from getting added to the cal, or, if you’re feeling really generous, ask which admin tasks you can pick up for them.

Get out of the office. And we’re not just talking about a walk around the block. Take a look at Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver at 3M. Silver had invented an adhesive that didn’t leave a sticky film behind, but the company didn’t have any use for it. Five years later, Fry’s frustration boiled over in his church choir—his paper bookmarks were constantly falling out. He happened to remember Silver’s invention and voila: The Post-it was born.

• Go to a sports game, get drinks with a coworker, pick up a hobby—just keep an eye out for ideas lurking in these new places.
• And don’t forget to write down what you find out. You never know when that calligraphy class is going to revolutionize how we use computers.

You didn’t hear it from us, but our favorite tip for thinking creatively is a 15-minute nap between meetings.—CS

Last week, Slack announced it’s entering the ChatGPT mosh pit—bringing AI tools into its software so that you can draft replies faster and get summaries of long threads, for example.

But we’re still skeptical about how this new AI assistant will react when it experiences the frothy rage of the #dogs channel when someone posts a cat pic. So we compiled five ways to actually optimize your Slack game at work (ranked by ski-slope level of expertise).

🟢 To create a new line in your message instead of accidentally sending it too soon:

• Shift + Return [Mac] or Shift + Enter [PC]

🟢 To open a Zoom room for people in a channel:

• /Zoom [make sure that you have Zoom installed in Slack]

🟦 To hyperlink:

• For all the times you’ve tried to hyperlink with the usual Ctrl + K, just highlight the text and Ctrl + V the URL you’ve copied [Command + V for Macs]

🟦 To mark a message as unread after you’ve read it: This is for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with an issue but can’t resist clicking into a notification.

• Press Option [Mac] or Alt [PC] while clicking on a specific message
• And when you’re done procrastinating, pressing Esc marks messages in your current channel as “read”

To handpick your top three emojis when you hover over a message:

• Click your icon in the upper right-hand corner and choose Preferences
• Then click “Messages & media” and scroll to the emoji section, where you can customize to your heart’s content (our favorites are )

And when words can’t describe your emotional state at work, be the millennial you were born to be and use /giphy to express your feelings.

Dive deeper: Load up on more shortcuts for Slack, Notion, and Google Suite.

Predicting what’s going to happen in your biz with 100% certainty is nearly impossible, unless you’re a special guest on That’s So Raven.

While we don’t have a perfect crystal ball, the Brew’s Financial Forecasting course is the next best option. Join our most popular one-week virtual Sprint that will teach you everything you need to know about projecting your finances, communicating your strategy, and preparing for upcoming quarters.

It starts on Monday, so register today.

Branding is tough, but some orgs get it right and stick in your head more than a Katy Perry song. If you still remember singing 877-CASH-NOW, this one’s for you.

See if you can identify these companies based on their slogans.

The answers are at the end of the newsletter. Guessed them all? You win the satisfaction of knowing you watched too much TV as a kid.

• It’s finger lickin’ good
• When it rains, it pours
• Because you’re worth it
• Off the wall
• THINK
• Think different

Being a mentor isn’t just saying pithy business phrases to Liz Lemon. NPR’s Life Kit dives into the nuances of sharing your advice, like time commitments and why it’s important to be clear AF.

What if we told you that you’re a “cubicle cat”? Turns out, all those BuzzFeed quizzes you took instead of studying for finals are actually helpful workplace info. The NY Times answers the $2b question of who you are at work—plus there’s a quiz to take.

Our leadership crush is in the building: Sallie Krawcheck, founder and CEO of Ellevest, is dishing out leadership deets in a free, virtual event hosted by Morning Brew Learning on Tuesday, March 21, at 12pm ET. Register here.