Strategy Roundup 10.1

Allen & Gerritsen
5 min readOct 4, 2021

Catrice Coleman

Inc.:Tom Brady’s Dad Took a Jab at the Patriots. Brady’s Response Is a Lesson in Emotional Intelligence

Regardless of what you think of the Tom Brady on the field, he recently showed us a different skill off the field, giving us all a little reminder of what emotional intelligence looks like and perhaps even injecting a little hope that all isn’t lost for humanity amid the wake of culture that rewards runnin’ off at the mouth and having the best “clap back.”

Emotional intelligence sounds like a fancy term but it’s really just “the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. Being shut off from society during COVID has taught many of us the importance of this skill but at the same time we’ve seen it is not always easy to display, especially when feeling more stressed than usual. So kudos Brady for bringing a little levity before a big game and showing a lot of respect for a team that even he admits, gave him some of the best memories of his career.

“I’ve actually prepared a statement that I wanted to say, and it’s really all that I have to say on the subject, Brady told co-host Jim Gray. Comments made by Thomas Edward Brady, a 77-year-old insurance company CEO, who should know better at this point in his life, don’t necessarily reflect the views or positions held by his son, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. So, furthermore, should Tom Sr. continue to speak out on behalf of his son without the express written consent, Tom Jr. reserves the right to eventually put him in a home against his will.”

Refinery29: SCAMBITION, Is That All There Is? Why Burnout Is A Broken Promise

We’ve all said it at some point and in some manner, “I’m exhausted,” “I’m worn out,” “I need a break,” or perhaps the most famous, “I’m burnt out!” Burnout “isn’t just fatigue. It’s far more insidious and complicated,” but it isn’t new either, though we’ve never seen people take the bull by its horns quite like this before. Like no time ever before, employees are making their move, they’re leaving jobs and not just with a cushion to fall back on. Some are just plain leaving. What it shows us about our job market and the mindset switch that the Pandemic has ushered in is quite telling. A job isn’t necessarily the holy grail, and people aren’t just “grateful to have anything.” But that doesn’t necessarily make them ungrateful, perhaps it does however make them bold and honest and willing to stand up and put their foot down when they’ve felt let down. Could it be that the pandemic has taught us to value ourselves more than we value our money or our stuff? Wow, now that’s a thought.

“Thinking of burnout as a form of betrayal is illuminating, because it frames burnout not as a solitary experience — an agony you battle alone, something that’s your sole responsibility to heal from — but a relationship in conflict. For those medical students, the conflict comes from being let down by their professors and mentors, and their subsequent interrogation of whether this path would allow them to be the kind, empathetic doctors they wanted to be. For others experiencing professional burnout, the details of the conflict vary, but the core problem remains the same: Workers feel betrayed by their employers.

“This is why burnout hits when work fails to live up to our expectations of it. Many of us were raised on the mantra: “It’s not work if you love what you do,” and so we want to believe that our jobs can not only provide financial stability, but also emotional and spiritual nourishment. Not all work is a calling, but the journey toward finding the right job can be likened to a pilgrimage. In a time of increasing secularism, work remains our steadfast religion.”

“It’s a sign of the times — and of how fed up people are with the conditions of work — that people are now rejecting this worldview, and doing so to such a degree that it’s become a movement. If the movement has a motto, it would be the word that’s been on everyone’s lips over the past 18 months: burnout.”

NPR:Rare Pokemon Oreos Are Selling For Thousands Of Dollars On eBay

Just when we thought the Pokemon craze couldn’t get any crazier…there are Oreos. For big fan collectors the pairing might be just as good if not better than a glass of milk. But thousands of dollars? There is something altogether different about collecting perishable food items vs cards that might cause some to pause before shelling out that kind of money. Even so, apparently for some, like all things Pokemon, there is clearly a market for it. If nothing else we’ve all got a quick lesson on the secret to success for a brand, partner with Pokemon and always include one extremely rare character. The one thing that did keep some fans away was empathy for those who were on strike from Nabisco to protest unfair demands. They took a hard pass to stand with workers across five states.

“An eBay search yields dozens of Mew Oreo cookies for sale, with prices listed everywhere from $50 to $10,000 to $100,000. Some listings promise a “mint condition” cookie; one claims the cookie was only handled with tongs, while others include photos showing the snack tucked safely in a plastic baggie. Judging from the items listed as “sold,” a number of the cookies have gone for as low as a few dollars and for more than $15,000.”

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