A Dumpster Fire year in review and looking forward to 2021

I think it’s safe to say that 2020 was a singular nightmare of a year. Regardless of how you faired personally, the host of not just challenges but net-new, no way to prepare for “what in holy hell am I supposed to do with this nonsense” challenges were extraordinary. So, before I go any further, congratulations on making it through. Scarred, tattered, torn, or otherwise disheveled, you still did it, so let’s take a moment to at the very least be grateful for that.

Media in 2020

You lived through it. Sports gone. Series pushed back. Movies released straight to digital platforms and skipping movie theaters altogether. Advertisers pulling back or pulling out. Upfronts dead. Annuals canceled. There is no shortage of articles that has outlined this in great detail, and so I don’t feel the need to dive in deeper.

Challenges aside, there are two big things that I think deserve airtime:

People turned to content

In droves. It provided comfort, community, and continuity for people in a time that all 3 of those things were glaringly missing. To the makers and creators, what you do MATTERS, and our ability to deliver it and pay for it matters. 

Ignoring the ambiguity and inconsistencies in measurement, go talk to your friends, family, and colleagues. The anecdotal evidence is enough. People turned on and tuned in so they could tune out. As an escape, as an adventure, for education, people tuned in. And they will continue to. Regardless of the medium, we are living through the age of content in real-time. So being mindful of the content we create matters. Please.

Media makes movements

Regardless of your opinions on the sentiment of the movements themselves, Media was at the heart of all of it. For better, for worse. Media is not in the ether; it IS the ether. With great power comes great responsibility and in 2020 we saw shining examples of the proper and improper use of that responsibility. Instead of calling out the good and the bad, I would ask you as a human person, a human person who understands right and wrong, to challenge yourself to look at what you consumed / produced / shared / created, and ask yourself the following question; If millions of people saw this, did it make the world better? Worse? Or did it make no impact at all?

If the answer is “worse”, in any capacity, I would ask you to pull on that thread. If it’s an opinion, a data point, a conversation starter, it deserves to be said. You could argue it needs to be said. Censorship is not the answer. Candy-coating is not the answer. Pandering is not the answer. The focus needs to be turned to HOW we say things. If 2020 proved anything it is just how much of an echo chamber you can exist in, and Media did little to make that better. In a fight for ratings (and therefore advertising dollars) we lost our way. We crafted conversations to elicit fear and division instead of curiosity and collaboration. We allowed the political zeitgeist to force our hands and pick sides. The art of debate died. The ability to disagree with civility died. The tolerance and acceptance of differing opinions died. And with that, we saw a lot of what makes our industry and our country special and unique die with it.

We need to shift the conversation to how we address conflict and differing opinions on our proverbial airwaves. If we continue on the path we are on, the beauty of what we do will be gone forever, and we will push to further and further extremes until the point is lost entirely. And this is not just about morality and discourse, this is about your business. The further fractured we become, the further we go into opinion and abandon fact, the more fractured the audience will be, the less meaningful your total reach will be, and the less interesting you will be to advertisers. Aside from it being the RIGHT thing to do, it’s also what you must do for your business.

What to expect in 2021 

I have no idea. If 2020 has reminded me of anything, it’s that expectation is the enemy of joy. So, I don’t want to make any predictions. I don’t want to assume anything. Instead, I want to remind us all of something:

Diversity and Inclusion is still on the table

A lot of good conversations happened this year. A lot. And all of them are meaningful. But as can happen, even with the best intention, human attention is easily drawn. So, weeks and months after people put up a lone black image as their profile picture and promised to be champions of change, the truth is, not nearly enough has changed. The media industry as a whole still doesn’t look like the people who consume it. Board rooms are still largely made up of white men. Hiring practices are not all that much different. Entry-level positions are still so often filled through some level of nepotism or “tradition”. And this is where change gets made, at the very first hire. If we continue to hire the family and alumni of the people in the board room, the board room is going to look the exact same in 20 years' time.

So, I have no prediction for 2021. I have one simple, straight forward question for you:

Are you ready to commit to doing everything in your power to ensure that equal opportunity is actively discussed and pursued by you and the people around you?

This year, through conversation and self-reflection, I was reminded that being “for” equal opportunity and diversity in the workplace requires action, not reaction. It doesn’t mean taking interviews and hiring qualified women or people of color, it means being willing to actively look for them and bring them into the fold. The days of patting yourself on the back for hiring qualified people is done. This is about getting to the source of the issue. 

In the work I have been doing for my mother’s scholarship fund, so much of what hamstrings people has to do with two things:

Access

The one we talk most about is access. Whether it be access to a sound education, access to technology and technology programs that set people up for the jobs of the future, internships with companies, and so much more. Access is important, and if it’s not actively monitored, it will inevitably not happen. Access is something people are working on, and there are likely plenty of community-focused programs you can participate in, so seek them out and participate.

Awareness

Yes, awareness has to do with access but needs to be called out as a stand-alone issue. There are entire worlds I exist in that are alien to so many. It can be as simple as a LinkedIn group or as complicated as a network of VCs, but these are worlds I wouldn’t even have known to look for had I not been invited in. And in fairness, many of them have proven to be open and accepting of all. But if you don’t know to look for them, you certainly won’t find them. So being open to those who do find them is not enough. These networks need to actively participate in searching for people who are not aware but could benefit. And this is not a selfless act, because the group will benefit from a more inclusive group. 

Now What

In everything that has happened this year, all the good, all the bad, all the terrifying, all the happy, the one thing that has been more evident than ever to me, is that we are all better when we are ALL in it together. So, I have no predictions for 2021. I have hope. I have hope that we are learning. I have hope that we are, albeit slow, getting better. I have hope that the hardships and revolt from this year will continue to mature into productive and meaningful dialogue and change. And most of all I hope that you, whoever you are, will choose to be a part of it.

But hope alone is not a plan. So, as an industry, as humans, I encourage you to make plans for how you and those around you (myself included, I am still very much trying to figure out how to be the change) can make the world a better place for all those in it. Here are some easy ideas to start with:

o  Point out to managers when you’re in a meeting with low representation

o  Take part in implicit bias training and encourage your peers to do so as well

o  Ask your HR teams to review your applicant intake systems to ensure there is not implicit bias in your screening

o  Engage in mentorship programs and intentionally seek out people who don’t look like you

o  Look beyond just your day-to-day work schedule; lunches/dinners/drinks (this includes Zoom calls) and invite and encourage diversity

o  Actively listen and learn from your colleagues from different backgrounds, with a key on “actively”

o  And most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask what to do to be better, it’s always ok to ask. There is no embarrassment in trying to learn what you don’t know

2020 is over.

You made it here. Now make it better.