Environmental Mic Drop
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #125 ❤️
There is a lot going on this week. The CEO of Patagonia made everyone look like liars and losers, Center Parcs made an absolute howler of a mistake navigating the tricky circumstances of responding to the Queens funeral as a brand, and your work may be more like a cult than you could ever have imagined.
Let’s get into it.
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#1 - Patagonia & The Environmental Mic Drop
As you may know, the CEO of Patagonia decided last week to give away the family business in aid of the environment. Chouinard has relinquished ownership to a specially designed trust and a non-profit organisation to ensure all Patagonia’s profits – about $100m (£87.7m) a year – are used to combat climate change.
This is the most extreme action in what has been Yvon Chouinard’s lifelong commitment to sustainability, since the literal 1970s, well before greenwashing became a thing, and when most fast fashion brand we know today were just a twinkle in their founder’s eye.
They actively encourage their customers not to buy excessively and instead redirect to their repair programmes. In a Black Friday advertisement they went so far as to tell consumers: “Don’t buy this jacket.” A far cry from Pretty Little Thing’s 100% off sale last November.
Despite their impressive reputation, Chouinard was convinced that radical action must be taken if they want to make a tangible difference to the climate crisis.
This is a HUGE deal not only because it’s the first time anything like this has been done, but because it demonstrates the drastic lengths companies must commit to if they want to make a difference, and shows how little pretty much all other companies must actually care about climate change.
Greenwashing fluff will now look eternally ridiculous in comparison, like Pretty Little Thing’s clothing resale site for their one use clothes, or Boohoos absolutely bizarre decision to appoint Kourtney Kardashian, private jet loving woman with no qualifications in the subject, as their “Sustainability Ambassador”.
#2 - Center Parcs vs. The Queen vs. The UK
Unless you’ve literally been living under a rock, you will be aware that Queen Elizabeth’s funeral took place this last Monday.
What shops and services across the UK were supposed to do on this fateful day turned out to be a bit of a head scratcher, with many (Aldi, Poundland, Costa, John Lewis) deciding to close completely, as a sign of respect and to “allow staff to mourn”.
However, the question undoubtedly arose about people who weren’t going to be mourning on that day, for any number of possible reasons, and what were they going to do if they needed basic necessities? Some chains decided to partially close, like McDonalds and Morrisons, who nevertheless pledged to make their checkout beeps quieter for the occasion…
Now, if you don’t close or choose to respect the Queen in some way, is it bad PR? For example Channel 5 who famously were the only one of the big five channels not to screen the Queens funeral, opting instead for the Emoji Movie – which is as baffling a choice as any.
Center Parcs, however, got the completely wrong end of this stick, facing huge backlash for not only deciding to close their parks, but to literally kick guests out for 24 hours (????) on the day of the funeral.
Describing Center Parcs as the brand who “tipped everyone over the edge” when it came to anger over the funeral reactions, The Drum note that execs must have decided to ignore the advice of their PR team, as the ensuing disaster led to backlash and a loss of trust in the brand to honour their bookings – despite a quick 360 and no actual closure.
#3 - Cult or Work?
What’s the difference between a cult and a toxic workplace? Well, there’s probably quite a few – but we can guarantee you that the number of similarities will surprise you.
Ex-member of infamous NXIVM cult filmed a video reaction to a recent Buzzfeed article about toxic workplaces, noting NINE key similarities and red flags to watch out for.
1 - Everything seems too good to be true.
Think love-bombing, but in the workplace.
2 - They want to get very close very quickly.
I.e. being encouraged to talk about your personal life or build confidences quickly. A real life example described a boss who encouraged salon workers to gossip about others – and whoever gossiped the most became her favourite.
3 – Weird language.
Worse than corporate jargon, think weird slang that makes you feel like part of a club.
4 – Chants or rituals that take place every day.
Now this one seems unlikely, but we doubt there aren’t a few start-ups with a weird bro-y chant that they do every morning.
5 – Toxic positivity and groupthink, where dissent is discouraged or even punished.
For example, if you’re struggling with your workload, it must be because you’re not a team player or not willing to put in the effort. If you don’t agree, people stop asking your opinion.
6 – You’re encouraged to work really hard, but not necessarily to get paid.
This is very common in start-ups or non-profits – you’ve got to put in the time to change the world man!
7 – The company is VERY concerned with their outside image.
An example given in the article mentions a company where the CEO was giving a talk, and all employees were encouraged to watch and flood the live feed with comments about how amazing he was. Red. Flag.
8 – The job starts taking over your life.
For example, they throw after work parties all the time and you’re absolutely expected to go. Rather than paying overtime, there’s food always available in the office – why ever go home!
9 – There’s a price to pay for leaving.
Classic cult sign, and it works here too. For example, anyone who puts in their notice becomes persona non gratis overnight, and ex-employees are the enemy – woe betide you if you want to go for a coffee with them after they leave.
Pay close attention to this list, if it set alarm bells ringing – you know what to do!
#4 - The 4 Day Week Officially Works
Apparently, the 4-day week is a hit. You may remember that earlier this year, some 73 companies agreed to undertake a trial run by 4 Week Global, a group campaigning for, you guessed it, a 4-day week.
Of the 73 companies in the trial, 41 firms responded to a survey midway through the scheme. 86% of those who answered said they would keep the four-day week policy going after the trial ends.
The majority of firms said it’s working well for their business, with 95% saying productivity had stayed the same or improved during the shorter week. However, we will have to take this with a pinch of salt as almost half of them simply didn’t respond to the survey…
Waterwise, one of the companies taking part, said although it has been a challenge at times, any big change is, noting that the experience has been great for wellbeing and increased productivity.
#5 - Grand Theft Auto 6 Victim of Grand Theft
Arguably the biggest news in tech this week is the leak of pre-release footage of GTA 6, the long awaited next instalment in one of the world’s most well-known video games, brought to us by Rockstar Games studio.
The videos have been confirmed to be real. The hacker claims to be the same person who recently hacked into Uber Technologies Inc., which remains unverified.
He also doesn’t seem to be planning to stop at the video leaks, claiming to have more internal information to publish, including the entire source code of the game.
He posted another message suggesting he was open to making a deal, AND is now being investigated by the FBI.
Bonus
How to design the perfect queue, according to science.
The line to see Queen Elizabeth lying in state was pretty well done, but could it have been better?
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