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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – November 21, 2024: Actions Have Consequences
This morning, Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration for the position of  Attorney General in the next administration.
Gaetz was probably the most contentious cabinet choice released so far by the incoming Trump administration. He had been under investigation for sexual involvement with an under age girl, and there were mumblings that other similar incidents involving underage girls and drugs were likely to be exposed in a confirmation hearing. Certainly Gaetz would not be the first congressman to be accused of wrongdoing. Just this year, NJ Senator Bob Menendez resigned after being convicted of corruption for taking bribes from a foreign country. However, Gaetz was to be nominated to be the highest law enforcement official in the land. That didn’t compute—even with Republicans who normally vote along party lines. Here’s the other thing that likely led to his downfall. Gaetz was known to be contentious. He attacked members of his own party, and he headed the drive to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which resulted in three weeks of chaos last year before Mike Johnson was chosen as Speaker. Gaetz took no prisoners, and he had few friends on either side of the aisle. As a result, it became apparent that too many Republican senators would not support Gaetz’ nomination. They weren’t willing to put their necks on the line for this individual. The lesson here: Be careful what you do and who you cross on your way up the ladder. Don’t expect those you insult and step on to help you in the future. And the fall down is likely to be faster and further than the climb upward. Check out our marketing 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 |
Top of Mind Thursday – November 14, 2024: A Century Later, the Fight Continues
Just over 100 years ago, the world changed dramatically for millions of people with the discovery of insulin.
In January of 1922, Canadian doctor Frederick Banting first injected animal insulin into a 14-year-old boy dying of Type 1 diabetes. Within 24 hours, his dangerously high blood sugar levels had dropped. A second injection temporarily brought his blood sugar levels close to normal.
This meant Type 1 diabetes (T1D) was no longer an automatic death sentence, as it had been throughout the ages.
We’ve come a long, long way since then. We now have human insulins that work much quicker and more effectively. We have continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices that allow diabetics to know where their blood sugar is and determine whether they need more food or more insulin. We have electronic insulin pumps that connect to CGMs and deliver insulin when needed.
Research is progressing on ways to implant insulin-producing beta cells into patients, without triggering the patient’s immune system to attack them, and into closed loop systems that will automatically deliver insulin without human intervention.
When my daughter was first diagnosed with T1D 31 years ago, nearly half of all patients had major complications that shortened their life span or dramatically reduced their quality of life. Today, that number is in the single digits. Diabetics compete in the Olympics, climb Mt Everest, and even serve on the Supreme Court.
Yet the number of people with diabetes globally has increased from 200 million in 1990 to 830 million in 2022. Drugs like Ozempic may have a significant impact on the progression of Type 2 diabetes, which makes up most of that number—but only if they are available at a reasonable price to those who need them.
It’s also estimated the number of people with Type 1 (the autoimmune form of the disease) will increase by 60% between 2020 and 2040. There isn’t a single day that a person with T1D can “take off” and forget about their disease. Not a single day they can pretend this disease doesn’t exist.
Today, what would have been Frederick Banting’s 133rd birthday, is World Diabetes Day. Learn more about the disease, how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go here.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
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Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – November 7, 2024: What Just Happened?
Two days ago, former President Donald Trump was re-elected to a second term.
The race went down to the wire, and there was no clear projection as to who would win, but the margin of Trump’s victory was unexpected in many circles.
What can we take away from this?
- Polls are an artifact of an earlier time. They tell us nothing, probably because the people who make a difference aren’t talking to pollsters. Pundits are just as bad—they pontificate for their point of view while adding more noise than light.
- Consistent messaging is key. Trump chose a few key messages and repeated them endlessly for months. Harris moved from message to message, often changing her message on an issue based on the audience of the day.
- If you say something enough times, people believe it’s true. The woman who first claimed a Haitian ate her pet in Ohio found her cat hiding in the garage, but that didn’t stop the Trump team from repeating the claim, again and again—enough times that people started believing it.
- Nothing is as motivating as fear. Trump succeeded in convincing voters that the border issue was out of control and it was the fault of the Biden/Harris administration. Fear was central to Trump’s strategy and it worked.
- Personal character is no longer relevant to choosing a candidate. Trump has been convicted of multiple fraud counts, is a serial adulterer, and treats women and people he doesn’t like very poorly. Yet many voters chose to focus on what they liked about his policies, rather than his character.
- It’s the economy, stupid. Or, more accurately, it’s MY PERCEPTION of the economy that matters. Inflation is down, as are gas prices. Job growth is up. But for many Americans, paying the rent and buying groceries is a challenge, and that’s what motivated them.
- Social media algorithms perpetuate your point of view. Commenting pro or con on a candidate just feeds you more posts with views similar to your own. It’s not difficult to see how a constant diet of this makes it easy to believe you’re in the majority–regardless of whether or not that’s true.
Here’s the bottom line: If you don’t like what happened Tuesday, figure out what went wrong and come up with a better strategy next time. Repeating what didn’t work won’t get different results.
I hear too many Democrats berating themselves for not doing more of what didn’t work on Tuesday. The country would be better served with a fresh approach that takes into account what happened and learns from Tuesday’s result.
There’s a mid-term election in two years. Let’s hope we’re not asking the same questions after that one.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
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Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – October 31 2024: Seeing Ghouls Everywhere
It’s Halloween—a time when ghosts and goblins appear to scare us and excite us, children come knocking in costume for treats, and creative adults let their imaginations run wild.
But the scariest ghouls this year are not showing up on your door step asking for candy. Regardless of which candidate you support, the other side is promising nightmarish results if their candidate loses.
We’ve heard all kinds of extreme claims: Haitians are eating pet cats and dogs. Puerto Rico is a garbage territory. Taxes will go up and the economy will tank. Even that the other party is controlling the weather and targeting hurricanes at their opponents.
If the election is close, it may take days till all the ballots are counted and a winner is declared. Both sides are likely to appeal the result if they feel they’ve been short-changed. Poll workers have been threatened, and lawsuits are ready to be filed accusing someone somewhere of not holding a fair election.
There’s only one thing scarier than all this and it’s not having the right to participate in an open election at all.
In many countries, like Russia, elections are a sham, with the winner predetermined and the results actually rigged. In others, like Iran, there is no election at all. In still others like Lebanon, a government is chosen that has no power and operates at the whim of terrorist organizations.
The democratic process is not perfect, but it’s better than the alternatives. But nothing is guaranteed. We only have the right to choose our leaders because we continue to exercise that right and keep our democracy strong.
Enjoy the candy and costumes this evening. Then get thee to a voting booth (or return a paper ballot). Leaving the choice to others could have truly ghastly consequences.
Check out our marketing 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