3 Things I'm Thinking About Heading Into The Fall...

Hey-

Last week I shared a few ideas with y’all about what you should be thinking about to try and close out 2020 strong.

As we head into the final unofficial week of the summer in the States, here is a quick look at the things I’m mapping out and thinking about heading into the fall and a few thoughts about how that can be useful to you.

1. How will the ongoing turmoil in the States impact long-term business:

It goes without saying that this has been a long and uncertain year in the United States and it isn’t likely to get any better over the next few months.

In reading through the business papers, we’ve moved from a “V” to “U” to a “K” shaped recovery.

Likely that just means that most folks are screwed in the short term and that we are all going to have to figure out what our value is in the market and how to sell in a market that isn’t just uncertain, but also where folks don’t really know where the uncertainty is coming from and have no clue when it will really end.

So what can we do?

Let’s think about what we can do to add value now.

Let’s focus on the people that we can really help.

Let’s focus on doing one thing a day that will help move these projects forward.

2. What can I do to make sure folks vote?

I think I mentioned the effort I’m putting behind the #IVotedConcerts idea at some point over the last few weeks.

Here’s the thing, in the States, we have the lowest voter turnout of any Western country and the largest percentage of the population is the people that don’t vote.

What happens when folks don’t vote?

Their concerns aren’t attended to, our sense of community dissolves, and we end up with folks representing us that may not reflect our beliefs.

I’ve always felt like voting is the price of admission in a democracy and I don’t really care who you vote for as long as you vote.

But over the next 10 weeks, I’m going to be figuring out every day how to get folks to turn out and vote.

Have ideas?

Want to help?

Let me know or visit www.ivotedconcerts.com

3. What’s next?

I think I’m always thinking about this in some way.

But over the last few months, I’ve spent more time than I typically do thinking about leadership.

I’d say that in many places, we’ve seen that folks that we look to for leadership have failed us and that most of the leadership examples and ideas that are being offered up are bogus.

I mean, don’t even get me started on some of the crap that some of these thought leaders write about leadership. It is vapid and meaningless and it is reflected in the way that the leaders that point to some of this crap lead.

So I guess leadership will be on the menu, but also revenue, marketing, strategy, and change.

What do these things mean to us?

I think we have to get leaders that understand that leadership isn’t about folks liking you all the time, it is about making tough decisions that will help folks get ahead in the world. Even when you get blowback or pushback because it isn’t the popular thing.

What will strategy look like?

I’m not 100% sure because I think the way that our economy was moving was unsustainable with or without a pandemic.

This goes back to the idea of leadership, but I live in DC and the same bad ideas get kicked around, most of them based on total horse dung and wishful thinking, while entrepreneurs, families, and regular folks struggle.

So my hope is that the environment for strategy is one that is more populist in nature. By populist, I mean it in the FDR manner of focusing on helping create opportunities for all folks and not just concentrated centers of power that will, maybe, trickle down to average folks.

In general, I think what’s next has to be about regular people.

Around the world, we’ve seen more instability, less security, and more suffering due to the pandemic, income inequality, and lessening of opportunities for folks to pull themselves up out of wherever their lives started.

History points to many examples that this kind of instability isn’t sustainable. And, as a marketer…I know that giving folks opportunities to build more sustainability and security for themselves is an opportunity for all of us to do great work.

I don’t know. This is what is on my mind.

You?

Dave