The New York Times estimated in early April that US unemployment had hit 13 percent by the end of March, and is climbing rapidly. That’s already a level we haven’t seen since the 1930s.

While I work mostly in business-to-business consulting and copywriting, I’ve always had a sideline of writing resumes. As far as I know, I pioneered the one-visit, in-person-while-you-wait resume in 1984, and I’ve continued to keep my hand in it. In this time, I want to be of help.

I have the skill and there’s an urgent need. So…

1. I’d been charging $50 to critique a resume. Now, I’ll do them at no charge.
2. It took some figuring out (and infrastructure strengthening)–but I can now offer while-you-wait resumes (for the US and Canadian job markets) for clients located anywhere in the world, at the same low price I’d been doing them in person–but over Zoom.
3. For anyone who has lost their job due to COVID-related closures or cutbacks, the first cover letter (normally typically $50 to $75) is included with your resume order.

If you or someone you know is struggling in today’s job market, this help is available at https://accuratewriting.com/resumephilosophy.shtml

Here’s my response: Petitions, by themselves, rarely create change—but sometimes, they do. Petitions kept Net Neutrality in place for the remainder of the Obama administration. In my town of 5000, submitting 1200 petition signatures to the town government had a definite impact during the Save the Mountain campaign—but it certainly wasn’t our only tactic and wouldn’t have been effective by itself. Petitions are one spice in the spice cabinet, one arrow in the quiver.

And petitions serve other purposes even if they don’t immediately create the change they call for. For example:

For a non-activist, signing a petition online is an easy first step; think of it as a “gateway experience” for activism, just as opponents of pot often call it a gateway to the harder stuff.

After signing, a request to share the petition with others might have that newly-minted activist taking that petition around and sharing it, either in person or online. This is another way to get involved that is easy, not time-consuming, and doesn’t require writing or public speaking.

It’s also a way to provide social proof: safety in numbers. It’s less risky to take a position if you know hundreds or thousands of others have taken that petition.

For the organization, it’s a way to collect names and contacts for future organizing efforts (and a way to raise funds, too).

In paper format, a huge stack of petitions creates a great visual for the media (including your organization’s newsletter and social media feeds)

You’ve probably figured out that I believe in using a mix of nonviolent tactics, separately or together as appropriate. And that different issues lend themselves to different actions. In these days of mass quarantine, many of our most popular actions, like mass demonstrations and civil disobedience actions, have to be put on hold. Nonviolent action scholar Gene Sharp (1928-2018) put together a wonderful list of 198 different nonviolent social change tactics, and more are being invented all the time. Obviously, we’re not going to look at each one—but let’s do two more that are still relevant in our no-contact world. And I’d love it if you’d put your own favorite tactics or ideas in the comments, so we can discuss their effectiveness as a community.

Vehicle-based Public Marches and Protests:

This may seem like a new tactic in response to quarantine. But although rarely used, it’s actually been around for decades. When we can’t gather closely, it’s a way of taking up a large amount of space with a small number of people, using signs and horns to get a message across. And it can incorporate more aggressive tactics, such as blocking key intersections. Of course, it has a high carbon footprint compared to many other kinds of actions.

Strikes and Boycotts:

For any workplace that is still functional, a strike (which could include a slowdown, work-to-rule, work stoppage in place, refusal to go to work, and probably a dozen other models) still has power. Jobs don’t get done without employees, and many employees can’t be instantly replaced.

But strikes have many drawbacks, especially in a climate with more than 30 million unemployed, many of them highly skilled. If there’s a strike, there’s always a risk of replacement workers being found. Strikes need support from strong unions, and strong unions are rare these days.

Boycotts are harder to organize, but probably have an easier time achieving their goal, as long as they have a way to dissuade enough customers from spending their money, hitting the power structure where it hurts. If they don’t get enough participation, they can be counterproductive—but that participation can build over time, as it did for the United Farm Workers grape and lettuce boycotts. Boycotts (along with mass demonstrations, sit-ins, and many other actions) helped end segregation in the American South, encouraged the British to get out of India, made major gains for organized labor, shut down hate-spewing talk hosts, and much more.

Again, let’s hear your favorites in the comments (and why).

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Ambience

Despite numerous signs about controlling litter, reducing plastic waste, and conserving water, litter is an enormous problem. We’ve visited more than 50 countries including many parts of Latin America, and we’ve never seen littering so ingrained in the culture. Garbage is a constant, some of it quite gross and long-term. The piles are kept half-manageable by scavenging goats, cows, and crows. And by a cultural norm about squeezing the most use out of any item, so things like plastic bottles and bags often get reused (and trucks get wildly overloaded, and the roads are way over capacity). Many stores give out cheap polyester totes that can be reused, though I didn’t see many people bringing their bag into a store. I did see constant trash fires, including burning plastic bottles (extremely toxic!).

Driving, Walking, and Exercise

The most challenging part of India for us, and the most different, was the constant terror on the roads. We are New York City natives and have traveled extensively in developing countries—but nothing prepared us for India. It is the only place I can remember where we abandoned a planned destination because we reached a street that we simply couldn’t cross.

• Lane markings in urban areas are not even suggestions; they are nothing more than wishes.
• The culture is to honk whenever you round a blind curve or pass another vehicle.
• Sidewalks typically exist, but too often, they may as well not—either blocked by huge piles of debris or cratered with deep holes (or both).
• Walking isn’t valued. In most of the national parks and scenic landscapes we visited, walking is tightly restricted to small areas, with very few public trails. There is a trekking (hiking) culture for tourists, but mostly the excursions are half a day or longer—and may include armed guards to keep participants safe from wild animals. Cities often have parks and botanical gardens, some with a lake and surrounding walking trail. Otherwise, casual 1- or 2-hour hikes are rare. We occasionally found a low-traffic road to walk along in rural areas.
• Most people will get around on a bicycle (usually a very ancient one), a motorcycle, car, tuk-tuk (3-wheeled motorcycle taxi), or the super-crowded public bus. The number of people using a vehicle will often be far more than rated. Three people on a motorcycle, a dozen in a tuk-tuk or small pickup truck bed, maybe a hundred on or hanging from a 40-seat bus. The three largest cities we visited, Chennai, Bangalore, and Kochi, all had metro systems that appeared clean, modern, and popular (we didn’t actually get to try one out). About a third of the motorcycle drivers wore helmets, but a much smaller percentage of their passengers.

Energy and Pollution

In other environmental issues, India uses a lot of mass-scale hydro, which is good on lowering petroleum use and carbon footprint but floods large areas behind a dam and disrupts local culture and ecosystems. Most of these seem to be several decades old. India is also known to use a lot of coal (although we didn’t happen to pass any coal plants).

Despite numerous emission testing stations, many vehicles belch smoke. Diesel is the preferred fuel for both cars and trucks, and the older engines were for the most part not well maintained. Our driver kept his ventilation system on recirculate almost the entire time, except occasionally on quiet country roads. Air pollution is extreme in the cities and disturbingly high even in many smaller villages.

We saw a few solar PV installations; solar is more popular for heating water. We passed one very large wind farm.

Food

Any medium sized city has dozens of pure-vegetarian restaurants, and small villages will have one or two at least. The food was savory and rich, using lots of super-fresh cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, chilis, curry leaves, coconut, turmeric, and other ingredients. The “veg meal” lunch was often an incredible bargain, including between 7 and 20 or so different foods in small portions surrounding a big heap of white rice, with refills available. In the local-oriented restaurants in South India, the meal is served on a banana leaf and eaten with your fingers, using bread or rice to pick up the food if it’s saucy, or eating it directly if it’s more solid. It’s a good idea to wipe down the leaf first with a few drops from your water bottle (bring your own or buy one with your meal). Many restaurants will bring a fork or spoon if you ask, or if they anticipate your desire.

We assumed that almost all of this bounty was not organic. We did see organic items in some stores, and also found a few stores that focused on organic—but few restaurants.

We avoided raw unpeeled fruits and vegetables and unboiled tap water as much as possible, bringing our own water bottles and refusing ice in any drinks. Some dishes contained raw cilantro or onion, or even shaved carrots; we did our best to eat around them. I once sent back a fresh pomegranate juice that was obviously diluted. We also took vitamin C and activated charcoal daily, and for the first week, an immune booster daily as well. And pretty much every day, we had at least one probiotic, usually a no-ice lassi/lessi (yogurt drink). We used an herbal, alcohol-free hand sanitizer frequently. And we never ate street food. Even so, we both experienced some very minor gastrointestinal issues.

• C, J, H: My Three “Brogan Words” for 2020, Part 3

Turn Your Sustainability/CSR Report Into Powerful Marketing!

Oh, and if you’re feeling old in the face of a new decade, it’s also a new decade in the Hebrew Calendar. We entered the year 5780 in September. By that standard, even older folks like me are still very young. Of course, in geologic time, all of human history is an instant.

Recently, a journalist asked some questions about keeping the customers you have. I kept you in mind as I answered:

1. What should you do if you keep losing customers? First, ask them why they haven’t returned and what it would take to win them back. Second, fix any problems that come up from more than two or three people. Third, if your answers are mostly that they got the task done and don’t need you anymore, ask what else they need and develop new offerings that address this gap. Don’t forget to notify them once you’ve done so! Fourth, announce what you’ve done to fix the problem and ask them to try you again. And fifth, announce a special for returning customers and contact your whole customer base to spread the word.
2. Why do businesses typically lose customers? Either they’ve found someone to do it better/faster/less expensively/more pleasantly—or they no longer need that product or service (or still need it but are no longer conveniently located to you)—OR you’ve simply dropped off their radar because you didn’t make the experience special, so you didn’t develop brand loyalty.
3. What are some customer retention tips? Make the customer feel valued and special, and like they are visiting a friend when they come to you. Overdeliver—throw in something unexpected and wonderful (and not the same thing each time). Continue regular communication (e.g., email newsletter, well-targeted) so you stay in their minds.
4. How can you gain new customers? The very best way is to actively solicit referrals—not just from existing customers, but also from people in complementary businesses that you partner with (that second part is the big success secret of many Internet marketing millionaires). These are both pieces of marketing yourself as an expert. Other ways to demonstrate expertise include speaking, being interviewed in media, networking the RIGHT way, and collecting solid testimonials.

• C, J, H: My Three “Brogan Words” for 2020, Part 1
• C, J, H: My Three “Brogan Words” for 2020, Part 2

Turn Your Sustainability/CSR Report Into Powerful Marketing!