'Ben Thinking' for the week of 10.28

 On Friday, November 1, Akhia celebrates year number 28. Do you know what the traditional anniversary gift is for the 28th year? Me neither. I looked it up – it’s an orchid.

AI image generation by Mike Lawrence/Dall-E

I was a little surprised by that. The orchid? What’s so special about the orchid? So I looked that up. And well, turns out I’m selling the orchid short.

It’s known for representing love, beauty and strength. Ironically, it was frequently given as a gift in ancient Greece (which is where our name comes from) as a gesture of virility and family.

Which explains why it’s given as a gift today. The orchid represents familial love. A potted orchid takes that a step further, signifying that you believe in and value nurturing a relationship with that person.

If you know Akhia…it seems like year 28 was made for us. (If you don’t, I’ll be happy to tell you more about why this is all such a perfect fit.)

So what better way to celebrate than with this newsletter, which was literally born out of a client relationship when said client asked me to ‘send trending stories their way’ a few times a month.

Wishing you all a future full of many orchids. Thanks for reading, as always!

Hey, you might have heard there’s an election next week.

And I have chosen to endorse…

…not talking politics at work! Or anywhere, for that matter. BUT, we can’t ignore the fact there is an election and people will very likely be distracted for a few days. (Weeks? Let’s hope not.) So who’s responsibility is it to help our teams through what will likely be a distracted, anxiety-filled productivity dip?

Yours! HBR is here for you though. Some easy, doable tips to help keep things as smooth as possible while this all unfolds.

Why your employees hate their jobs.

Sooo….good news is it’s likely not you or the job itself.

Bad news is…it’s not a you thing at all. And there’s not much you can do to help.

Well, there is…but this is gonna take some time to undo.

Bottom line: the problem is bigger than you (and leadership in general) as there is more at stake here than just being unhappy with ‘the job’.

Gen Z’s favorite color? Green.

As in you may need to be green, before you get their green.

And while their buying power isn’t at the level of other generations…it will be. Gen Z will contribute $3 trillion of spending across key markets in 2030 (only five years away)

The Forbes article I’m linking to talks about how companies are taking this seriously, as well as other points of influence, when looking at how they go forward with more eco-friendly brands, packaging, products and processes.

Gen Z folks. They’re gonna be heard one way or another. Tune in now while you still can.

Scarier than Art the Clown: The demise of local news.

Question. If we have breaking news…but there’s no news left to report it…

Does anyone hear it?

No. And that is a terrifying thought.

Just look at these stats from the Axios article I’ve linked to:

=The U.S. saw 127 newspapers close in the last year at a rate of roughly two and a half per week, according to a new report from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.

=As of this year, the U.S. has lost more than one-third of its newspapers (3,300) compared to 2005 — a statistic Medill projected last year.

=There's been a 73% decline in newspaper jobs during that time, representing one of the most significant declines in employment across any sector over the past two decades.

=U.S. newspaper circulation is down to roughly 40 million, compared to more than 115 million in 2005, a 65% decline.

This matters in so many ways. For our purposes here, arguably one of the biggest impacts of this is how people are getting their news instead. And are you able to access them?

It’s a scary thought. The more digital access we have, the less informed we've become.

Mentoring matters.

October 27 was National Mentoring Day.®

I missed it.

BUT, I do believe in mentoring. And so should you. Why? Well, it’s vital to your future workplace, as this Manufacturing Dive article points out. (Note: it’s from July but the point is evergreen.)

Meanwhile, to celebrate National Mentoring Day, watch “that one episode of Seinfeld…”

“The Fatigues”, Season 8, Episode 6

Cybersecurity has no party affiliation.

Regardless of who wins the election next week, c-suite leaders will still be concerned about cybersecurity. This is according to a recent PwC report. And quite frankly, they should be.

Listen, the issue isn’t awareness anymore. Most companies know the severity of a cybersecurity issue. The issue, from my perspective, is not knowing how to get started. Or what to do to get where you really feel like you have a program in place that, at the very least, you can say you’re doing all you can.

This is easier than people may think, because like most other challenges, it starts with simply getting started. Here’s what ‘getting started’ looks like.

“Coming down the mountain!” We are doing the Dew, old school!

MTN? Gone.

Geometric shapes? Gone.

Mountain. Spelling is fun!

The mountain and Mountain are BACK in the Moutain Dew logo. Why? Well, Gen Z loves Millennial nostalgia. What about Gen X nostalgia? I don’t drink it anymore but that didn’t stop me from not liking the move to MTN.

I thought it would be a good idea to turn to the biggest (Diet) Mountain Dew fan I know – our very own Mike Lawrence. He has a ‘Random Thought’ on the matter:

“I love the new logo, if for no other reason than it'll be easier to tell the Regular from the Diet from the Zero at shelf. As someone who strongly favors the Diet version (gotta keep my healthy form!), nothing's worse than getting the wrong one by mistake. Could they have hidden the word "diet" any better on the previous packaging? I'm here to shop, not read.”  - Mike Lawrence

Diet, right?

For the pod squad: Turn employee feedback into real results. (IdeaCast)

Congrats! You’re sending employees lots of surveys. However, are you doing anything with the data? Employees don’t have survey fatigue – they’re happy to tell you exactly how they feel. They have solutions fatigue, as in…there aren’t any.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading! Feel free to share with anyone else you think would enjoy the articles and resources!

Thank you,

Ben