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Two years ago, almost to the day, organizations began to prepare for the inevitable two-week shutdown that changed life as we knew it.

Never having had to deal with a pandemic, let alone sending everyone home to isolate with their families, pretty much everyone—from the company you bought your toilet paper from to the guy who painted your house 10 years ago—sent an email that had some version of “out of an abundance of caution” in it.

No one really knew what to do and we were all winging it. The executives running the organizations who suddenly had to figure out how to make payroll with zero income coming in—and the communicators helping them message it all, both internally and externally.

Then we added on top of a pandemic and working from home and homeschooling our kids and living in fear of dying from a virus that hadn’t yet been contained, a social justice movement, an attempted coup on our capital, and far worse climate change than anyone could have imagined. 

Everyone began to extol their values—and rightfully so. People buy from people, not brands, and it’s become even more evident in the past two years that we buy from the people we trust to represent our interests.

And today, as of this recording, Russia is still attempting to topple Ukraine and there are rumors of a nuclear war. Never before has your work as a communicator—and the organization’s stance on ESG (environmental, social, and governance)—been more important. Which is saying a lot after the past two years. Heck, since 2016 when the U.S. elected an unhinged president. 

But we’re not going to talk about him on today’s episode of the Spin Sucks podcast. Rather, your role as a leader of the brand and its reputation in today’s world.

Resources Included:

• Grief Leadership
• Interview with Fiona Hill
• How Tito’s Vodka Supports Rescue Dogs
• Unlearning Our Behaviors
• Living the Golden Rule
• Adjusting Our Biases
• Spin Sucks Community

About Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at Spin Sucks and is the founder of Spin Sucks Pro. She is the co-author of Marketing in the Round and co-host of Inside PR. Full bio