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Open your news feed or turn on a screen and images of conflict are impossible to avoid. Geopolitics is not the exclusive precinct of diplomats and politicians. For many, it is an intensely personal and emotional topic; a distant calamity can strike very close to home. And people do not leave their opinions behind when they go to work. In fact, many workers expect their employers to take a stand on social and geopolitical issues. In the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, almost 80% of respondents said that CEOs are justified in addressing a social issue when they can make a difference. Moreover, business remains more trusted than government, the social sector, or the media. With that position comes responsibility. A charged environment But its a complicated one. Particularly in large global organizations, opinions are certain to vary: Where people grow up, what they experience, and how they consume news all shape their response to geopolitical events. Leaders need to be prepared to manage a highly charged environment where a single remark can spark controversy. Missteps can lead to a loss of trust, talent, and reputation. Insight, oversight, and foresight are all required to build geopolitical resilience There is also a fourth dimension: a people agenda. Just as business leaders develop a strategy to guide operational decisions, they need to do the same for engaging with their workforce on geopolitics. That means learning how to talk about sensitive topics; how to balance transparency with confidentiality; how to meet the rising expectations of employees, customers, regulators, and other stakeholders; and how to unify the organization around a shared commitment to good global citizenship. A strategic approach to engagement can be built on five pillars: multipolarity, mobility, messaging, motivation, and mission. Multipolarity In a fragmenting global order with new opportunities in emerging markets, issuing decrees from headquarters is not enough. Employees want the unique risks and opportunities in their home markets to be understood and reflected. To demonstrate a multipolar mindset, leaders can hold board meetings in different regions, ensure that important roles, such as on global risk committees, are filled with people who reflect the global nature of the organization, seek input from experts and advisors with a wide range of views, and get local advice when developing risk frameworks in markets with geopolitical sensitivities. Mobility Companies can help employees build understanding and trust with colleagues by creating opportunities for them to experience life and business outside their home markets. One global retailer, for example, brings its entire incoming analyst class in China to its U.S. headquarters each year. Many firms also offer rotational programs to help up-and-coming leaders gain a deeper understanding of how and where the company operates. Messaging Business leaders should define and communicate a set of principles that provide a clear rationale for which issues the company will take a stand on and which it will not. Considerations include the specific legal situation, the companys values, the business case, and impact on the brand. These ideas informed McDonalds messaging when it decided to pull out of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While the message must come from the top, communicating it can be done more broadly. Indeed, the messengers are as important as the message. Messengers may need to be on the ground in markets experiencing disruptions to learn from local colleagues and other stakeholders and show support in person. Employees tend to trust their immediate supervisors more than senior leaders; supervisors usually have more time to listen and learn. Similarly, seasoned executives with strong relationships across the organization may be able to play the role of shuttle diplomats and help employees understand the companys position while also serving as sounding boards and relaying frontline perspectives to senior leaders. Motivation Employers understand that the workforce values job security, compensation, and the opportunity to advance. But the desire for purpose and community is often underestimated. Management can enhance employees sense of belonging during a crisis, for example, by offering matching funds for charitable contributions. If geopolitical issues force a company to suspend operations in a market, management can demonstrate its commitment to employees by offering support to those in the affected region. Mission A clear mission statement can transcend geopolitical differences and serve as a rallying point in moments of internal division. The mission of one large U.S. multinational, for example, includes making its services universally available. This informs leaders debates about whether the company should serve certain markets. Keeping the peace in the workplace when the world is in turmoil can be challenging. In revising their vision of the world to one that is connected yet contested, leaders may also need to revise how they engage with their people on a topic that is personal. In addition to taking steps to reduce risks ranging from screening processes to data access protocols, leaders must also take proactive steps to emerge as resilient organizations that can withstand centrifugal forces and seize new opportunities.
Category:
E-Commerce
Mere weeks into his new role as CEO of Starbucks, Brian Niccol joined an earnings call with investors and trumpeted an iconic brand. But it wasnt Starbucks. Bringing the Sharpies back to our baristas, Niccol declared last October, will give them the opportunity to put that additional human touch on every coffee experience by writing each customers name or an inspiring note on their cup. Were tracking down the Sharpies, Niccol later told CNBC, estimating the company would need about 200,000 of them. The comments drew attentionStarbucks even followed up with a TV ad featuring baristas jotting on cupsbut in a way, they revealed more about Sharpie than they did about the coffee giant. Sharpie defines a category. Its simultaneously universal and personal, instantly recognizable, and ubiquitous. Its such a strong brand, in fact, that Starbucks, a global juggernaut with a market cap of more than $100 billion, is in effect leaning on it for support. Yet when the CNBC hosts mused that maybe it was time to go long on whoever makes Sharpies, they werent certain which company that was3M, maybe?until they looked it up. Its Newell Brands, the Atlanta-based conglomerate behind Rubbermaid, Mr. Coffee, and Oster appliances. Sharpie is part of a suite of learning and development brands that includes Paper Mate, Elmers, Expo, and Prismacolor, which is the companys most profitable division, says Kris Malkoski, the segments CEO. Nobody at Sharpie knew the Starbucks announcement was coming. We were totally psyched! says Gina Lázaro, vice president of brand marketing for Newell’s writing segment, who recalls being bombarded with congratulatory messages from within the company and without. Newell CEO Chris Peterson even reached out to Niccol to say thanks. The real significance to Sharpie wasnt the wholesale order. A five-pack of Sharpies runs about $5 at Walmart; at that price, 200,000 markers would work out to $200,000, not exactly a game changer for a company like Newell, with 2024 revenue of $7.6 billion. It was the free, and highly complimentary, publicity. Its amazing when a fantastic brand calls out your brand by name, Lázaro says. [Photo: Heami Lee; prop stylist: Christine Keely] Not that Sharpie doesnt market itself. Newell advertises the marker brands vast spectrum of products and colors across digital and social media, in stores, and at events such as SXSW and Comic-Con. And the brand promptly chimed in on Instagram to amplify Starbuckss endorsement; it also sent its promotional Sharpie Bus to a nearby Starbucks in Atlanta to give out markers. But Sharpie, like a crafty Zelig, just has a way of quietly turning up. Artists rely on the markers. Actors and athletes sign autographs with them. Their scent has inspired perfume (Love the smell of permanent markers? reads the marketing copy for Sharpie, by Wicked Good) and candles. Stephen Colbert has made a running gag of sniffing them. When President Trump drew on a map to offer his unsubstantiated take on a hurricanes potential path, well, that became #sharpiegate. Trump, who uses Sharpies for all official business and has boasted about having them custom-made, isnt even the first president to endorse Sharpie: George W. Bush was a fan, too. With its familiar script logo and unflashy form factor, Sharpies core attribute is dependability, says Paola Antonelli, senior architecture and design curator and director of research and development at the Museum of Modern Art. You can trust a Sharpie to do exactly what it says itll do, without trying to wow you with any special effects, she says, distilling its appeal into three words: Consistent, definitive, indelible. Dependability might not be the sexiest brand attribute, but it sure seems to work. The company says that it has sold an estimated 21 billion Sharpie markers worldwide over the past 60 years, and nearly five billion over the past decade alone. In a 2024 survey commissioned by the brand, respondents said they owned, on average, about seven Sharpies, and that at any given moment there was one within 10 feet. Three in four said that the markers made them more creative. [Photo: Sharpie] It sits right in the middle of that Venn diagram of office supply and art supply, says Austin Kleon, the artist and writer of illustrated books such as the New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist. Ive joked for years that I use them because you can steal them from any office supply cabinet. Its been about 40,000 years since our ancestors figured out how to leave expressive marks on cave walls, kicking off centuries of design and technology improvements in tools for handmade communication. Ballpoint pens, first patented in 1888, became the epitome of a mass writing tool. The felt-tip, introduced in 1910, had more versatility. A permanent version, the Magic Markerwhich used quick-drying ink that worked on glass, metal, and plasticwas invented by entrepreneur Sidney Rosenthal in 1952. It proved popular both on the factory floor and in the kitchen drawer. But its fat tip yielded much cruder marks than a regular pen, limiting its use. It took a nearly century-old American company to figure out a solution. Sanford Ink Co. started out in 1857 as an ink and glue manufacturer in Worcester, Massachusetts. It moved to Chicago, narrowed its focus, and became a successful ink manufacturerNorman Rockwell illustrated an ad marking its 70th birthday in 1927. But by the 160s, the market for ink for fountain pens was dwindling, leading Sanford to create its own writing instrument. The first-ever pen style permanent marker, with a slimmer barrel and a tip made from extruded acrylic fibers that came to a sharp point, debuted in 1964. It was called the Sharpie Fine Point. In a precocious influencer-courting move, Sharpie sent some markers to Johnny Carson, who loved them and mentioned them on The Tonight Show. This, according to Sharpie lore, evolved into a sponsorship with NBC and endorsements from such other personalities as Jack Paar and Hugh Downs. It wasnt until the 1990s that Sharpies story got colorful again, after Newell acquired Sanford in 1992. Newell absorbed Sharpie and the dry-erase marker brand Expo, then smartly decided to expand the Sharpie line when big-box retailers like Staples and Office Depot were on the ascent. [Photo: Sharpie] Five new Sharpie marker styles debuted between 1997 and 2002, along with the first new colors in decades, including aqua, berry, turquoise, and lime. The brands first TV campaign aired in the late 1990s, emphasizing the many ways to use a Sharpie. Small packaging tweaks allowed the product to fit into a range of retail settings; Sharpie ended up everywhere from Costco to Tractor Supply Co. to Blick Art Materials. Sharpie started making self-expression part of its core brand message. At the same time, the brand owed a good piece of its growth to a parallel phenomenon that probably wasnt in its business plan: the rise of celebrity culture and the memorabilia market. Sharpie became an essential part of autograph signings, notes Sharpies Lázaro. The markers work on jerseys, footballs, baseballs, and bats, making them the writing instrument of choice for fan interaction, she says. The company introduced the Sharpie Autograph Pen in 1992the first and only made just for getting and giving autographs. Connecting the Sharpie to autograph seeking did the brand a favor, creating a link between an everyday quotidian tool that sits in a kitchen drawer or supply closet and something more rarefied and aspirational. The association with sports stars, in particular, emerged as a primary Sharpie branding strategy. The company lined up endorsement deals and ads with golfer Arnold Palmer, Nascar drivers including Kurt Busch, and, later, soccer superstar David Beckham. The brand currently promotes a Rookie of the Year initiative, highlighting top college football players poised to Sharpie-sign more autographs and NFL contracts. But the moments that gave Sharpie its biggest brand boosts continued to be those in which it was an accessory in someone elses spotlight. A memorable example: San Francisco 49ers star receiver Terrell Owens catching a touchdown pass in 2002then pulling a Sharpie from his sock, signing the ball, and handing it to his financial adviser in the stands. The stunt prompted the NFL to institute a rule against players bringing foreign objects onto the field. It became a legendary end-zone celebration, with Sharpie playing a discrete yet vital role. Terrell Owens of the San Francisco 49ers signs a football after scoring a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks during their game on October 14, 2002. [Photo: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images] More recently, Sharpie has highlighted its connection to another constituency: creators. Its most recent new products, S-Gel pens and water-based paint pens called Sharpie Creative Markers, are aimed explicitly at this cohort. As part of its World Is Your Canvas campaign, the brand recruited Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian and Blavity cofounder Morgan DeBaun in 2023 to promote the S-Gel pens; last year, the Sharpie Bus visited New Yorks Gov Ball, San Diego Comic-Con, Miamis Art Basel, and other festivals, giving out hundreds of packs of Creative Markers to help people uncap creativity. Sharpies creative audience has been core to its success all along. Timothy Goodman, an artist and designer, and author of the graphic memoir I Always Think Its Forever, remembers adopting the Sharpie largely because there were just a lot of them around. But he says that the decisiveness of a permanent marker fit well with his playful, there-are-no-mistakes style, and he used Sharpie paint pens to create a mural for the Ace Hotel in New York that gave his early career a boost; later, he published the book Sharpie Art Workshop, full of Sharpie-centric projects by him and other artists. Artists are picky consumers, finicky about their tools (Goodmans work these days involves thicker-nibbed Molotow paint markers and Montana markers and spray paint). Yet for many, that classic Sharpie becomes a mainstay. Portland, Oregonbased artist Jason Sturgill started using one while working as a designer at Nike. Its ridiculous, he says, how many tools I have in this space, and I still just have a bucket of Sharpies and thats kind of my go-to. My drawing is very simpleI try to not have a lot of detail. So its easy for me to wield. Kate Bingaman-Burt, an artist and professor of graphic design at Portland State University, uses Sharpies for zine-making workshops, where that confident line emboldens studentsand photocopies well. For many, the flagship Sharpie functions as a gateway drug, leading to an interest in a wider range of creative tools that, increasingly, Sharpie itself provides. (Bingaman-Burt is a fan of the new Creative Markers.) [Photo: Sharpie] In design thinking workshops, Allan Chochinov, founder of the School of Visual Arts Products of Design program, distributes classic Sharpies and Post-it Notes, because the combination of those two toolsan unforgiving marker and limited space to markforces action and concision. Its like permission, he says. It frees you up to not worry about your skills and still get on with the messy and imperfect process of creating. Which isnt to say that every idea will be a gem, let alone every autograph, executive orderor personalized coffee-cup message. Starbucks really did order a significant number of Sharpies, says Lázaro, though she declines to say whether it was actually 200,000, and in Starbuckss earnings call in late January, CEO Niccol cited the companys reintroduction of handwritten notes on cups to better connect with customers as a pillar of the companys effort to reestablish Starbucks as the community coffeehouse. That said, sales at Starbucks are still down year over year, and some of its customers reportedly find the mandated return of the human touchvia written names and well wishesto feel a bit forced, even cringey. You cant blame the Sharpie Fine Point marker for that. It may be a powerful tool, but what it expresses is still up to the user.
Category:
E-Commerce
In high-stakes meetings or chaotic team moments, the person who stays grounded often becomes the one others follow. And this outcome isnt about status or rankits biological. Human groups are wired to seek cues of stability. In uncertain situations, people scan for behavioral signals of calm, control, and composure. Those who project these signals can influence group dynamics in powerful ways, whether or not they hold formal authority. In my work on Leadership Biodynamics, a biology-based approach to executive presence, I train leaders to tune their behavioral signals intentionally. The goal is not to fake confidence, but to engage practices that create real calm in the body and broadcast it to others. This is rooted in the biology of behavior. When your nervous system signals stability, others systems start to regulate in response. Here are three tiny behaviors that can make you the calmest person in the room. 1. Slow Your Exhale One of the fastest ways to regulate your nervous system is through your breath. Specifically, focus on extending the exhale. A longer out-breath activates the parasympathetic nervous system, signaling to your body and brain that you are safe and in control. In stressful moments, most people unconsciously shorten their breath, which heightens physiological arousal. By contrast, slowing your exhale lowers heart rate variability and helps maintain executive function under pressure. Neuroscience research supports this. Controlled breathing patterns are shown to downregulate the amygdala, the brains threat detection center, and improve prefrontal cortex performance. In leadership terms, this allows you to think clearly and signal calm even when tension is high. 2. Master the Neutral Face Facial expressions are among the most contagious signals in any room. Subtle cues of tensiontightened jaw, furrowed brow, compressed lipstrigger mirror neuron responses in others, escalating stress contagion. One of the simplest yet most powerful techniques is to practice what I call a neutral face. Relax your facial muscles, release tension from the jaw and brow, and let your gaze soften. This sends nonthreatening signals that calm others nervous systems. A recent story on how fighter pilots maintain calm in high-stakes situations echoes this principle. Pilots are trained to maintain neutral, composed facial expressions because they know crew members will mirror their affect. The same applies in leadership settings. 3. Use Stillness Strategically Movement is another powerful signal. Rapid, jittery gestures broadcast anxiety. Deliberate stillness, on the other hand, projects control. In tense meetings, practice purposeful stillness. Rest your hands lightly on the table, slow your gestures, and allow silences to stand without rushing to fill them. This creates a grounding presence that helps regulate group energy. Behavioral research confirms that leaders who demonstrate controlled stillness are perceived as more composed, credible, and trustworthy. The effect is amplified when combined with calm vocal tone and centered body posture. Why Projecting Calm Matters at Work These behaviors may seem small, but their effects are anything but. In group settings, emotional states are highly contagious. The person who maintains composure can anchor the emotional tone of the entire room. This is especially critical in hybrid and remote environments, where subtle behavioral cues carry more weight. In my work with global leadership teams, I often see that those who can project calm consistently gain disproportionate influence, not through dominance but through stabilizing presence. In Biohacking Leadership, my book of science-based techniques for better leadership, I emphasize that influence is not about charisma alone. It is about biological signaling. When your own system is grounded, you help others self-regulate. That is what builds trust and followership in high-stakes moments. The bottom line is this: if you want to become the calmest person in the room, start with these three behaviors. Slow your exhale. Relax your face. Use stillness strategically. These tiny actions, grounded in the biology of behavior, can shift not only how you feel, but how others respond to you. And in leadership, that is the signal that often matters most.
Category:
E-Commerce
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