No #188 | September 28, 2025

by Matthew Boyd

Good morning, welcome to the weekly Lead It Cool newsletter.

​Tough break for the Canadian Women’s Rugby team, who came sooo close to winning it all👏.

Fun fact: I’ve played exactly one game of rugby in my life, and quickly learned the hard way that a tall, lanky frame like mine is not built for the sport😂.

In this week's Lead It Cool newsletter:

• 🦸‍♂️Default to Trust
• 🤔Tit for Tat
• 📖 Reading
• 😁School Photos
• 😎Cool Links

🦸‍♂️Default to Trust

So I watched the new Superman movie this week. No spoilers here, but I’ll just say, it was actually pretty fun.

That’s a welcome shift, considering recent Superman movies have leaned into the darker/brooding side of the superhero genre.

And here’s a note to all future superhero movie directors: if you want to win fans over, just add animals. It’s basically a cheat code to make the movie more fun (please include Supercat in the next one please and thank you😼).

The movie’s overarching theme, like many previous Superman stories, comes down to trust.

Superman lives with the Truth Bias: the instinct to assume people are telling the truth until proven otherwise. It’s a mindset wired into all of us, and it makes society possible.

Imagine a world where we questioned every word, every action, every handshake? We’d grind to a halt.

Superman embodies this bias to the extreme. He defaults to trust. There’s even a moment where Lois Lane points out that it’s a flaw in his character, because sometimes, trust gets you burned. But that’s the paradox: trust is both his greatest vulnerability (other than kryptonite) and his greatest strength.

And isn’t that true for us, too?

Most of us have been burned by trusting the wrong person at some point. But the alternative, living in constant suspicion, would be far worse. Trust creates connection. Trust builds community. Trust is what allows us to move forward together.

So maybe the real superpower isn’t flying or superhuman strength, it’s the courage to keep trusting and have a little faith.

🤔Tit for Tat

Tate McRae released a new song this week called "Tit for Tat".

How do I know this? My daughter has been playing it a lot in our house.

And did you know that fans think the song might be about her recent breakup with Kid LAROI?!?!

Again, this is critical info you learn when you have an almost-teenage daughter.

"Ok Matt, where are you going with this?"

Ha!

This is a great example of how my brain works.

When I heard that the song was called "Tit for Tat" I immediately thought of this thing I read a few weeks ago about how the English language has these weird unwritten rules where things just sound better.

For example, if there are three words then the order has to go I, A, O. We never say "tat for tit" or "tock tick" or "clop clip". It just sounds weird. Here is the article below.

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📖Reading

Stumbled across this chart on social media this week and to be honest it doesn't really surprise me.

IMHO, the chart would be the exact same for adults, which is arguably part of the problem. What do you think?

😁School Photos

Why does the most basic school photo package start at $99? 😂

😎Cool Links

⛳Ryder Cup: Justin Thomas Chose Class. If you're watching the Ryder Cup this weekend then you've probably seen that the fans are being, well, a bit inappropriate. This is a good article though on how Justin Thomas (American golfer) chose to take the high road.

🎙️Brene Brown on How to Lead with Vulnerability at Work (podcast). Great interview.

🤔What Does AI-First Leadership Mean for Today's Business Leaders? “AI-first” leadership isn’t about being the most technical person in the room. It’s about being the most adaptable. It’s about integrating AI into how you think, plan, and guide others. It’s about not treating AI like a side project or a task for someone else.

💡A little further into the water. David Bowie was a wise man. "Always go a little further into the water than you feel comfortable being."

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Let’s connect! 💬 You can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter