Weekend Brew

This week we have some fun articles discussing leading during a transition, channel strategies, and SPACs. Also, take a look at my article on Parkinson’s Law and how it can apply to personal finance. Enjoy!

Leadership

HBR had two great articles I’ve read through this week. The first being tools leaders can use to help manage their teams through a transition. We’re all dealing with some level of change. Whether it’s company-level change, the re-opening post-pandemic (in the US at least), or plenty of other things to navigate through. This article discusses the psychology behind “transitional objects” and how they can be applied to help your team manage through change.

The second article discusses how important a channel strategy is to your business. It opens up reviewing the rise of eCommerce, and how it has increased buying in brick and mortar shops (pre-pandemic). The article broadens this concept to emphasize how leveraging multiple channels to sell (whether you’re in retail, B2C, or even B2B) is critical for your post-pandemic Go-to-Market strategy.

SPAC Attack

SPACs have been all over the news as of late. As Morningstar describes, SPACs (an acronym for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies), are holding companies used to help companies go public via IPO.

The lure for the seller is that SPACs bypass a lot of the complicated processes typically required to go IPO and gets investors to buy into the company faster. The lure for the investor is that they can get in on an investment early and profit from an IPO.

Writers at Morningstar argue that SPACs are growing in popularity. What’s a bit suspect about this instrument is the investor doesn’t know what the underlying company they are buying into even is. This surge in popularity coupled with the unknown of the underlying asset reminds me a bit of Mortgage-Backed Securities. I just hope investors are careful when buying into these.

Miscellany

Fatherly interviews the new Mortal Kombat movie’s writer, who believes its target audience is for the adults who grew up with the Mortal Kombat franchise as children. It’s not for today’s kids.

Bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach discusses with Yahoo Finance the current speculative nature of crypto. He also suggests the psychology behind many investors buying into crypto is almost like a casino. I mean… I hate to say I told you so.