A Racist Attack Over Email, Inbound Leadership Hurdles, & Eating Crow About WIX.com... This Is THE LATEST!

Marketers just love to talk about how important it is to be "authentic."

But how many of us are actually doing it?

How many of us sit down at our keyboards or in front of a video camera and get real and honest with our audiences about what hurts us or scares us? About when things go wrong, or when it turns out we're the ones in the wrong?

If I'm being "authentic" right now with you all, I don't do this. I cushion the blow of my failures in humorous anecdotes and schtick. I deflect criticism with pointed sarcasm. I also have a very hard time being wrong publicly, so I get defensive.

All of us can learn a lot about what real authenticity looks like from the following three articles. In their own way, they each show that sometimes in order to teach the most important lessons or answer the most pressing questions in our content, we must be willing to expose our vulnerabilities.

Is that something you're willing to do?

🔴 "Instead of Unsubscribing, He Called Me a Terrorist."

I wish I could say that's just a clickbait headline designed to elicit a reaction. It's not. IMPACT Head of Editorial Content Ramona Sukhraj writes THE LATEST -- this very newsletter -- twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. When she came into work one morning last December, someone had replied anonymously to one of her issues with an explicit, personal, racist attack. Please take five minutes to read this brave, heartbreaking story that I wish Ramona didn't have to write; unfortunately, it's clear we don't talk about this enough and still have a lot of work to do.

😟 "Being an Inbound Leader Isn't Easy. It's Going to Be Overwhelming Sometimes."

At the end of last year, IMPACT COO Chris Duprey published a definitive guide that introduced the concept of "inbound leadership," following years of observation, study, and practice. However, soon after publication, he realized his guide is only the beginning of the story. In fact, even if you were to follow his guidance to the letter, the most committed inbound leaders face challenges. So, Chris dug deep for you all in this article about the six most common hurdles inbound leaders will face, and five strategies to overcome them.

✅ "I Have a Confession to Make. WIX.com Has Changed for the Better."

Back in 2013, IMPACT Design Supervisor Jessie-Lee Nichols sat down at her computer with a singular message she wanted to share -- "I hate WIX.com for business websites, and here are the very specific reasons why I am making that statement." Her well-researched rant went on to become one of our most popular articles of all time. Now, however, she has a confession to make because -- as she put it -- sometimes, "you have to eat your words." WIX has changed a lot in the past six years, so Jessie-Lee shared this candid update about what's new with WIX, how WIX has changed for the better, and what questions she still has about the platform.

⏳ Throwback Thursday

Last year, IMPACT VP of Services Brie Rangel captivated our readers with her willingness to be honest about a painful, personal experience that strengthened her resolve around one of her core beliefs -- being nice at work (and as a leader) doesn't hold you back at work.

📅 Save The Date!

Listen up, East Coast HubSpot Users! Both the Hartford, CT, and Annapolis, MD, HubSpot User Groups are meeting in less than a week -- on February 5, to be exact! -- and they're all about audience participation and feedback! Hartford is hosting Website Throwdowns and Annapolis has brought back their "Critique My Campaign" night by popular demand! We'll also have free food, drinks, and plenty of time to network! Want in on the action? Sign up to participate or attend in Hartford or Annapolis.
Start Creating Quality Marketing Videos on Your Own! IMPACT and Wipster are teaming up to give you the tools to produce top-notch videos in-house and create a video strategy from scratch. Curious about how to do it for yourself? Check out the teaser video for the February 14 webinar. (It's one of our favorites!)