What I Learned This Week - It's About the Weather

As a young man I lived in New York for a couple of years. In late spring or early summer of my first year there, a friend invited me up to his cramped New York studio apartment that held a couch, a chair, and a large ottoman that served multiple purposes from breakfast bar to desk to dining table.

Bunched up in the corner was a stack of brand new umbrellas. Their chrome-like workings gleaming and their faux leather handles shiny.  They were the most valuable items in the almost barren apartment.

It was about 80 degrees outside. I asked him about the umbrellas, and he said, "Well, that is my investment. Umbrellas are the best investment you could make in New York. I can see that you think that's odd...just wait till the winter."

Sure enough, two weeks into winter, he had me up for a visit, and the corner was empty. His cupboard was full, and he was pouring drinks.

What I learned that day in my very young life is that it's all about the weather. Most times you can't sell an umbrella in the spring. Maybe you can sell slightly more of them in the summer to people trying to escape the harsh rays, which rarely reach you as the skyscrapers provide a robust canopy. 

But come winter, umbrellas become a rare and very valuable commodity. My friend told me that he actually sold out of the entire stack in a three day period, and it was enough to pay for his food for a considerable time because - “it's all about the weather.”

This is the lesson we're learning this week. In various states throughout our country, voters have voted early, those left are voting this weekend where early voting is available to them, and then those still left will head to the polls on Tuesday to make their voices heard.

Their subconsciousness will still be ringing with the messaging received in the mail, email and phone but ultimately the decision on what they buy will be made because of the weather.

And for many Americans, the weather is harsh. Many may have been able to look the other way as due process rights are ripped away from many people in this country as they were torn from their own children. A smaller number were still able to look away still after rising inflation continued to hammer their household budgets.

Of those that are left, how many will be able to ignore the fact that their insurance premiums are about to rise significantly? Then of those that still left, how many are going to be able to ignore that millions of Americans will be hungry next week?

The coalition of people who are willing to ignore is diminishing as more and more of the unsightly issues surrounding our country have grown. The ability of our minds to hide in its corners of denial has diminished as even as those corners have shrunk.

For marketers, entrepreneurs, leaders, and for those of us that are still trying to make the American dream work, the biggest lesson of the week is that it's always about the weather.