- IS YOUR EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE REVIEW PROCESS EFFECTIVE ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY THE TIME SPENT? In many companies which still utilize a check-the-box process, delivering results along with compensation changes through managers untrained in objectives or communication, “sentiment is growing that formal reviews do little to provide… the type of feedback that is critical to employee engagement, especially for… Millennial generations who place a high value on the frequency and quality of feedback received.” Reality is that “the ability to effectively communicate and provide productive and helpful feedback, especially across generational divides, is one of the most underdeveloped competencies among middle managers.” DCG have decades of experience designing and implementing proprietary systems to provide meaningful, real-time feedback which is focused on motivating employees to improved performance based on respect for the process. [INTERCHANGE-GROUP NWSLTR – Mar 13, 13]
- “A PERSISTANT FEAR OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE is the invention that escapes our control, proliferating whether or not it benefits humanity.” Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – aka UAVs or DRONES – are the invention which may cross that barrier. Beyond the over 11,000 drones used widely by our military, more than a thousand companies are now developing low-cost, tactical UAVs for the civilian world: for law enforcement, science, journalism, weather forecasting, and basically anyone wanting snoop or keep track of anything that can be identified remotely through radio-frequency identification tags – including livestock, wildlife, pets, even Alzheimer’s patients. Like all other technology, size is diminishing to the point where drones may “hide in plain sight, mimicking the size and behavior of bugs and birds… peering through clouds and foliage.” Expect ACLU and other ‘right to privacy’ battles before U.S. airspace becomes legally “wide open” to drones as of fall, 2015. Meanwhile, checkout current technology: ‘gigatag’ pixilation for 800% focus on faces in any mass crowd: http://www.gigapixel.com/image/gigapan-canucks-g7.html [NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC – Mar 13]
- CHINA’S ECOLOGICAL & FOOD MESS IS REAL. Some 700,000 deaths yearly are attributable to toxic pollution, stemming from four principal – and so far non-correctable – sources: (1) Soot from coal mines that “spew plumes of choking smoke” across farmlands, killing crops and peasants; (2) Toxic wastewater which has contaminated a basin serving 30 million people, now classified as “a major natural disaster”; (3) Lead runoff from manufacturing which poisons soil and water; “locally grown grain wheat carries 24 times the permissible level of neurotoxin”; (4) Airborne sulfur dioxide from transport and cultural hubs, in one sector “consistently measuring ten times the level that the U.S. deems safe.” Beyond the resource pollution problem, processed food is also often toxic – from re-used cooking oil, or toxic additives including melamine-laced milk powder, chemical dye and pesticide-soaked nuts & vegetables utilized by many of the half-million food processing companies (most with fewer than ten employees). [TIME – Mar 25, 13]
- “20% OF ALL CYBER-ATTACKS HIT SMALL BUSINESSES WITH 250 OR FEWER EMPLOYEES… and nearly 60% will shutter within six months of being victimized by cybercrime.” According to Congress’ Small Business Committee on Health & Technology, in addition to the cost of a data breach – which averages close to $7MM per company and “could potentially send a small business into bankruptcy – billions of dollars of trade secrets, intellectual property and technology are being stolen each year by countries such as China and Russia.” DCG partners and affiliates have decades of expertise in this critical area of risk protection. Let us help protect your company. [FOX BUSINESS.COM – Mar 21, 13]
- EMERGENCY ROOM TREATMENT COSTS VARY ALMOST UNBELIEVABLY. A new federal study found that, depending on hospital and type of insurance, the spread is enormous for even common conditions – like urinary tract infections where billings ranged from only $50 to as much as $73,000. [BLOOMBERG.COM – Mar 15, 13]
- THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: The Economist reports a study of ‘Private Traits’ at University of Cambridge which found “accurate predictions from monitoring ‘Like’ preferences on Facebook – including Colbert Report as a strong predictor of high intelligence while Harley-Davidson was a strong indicator of low intelligence.”“A mediocre person tells; a good person explains; a superior person demonstrates; a great person inspires others to see for themselves… A pessimist complains about the wind; an optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
