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Holy heck, the year’s almost over.
I’ve offered 10 points to the first Propllr team member who can suggest (in earnest) that we “circle back after the holidays.” I’ll open the offer to all of you, as well. Send me proof (with a timestamp!) and I’ll ship you those precious points.
Now let’s get back to our sheep! (In French, this is colloquial for “let’s get back to the topic at hand.”)
I’ve started reading the 2020 book Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, which is all about fungi and how they shape just about every aspect of life on earth. And yet, there's a lot about them we still don’t understand.
For example, cultivating mushrooms (the fruiting body of fungi), is notoriously difficult.
Sheldrake illustrates this with the story of a truffle farmer who typically has a 30% success rate (meaning about 30% of his “crop” fruits). One year, he had a 100% success rate. He has no idea why. He’s never been able to replicate it.
And while I can’t emphasize enough how much this book is not about business communications, I keep thinking about business communications as I read it.
Hear me out:
Mushrooms are a bit like content that goes viral. They’re the most visible part of the fungus. They’re what people who don’t understand fungus think is the whole point of fungus.
But the vast majority of fungus is mycelium, these sprawling bodies that exist underground and connect trees and plants and bugs and lots of other stuff. They’re not visible unless you literally go digging for them. You interact with them every day but never realize it.
And they are a vital component of every ecosystem they’re part of.
In my experience, B2B comms exists in a similar way and is similarly misunderstood. Most of it is not flashy. It’s research and pitching and interviewing and writing and editing and strategizing and publishing and promoting.
Most B2B comms efforts are not viral hits. They don’t launch beyond their niche spheres. They appear in trade journals and help specialists think about problems in a new light.
Their impact is at the aggregate, rather than the individual, level: a message repeated (in trade journals, in emails, on a blog, on LinkedIn, on podcasts, on conference stages) and delivered to a specific audience eventually shapes that audience’s thoughts. Even if a brand’s content never goes viral, it helps transfer ideas among industry players and, ultimately, shape behavior.
Mycelium, too, is impactful not because it might one day sprout mushrooms but because it transfers nutrients among members of an ecosystem so that every participant can thrive.
Which is all to say: not everything that matters can be easily measured. Not everything that can be measured easily matters. Sure, my work self would love a dashboard that could track the “aha” that hits when a great point in an article resonates with someone.
But the rest of me is delighted by the fact that there are still such exciting mysteries out there.
On a more prosaic note, LinkedIn updated its algorithm.
As of now(ish), you can expect to get rewarded for sharing valuable, durable content that’s related to your expertise and that resonates with real humans.
That’s the TL;DR from a super-helpful new piece by AuthoredUp.
After I read it, I did the following to my own LinkedIn profile:
The AuthoredUp piece has tips for #1 and #2; for #3, I recommend this post by the brilliant content marketer Rosanna Campbell. Basically, she says, stop imagining your posts being read (and ridiculed) by a huge jerk.
It’s great advice, especially if you (like me) are in the habit of talking yourself out of posting half your comments.
As of publication date, there are 15 working days left in the year. Yoinks!
Here are four things we’re recommending to all our clients to make their comms efforts more impactful in 2026:
And last, before 2025 ticks to a close, you might also want to send a founder letter (or CEO letter) to your stakeholders. If you’re not sure where to start, check out Josh’s handy guide (TL;DR: Be clear, get personal, demonstrate gratitude, share your vision, and spotlight what’s next).
That’s it for me this month. If you’re the praying type, put in a word for my family, who will be at the mercy of my half-baked mycelium metaphors for the foreseeable future.
Back next time,
Brenna