•  AN IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTE OF LEADERSHIP IS NOT WASTING OTHER PEOPLE’S TIME – a pretty sure way of alienating them – yet studies find that office workers are ‘interrupted’ an average of six times hourly. Some management tips for improving efficiency: (1) Don’t just ‘drop by’ employee desks; confirm their availability first; (2) Don’t misrepresent why you’re meeting; be upfront about the agenda; (3) Communicate expeditiously, clearly and fully to avoid multiple message loops; (4) Don’t create false ‘deadlines’ which compel others to re-prioritize (and often arouse resentment when not acted on promptly); (5) Follow up oral discussions with a written bullet-point email of expectations.
  • “WEED BEHIND THE WHEEL”: The spread of marijuana legalization (19 states having decriminalized possession and loosened restrictions) has hastened research into its impacts. A recent study by Nat’l Institute on Drug Abuse found that Driving Performance after ten minutes of inhaling showed “a level of lane weaving similar to drivers with a breath-alcohol concentration of .08% – the legal limit in most states… and that while alcohol increased lane changing & speed of weaving, pot did not.” [TIME – Jul 6, 15]
  • MERGER OR ACQUISITION DILIGENCE MOST OFTEN NEGLECTS THE RISK FOR MANAGEMENT CONFLICT, when Assumptions about the other side’s style of management (including perspective on timeliness) and likelihood for effective cultural assimilation are too often left to chance. Even sterling executive credentials, expensive control systems, and squeaky clean documentation on all sides of the deal don’t ensure that mutual objectives will get achieved. When potential for ‘cultural congruity’ isn’t competently analyzed to evaluate the likelihood of dysfunction, M&A transactions create exceptionally high risk for devastating post-close impacts.  In strategic planning for M&A, a Management Audit represents nominal cost but too often gets overlooked.  DCG has decades of expertise in this area; let us help.
  • LAZY SUMMER DAY CAUTIONS: (1) Cold ice cream in summer heat leads to Brain Freeze – that sharp forehead & eye pain which causes 30-seconds of serious wincing. What happens is the trigemital nerve, which helps regulate blood flow to the brain, reacts to sudden cold which the frontal lobe perceives as “a signal it’s being threatened with frost damage.” Accordingly it quickly pumps around 20% more blood which “causes surrounding tissue to swell and squishes brain cells against the inside of your skull, activating pain receptors all across the forehead.” To minimize this process, “press the underside of your tongue to roof of mouth, which warms the trigemital nerve and eases up on the overreaction.” (2) Dog kissing can result in serious blood or brain infections. Their mouths carry hundreds of types of bacteria which most people’s immune systems can fight off, but “for people with weaker immune systems – especially children, pregnant women and the elderly” – the risk is real.  [MENS HEALTH – Jul/Aug 15]
  • “IT SEEMS DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE, BUT THERE WAS ONCE A TIME when human beings did not feel the need to share their every waking moment with hundreds of millions, even billions, of complete and utter strangers… posting minute-by-minute details on a social networking site; and, if one made a fool of oneself at a party, one did not leave a photographic record of the sorry episode in a digital scrapbook that would survive for all eternity. But now, in the era of lost inhibition, it seems no detail of life is too mundane or humiliating to share. In the online age, it’s more important to live out loud than to live with dignity, having internet followers more treasured than flesh-and-blood friends for they hold the illusive promise of celebrity, even immortality. Were Descartes alive today, he might have written: ‘I tweet, therefore I am.’ – Daniel Silva, author
  • NEW WORDS FOR THE MONTH: TEXTPECTATION – anticipation waiting for a text response;  DESTINESIA – when you get where you intended to go, but forget why you were headed there;  BEDGASM – feeling of euphoria when you finally hit the pillow!
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:        To be sure of hitting a target, just shoot first and call whatever you hit the target!    

     For Billy Joel fans: An exceptional group performance of ‘Piano Man’ during the ceremony where he was honored with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize – www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F4MYJIC1sU

     Looking up information on Smart-phones versus personal problem-solving makes people “think less creatively & analytically.” Canadian studies have found that 20-minutes of googling correlated with 19% lower scoring on cognitive tests.

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