• A CULTURE OF CHRONIC OVERWORK IS CREATING ANXIETIES ABOUT ‘BURNOUT’ – exhaustion stemming not just from workload, but also from “electronic communication & social media which have come to dominate our daily lives, in a transformation that is unprecedented… where our very sense of self is defined increasingly by an unending wait for the verdicts of an innumerable and invisible crowd of virtual judges. Meanwhile, we’re bombarded by Alerts on our phones & tablets, dogged by apps that measure & share our personal data, and subjected to an inundation of demands to like, retweet, upload, subscribe or buy. The burnt-out case of today belongs to a culture without an off-switch… Limitless choice debilitates far more than it liberates… It’s not simply a symptom of working too hard; it’s a body & mind crying out for an essential human need: a space free from incessant demands & expectations of the world.” [ECONOMIST 1843 – Aug/Sep 16]
  • WORKING TOO HARD CAN ALSO HAVE DIRECT HEALTH CONSEQUENCES. Extended job shifts and anxiety have long been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and depression; in Japan, employment-related exhaustion or suicide qualifies for compensation to families as “death by overwork.” Researchers from Purdue U. and the University of Copenhagen, who analyzed ten years’ statistics on Danish manufacturing workers (where the healthcare system tracks all doctor visits & drug purchases), concluded that while employees did “became measurably more productive… job strain caused a measurable, statistically significant bump in prevalence”: (1) up to 24% increase in sick days; (2) increased rate of serious injury (up to 28% at the busiest companies); and (3) that female workers suffered increases in severe depression, and likelihood to require heart attack or stroke medication.  [THE WASHINGTON POST – July 19, 16]
  • “IMAGINE IF HALF THE TIME YOU PULLED INTO A GAS STATION, YOU WERE FILLING YOUR TANK WITH DIRTY WATER instead of gasoline… That’s the story with seafood. Corruption is so rife that in 2014 President Obama formed a Task Force on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Seafood Fraud.” A study of 81 NYC seafood restaurants discovered fakes in 58%, including every one of the 16 sushi spots picked. Today’s diners are scammed with examples like (1) white tuna most probably being Escolar – known to experts as the ‘ex-lax fish’ for the gastrointestinal havoc it wreaks, and so toxic that it’s been banned in Japan for 40 years; (2) Red Lobster’s lobster bisque being largely Langostino; (3) Red Snapper almost always substituted with Tilefish, Tilapia or Catfish; (4) wild-caught Salmon often farmed & pumped up with pink coloring to look fresher, and sometimes actually Trout; (5) Sea Scallops often soaked in up to 18% water & chemicals to up their weight & price. The FDA has responsibility for inspecting only 2% of seafood imports (over 90% of American consumption) but barely manages to handle even 1% blaming “they don’t have the budget.” Good news, surprisingly, is that discount big-box stores (including Costco, Trader Joes, BJ’s Wholesale, Walmart, Whole Foods) “are stringent with their standards.” [NEW YORK POST – July 10, 16]
  • MOST BUSINESS EXECS AND BOARD MEMBERS ARE EXCEPTIONALLY CHALLENGED BY INFO TECHNOLOGY – especially the degree of Value, if any, it creates for their company. If/when to expand or to ‘pull the plug’ is usually based predominantly on cost-related measures, versus addressing the bigger picture implications about technology usage and I.T. performance, like: (1) “shaping strategies and business models to meet customer demand for tech-enabled products & services; (2) linking company applications, interfaces & databases which need to communicate with external systems; (3) protection against security breaches; (4) facilitating deployment of new products or features… I.T. Departments need oversight and leadership direction in order to embrace and understand digital themes such as speed-to-market and agile development.” DCG affiliates can help Management readily understand these implications. [McKINSEY.COM – July 16]
  • JUST ONE MORE REASON WHY THIS YEAR’S ELECTION WILL BE MOMENTOUS. This month it was the Illinois Voter Registration System which was breeched; “hacker attacks against online voter databases are commonplace and happening with increased frequency.” The Illinois system (already at top of states consistently charged with ‘corrupt voter list’ concerns) was shut down despite confidence of its Board that “no voter info in the database was altered.” [NWI.COM – July 22, 16]