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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – March 3, 2022: A Show of Strength
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full-scale assault on Ukraine–tanks, air strikes, and over 120,000 troops against a much smaller, less-equipped country.
There’s no question Putin thought his well-planned invasion would cause Ukraine to quickly capitulate to his forces.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, Ukrainians–from the president down to ordinary citizens–chose to resist and resist strongly. They formed human shields around power plants and took down street signs to confuse the incoming Russian soldiers.
None of this has deterred Putin at this point. But it has united the NATO countries in a way not seen in decades. It’s caused most of the world to impose sanctions against Russian businesses, trade, and oligarchs.
We don’t know how long the destruction will go on before Putin is stopped. But the Ukrainians have put up an amazing show of strength that is a model for the rest of us.
“The only thing that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” –Edmund Burke
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 – February 24, 2022: When Someone Tells You Who They Are…
Yesterday, Vladimir Putin’s threats to invade Ukraine went from occupying our mind space, as I mentioned last week, to a physical invasion and attack.
Ukrainians are scrambling for cover, stock and commodity markets are flailing, and Western allies (including NATO) are threatening more and more sanctions–which may hurt the Russian economy, but are not guaranteed to stop the attempted takeover of this country.
All these reactions are to be expected in reaction to a foreign power invading another sovereign nation. What’s surprising is that despite weeks worth of troop buildup and military preparations, plus ongoing threats from Putin–this was still a surprise to many people: We never thought he’d really do it.
The late Maya Angelou put it perfectly, “When someone tells you who they are…believe them.”
Putin has told us exactly who he was for years–he’s meddled in US elections, poisoned potential rivals, and conducted massive cybersecurity attacks around the world. So why didn’t we believe him?
Examples of this abound all around us. There are people who still won’t get vaccinated because they don’t believe COVID will impact them. Many employers are in shock that they can’t find enough employees to hire–because too many people are saying no more to bad working conditions and poor pay.
Perhaps if we pay more attention to what people are telling us–good or bad–we will be able to take effective proactive action. It shouldn’t take bombs falling or people quitting in droves to make us aware we have a problem brewing. Believe me.
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 – February 17, 2022: Space Invaders
Over 150,000 Russians troops now sit on the border of Ukraine. Will Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine and take control of this sovereign nation? Is this just bluster and maneuvering? Is this a serious global threat or is the entire crisis overblown?
None of us know what Putin’s plan will be. Maybe he intends to do what he did in Crimea not that long ago. Or, perhaps he won’t cross the border into Ukraine, but will decide to de-escalate the situation.
Whatever path is taken, we need to understand that in many ways the invasion has already begun. Even if not a single soldier enters Ukraine, Putin has succeeded in diverting global attention to this situation. Western nations are sending envoys to Russia to determine next steps. Germany, which gets most of its natural gas from Russia, has been struggling with how to respond. NATO appears more strongly aligned now than it has been for decades.
That’s because perception is as important as reality. People (and the stock market!) react to what they think may happen, rather than the happening itself. We’ve seen this throughout the last two years of the pandemic, and in the deep polarization in the US over the last decade.
What external factors are invading your mind space? We can’t control the external things that happen around us, but we can be aware there are space invaders onboard. En garde!
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 – February 10, 2022: It’s Just Not Fair
There’s a lot of talk about fairness these days: It’s not fair that we still have to wear masks or get vaccinated. It’s not fair that we have to work longer hours or do additional tasks because of labor shortages. It’s not fair that our Amazon packages aren’t showing up overnight the way they should.
Let me fill you in on a secret: Life is not fair.
Stuff happens–much of which is out of our control. Take COVID, for example. It’s not fair that nearly a million Americans have already died. At the current death rate, that number will double in a year or so. A lot of the things people are complaining about are directly or indirectly related to the pandemic.
It’s also not fair that the people we know and love get chronic diseases that require ongoing treatment, or that might necessitate uncomfortable treatments–like chemo or radiation. And it’s certainly not fair when people die before their time–regardless of the reason.
We can choose to either whine and complain or deal with the situation at hand as best as possible.
But there are also things that aren’t fair that we can do something about.
Brian Flores, formerly one of only 3 Black head coaches in the NFL, is suing the league for racial discrimination. He says the Rooney Rule, which says diverse candidates must be interviewed for coaching jobs, is a sham. The positions he applied for were already filled when these check-off interviews happened.
Flores is putting his career in jeopardy. It’s possible no one may ever hire him again because of this lawsuit. But he saw something that was systematically unfair and decided to take action on behalf of others as well as himself. He felt this was the best way to deal with the situation.
We need to pick and choose our battles carefully. Anything else is just simply unfair.
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