Frost Advisory #506 – We Feed Off Each Other, For Better Or Worse

I’ve been a part of many standing ovations, but I’ve never started even one.

The powerful influence of the behavior of the tribe can be seen from the seriousness of school shootings (police immediately go on alert for the copy cats) to the funny behavior of those on a crowded elevator depicted in this classic Candid Camera episode.

“People like me do things like this… Normalization creates culture, and culture drives our choices, which leads to more normalization.”

Seth Godin

We live in an unusual time. People are anxious and worried. Some, not all, of the anxiety is a result of seeing other people being anxious and worried. We raid the shelves of toilet paper because we see others modeling behavior that would have never thought of ourselves.

So… what behavior is your station modeling?

“Anxiety is one of the most contagious emotions that we experience and many mental health professions and researchers believe that because anxiety is so contagious its rarely a function of individuals; it’s normally a function of groups.”

Dr. Brene Brown

Your station has the opportunity, some would even say responsibility, to model another kind of behavior. I’m not suggesting you sugarcoat reality, but as my friends at The Fish in Atlanta shared on their billboards, “Hope will not be canceled.”

At my request my brilliant friend Dwight Bain has recorded several short features to help your listeners navigate the significant change in their lives, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. I hope you’ll choose to model for your listeners the healthy behaviors Dwight shares.

“Then it follows anxiety can be resolved in groups. The cure for a dog’s anxiety is to get him another dog.

It relieves the anxiety in the anxious dog to have a buddy. Same with humans. We always do better together.”

Dwight Bain

Please download Dwight’s vignettes here.


John Frost

John has been a successful major market DJ and Program Director for such companies as CBS, Gannett, Cap Cities, Westinghouse, Multimedia, and Sandusky and publishes the Frost Advisory.

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