• EVEN WITH EXERCISE, SITTING FOR LONG PERIODS INCREASES RISK OF DYING FROM HEALTH PROBLEMS BY 24%. Since “more than half of an average person’s day is spent being sedentary – sitting, watching TV or working at a computer” – this conclusion, from comprehensive analysis of 47 separate studies involving over 2.1 million people over 16 years, has profound implications. The study found 91% increased risk for getting diabetes, over 17% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer, and tendency to shorter life spans. Those who exercised did reduce risks but only by one-third; “exercise cannot completely counteract the negative effects of sitting” and authors of the study suggest that exceeding a total of 8 hours a day is definitely dangerous.  [LIVESCIENCE.COM – Jan 21, 15]
  • WORKPLACE ‘CHURN’ IS DECLINING. Churn is the measure of fluidity in workers moving between jobs. With some 8.7 million jobs lost in this recession, the changing nature of America’s workforce (median age now up to 42) and relatively few available jobs limited to workers with higher skills than most unemployed possess, the Churn has decreased by over 25% since 2000. Another tough factor is that older firms (in business over 16 years) – who now comprise a third of the companies and employ 72% of all workers – tend to keep their people longer; meanwhile, a quarter of new companies, already down 50% to begin with since fewer people are starting businesses, “fail in their first year.”   [BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK – Feb 2, 15]
  • “HALF OF CURRENT JOBS WILL EVENTUALLY BE AUTOMATED OUT OF EXISTENCE… as the technology revolution is widening inequality by increasing demand for the best brains while reducing demand for everyone else – raising the specter of mass unemployment as intelligent machines do for middle-class employment what their dumb brothers have already done for working-class jobs… Main Street companies in general are trying to do more with less rather than employing new people, replacing fixed costs with variable ones, and putting long-term plans on hold… As nimbleness is replacing clout as the most prized quality, business models can no longer rely on ‘sustainable competitive advantage.’ (Almost half the Fortune 500 list companies in 1999 have fallen off it since)… Living in a world of secular stagnation, jobless growth, zero-sum competition and stability-threatening inequality,” it’s getting tougher to remain optimistic.  [THE ECONOMIST – Jan 31, 15]
  • WHO READS THE NEWSPAPERS? Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country; Washington Post by people who think they run the country; New York Times people who think they should run the country and are good at crossword; USA Today people who also think they ought to run it but prefer statistics shown in pie charts; Los Angeles Times people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could find the time and didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it; Boston Globe readers whose parents used to run the country, but poorly; New York Post by people who don’t care who runs the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated;  Chicago Tribune by people in prison who used to run the state; San Francisco Chronicle readers who aren’t sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, oppose any and everything they stand for. (Occasional exceptions if the leaders are gay, handicapped, minority, feminist, atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, so long as they’re not Republicans); National Enquirer by people trapped in line at the grocery store; and the Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need to wrap it in something.  [INTERNET – ANONYMOUS]
  • CYBER-ATTACKS HAVE TARGETED 74% OF FINANCIAL ADVISORS AND 88% OF SECURITIES DEALERS according to latest SEC findings, mostly thru fraudulent emails requesting fund transfers, with success often and up to $75,000 per account. FINRA, the industry watchdog, also reports that hacking has now become “a major threat facing brokerages.” [REUTERS – Feb 3, 15]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:  “MANAGEMENT is about controlling reality; LEADERSHIP is about creating the reality.”

     In order to avoid the risk of offending transgender students, a Massachusetts college has cancelled its previously annual production of The Vagina Monologues, since the play “offers an extremely           narrow perspective on what it means to be a woman.”

     Glass Sculpture – the epitome of creativity:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422503916&v=PeMGRMwarKI&x-yt-cl=85027636   

                               “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

          DCG: PROVIDING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FOR OPTIMAL STRATEGIC, FINANCIAL, OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT