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Top of Mind Thursday – January, 15, 2026: Iran Away?
Tomorrow is the 47th anniversary of the fall of the Shah in Iran and the rise of the repressive Islamic regime that took over the country.
Many times over the last five decades, Iranians have tried to fight back and reclaim their country from the Ayatollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), who enforce martial law and sponsor terrorism. However, the situation in Iran over the last year has gotten so bad, both economically and politically, that people resisting the regime have been protesting in record numbers over the last month.
The regime does not tolerate dissent. It’s estimated that as many as 30,000 civilians have been killed in the last four weeks. The official numbers are much lower, but photos of body bags overflowing hospitals and morgues indicate the death toll is significant. Hundreds of additional protesters have been arrested and threatened with execution.
Think about this: In four weeks, nearly as many civilians have been executed in Iran as were killed in Gaza during two years of war.
The regime has no problem killing its own citizens or pushing them into poverty so they can spend billions of dollars arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi terrorists, under the directive: Death to Israel. Death to America.
Yet, amazingly, the reactions of the Western world have been meek at best, and in most cases, non-existent. There have been no protests on college campuses, and very few rallies to support the Iranian people. There’s been significantly more coverage of the conflict between ICE and protesters in Minneapolis (where one woman was tragically killed).
Why is this? For over two years we’ve seen ongoing protests against Israel’s efforts to defend itself against Hamas terrorists—but no reaction when a nation tries to free itself from decades of abuse? Why are Americans who supposedly cherish freedom turning their backs on the Iranian people?
Formerly known as Persia, Iran is one of the world’s oldest continuous operating civilizations—older than both China and India. Its 90 million people yearn to join the modern world. We cannot ignore their plight any longer.
Zendeh Baad yek Iran-e Aazaad. Long live a free Iran!
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
Top of Mind Thursday – January, 8, 2026: What on Earth is Going on?
Welcome to 2026. If you were expecting things to be different than last year, you may have gotten your wish—but perhaps not in the way you were expecting!
In just the first week of the year, the US invaded Venezuela, captured the sitting president and his wife, and brought them back to this country to stand trial on existing warrants. This was followed by the interception of an oil tanker full of Venezuela crude oil that was flying a Russian flag.
In the US, demonstrations between ICE enforcement teams and people protesting ICE actions have gotten more and more tense, culminating in the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE agent in Minneapolis yesterday. It’s not clear yet whether the shooting was justified.
This follows the decision by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz not to run for re-election after allegations of massive fraud amongst Somalian communities in Minnesota.
In the Middle East, the situation in Iran is escalating. Thousands of Iranians are protesting the repressive Islamic regime that has ruled their country for decades. Protests have occurred before, but they’ve always been extinguished quickly. This time, the calls from the public for regime change seem stronger and there’s a rumor the Ayatollah is looking to escape to Russia, where he may join former Syrian dictator Assad. Perhaps Iran will be free soon?
Much of Europe is up in arms over Donald Trump’s renewed attempts to somehow gain control of Greenland—if not by force, than by perhaps “buying” the territory from Denmark.
In the Caribbean, Cuba and Colombia are worrying they may be next in line for US action, after Venezuela.
The common thread through all these events is that a year or two ago, none of these seemed at all feasible, and certainly not imminent. Massive change is happening on a global scale—and we’re only in week 1 of the year!
We don’t know what will happen next, except that the one constant appears to be change. Grab you popcorn, fasten your seat belts, and get prepared for a wild ride!
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
Top of Mind Thursday – January, 1, 2026: A Real New Year?
Today was New Year’s Day—the beginning of 2026.
It’s traditional to make all kinds of plans for the new year—lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking, start a new hobby, tackle a new business project, etc.
But what tends to happen to most of us is we start out with a bang—only to lose momentum a few days (or at most weeks) into the new year. We then find ourselves falling into bad habits, or abandoning new ones that require too much effort to sustain at the level to which we jumped out of the gate on day one.
We then find ourselves with a near-replay of previous years, which didn’t get us where we wanted to be then, and won’t do so now.
So how do we really affect change at the start of a new year?
Here’s an exercise I do with my clients:
Imagine we are sitting down on Jan 1, 2027 to celebrate what was a fantastic year.
- What would we be celebrating?
- Looking at where we are today, what would we have to change to get to that goal? What would we need to start doing, and what would we need to stop doing to get there?
- What obstacles should we expect to face, and what tactics could we put in place now to overcome them?
- Who could we count on to hold us accountable for sticking with our program so we reach this goal?
- What checkpoints should we set up to measure how we’re doing to meet that goal?
- How will we handle midcourse corrections if things get off course?
This exercise will work for either personal or business goals. But you’re more likely to be successful if you choose one single goal that is worth celebrating at the end of the year and do the work to ensure you’re on the right track.
So rather than just flipping the page on the calendar this year, do something that will make *this*new year real. Then get ready to celebrate success in 12 months—the clock is ticking!
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
Top of Mind Thursday – December 25, 2025: Season’s Greetings
Today was Christmas, the anniversary of Christ’s birth that is celebrated by Christians.
In the US, we see many decorations, intensive gift shopping, and traditional family gatherings. As a non-Christian, though, as I see people fighting for a parking space at the mall or cutting off someone in traffic, I wonder if somehow the big message is missing here.
Christmas is just one of the holidays celebrated during this season. For Jews, Hanukkah often coincides with or near Christmas. African Americans celebrate Kawanzaa, and many cultures have a special observance for winter solstice—the shortest day of the year.
On an online forum, someone asked, “Are Jews insulted if you wish them a Merry Christmas?” The answer was almost universally, no. We understand that this is meant as a general greeting of good will. You could offer “happy holidays” to someone if you aren’t sure what holiday they celebrate. But we do get insulted when you say “globalize the intifada,” because we understand this refers to killing us or our Jewish brethren.
Instead of looking for the right set of words, most of us would much rather see behavior that epitomizes what we understand to be the spirit of the holiday: peace on earth and good will to men.
In that spirit, I wish you all a happy holiday season—regardless of what holiday you do or don’t celebrate. And for all of us, a happy, healthy, prosperous, and safe new year to come.
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