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Top of Mind Thursday – September 1, 2022: North of the Border
This week, I’m visiting friends on an island near Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
So many things in Canada are similar to the US. Canadians really are more friendly and more polite than Americans. In this part of Canada, everyone speaks English (with different spellings and phrasings), but measurements are in kilometers and centigrade, vs. miles and Fahrenheit.
Many of the key issues don’t change when you cross the border: The consequences of climate change, drought, and fire danger. Managing COVID and avoiding infection. Concerns with inflation, the war in Ukraine, and other global issues.
Yet some American issues don’t really exist here. There’s virtually no gun violence on this side of the border. Health care is nationalized, which means no one dies in Canada because they can’t afford a vial of insulin. And the transition of power from one government to the next doesn’t include storming a government building or trying to invalidate the results of fairly held elections.
Is the Canadian system perfect? Definitely not. There is only a fraction of the number of people living on this side of the border, compared to the US, so not everything done here could ever be replicated in the US.
But are there things we can learn from our closest neighbor? Absolutely. The first step to implementing successful change is acknowledging that change is needed. Once that happens, all kinds of possibilities can open up, eh?
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Posted in News and Updates, Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged Canada, New Perspective, Travel
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Top of Mind Thursday – August 25, 2022: There’s an App for that!
I’ve seen a lot of ads lately for new apps that help treat depression, improve your mental health, and prescribe you the medications you need to thrive (or treat sexual dysfunction).
Sounds terrific. Except when it doesn’t work, the consequences can be dire.
Take Cerebral, an app that offers “offers online psychiatric and therapeutic help for anxiety, depression, insomnia, ADHD & more…without leaving the comfort of your home.”
The problem is Cerebral has been prescribing controlled substances to thousands of people–through the app. What could possibly go wrong with that? Yep. The Dept. of Justice is investigating the company for incorrectly prescribing controlled substances and oversubscribing other medications.
Then there are the mental health apps that promise to offer you a cheap, easy way to get therapy without bothering to engage a therapist. Check the warning on these ads–they note that if you are suffering a serious mental health crisis, contact a professional.
Just like in any other field, there are therapists that are great, some that are mediocre, and some you want to avoid at all costs. But even those at the bottom of the list have professional training. They can refer you to other resources should you require additional help.
Apps to help you lose weight, exercise, learn a language, develop a new skill, etc. may all be helpful. But if they don’t work, you won’t find yourself in a serious health crisis or with a potential addiction problem.
Would you trust an app that tells you how to remove your own appendix? I didn’t think so. Let’s hope we don’t see an app for that in the future.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
Posted in News and Updates, Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged app, mental health, technology
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Top of Mind Thursday – August 18, 2022: Simply Wrong
Last week, I got sick while traveling. All the signs pointed to COVID: fever, body aches, fatigue, etc. Seemed like this was a slam-dunk. I even had the Paxlovid all queued up and ready to go.
Except it wasn’t. Five COVID tests (including 2 PCRs!) were all negative, as were a series of other tests. Yet, I still had double pneumonia and a fever that wouldn’t quit. Finally, late yesterday, the combination of drugs, supplements, and other treatments kicked in, the fever broke, and I’m on the way to recovery.
Here’s the thing: Everyone I talked to was pulled to what seemed the most obvious cause–and that was wrong.
Often, it makes sense to go with the simplest explanation. But sometimes what seems to be the obvious answer isn’t. It’s human nature to try and put things in categories, give unknowns a name, reduce the number of possible causes. While that works some of the time, sometimes we need to dig deeper to figure out what’s really happening.
Occam’s Razor says the simplest solution is usually correct. But sometimes that Razor ain’t so sharp.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Posted in News and Updates, Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged COVID, COVID-19, health and wellness, human nature
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Top of Mind Thursday – August 11, 2022: The Best Laid Plans
On Tuesday, I flew across the country to attend the wedding of a close family friend.
But yesterday, I started feeling unwell. By today, I had a full-fledged fever to go with body achiness. I’ve tested negative for COVID twice, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t COVID–we just don’t know yet.
Here’s the thing: I’ve stayed ultra-cautious for 2.5 years. It’s not clear where I could have picked this up. I stay masked whenever I’m out among people, and I was masked through the flight and in the airports on either end. Still, my seatmate on the flight wasn’t masked. The flight attendants weren’t masked. The chiropractor I saw on the weekend wasn’t masked either.
With four shots of vaccine, if this is COVID, it should be mild. But it’s still not going to be a lot of fun. The current variant does not seem to be susceptible to the vaccines, and it’s highly contagious. At the same time, today, the CDC lifted many of its recommendations for isolating with COVID.
Why? Because the public is tired of the virus. We’re tired of having to adjust our lives for this virus. We’re tired of not being able to control where we can go, who we can see, what we can do, etc. We don’t want to listen to the medical providers or government agencies because we don’t like what they’re telling us.
But just because we’re done with the virus doesn’t mean the virus is done with us. And deciding something’s no longer important or relevant doesn’t mean it goes away.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Posted in News and Updates, Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged COVID, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, global pandemic, pandemic
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