• EFFECTIVE PEOPLE DON’T JUST KNOW WHAT TO DO, THEY KNOW WHY.  They have concrete goals – essentially a vision of what they want to achieve, with purpose which guides their dedication, organization and capacity to bypass distractions that stand in the way. After Goals are clear, they next determine Objectives – what needs to happen in order to get there, and then followed by a ‘Plan’ for the people, processes, resources and systems to make it happen. “Committing to a Business Plan makes all the difference in achieving Goals… Indecision is born a lack of purpose: when you know what you truly want, most decisions can and should be almost automatic, based on the simple framework: Will this help me reach my Goals?”  [INC MAGAZINE] Failing to plan is effectively planning to fail.  DCG have decades of experience in reality-based strategic planning, and offer courtesy consult.
  • DOGS RESPOND TO WHETHER A HUMAN IS STRESSED OR RELAXED. According to latest studies, “their responses – emotional state, perception of rewards, and ability to learn – are influenced by the sweat & breath resulting from humans’ state of mind.” Experiments found that dogs were consistently more or less eager to respond to unfamiliar people offering food, when the person had beforehand been focused on a stressful math test versus those having listened to soothing music, suggesting that “cognitive or judgement bias impacted optimistic versus pessimistic dog choices, such that ‘stress signaling’ influences welfare and working performance of the dogs.”  [NATURE and UPI – 7/22/24]
  • TEN YEARS AGO, AMAZON ENVISIONED ITS VOICE ASSISTANT, ALEXA, as a means to sell more products from its home devices marketplace – Kindles, Echo, TV firesticks, Ring doorbells, etc. But users have instead used it as a virtual assistant to do simple tasks, like setting alarms, checking time or local weather, rather than as an assistant shopper, which has cost the company well over $25 billion. [WALL ST. JRNL and FUTURISM – 7/23/24]
  • THE IMPACTS OF PSYCHEDELIC MEDICINE – psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA (ecstasy), LSD and psilocybin (the hallucinogenic compound found in ‘magic mushrooms’) – is increasingly being investigated as therapy for neurological conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Latest study at Harvard School of Medicine found that psilocybin “temporarily resets entire networks of neurons in the brain that are responsible for controlling a person’s sense of space, time & self for a few hours, which then get back in sync once the acute effects of the drug wear off, but can diminish those senses for weeks. The study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging in eighteen sessions with each participant to observe blood-flow images reflecting how groups of neurons communicate with one another.”  [NATURE – 7/17/24]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:    

    –   Absence of a strong ‘middle’ in America’s political system, combined with the dynamics of the world’s currency system, are potentially leading to an evolving condition “worse than a recession,” as five sequential causes of warfare are progressing: imbalances in Trade, Technology, Geopolitical influence, Economic, and Military. A fascinating and profound analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzpxnfOMczA

–   V.P. Kamala Harris, now nominee for America’s presidency, is still raising money for the murderous ‘Freedom’ Fund established in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd riots, ostensibly to bail rioters out of jail.  But, as Washington Free Beacon reports, only a small percentage of the more than $41 million raised was used for that purpose. Instead, “The remaining funds helped post bail for violent criminals — such as Boswell, a twice-convicted rapist who was freed from jail in 2020 pending kidnapping and sexual assault charges after the Fund paid $350,000 for his release … and career criminal George Howard who shot and killed a man during a road rage incident in August 2021, just three weeks after the fund sprung him from jail.” [PATRIOT POST]