Some not-so-random thoughts that are catching my attention this week.
 
In the workplace: Stop overthinking!
                                
Overthinking. It’s annoying. But it’s also dangerous. It can limit your thinking, hinder progress and more importantly, cause serious health concerns. So…stop it, right? But it’s not that easy.
 
This Fast Company article has some great methods to help you avoid the overthinking trap and make decisions easier.
 
Workplace trends: 11 ways to welcome Gen Z to the workforce
 
Have you considered how you are welcoming new employees to the job? Let me rephrase that. Have you considered how you are welcoming new employees to the job…in the past 18 months?
 
If not you are probably aren’t coming across as very welcoming for Gen Z, the new generation to hit our workforce. That and 10 others things to consider when welcoming them to your office…
 
Oops: YouTube Kids announces new policies in response to inappropriate content
 
Last week we talked about misshapen pizzas as our crisis preparedness lesson. This week it’s a little more serious subject matter. YouTube is dealing with some serious issues around illicit and (extremely) inappropriate content making it into YouTube Kids.
 
Might be a good time to ask….how up-to-date is your crisis communications plan?
 
Tech: Domino’s just wants to give you free pizza…what are you worried about?
 
So…is this brilliant? Or creepy? Domino’s new rewards program is giving you points toward a free pizza for simply snapping a photo of any pizza you eat through their app. Hmmm. Now why would Domino’s want you to do that? To promote pizza, overall? To reward you out of the goodness of their heart? Or to secretly learn about our pizza consumption/eating habits as well as emerging pizza trends?
 
Yea, you’re right…it’s probably just to help us earn free pizza.
 
Best practices: Conspiracy theories need to be part of your crisis communications plan.              
                                                     
I wish I could tell you that I have never eaten the pizza at Chuck E. Cheese’s. But hey, when you are there for a few hours in the middle of the day for a kids birthday party…and realize all you had to eat that day was half of a granola bar, you become less picky really fast.
 
So given that hunger you probably don’t pay much attention to the fact that the pizza is misshapen. But a conspiracy theorist/YouTube personality did. And he claims that Chuck E. Cheese’s recycles the uneaten pizza from other tables, warms it up and puts it back on the plate for new customers. Whaaat?
 
So the question I ask you here, which Chuck E. Cheese’s proves in the linked Washington Post article, is—should your crisis plan include conspiracy theories?
 
 
Something to watch: The clock is ticking – get on board the hottest new social media app 
 
TikTok – have you heard of it? Chances are your kids have. And they’re having a lot of fun on it. But is it here to stay?
 
Think about it: What can a tradeshow rookie teach a veteran…and vice versa?
 
And finally…               
 
Just a reminder that the akhia leadership team is participating in the 2019 Man & Woman of the Year campaign. This program runs for 10 weeks and is through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Literally every dollar raised helps the fight to find cures for blood cancer.
 
You can learn more or donate here.