#143: New book on B2B trust, backstage at Adobe's virtual gala, career balance w/ Madame Gandhi, Facebook boycott, and the vaccine standoff
Welcome to a new round of The World's Best Newsletter.
In this edition #143:
1. We are not equipped to decide
2. NEW BOOK: Trust Me, B2B
3. Performative allyship, my interview with B2BMX
4. Go behind the scenes of a virtual gala with Adobe
5. Madame Gandhi on running her music career like a startup
6. On the Facebook boycott
7. Quote of the week: "The standoff between scientific rationality and conspiracy theories..."
Let's do it.
1. We are not equipped to decide
How are you at assessing risk in a complex situation?
Not great, according to research.
Individuals are being asked to decide for themselves what chances they should take, but a century of research on human cognition shows that people are bad at assessing risk in complex situations...
Tess Wilkinson-Ryan, Professor of law and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, reveals in her new piece for The Atlantic that we are facing a psychological morass:
Since March, Americans have lived under a simple instruction: Stay home.
Now, even as case counts spike in states such as Arizona, Florida, and Texas, many other states continue to ease restrictions on businesses, and suddenly the burden is on individuals to engage in some of the most frustrating and confounding cost-benefit analyses of their life. Pandemic decision making implicates at least two complex cognitive tasks: moral reasoning and risk evaluation.
The lack of clear guidance is acute:
During a disease outbreak, vague guidance and ambivalent behavioral norms will lead to thoroughly flawed thinking.
If a business is open but you would be foolish to visit it, that is a failure of leadership.
The article's most important point:
In the pandemic, this urge is a red herring; it is too easy to focus on people making bad choices rather than on people having bad choices.
People should practice humility regarding the former and voice outrage about the latter.
Read more: Our Minds Aren’t Equipped for This Kind of Reopening in The Atlantic
2. NEW BOOK: Trust Me, B2B
Can a B2B company become more trusted than a trade association?
Can a brand’s ideas accelerate a deal and contribute measurable pipeline?
Can marketing make a buyer less skeptical of our sales teams?
Yes. Trust is the precursor to any meaningful relationship in life and business.
In fact, being the most trusted in your industry can deliver significant competitive advantages.
I wrote a new book on this topic!
The great team at TriComB2B has made it available 100% free and ungated.
Trust Me, B2B: Building and Keeping Trust in an Age of Skepticism and Noise
>> https://tricomb2b.com/trust-me-b2b <<
The book helps you:
Identify the drivers of skepticism and mistrust that currently affect every B2B organization, regardless of industry
Learn how marketing teams can play a pivotal role in building and sustaining trust between a company and its buyers with real-world examples
Implement eight simple tips to begin building trust in your B2B brand
Download a free copy here, order a physical copy on Amazon or book me to speak about this topic.
3. Performative allyship, my interview with B2BMX
Note: If you haven't read my article about the 7 dangers of performative allyship, start there.
If you're looking for more on how companies are taking a stand on social issues, add my 55 min interview with B2BMX to your queue >> "Performative Allyship, Pandering & How Not To Market In 2020"
"Every business has an opportunity to stop being the gatekeepers of economic prosperity. Every single business has that opportunity.
And so really in age of Black Lives Matter, no business is immune to this topic because every business has a role in the systemic racism that the movement seeks to address.
So I hope anyone listening, who thinks 'we're not part of the problem, and therefore we're not part of the solution.' I hope you take a moment to pause and really question that assumption because I do think this is a chance for all businesses to say, 'we actually have a role to play in the, in the solution here.
We actually have a role to play in increasing economic prosperity for all. And to be honest about it.'
And that's why you're seeing so many brands struggle to figure out what to do next.
This is a new question. It's an age of accountability in sunlight, forcing brands to be quite honest about the dire state of diversity- look at the tech industry and look at the investment community.
People say the word reckoning. It is truly feeling to me like it is a reckoning. Like it is an opportunity for all businesses to to act with integrity here and to expose those that aren't quite ready for this moment."
Listen to the full conversation - and thanks for having me, Alicia, Klaudia, and Roman!
4. Go behind the scenes of a virtual gala with Adobe
In the pandemic, live customer appreciation awards, especially those in Vegas, found their way quickly to the chopping block.
What does it take to do it virtually instead?
Wait, can you have a gala virtually?
Yes.
See the equipment, peep my dining room setup, and the learn the team's strategy behind the 2020 Adobe Experience Maker Awards.
Watch the tour and interview with Julie Perino, head of global customer marketing at Adobe. (15 min)
BONUS: See the balloon drop in-action
Emcees are meant to be extra. Watch the full event replay here!
5. Madame Gandhi on running her music career like a startup
Madame Gandhi is "using business school tactics to manage her career as she pivots between being an independent artist, musician and activist."
I loved this WIRED feature on her, some excerpts below.
On business school:
“You think you go to learn how to make a lot of money,” she says. “But the most important thing I learned is to be brave enough to tell the truth”.
On much needed leadership attributes:
“Healthy communication, reading the body language and comfort level of those that you’re leading, being able to be very honest and vulnerable when you’re communicating.”
On balancing mixed interests and getting out of the rat race:
“For me it feels more fun to have multiple streams of income,” Gandhi says. “It’s not stressful for me.” Gandhi says she strives to see her mixed interests as a gift.
“I could easily flip it and all the self-doubt can come in: i’m not the best drummer in the world, I’m not a famous speaker, I’m not a world renowned vocalist. But instead I like to think of it the other way: by having a balance, I’m living a life that energises me and gives me joy.”
6. On the Facebook boycott
"...these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough.” - Mark Zuckerberg
Nuff said.
7. Quote of the week: "The standoff between scientific rationality and conspiracy theories..."
"The standoff between scientific rationality and conspiracy theories..."
Get ready, warns this Bloomberg opinion piece from Andreas Kluth.
What about “essential workers,” and who are they anyway? Migrant workers and prisoners live in cramped conditions. Should they jump the queue? Not least, in this time of Black Lives Matter, there’s the question of whether ethnicity should in some cases confer priority. In the U.S., Black and Latino people are suffering disproportionately from Covid-19. Should they get shots before Whites?
If these dilemmas are political dynamite, they may end up looking trivial next to what’s sure to be the biggest showdown: the standoff between scientific rationality and conspiracy theories. Early in the pandemic, there were hopes that the balderdash of anti-vaxxers would become untenable and their movement would atrophy. Instead, it’s booming.
Humans have always spun conspiracy theories, especially at times of calamity. The anxiety that comes with loss of control primes people to seek simple explanations with compelling story lines and an obvious culprit. Unsurprisingly, the Covid-19 epidemic has been accompanied all along by an “infodemic.”
Deep breaths,
Katie
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