ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 4.30.25

Strategy, artificial intelligence, marketing sensitivity, collective action, and website accessibility. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it:

Strategy ain’t rocket surgery

I enjoyed reading this simplified approach to strategic planning, from Catie McDonald of FarWell advisors, “The secret to a successful strategy is surprisingly simple” The word “strategy” still seems to provoke fear all too often, not to mention visions of endless weighty meetings that go nowhere and decide nothing. The process really can and should be a lot simpler – and more effective.

POV on AI IRL

This CUbroadcast interview with Jackie Taque from Edwards Federal CU is a great overview of what it’s like “on the ground” to (carefully and mindfully) roll out AI chat and bots to assist members. Some very interesting insights into member acceptance and how AI tools don’t replace humans; they free up humans to do more interesting and valuable human things.

Marketing Sensitivity

I’ve noticed more online retailers are asking if you’d rather not receive marketing based on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, because these days can be painful for some due to loss or trauma. That’s just one small example, but overall, granular marketing preferences work very well as an alternative to plain old “unsubscribe”. Let’s do better and do more of this, please.

As a resident of Indianapolis, can I please unsubscribe to emails containing lame racing puns in April and May? And Home Depot, it’s only been three months… I won’t need another water heater for a long time.

A textbook example of collective action

Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is just to get a whole bunch of people to work together. The other week, a “book brigade” of 300 residents of a small Michigan community got together to move a beloved local bookstore’s inventory by hand. Who knew you could daisy-chain book lovers and skip hiring a moving company?

Website Accessibility isn’t that simple

The FTC recently finalized a $1,000,000 fine for accessiBe, a company that makes an accessibility “overlay”, software that is installed on a website via a script and gives users various tools for changing the interface for better accessibility. The fine was for deceptive practices; there simply is no such thing as software than can promise to make any site “WCAG-compliant”. Worse, overlays like this can interfere with the tools and software actual disabled people use to access the web. The best approach, of course, is to build websites with excellent Accessibility from the start, and regularly check to make sure changes and new content are also Accessible to all.

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