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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday : July 22, 2021 – A Rose by Any Other Name
Critical race theory. Defund the police. These are just two of the phrases that are hotly debated in today’s society.
These words evoke strong emotions in listeners, and result in acrimonious arguments between those who agree and disagree with what they think the words mean.
Here’s the problem. When you dig a little deeper, we find that the real meaning of the phrase isn’t exactly what it seems.
For example, those who talk about defunding the police aren’t asking to fire police officers and bring anarchy to the streets. They want to remove police from situations where another entity (such as a mental health professional) would be better equipped to help. What they’re really suggesting might better be called refocus the police.
Critical race theory is not about being critical of all White people (as some have suggested). It’s about looking at the history of race relations in this country–the good and the bad–with a critical eye, including the perspective of those who suffered throughout our history. Perhaps a better name for this would have been something like From All Sides: The History of Race Relations in the US.
We had people say we couldn’t possibly have global warming when some areas were getting colder weather–leading to the phrase climate change. Veggie burgers have never been a big hit, but plant-based meat is flying off shelves.
The words you use to describe something matter. A rose by any other name may have smelled the same to Shakespeare, but today we need to be sure that the perception of a name might not be as sweet as we’d like.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
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 : July 15, 2021 – The Final Frontier
Last weekend, billionaire Richard Branson took a short trip to outer space on his own commercial spaceship.
Technically, Branson’s Virgin Galactic ship only “touched” the edge of space before safely returning to Earth after a short 90 minute flight. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the next high roller to launch into space within days on his own Blue Origin ship. Tesla founder Elon Musk, whose recycled SpaceX rocket ferried astronauts to the international space station in April, has bought a ticket on one of Branson’s upcoming space cruises.
Some of the richest men in the world are spending billions of dollars to launch themselves into outer space. Is there a real benefit to this expensive endeavor? Or is this just the world’s longest ego trip?
Branson noted how much the Earth already depends on space–our communications are highly dependent on orbiting satellites, for instance. He alluded to the potential space has to help us solve Earthbound problems.
Can there really be that kind of reward for commercial space travel? Less than 80 years ago, IBM founder Thomas Watson saw no use for the computer–predicting there was a market for maybe five of them worldwide. He was off by only a few billion (so far).
It’s too soon to know what will come of regular journeys to space. But we owe it to ourselves to go where no one has gone before to find out.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
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 : July 8 – Can we get a little help here?
A funny thing happened on the way to the supposed post-pandemic Armageddon…
The economy rebounded. Not evenly across the board, but in leaps and bounds in many areas–including some that were not expected to bounce back so quickly, such as travel.
In spite of the higher than normal unemployment rate, companies everywhere are saying they can’t find enough people to staff their restaurants or storefronts or warehouses or offices. Many lower-wage entry-level jobs are going unfilled.
Some businesses appear to be managing quite well while others struggle. What’s the difference? Those businesses who are treating their people well–in terms of compensation, working conditions, and benefits–are more likely to be fully staffed.
But there’s another element. People want to be proud of their workplace. They want to feel a connection to the mission of the organization. They want to feel like their efforts are appreciated, that they are empowered to help customers, and that they can make even a small difference in people’s lives.
Maybe that’s why in an environment where as many as 1 in 4 employees are actively looking for new jobs, the retention rate for people who staff the Genius Bar is nearly 90%.
Time for employers to understand they help themselves when they take good care of the help.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
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 : July 1, 2021 – Total Collapse
Last Thursday night, a 12-story condominium building in Surfside, Florida collapsed into a massive pile of concrete and debris. While more than 100 people were rescued, 18 are now declared dead and nearly 150 are still missing and unlikely to be found alive.
Hundreds of first responders, including specialized search and rescue teams from as far away as Mexico and Israel, immediately sprung into action to try and locate survivors. Unfortunately, they’ve found none so far. Given the way the building collapsed, it’s unlikely the bodies of all of those who perished will be recovered and identified.
The world looked on in horror. We’ve seen the anger, frustration, and grief of the families as they wait for news. Search and rescue have been hampered by the state of the debris, fires burning underneath, and weather conditions.
How could this happen? It will likely take years for the final reports to come in, but already we’re hearing about inspections that warned of deteriorating conditions, water continuously pooling in the basement, shaking from construction across the street, and more.
There WERE warnings signs–but they were ignored by those who should have taken action. The residents whose lives were at stake were not aware of the severity of the situation.
This is not the first time a structure has collapsed because of structural decay, nor will it be the last. We know that many buildings, bridges, and overpasses are way past their expected useful life. We know these need to be re-engineered or replaced. It’s just that we have chosen not to pay attention to the problem.
What’s happened in Surfside is something that cannot be ignored. We need to use what we’ve learned here to revise building codes and inspect buildings in danger.
There’s a multibillion dollar infrastructure bill before Congress now. We need to encourage our legislators to put aside partisan differences and do what’s needed to shore up our crumbling bridges, overpasses, and other structures.
When the condo building fell last week, it didn’t differentiate between Republicans and Democrats, citizens and immigrants. Let’s make sure those who perished under 12 feet of concrete did not die in vain.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
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