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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday, April 29, 2021: A Call to Arms–Both of Them
The COVID pandemic is now wreaking havoc on countries like India, where the infection spread and ensuing illness and death are out of control.
Here in the US, we appear to be moving in the other direction. Infection and hospitalization rates are dropping–due to mask wearing, social distancing, and most importantly, vaccination.
Nearly 40% of American adults have received at least one vaccination and 25% are fully vaccinated. Yet we are still averaging over 60,000 new infections and 700+ deaths per day–which translates to close to another 150,000 deaths within a year.
That means we’re not out of the woods. Some people look at these numbers and feel they don’t need to follow through with their second shot. It’s estimated that 5 million people have missed their second vaccination. Some of those may have had valid reasons and will likely reschedule. But the fact that so many people are shrugging off the second half of the vaccination is disturbing.
While the first shot provides some immunity, long-lasting protection is only proven with both shots. If we combine those who aren’t following up with the part of the population that refused to be vaccinated at all, we risk not getting to herd immunity (and a real normality) any time soon.
We’ve all known people who felt so much better after taking a medication that they stopped taking it–winding up with a worse situation than when they started. In business, we see organizations that take the first step to launch a new initiative or improve customer service or fix a supply glitch…but never follow through to the finish. As a result, the initial effort is wasted and the result is often more customer frustration, not less.
Getting halfway there doesn’t solve the problem. We need to step forward with both feet. Or, in the case of COVID, with both arms.
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, April 22, 2021: Verdicts, Vaccines, and Vulnerability
Since 1970, April 22nd has been Earth Day–a day to focus on improving the environment for us and the generations that will come afterward.
This year, while there is still much need to address topics like climate change and pollution, we have other toxic environmental issues with which to contend.
There’s a new hazard in the air we breathe. More than 3 million people have died from COVID in the last 15 months. We now have several safe and effective vaccines, which are stopping the spread of the virus. But we’re also rapidly approaching the point where we will have vaccinated those who agree to participate–and still not hit the right levels for herd immunity.
Then there’s the question of what happens when you can’t breathe at all. On Tuesday, a jury in Minneapolis found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all 3 counts in the murder of George Floyd. The evidence was overwhelming. What was surprising was how much concern there was that, in spite of video evidence, there was no guarantee a White policeman would be convicted of killing a Black man.
Even during the trial, we saw another unarmed Black man killed just blocks away from the courthouse in Minneapolis–and other similar incidents continue to pile up. One guilty verdict doesn’t solve the problem: it just points out how much work we need to do.
Statesman Winston Churchill said it best:
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
We are vulnerable in many ways. Let’s use this year’s Earth Day to continue our work to improve all of the environmental factors in our lives.
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, April 15, 2021: Consequences
On Sunday, an unarmed 20-year-old Black man was shot and killed by a local police officer during a traffic stop outside Minneapolis.
The officer and police chief both called this an error: The officer meant to reach for her taser, but pulled out the gun and fired a single bullet instead. They called this “an accidental discharge.”
After the fact, it’s easy to say, we shouldn’t have done something–that it was a mistake. The problem is some mistakes are minor, and some are life-changing, or in this case, life-extinguishing.
The officer involved resigned from the force and has been charged with manslaughter. The fact that she made a mistake doesn’t change the outcome. Why was she even reaching for a taser anyway? Was that necessary?
Accidents have consequences. A drunk driver who hits a pedestrian likely did this by mistake (we hope!)–but the pedestrian is still dead and the driver will still face manslaughter charges.
The time to consider the consequences of our actions is before we take them–not after. Thinking through potential courses of action in stressful situations allows us to keep our wits about us and act in a way that is less likely to cause a negative result. The reason “Sully” Sullenberger could safely land a damaged plane on the Hudson is because his training included that unlikely scenario.
Shooting first and asking questions later is always a bad idea–whether we’re talking about bullets or business decisions. And that’s no accident.
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, April 8, 2021: Building Blocks
Last week, President Joe Biden introduced a $2 trillion plan to invest in American infrastructure.
The plan includes money for housing, electric vehicles, roads and bridges, schools, the electrical grid, public transit, railways, high-speed broadband, and more.
It’s a huge investment, and it’s unlikely to pass Congress in its current state. Still, whatever is finally passed will be a huge boost to jobs and the economy–in addition to improving our daily lives.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen what happens when the electrical grid is overwhelmed, or roads and bridges crumble. COVID-19 taught us how important high-speed broadband is to basic participation in school and work in today’s world, and why modern ventilation in school buildings is not a want but a must.
These issues have been put off time and time again, because this is such a huge endeavor. But the problem is, if you don’t take the first step, the big problems not only remain, they continue to get worse as time goes on.
In one sense, it doesn’t matter where we start to improve on infrastructure, just that we actually get started. With as many building blocks as possible.
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