Holy shit, it’s December, and the links we’re sharing this month reflect the year past, the year ahead, and the things you do at the end/start of a year.
You celebrate.
You reflect.
You tie up loose ends.
You set new goals.
You build new strategies.
This month, you’ll find the links in that order rather than listed by minutes. It’s like the music album version of a newsletter.
Two more things to fill your December days and nights
1. We’ve also been hearing and reading a lot about the power of a ‘text crew,’ a ‘challenger network,’ a community, and in that spirit we’d love to connect with you more regularly on Twitter if you want to give us a follow! We’re all trying to be on there more sharing interesting finds and an original thought here and there > Faaiza / Moirae / Moly
2. We started a North and Now podcast playlist on Spotify if you’d like to take a look, follow, download your faves. We added all of the episodes we’ve shared in this newsletter over the last few months—and there have been many, so lots of marketing, business, culture listens to keep you company on winter walks or cozy nights in.
Wishing you all well! Thanks for signing up for this project of ours (we’re cooking up some fun stuff, so stay tuned), and we’ll see you in 2021.
xx Faaiza, Moirae, Moly
What lies below
Celebrate: The lies that women have been told…
Reflect: James Clear appreciation post
Tie up loose ends: How to complete your stress cycles before 2021
Set new goals: Inspo from a visionary marketer
Build new strategies: Athlete brands know what they’re doing
🙅🏻♀️ The Lies That Women Have Been Told with Bozoma Saint John, CMO of Netflix | Girl Boss Radio
//Moirae: I think I need to meet Bozoma Saint John. Her marketing rap sheet is intense and includes:
Pepsi
Apple
iTunes
Uber
And she’s currently the CMO at Netflix.
After listening to 3 podcast interviews with her here are my 3 takeaways:
1. It doesn’t matter what you are saying, if you are saying it with enthusiasm people will give you the benefit of the doubt.
2. Critics are just people who can’t see the world the same way you see it.
3. Be eternally curious.
//Moly: I really like Bozoma’s thoughts on being bolder about taking credit for great work.
Here’s a sample: “All kinds of consequences happen because we’re not being assertive in our celebration of ourselves. Let’s not get it twisted, this is not about some superficial celebration. This is indeed about getting to the top, and making sure that we are noticed.”
//Faaiza: Key takeaway for me: By celebrating ourselves and acknowledging our capabilities, we are encouraging others to do the same. We’re not competing. We’re building a culture of self-celebration.
Also, one thing I’ve realized about myself is that the podcast host can make or break an episode for me. And I am a harsh critic of hosts. I’m just going to leave it at that.
🧊 Spend a minute with James Clear
None of us have read Atomic Habits, but James Clear has roped us into his community via his Twitter feed and reallllly well done 3-2-1 newsletter. We’re always passing his insights back and forth—here are a few faves.
//Moly: Love this as an explanation for why you sometimes fall back on simple concepts. Now I have a way to articulate this approach for myself and whoever I’m collaborating with.
//Moirae: Truer words have never been spoken. Find the version that YOU love, that ignites and drives YOUR passions. That is what will compound. (insert fire emoji).
//Faaiza: A great reminder.
Side note: It’s fun to see us be drawn into his marketing funnel—who will buy his book first?
🚦 Brené Brown with Emily and Amelia Nagoski on Burnout and How to Complete the Stress Cycle | Unlocking Us
//Faaiza: Since hearing this podcast I’ve learned a lot about the relationship between your body, your brain, and your emotions. What I didn’t understand is that stress is something physical that happens in your body, and it is cyclical. All stress has a beginning, middle and end. If you hold stress in your body and don’t complete the cycle, you can and will experience a physiological response. E.g., IBS, heartburn, high blood pressure.
This specific episode taught me about the importance of completing cycles of emotion, even when the environmental factors of that emotion are gone (separating stressors and stress). If you don’t finish your feeling, you can’t actually move through it. I’m still wrapping my head around that and figuring out how to notice it.
But in the meantime, the coping strategies are really great! They’re not really new, but to me they feel more valuable now that I understand the connection between stress and physiology. I’ve been walking a lot in the pandemic, 1-2 hours a day outside almost every day since April. And I’ve always needed to pace around or move to think through a challenging idea. Walking outside consistently, I focus on one thing at a time, my brain feels calmer, and I feel ready to start my day when I get to my desk. Over the next few months I’ll see what else I notice.
//Moirae: I was really hesitant to listen to this, because I thought it was just going to be all ‘yadda yadda, get some sleep to manage your stress.’
I found it profoundly interesting that they go into the science of the way our bodies manage stress, and love that they gave concrete examples of how to complete the stress cycle and release it from our bodies.
I have definitely implemented a few—including long hugs which I am a big fan of, laughter, and hey—I have had my fair share of big cries, big... HUGE (to quote Pretty Woman) this month.
//Moly: In this podcast there are 7 strategies for closing a stress cycle in order of effectiveness that you’ve definitely heard of before but put in a way that made me think: I have to schedule these in.
From the convos I’ve had with people in the last couple months I think it’s safe to say we’re all grappling with stress in ways that are affecting our emotions, relationships, and hormones, and I am now a dedicated member of the physical activity and focused breathing club, with a dash of creative self-expression.
Do yourself a favour, and listen to this to survive the rest of 2020 and set yourself up for 2021.
👟 Shopify’s Quest for Cultural Domination Has Already Begun | Hero
8-ish mins
Give it a read
//Moirae: Great article detailing what’s next at Shopify now that my buddy boy @Wex1200 is at the helm of partnerships and influencer marketing.
“The Kims & Kylies of the world may continue to dominate the headlines in the stories of the next generation of merchants but it’s the small and middle-sized sellers that will create the avalanche.”
//Moly: Whoa. Reading this article was a reminder that there’s always a new approach waiting to be uncovered, and visionary marketers get there first. I mean, do any of us remember a time before Kanye made sneaks? Well, just a few years ago only athletes had adidas deals!
Here’s a guy who’s been hired by one of the biggest brands of 2020 to find influencers with the strongest brands in the biz and help them build product lines that will both speak to who they are and SELL FOR LOTS OF MONEY. What a COOL challenge! I finally get your obsession, Moirae!
It brought back a memory from an epic Tweet thread we shared in the past about how Marshmello’s manager got him to play the first live concert in the Fortnite video game.
Imagine figuring out an epic marketing first…
🏀 Athlete Branding Masterclass with Zoe Scaman | High Tea Hoops
//Faaiza: Great episode with my new hero, strategist Zoe Scaman. She’s started working on athlete branding with some NBA players and there are so many parallels to personal and corporate branding.
Know who you are and what 3-4 things you really care about or have interest in
Build partnerships and affiliations with other brands that align with your values
Engage with your community on platforms they’re on, but make sure you’re evolving with your community.
Layering fandoms can get you new sets of fans based on common interests beyond your core business. For example, basketball players who also love video games can gain gamer fans even if they don’t love basketball. (Degrees of influence)
//Moly: This podcast is a great example of how you can find inspiration from leaders in other industries to make your own. My top takeaways are super similar to Faaiza’s, but repetition makes things stick / they’re kinda, sorta different!
1. Choose 3-4 facets about yourself to build your brand around that can pull in multiple audiences. Steph Curry focuses on family, faith, and the game—two of those pull in non-bball folks.
2. Be a top performer in your profession first and foremost. You don’t want to build a brand that’s bigger than your ability to deliver, so put in the time to perfect your craft.
3. Give your fans somewhere to gather. This resonates with the online/offline strategy we pushed for Jobber. We went to 12 trade shows in one year and we did everything we could to get the ppl we met in person to follow us on IG and Facebook and join our Facebook group.
A little background
North & Now started as an idea for a conference in 2016, and though we shelved that, we’ve continued to gather around these beliefs:
1. Look at leaders in other industries in order to be leaders in your own
2. Identifying opportunities is a learned skill (this one’s our favourite)
3. A fresh perspective on something familiar to you can be a game changer
If you want to send us links you think we’d like or want to discuss a fun idea, hit reply or send us a note:
Faaiza → Twitter (most active) / Instagram (infrequent posts, frequent scrolls)
Moirae → Instagram (her stories are 🔥) / Twitter (all business, no play)
Moly →Instagram (follow for wine/podcast recs) / Twitter (work in progress)
That was a great read and I'm curious about Atomic Habits now too. I am also really glad you are sharing the Brene Brown podcast on Burnout. I loved it. As you said, it isn't all new, but understanding the science and the why of it, and the new things I learned really made it super impactful for me and I think a 'must listen' for many of us right now. Happy December to you!
Excellent work, team. I might just beat you to Atomic Habits. It's been on my list but I'm paying more attention now. Gotta look into that compounding idea. I always like financial analogies. Sorry, let me try again. The bottom line is that I like financial analogies.