How Analogue Anticipation Can Change Everything

The First Rule of Fax Club… 📠

At the end of 2023, I said "Yes!" to a very strange invitation.

I bought a fax machine.

I waited in anticipation for January. I was genuinely excited.

For 52 weeks, every Friday, we received a fax—each one containing a question we had to answer online in a counterintuitive and anonymous way.

We each chose a number as our identity and shared our unfiltered thinking in a truly safe and free space. Over time, we also began interacting with each other.

💡 So simple, yet so profound.

💡 Participation Creates Exclusivity
At the start, there were over 100 of us. But only those who showed up every single week stayed in.

Last Friday, 30 of us gathered in London for the first time in person. It was the most exclusive, inclusive club—one you couldn’t buy your way into. The only price of entry? Commitment.

And that’s rare. In a world full of memberships, networking groups, and pay-to-play communities, showing up consistently is what truly set us apart.

🧠 Why Is Counterintuitive Thinking Important?
If we don’t actively keep our nuanced and diverse ways of thinking alive, the online world will become increasingly predictable and average.
This is exactly the kind of space that acts as a balm against that.

Through this experience, we rediscovered something deeply valuable:
⏳ The power of anticipation. Unlike bingeing online content for instant gratification, we had to wait for the next fax to arrive. The delay made the ideas sink in deeper.
📞 Reacquainting with the analogue world. We dusted off landlines and interacted in a way that felt nostalgic yet fresh.
🔒 True psychological safety. Without social media’s performative pressure, we shared thoughts with authenticity, vulnerability, and coherence.

When the invitation for an in-person gathering landed in my inbox, I didn’t hesitate. I booked a flight from Lisbon to London without overthinking. It wasn’t logical—it just felt right.

And when we arrived, it was magic. A safe, generative space where we could truly connect.

🤝 Organising vs Leading—A New Way of Working
We are now in an ongoing experiment. There’s no leader. We are self-organising.

Smaller subgroups are forming, working together in a counterintuitive way. We’re exploring what we can create together—not through hierarchy, but through collective intelligence.

As patterns emerge I will share them.

🔥 How Will This Spread?
Will this movement evolve like a starfish—a decentralised, resilient system?
Will it grow like Wikipedia, powered by a community of contributors?

Or will it take on the structure of a 12-step programme, supporting transformation on a personal and collective level?

One thing is clear: this model is open-source.

If you want to start your own hashtag#ExclusiveInclusive club, take these ideas and make them your own. 🚀

This is just the beginning. Watch this space.

Thank you Claire Perry-Louise, David Hieatt and The DO Lectures for creating and holding space for this project!