Caracal Daily | Jan. 21

WATCHING TODAY:

1. Putin loves to roll the dice. Ukraine is his biggest gamble yet. WSJ reports the former spy chief’s tolerance for risk is tested as he threatens a ground war unseen in Europe since the 1940s.

2. Most NFTs are more like baseball cards than fine art: Scott Duke Kominers writes collectors aren’t just paying crazy prices for blockchain entries. They’re also buying affordable access to communities and the opportunities that come with it.

3. NYC Mayor Adams will convert his city paycheck to cryptocurrency via Coinbase: The Verge reports he can’t get paid directly in cryptocurrency under US labor law.

4. The eerie, lunar nothingness of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast: NYT writes the stretch of coastline in southwest Africa is a strange and beautiful reminder that, in the end, we are powerless against nature and time.

5. Football, the ultimate team sport, has been distilled to a single position: WP reports these playoffs are a quarterbacking fantasy, thanks to the design of the modern NFL.

Seven reasons your communications is underperforming.

You can't escape underperforming communications.

You see it in the halls of power in Westminster and Capitol Hill, on the campaign trail in Des Moines and Manchester, to multinational boardrooms and trade association meetings.

On any given day, the White House needs to walk back a quote and issue a "what we meant to say statement."

You read about executives at the pinnacle of the career finally getting media training and witness professional athletes giving pissy answers to journalist questions.

Underperforming communications by one or by the organization cuts equally.

Communications is a holistic activity.

Communications is a system activity.

Communications isn't one thing; communications is several things happening in concert.

You may have a communications team or an employee specializing in this task. Heck, you might be a solopreneur.

But never forget, regardless of your structure, your communications is a holistic and system activity.

Communications succeeds when thinking is aligned and arranged with a commitment to communications success.

From decades of experience consuming and practicing communication, these are the seven mistakes causing your communications to underperform:

1. No clear and consistent strategy

2. Over-indexing on tactics

3. Poor organization and staffing

4. No consistency and lack of an editorial calendar

5. Know-how is not shared and seen as too precious to be made available to stakeholders

6. Efforts are exclusively reactive and by chance

7. Online activities are not in sync with offline activities

Your communications doesn't need to be underperforming.

Communications succeeds when thinking is aligned and arranged with a commitment to communications success.

Eliminate the seven mistakes above, and you will be on your way to communications glory.

-Marc

Caracal Daily | Jan. 20

WATCHING TODAY:

1. Why Germany refuses weapons deliveries to Ukraine: DW reports Germany has declined to join allies such as the US and UK in shipping weapons to Ukraine. The country faces an unpredictable buildup of Russian troops on its borders — and there is precedent for armed aggression.

2. What if Web3 isn’t all it is cracked up to be? NYT reports Andreessen Horowitz’s representatives in Washington are telling policymakers that a crypto-based internet can fix the problems of the current web, helping Americans “win the future” by giving them greater stakes in the tools they use.

3. Exodus of House Democrats points to daunting US midterms challenge: FT reports retirements by lawmakers from Joe Biden’s party puts razor-thin majority at risk.

4. André Leon Talley’s deep Southern roots: Garden + Gun writes the acclaimed fashion editor has served as confidant and adviser to Oscar de la Renta, dressed first ladies, and sat front row at every couture show that mattered. But his famous eye for style traces back to his grandmother’s house in Durham, North Carolina.

5. Choreographer helps UCLA gymnasts showcase their break-the-internet individuality: LAT reports in her first two years as UCLA’s choreographer, Bijoya “BJ” Das has set the internet aflame with three viral floor routines. Two of the star-making performances were choreographed during a pandemic that limited the assistant coach’s ability to interact with the gymnasts she was coaching.