#126: Your voice, good judgement, Meg's vulnerability, activism and Poo-Pourri!
Happy Holidays! Here are Muppet chickens! You're welcome!
In this edition #126 of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. Where is your voice?
2. NEW study: The rise and impact of Sleeping Giants
3. Activism within Google
4. Marketing advice on the fly
5. What does it mean to have good judgement as a leader?
6. You must read this refreshing piece on the founder of Poo-Pourri
7. Quote of the week: Vulnerability, man.
1. Where is your voice?
In his latest episode of The Mike Drop Moment, the illustrious Mike Ganino rails against BS programs meant to help you "find your voice."
"Here's the truth; you never lost your voice, you just haven't developed it in a way that matches up to what's in your heart and head. You haven't found a way to say what's in your body."
This episode dives into the process of, instead, developing your voice. As Mike says, if you dream of being on stage or writing a book, a blog or producing a podcast, you should listen.
2. NEW study: The rise and impact of Sleeping Giants
A new academic study is out from University of Massachusetts Amherst "Activism, Advertising, and Far-Right Media" detailing the impact of Sleeping Giants, a social media activist group holding companies accountable to where their ads are placed and who they allow to use their services (e.g. suspending the KKK from PayPal.)
It details their impact within a broader need for activism within the world of digital advertising:
Digital advertising has had harmful effects: the revenue crisis at news organizations, the rise of click-driven editorial strategies, new opportunities for ad fraud, and heightened monetary incentives for the spread of disinformation and hate speech.
The rise of right-wring "hyper-partisan news" sites like Breitbart News mixed with modern programmatic advertising led to a new problem for modern advertisers, who are "often unaware of where on the web their ads were appearing." Because of this, fake news is largely funded by programmatic advertising.
Serving an ad is complex, often with multiple ad-tech platforms behind the scenes of every ad. That supply chain opacity, the study reports, has been exploited by clickbait sites who spin up viral content re: "miracle diets, strange cosmetic trends, hoax news articles solely for the purpose of generating a profit from programmatic ads." In short, editorial context is not necessary for desirable audiences anymore, leaving a gap for sits like Breitbart to profit from articles like:
"There's No Hiring Bias Agains Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews"
"Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?"
"Martine Veteran Beaten Unconscious Robbed by Black Lives Matter Thugs"
Nobody feels confident the adtech industry will reform itself, so Enter: Sleeping Giants, what the report describes as "creative activism" seizing a moment of "tension and vulnerability."
Read the report here.
As SG co-founder Nandini Jammi said in response: "I can’t believe my claim to fame in academia is getting the KKK kicked off PayPal, but I’ll take it."
She and others around the world who are part of this organization also receive threats on a consistent basis - so while the work is important, it's also fraught with risk. Kudos to Matt and Nandini, and on behalf of all citizens, and marketers, thanks.
3. Activism within Google
Similar accountability-based activism from within does not come without consequences.
From The Guardian: "Fifth Google worker-activist fired in a month says company is targeting the vulnerable. Kathryn Spiers says tech company is targeting employee activists who are pushing back against recent policy changes."
The 21-year old "published a piece of code that created a pop-up notification when Google employees visited the website of IRI Consultants, an anti-union firm that it was revealed Google had hired just a few days earlier."
Pretty disruptive. Google quoted data security policies as the motivation for hers and the firing of four other activists who have, in turn, referenced the company's code of conduct as their own motivation:
“remember … don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!”
Notably, three of the fired workers identify as LGBT, and "some of their activism involved organizing within employee resource groups (ERGs) for trans or gay Googlers to push the company on issues such as equal benefits for same-sex partnerships" (Guardian.)
Ah, the queers. We're such rabble rousers.
Note: There's layers and details to each of these situations that I could never fully know, so I don't share in support of the activists or the organization. I share here in the context of a broader era of accountability that all companies, even if you're not Google, are now operating within and navigating. Are you ready for this type of activism from within?
4. Marketing advice on the fly
Oracle asked me to share one piece of marketing advice while on the fly - en route somewhere. In this video, I'm filming at Logan Airport headed to Vegas to see Lady Gaga and share a quick tip about pandering to social movements in your marketing.
My life is weird. Watch it here.
See all episodes here.
5. What does it mean to have good judgement as a leader?
Leadership is decision-making. And, making decisions in times of change requires good judgement. But what does that mean? I love this new piece from HBR, which found that leaders with good judgement:
Hear what others actually mean and see patterns
"The truth, unfortunately, is that few of us really absorb the information we receive. We filter out what we don’t expect or want to hear, and this tendency doesn’t necessarily improve with age."
Seek diversity, not validation. They rely on experiences & relationships; if they don’t know something, they’ll know someone who does.
"Unfortunately, many CEOs and entrepreneurs bring people on board who simply echo and validate them."
Practice detachment, and recognize their own emotions and biases.
"Cognitive biases such as anchoring, confirmation, and risk aversion or excessive risk appetite are pervasive influences in the choices people make."
Expand the array of choices
"Other options almost always exist, such as doing nothing, delaying a decision until more information is available, or conducting a time-limited trial or a pilot implementation."
Remain grounded in the real world.
"In making a choice, also consider its implementation."
6. You must read this refreshing piece on the founder of Poo-Pourri
This New Yorker piece is an inspiring rags-to-riches entrepreneurship story... Oh, wait, "This is not a rags-to-riches story. It’s a spiritual-evolution story.”
OK, it's about overcoming enormous obstacles...
For most of her life, she was driven by an intense desire to make money. “I really believed that money was going to get me out,” she said. Not just out of Arkansas and generational poverty, but out from under her oppressive religion, her mother’s low expectations, her father’s alcoholic volatility, her childhood sexual abuse, her suffocating first marriage, her tumultuous second marriage, and her cash-strapped third marriage.
But it's also about pure hustle...
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of her gambits: She’s sold exercise equipment; started a clothing line; opened a clothing store, a beauty salon, and a tanning salon; and sold cheap lingerie at a markup to strippers, until a club owner with three missing fingers demanded a percentage of her profits. She’s sold green-tea patches and at one point wanted to create a caffeinated gum. (“You know those Listerine strips? I tried to make those with, like, Red Bull,” she said.) There was a tanning-bed-repair business and a hot-tub-repair business. “One time, I sold a tractor-trailer load of gearboxes. Another time, a couple tractor-trailer loads of fabric,” she said. “I needed money, so I would call manufacturers and see what excess inventory they had that I could turn. I was just a hustler, you know?”
And a founder whose "gospel is late capitalism taken to its extreme..."
Batiz no longer sees herself as a mere businesswoman, but as a spiritual explorer whose medium just happens to be business.
I just love the unapologetic nature of this woman, the wild story I didn't know behind Poo-Pourri, and the unmistakable sense of opportunity for anyone therein. Kudos to writer Carina Chocano. Read it!
7. Quote of the week: Vulnerability, man.
"Vulnerability, man. It sucks but it works."
The quote of the week comes from my friend and former colleague Meg Murphy, who is a talented marketer who was recently laid off. Rather than respond with misery, she's responding with community.
>>> If you're looking for a job in Chicago, or seeking talent, check out Chicago Superstars.
Yesterday she announced there are nearly 60 people on the list, and thousands have engaged with this on LinkedIn. I'm so impressed, and inspired, by the resilience and resourcefulness of Meg. Whoever scoops her up is one lucky organization. See her resume on LinkedIn here.
Happy Holidays, newsletter fam! Thanks for all your kind notes and continued readership. Next week I'll share my top favorite articles from 2019 as we gear up for a new year, a new decade, and a new chapter.
Love to you all,
Katie
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