Given the fact that the Global Corporate Communists control all of the megaphones, it’s easy to get discouraged. Fighting globalism often feels like pushing water uphill.
The other day I had about three soap boxes piled up in a Twitter Space, and I was giving an impassioned speech about the Sustainable Development Goals, the Rainbow Agenda, and how they are, indeed, coming for our children.
When I finished, the room was quiet, until finally someone said, “You know, you really lost me.”
Note to self: Work on your messaging.
Way too many people still haven’t grasped the simple truth that globalism has already infected every aspect of our society and our lives. While we spend most of this show talking about how that is, today we are going to take a different approach.
It’s hard to zoom out and see the change plans, and measure the incremental progress of those change plans – so hard, in fact, that most people give up, put their heads down, and stop trying.
And that makes me sad.
So today, we are going to show some examples of how we’re winning this war – showing the principles of culture change from a white hat point of view.
The Light Beer Lesson
Conservatives have been raging for weeks about Dylan Mulvany and Bud Light. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have been among them. Honestly, Bud Light was the last straw after actor and exhibitionist Dylan Mulvany assumed female-centered sponsorships for Tampax, Olay Beauty, wedding dresses, and more.
As I have said before, I do not believe Dylan is trans. That is, I don’t believe that he has gender dysphoria or believes he is a woman. He has a long history of media whoring, and he finally found a role that earns him millions. He is exploiting both women and the trans community, and I find it repulsive. He’s also playing the character of a little girl, which makes you wonder about his target audience.
Recently, after Alex Stein trolled Mulvany into doing a cameo that went viral, a triggered Mulvaney put out a video declaring that no one is allowed to question his identity. Unfortunately for him, we live in America and the First Amendment is still in effect, at least on paper.
But enough has been said about Mulvany. The lesson here is the impact that pissed off Americans had on the iconic global brand. According to Anson Frericks, a former Anheuser-Busch Executive, this is a moment where Bud Light needs to decide who it will be accountable to: Shareholders or Stakeholders.
Watch this short interview from Fox and Friends this morning.
Is Anheuser-Busch making a bet that consumers are going to forget? Yes.
And Frericks is correct. That’s the wrong move.
So, let’s talk about a lesser-known company that made the right move.
Basecamp Goes Back to Business
On April 26, 2021, Jason Fried, Co-Founder and CEO at 37signals, the creators of Basecamp project management software, announced company-wide changes on his blog.
“In the product world, not all changes are enjoyed by all customers. Some changes are immediately appreciated. Some changes take time to steep, settle in, and get acquainted with. And to some, some changes never feel quite right — they may even be deal breakers.
The same is true when changing your company, except that the customers are the employees. And when you get to a certain count — customers or employees or both — there's no pleasing everyone. You can't — there are too many unique perspectives, experiences, and individuals.”
This is the announcement of a radical, sweeping culture change at Basecamp, and I doubt Fried could have foreseen the backlash that would come. He continued:
“We all want different somethings. Some slightly different, some substantially. Companies, however, must settle the collective difference, pick a point, and navigate towards somewhere, lest they get stuck circling nowhere.”
He then announced the changes:
No more societal and political discussions on our company Basecamp account.
No more paternalistic benefits.
No more committees.
No more lingering or dwelling on past decisions.
No more 360 reviews.
No forgetting what we do here.
Fried closed with, “We're very much looking forward to this new version of the company. Once the construction site is cleaned up, and the dust settles, we believe we'll see a refocused, refreshed, and revitalized Basecamp. Here we go, again.”
Basecamp’s Backlash
What followed was a bucket of Reeee. The day after his infamous blog post, Fried posted a short update in which he said, “Decisions aren't hard — it's the moments after that are.”
In the global change agenda, un-woking is not allowed, and Basecamp was feeling the backlash of the entire establishment for its decision to put the company and the product first. I only followed this story so closely because I am a Basecamp customer and user and, due to the media circus and outside pressures, I expected Fried and his leadership team to change course.
But they didn’t.
Fried held a company-wide zoom to address employee outrage over Basecamp’s un-woking, Fried even reportedly apologized for the manner in which the announcement was handled.
But as the employees would discover in that meeting, addressing employee concerns and caving on your change agenda are two different things. According to a woke insider account published by The Verge, within a few hours of the meeting, at least 20 people — more than one-third of Basecamp’s 57 employees — had announced their intention to leave.
This was the moment most corporate leaders would fold. Fried’s blog post that followed the Zoom showed that Fried is not most corporate leaders.
“...to our former colleagues: We know you'll go on to do great things. We wish you all the best…to our customers: We're here and we remain committed to supporting you today, tomorrow, and in the long run.”
Jason Fried, Co-Founder and CEO of Basecamp
At that moment I became a Basecamp customer for life.
Basecamp’s (Better) Future
A year after the controversy, Fried sat down with Business Insider and reflected on their decision to stick with the change:
“Just like we wouldn't mix discussions about religion at work or people's personal lives that are quite personal, or some things are just off-limits. And we're not going to talk about politics that way or sociopolitical issues. These are outside the scope of what we want to talk about at work.
Now, some people weren't happy with that. A lot of critics weren't happy with that. We had a number of employees who left over that, and that's totally understandable. I can appreciate why some people don't feel like that's not where they want to be. But we also had a lot of people who stayed. We've hired a lot of people since, and I think the company's in a much, much better place now than we were before.”
Reflecting back he said, “It was a painful transition. It was sad. But we've since moved on, and other people have moved on, and we're in a much, much better place today than we ever had been in the past three or four years.”
You Can’t Change Without Pain
Basecamp has one lead investor: Bezos Expeditions, which is Jeff Bezos’ personal venture capital endeavor. Following the un-woking, Bezos Expeditions is still listed as the sole lead investor of Basecamp.
Basecamp is also currently listed as having 65 employees, double digit growth since the un-woking.
The decisions made by Fried and team grew the company and improved the products, and they didn’t lose their lead investor – even though that investor is globalist Jeff Bezos.
Consider the story of Basecamp through the lens of our 21 principles in High Velocity Culture Change.
What can Anheuser-Busch learn from Basecamp’s experience?
Watch Culture of Change on Badlands Media, Sundays at 6PM ET. Show notes and references are available on my substack following each show. Find all my work at linktree.com/asheinamerica and follow me on all the socials @asheinamerica.