• WHY DO EMERGING & MID-SIZE COMPANIES NEED AN ADVISORY BOARD? Because effective strategy is the single most important factor in business success and, no matter how knowledgeable or capable a company’s owners/managers may be, strategic decisions are always optimized from independent voices and expertise – particularly economic & financial perspective outside the company or industry. In an environment changed and changing from market demand and competitive shifts, “this form of strategic development is invaluable. It not only leads to clearer strategies but also creates the alignment necessary to make bolder moves with more confidence and follow through from Board oversight for committing resources to key decisions.” DCG has decades of expertise in developing and implementing an effective and cost-beneficial Advisory Board. [McKINSEY QUARTERLY – Feb 13]

JOURNALISM MAY BE ON ITS LAST LEGS. In newspapers, the ‘news’ is dwindling away as staffs have shrunk nearly a third from their peak and journalists are now outnumbered four-to-one by public relations workers. Papers and magazines now “rely on outsiders to fill up space as their staffs shrink.” Weather, traffic and sports now account for some 40% of local TV newscasts with ‘news’ stories presented in quick surface-info blurbs (after advertising and interviews) versus the original, thoughtful ‘investigative’ reporting of earlier decades; half of local news reports get less than 30 seconds airtime and only 10% get more than a minute. “On cable news channels, live reports (which require camera crews and journalists to actually show up somewhere) have fallen by a third in daytime programs over just the past five years… According to Pew Research, the news industry is undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put in their hands.” Much of the reason is of course financial – “for every $16 in lost print advertising last year, newspapers made only around $1 from digital ads” – but also perhaps because people are so distrustful of reported ‘facts,’ many now prefer talking-head opinions. [THE ECONOMIST – Mar 30, 13]

‘INTERRUPTION ADVERTISING’ IS ALSO ON-THE-RUN as media consumption habits continue rapidly shifting to multiple platforms including mobile, internet, film-on-demand, and fast-forwardable recorded television. Among the most creative of new advertising strategies is ‘Transmedia Storytelling’ – “the art of conveying messages, themes or storylines to a mass audience through convergent cross-platform interactive marketing,” particularly for introduction of new products, artists or services. When coupled with celebrities and interactive content, ‘Branded Entertainment’ is evolving as today’s optimal strategy for “matching content delivery with audience consumption habits… to engage custo-mers in long- term relationships.” Nationally leading this marketing trend is Storytellers, a DCG partner www.storytellerseg.com

‘REDISTRICTING’ HAS BEEN ONE POSITIVE STEP in attacking California’s partisan politics, by stripping legislators from absolute control over re-election. “Politicians used to joke that the state’s U.S. House delegation had less turnover than the Soviet Politburo.” Prior to 2010, when congressional district maps were for the first time ‘redrawn’ by an independent Citizens Panel’ versus those-in-power, incumbents kept all but one seat out of 265 general election races during the preceding eight years. The 2012 election saw a 26% turnover, once boundaries were based on “districts of roughly equal population with compact, regular shapes that respected city & county lines, as well as so-called ‘communities of interest’ – groupings of people with shared economic & social features such as race, religion, sexuality, community habits and household income” basically constituting neighborhoods. [BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK – Mar 25, 13]

A PATHETIC PICTURE OF CALIFORNIA GOV’T WORKER RETIREMENT PAY: Lifestyle of Rich & Famous. http://r7—sn-q4f7dm7r.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?fexp=932000%2C906383%2C902000%2C919512%2C929903%2C931202%2C900821%2C900823%2C931203%2C931401%2C908529%2C919373%2C930803%2C906 836%2C920201%2C929602%2C930101%2C930603%2C900824%2C910223&id=392efe1ee5da4441&source=youtube&sparams=begin%2Ccp%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits %2Citag%2Clen%2Cratebypass%2Csource %2Cexpire&el=watch&cp=U0hVSVdSVF9ITkNONV9PTFhEOnZsM1BzeWl6S2gw&sver=3&app=youtube_mobile&yms=vo2NsvfxLi8&ipbits=8&ratebypass=yes&expire=13 64776334&signature=4427AE5545FD3DDC5032F13544B72D2ED61F3F6D.3BDC83ACF3A11EFCEC7315A89D99DC7C8C574721&key=yt1&len=243000&ip=64.203.15. 57&itag=36&begin=0&ms=au&newshard=yes&nh=EAQ&mv=m&mt=1364753358&cms_redirect=yes

• THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” – Bill Gates

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

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