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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – April 21, 2022: Filling the Silence With Music
We are all watching the situation in Ukraine with horror. What’s happening over there now is unspeakable and fills me with great sadness, and I know many of you feel the same way.
At the recent Grammy Awards, President Volodymr Zelensky asked the audience to fill the silence with music. That’s exactly what a group of amateur musicians is doing.
You may know that playing piano is an important part of my life. Polly van der Linde, the director of the piano camp I regularly attend in Bennington, Vermont, asked for volunteers to learn and play the music of Ukrainian composers. She expected a few people to respond. Over 100 people expressed interest and more than 50 of us will be playing a benefit concert featuring the music of Ukrainian composers on Saturday, April 23rd at 4pm EDT.
Each participating pianist will record a piece we’ve learned over the last few weeks. The concert will stream all of the recordings–including the music of 10 Ukrainian composers, plus the National Anthem–on April 23rd, with proceeds going to the Global Giving Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. The full concert will be available on an archived web page afterwards.
My piece is by Nikolai Kapustin, one of my favorite 20th century composers. He combines jazz and rock elements into a classical style in a very unique way. Even though I’ve played his music for several years, it wasn’t until last month that I realized he was Ukrainian and not Russian!
Some of the pieces being played are not well-known in the classical music world. But we feel this is a great opportunity to celebrate the rich musical history of a country that has given us so many wonderful classical composers and musicians.
Our goal is to raise at least $50,000 for humanitarian relief. We’re well on our way, but I’m hoping you will find it in your heart to join our effort by donating what you can to this important cause.
News Flash: CBS National News will be running a short piece highlighting this effort tonight, Thursday, April 21st during the Evening News, starting around 6:45 PM. Check this out!
And please join us on April 23rd as we fill the world with Ukrainian piano music.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
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
Top of Mind Thursday – April 14, 2022: A Different Take on Passover
Tomorrow at sundown, the holiday of Passover begins.
This is the time when the Jewish people celebrate our freedom from slavery in Egypt–when we escaped the Pharaohs who killed our first born male children and treated us poorly for over 400 years.
For the last two years, we’ve had to downgrade the celebration–COVID would not allow to gather together to retell the story of leaving Egypt, trekking through the desert, and finally winding up in the Holy Land. This year, though COVID still lurks in the shadows, but we can finally meet together for this occasion.
But our celebration this year is subdued because of what is going on in Ukraine. The parallels between what happened in ancient times and what is going on in Eastern Europe are striking. We see innocent women and children slaughtered for no reason. We see cities lying in ruin.
But we also see a people who will not give in. They are fighting back and pushing back the enemy. They have tasted freedom and they aren’t going back to slavery of any sort.
Poet Emma Lazarus said, “Until all of us are free, we are none of us free.”
On the eve of Passover 5782, we hold the people of Ukraine in our thoughts are we celebrate our freedom. And this year we say, “Next year in a free Ukraine.”
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
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
Top of Mind Thursday – April 7, 2022: Confirmed
Today, the US Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black female justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
As a candidate, President Biden promised to nominate a Black woman to the Court, should he have the opportunity to fill an opening. This caused consternation among many on the right, who expressed concern that somehow a less-qualified candidate would be nominated because they would be chosen from a very specific candidate pool.
Judge Jackson appears to have been an extremely well-qualified candidate for this position, with a wide depth and breadth of experience. But I highly doubt she was the only well-qualified candidate who happened to be both Black and female.
Why, then, was it necessary to focus on this set of demographics?
Because until the first person breaks a barrier, it appears that obstruction is impenetrable. There was a time when the Court had never included a Jew, a Catholic, a woman, a Black man, or a Hispanic woman. Until someone had the courage to say it’s time for that barrier to disappear–after which we eventually wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place.
Next week will be 75 years since Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to become the first African American player in Major League Baseball. While Judge Jackson’s path to the SCOTUS was full of challenges, it’s unlikely she would have gotten there had Jackie Robinson not endured daily insults and harassment to play ball for the Dodgers in 1947.
Branch Rickey, the General Manager of the Dodgers who took that first big step to integrate baseball, said, “Some day I’m going to have to stand before God, and if He asks me why I didn’t let that Robinson fellow play ball, I don’t think saying ‘because of the color of his skin’ would be a good enough answer.”
Confirmed by the Senate today.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
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
Top of Mind Thursday – March 24, 2022: Yes, She Can
This week, my daughter and I are at the beach on Maui, Hawaii, enjoying our first vacation since COVID hit in early 2020.
What makes this vacation extra special is that today, for the first time since Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) damaged her left leg in 2013, Lani got up on a surfboard and surfed!
It’s been a long journey–a year on crutches, more than 30 medical procedures, and at least a dozen medical specialists, plus another dozen practitioners of Eastern Medicine and alternative therapies. At times, it didn’t look like there was a clear path forward. In fact, most doctors she’s seen have thrown up their hands and said, “Sorry, can’t help you.”
Lani was an athlete before all this happened–the only girl in the local boys’ Little League, varsity goalie on her high school soccer team as a freshman, a dedicated snowboarder throughout college in Colorado. Not being able to do these things has been incredibly frustrating for her.
Some days, it definitely feels like the only movement is backward. But refusing to accept defeat and staying the course has its rewards.
Today is one of those days. Today we confirmed: Yes, she can.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
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