Business Karma & Practicing Empathy During Challenging Times

To say the last three years have been a rollercoaster ride in each of our lives would be a complete understatement. Political & social unrest, COVID, economic uncertainty and perhaps now a technology bubble burst not seen since the "Dot-Com" era. From a business perspective, we've watched spending and hiring screech to a complete halt in March 2020 as the COVID pandemic caused companies and organizations to rethink how they move forward in this new environment. As quickly as things paused, so too did growth and mass spending in late 2021 into 2022 as marketing budgets played catch-up, hiring was a seller's market, agencies growth was incredible and brands could barely see the COVID halt in their rearview mirrors. Then, just as quickly as the recovery happened, here we are with almost 230K people laid off in the tech sector alone in the first half of 2023 (according to TechCrunch). Yup, buckle up, the rollercoaster is about to depart...yet again.

During this stretch, the PR and marketing world I've been practicing in shifted more focus from proactive outreach to reactive crisis and brand management. One client I was fortunate enough to support through this crisis was Apple Leisure Group (now owned by Hyatt). The $6B travel industry was at a complete standstill and while many travel brands sat on their hands or waited to see what travel bans lifted and how they could market to their audiences as a result. Working in collaboration with Ali Gerakaris (PR) and Anna Maria Addesso (Marketing) we decided to take a more empathetic approach and share in the feelings of a consumer who couldn't travel or a travel agent whose income was now at a standstill. You can read about this campaign HERE, but what's important to note about these efforts were the decisions ALG leaders made around embracing empathy during a time when travelers and travel agents needed it most.

Just last week during my networking efforts to uncover the next chapter of my career, I uncovered a keynote speech from great friend and former business partner, Mark Achler . What struck me the most about Mark's message was the ability to remain selfless (not selfish) during all stages of your business life.

"One of the things in this divisive world we live in that holds us together is that each and every one of us likes to receive compliments...and it turns out, we are actually pretty bad at it" - Mark Achler

Mark's message combined with the business experiences I have had over the past three years during such challenging times, has reinforced an old mantra that I used to weave into PR, marketing and business strategies called, "Business Karma."

By definition, business karma is all about doing the right thing, involving the right partners and all with a degree of empathy that really sits at the core of human DNA. Clients were really important, but employees needed to be top of that list if you expect sustainability and accomplishing great things in business.

Learning from ALG's thought leadership case study, incorporating Mark's "Practicing Empathy" and living each day with business karma as a mindset. I believe in brighter futures for each and every one of you that can weave more empathy into your daily lives - both professionally and personally.

You are all an amazing part of my journey. I appreciate you...and look forward to catching up with you very soon! Message me.