Put your mouth where your money is
Loss Leader #17: Secondment, PSAs and a Robinhood more cringy than Costner
It’s easy to throw up our hands and decry the lack of leadership helping us navigate through to an end to this pandemic. It’s also tempting to blame the government while day-drinking through homeschooling hours. But if governments are moderately good at anything, it’s reading the room. If they’re not doing enough, maybe it’s because we’re letting them get away with that. So perhaps some bold moves (or bluffs even) from other quarters could help force their hand?
STRATEGIC SECONDMENT
The Winnipeg Free Press reported that last spring, federal bureaucrats proposed redeploying their under-utilized colleagues to support provincial contact tracing efforts. This idea was not acted on, but it should be. If governments say they don’t have the people for contact tracing: give them the people.
Corporate leaders could band together to announce a private sector initiative seconding staff members to provincial contact tracing initiatives for as long as it takes to isolate this thing and stab it in the heart. Or, better yet, they could propose a national contract tracing initiative, supported by smart forms and technology rather than just phone calls and tears. Participating organizations could also sponsor unemployed Canadians to take up this work, paying their salary for the duration of a contract.
SYSTEM TESTING
For all the bluster about Canadian innovation, few people have stepped into the void and offered new systems that could be scaled to help address the pandemic. But there are examples that can be replicated. The Creative Destruction Lab’s Rapid Screening Consortium is a private-led, not-for-profit initiative formed with the goal of figuring out an effective rapid screening system for private workplaces, which could then be scaled across Canada and around the world.
Toronto pharmacy tech company MedEssist retooled its platform to allow people to pre-register for the vaccine through their local pharmacy so that populations can be triaged by risk factor and doses can be managed. In Philadelphia, a similar registration system has been rolled out city wide.
In an act of one level of government showing another how it’s done, the City of Toronto stood up a vaccination clinic for its front line staff this week that will literally produce a playbook for such clinics to be rolled out across the province.
Build something effective. Talk about it loudly. Encourage others to join in.
Inoculative Decency
Perhaps the Ontario government will announce paid sick leave today to try and reduce the number of workplace outbreaks in the province. But you know what? Companies could always JUST DECIDE TO OFFER IT ON THEIR OWN.
Corporate leaders can apply peer pressure on this front by publicly declaring their support for (or introduction of) paid sick leave policies and invite other business leaders to do the same. Or an enterprising reporter could just start calling companies and asking them why they don’t offer paid sick days during a pandemic.
Workplace outbreaks are a huge piece of the equation, and bold corporate action to prevent them would support everyone’s economic interests. Prove that you don’t need a nanny state to take care of your own people.
Corporate Communications
In the US, the Ad Council partnered with public health orgs, private companies, major media networks and digital platforms to create a series of national PSAs and multi-channel content to inform the American public about the threat of Covid (spoiler: I don’t think they’re working).
In Canada, a privately driven PSA push could focus on countering vaccine hesitancy, and tap the collective might of our creative departments and content teams to encourage better uptake when the vaccine is more widely available. Private PSA content could be created in a number of languages and targeting a variety of demographics. TD announced a partnership last year with Hxouse to support vulnerable populations and encourage entrepreneurship from Black and Indigenous creatives. Maybe tap into that talent pool for some vaccine PSAs?
De-platforming
While we’re at it, Canadian leaders could also act now to prevent the further spread of radicalized hatred, which is a concurrent threat we should not ignore. In the aftermath of last week’s attack on the US Capitol and its democracy, Judd Legum of the newsletter Popular Information contacted 144 corporations and asked if they would continue to support the Republican members of Congress who objected to the certification of the Electoral College vote. At first, he received just a handful of replies. Then, as he characterized it “the dam broke.”
I’d like to see some Canadian CEOs clearly communicate a statement of terms to social media platforms and political candidates in this country: we will not work with, advertise through, or support anyone who feeds racial hatred or provokes violent division.
Although corporations cannot make political donations in Canada, statements from high profile leaders saying they have zero tolerance for divisive rhetoric could help stem the tide of radicalization that is already rising.
Dereliction of Duty
I used to think the worst tech sector naming trend was the lack of vowels. But poor spelling is nothing compared to un-ironically co-opting the name of an outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor and giving it to a platform that does the opposite. It’s not a dereliction of duty I suppose, it’s just a real dick move to call yourself a folk hero while creating the next Bubble by gamifying the desperation of ill-equipped day traders.
Quick Leads
Not a ton of inspiring Raptors content these days, but Super Fan Nav continues to have character to which we should all aspire:
While this guy demonstrates the correct move when your female staff tries to opt out of work to deal with having kids at home:
And this guy shows us how to use modern tools to track down modern villains:
And this fellow demonstrates that he is not among those too scared to speak up.
My son showed me this on YouTube:
You shouldn’t be afraid of technology, but you should think about how it’s affected you and your interactions with the others. So buy my book! If you texted someone inside your house today, you need to read it.
