What’s New
Podcast: Linda Popky appears as a guest expert on Technically Speaking to outline your steps to launching and promoting your book! - Listen
Podcast: Linda Popky and Dan Weedin (Shrimp Tank Podcast) talk with Brett Clark from BC Fitness about the importance of staying active and doing resistance training to slow down muscle loss as we age. - Listen
SAC® Press Release: "Companies Eye Innovation and Disruption in Volatile Economy" – Read Release.
Video: Just a Moment for Marketing: One-minute marketing tip videos. – View over 100 videos.
eBOOK: Top of Mind: 101 Insights to Transform Your Business
Purchase PDF or ePub book.
Subscribe to the Top of Mind Thursday Newsletter
Free articles download with sign upMarketing Above the Noise
Top of Mind Thursday – February 6, 2025: Pinball Wizard
The 17 days since Donald Trump’s second inauguration have been quite busy.
As promised, the president hit the ground running. So far, he’s signed 54 executive orders, far surpassing any other president at this stage.
Many of these were promised during the campaign: enhance border security, establish the Dept. of Government Efficiency, remove funding for DEI programs, withdraw from the Paris climate accords, pullback from funding solar and wind projects, withdraw funding for schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports, withdraw support for UNRWA and other UN projects.
However, others were surprising, such as asking 2 million federal employees for their resignations, and summarily closing down the US Agency for International Development—firing all 10,000 employees of the government’s humanitarian arm.
And some of his proposed actions are absolutely shocking, to say the least, like temporarily stopping all federal aid and grants programs, giving Elon Musk and his team access to the federal payment system, and proposing that 2 million Gazans be relocated (no one knows to where!) to allow Gaza to be developed as a resort—”The Riviera of the Middle East.”
With all this going on, it’s easy to feel like we’re being zapped around like the inside of a pinball game. Look here, bounce there, but watch out, there’s another ball coming around the corner, up, down, all around.
Already, some of these initiatives have been rescinded and there are lawsuits challenging others. Proposed tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico are now on hold. Still other proposals, like taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, and relocating everyone from Gaza to build a high end resort, have been met with such disbelief and outrage on a global basis that they aren’t likely to actually happen.
This seems to be Trump’s MO: Throw out the most extreme option possible with enough firepower behind it that you have to take him seriously. Then do a “deal” with the other side to come up with a much more reasonable option. For example, maybe threatening to build the Trump Gaza Resort will get Arab nations to step up and help rebuild Gaza instead.
If you don’t like what’s going on, how do you fight against so many pinballs being flung at you at once? Instead of trying to avoid all those spinning balls, stop and watch where they’re really being aimed. Wait to see where they land. Only then can we determine what was all a show and what’s really hit the target.
Check out our marketing 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
Posted in Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged politics, President Trump, Top of Mind Thursday, United States Politics
Comments Off on Top of Mind Thursday – February 6, 2025: Pinball Wizard
Top of Mind Thursday – January 30, 2025: Tragedy on the Potomac
Last night, an American Airlines commuter plane collided with an Army helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, sending both aircraft into the Potomac River.
It now appears that 67 people lost their lives in this horrific accident. Rescuers have found nearly 30 bodies so far, but no survivors.
No one knows yet exactly what caused this disaster to happen. Investigations will take place, most likely led by the NTSB, to understand what went wrong in this incident and how to prevent a disaster like this from happening again.
But amidst the sorrow and the loss, we can’t lose sight of what went right last night.
All responsible government agencies—including those from the federal government, the states of Virginia and Maryland, the District of Columbia, local fire and emergency crew, divers, and others—jumped into action almost immediately. Some of these first responders spent the night combing the murky Potomac waters searching for survivors, and then eventually recovering bodies of the victims.
That’s because, despite what you may hear on the news, for the most part, the government in the US really does work. The mail gets delivered on time, our food is safe, our drugs are regulated and, for the most part, planes takeoff and land safely (This was the first fatal commercial airline accident in 16 years.).
There’s great enthusiasm in Washington right now for dramatically rethinking government operations.
Could some operations be handled more efficiently? Absolutely. Could some processes and procedures be streamlined or eliminated? Quite likely. Does the whole system need to be torn apart and rebuilt from the ground up? Absolutely not.
How many of the people who jumped into action last night to help—as well as those who dropped everything to help fight wildfires in Los Angeles and provide relief to hurricane victims in North Carolina—are in danger of losing their jobs due to government “efficiency” initiatives? How many local government agencies and non-profit organizations had their funding temporarily frozen this week for no good reason?
Breaking the whole system because it doesn’t work perfectly would be akin to closing the runways because two aircraft wound up in the drink instead. That approach just doesn’t fly.
Check out our marketing 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
Posted in Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged Plane Crash, politics, Top of Mind Thursday, United States
Comments Off on Top of Mind Thursday – January 30, 2025: Tragedy on the Potomac
Top of Mind Thursday – January 23, 2025: Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock…Boom!
This week, over 150 million Americans held their breath as a critical deadline approached.
No, this was not the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president. It was the possibility that social media platform TikTok might be shut down because it didn’t meet the government-imposed deadline to sell the Chinese-owned company to American buyers.
Congress had imposed the deadline for national security reasons.TikTok collects extensive user data—including location, browsing history, and potentially biometric data. It’s algorithm determines what users see based on their behavior.
Unlike other social platforms, TikTok is closely tied to the Chinese government, who has the right to access this information and could potentially use this data to surveil or spy on Americans. Or, they could tweak the algorithm to promote content favorable to Chinese political interests.
But the people panicking because TikTok might be shut down weren’t concerned about that. They were more worried that their status as social media influencers might be disrupted and their incomes reduced or dissipated.
Donald Trump came in with an eleventh-hour stay to try and find a solution to the situation–even before officially inaugurated as president. One possibility was 50-50 ownership between Chinese and American interests. Unfortunately, this would do nothing to prevent the Chinese government gaining access to sensitive information of. hundreds of millions of Americans.
Here’s the problem. All those social media quizzes, contests, and interactive social posts are designed to get us to give up personal information. Yes, our social platform providers know more about us than we often know about ourselves. But do we really want the Chinese government to know all this too?
Tick, tock, tick, tock. . . Boom!
Check out our marketing 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
Posted in Leverage2Market, Linda Popky, Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged Government, social media, TikTok, Trump
Comments Off on Top of Mind Thursday – January 23, 2025: Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock…Boom!
Top of Mind Thursday – January 16, 2025: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over
Yesterday, there was much fanfare about a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would bring home at least some of the people held hostage in Gaza for 15 months.
The proposed agreement was troubling in many ways. It called for 30-50 terrorists imprisoned in Israeli jails to be released for every hostage returned. It said those people could not be re-arrested—even if they committed additional acts of terrorism. It didn’t specify which hostages are still alive and which are deceased. And it called for the return of only 1/3 of the people still held hostage.
Hamas operatives were cheering in the streets, because the deal was so favorable to them. Yet, Israel was willing to go along with this to get at least some of their people back. Biden and Trump praised the deal, as they both want to see this situation resolved and off their plates.
This morning, it appears Hamas is changing their mind. They want to choose who is released from Israeli prisons, and they are insisting on some of the worst offenders—those responsible for killing hundreds of innocent people. Not surprisingly, Israel said no dice. We have a deal (based on a proposal made last May!). You need to stick with that agreement.
While it’s not clear yet how this will work out, it exposes something many of us feared: You can’t negotiate with terrorists who change the rules on an ongoing basis. You can’t expect people who have a different moral code (one which says it’s acceptable to sacrifice your women and children for the cause) to act the way we in the West expect. When the stated goal is the annihilation of an entire people (pushing Israel from the River into the Sea), steps toward reconciliation and peace are suspect.
The hostages still being held in Gaza—dead or alive—deserve to come home. Their families deserve to have closure, one way or the other. But until the world recognizes the absurdity of the situation and puts pressure on the terrorists to comply with their own agreement, nothing will be resolved.
It ain’t over until the pressure is on Hamas to make it so.
Check out our marketing 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
Posted in Current Affairs, Linda Popky, Top of Mind Thursday Memo
Tagged Top of Mind Thursday, World Events
Comments Off on Top of Mind Thursday – January 16, 2025: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over