• CORPORATE ‘CRISIS’ TAKES MANY FORMS, always involving a sudden & unexpected event that impacts business continuity. Prudent insurance coverage can ultimately replace property and profits to some degree, and can protect against most liabilities for damages. But also at risk are relationships with employees, contractors & customers, with competitors always ready to poach and hackers to target systems during crisis events. Strategic Risk Analysis has always been a critical factor in optimal business planning and a core aspect of DCG services, but even more so today. Beyond conventional risks form natural or man-made disasters, risk increasingly stems from (1) the growing complexity of organizations & products, computer technology, multiple intermediaries in supply chains and jurisdictional regulations; and/or (2) customer & investor expectations & demands prompted by social media, including “anxieties and mistrust in institutions.” Failing to plan is planning to fail. Let us help.  [McKINSEY QTRLY – Apr 17]
  • PAY TRANSPARENCY IS NOW TRENDING IN SEVERAL BIG CITIES. New York is the latest, which also now bans employers from asking job applicants about their salary history, on the premise that this leads to wage inequality for women. The rationale is that employers – like most individuals – have cognitive bias which results in “reliance too heavily on one piece of information to come to a conclusion or decision,” and that using prior salary as a reference point (called ‘anchoring’) is irrelevant and unfair to valuing an employment position. Despite “traditional etiquette which dictates not talking about money in polite company,” the public spin is now that research shows transparency about salaries “can improve performance… since employees work harder and work together more effectively by knowing who to ask for help when they know how much those people earn… whereas pay secrecy may elicit cognitive shortcuts which, at least in the short run, hinder accurate perceptions of others’ expertise.” DCG experience in the live workplace does not support these theories, but be aware. [NEW YORK MAGAZINE – June 6, 17]
  • SOME THREE MILLION DRONES ARE PROJECTED FOR SALE THIS YEAR, OVER 95% TO CONSUMERS. High end models can now “hold position in light winds, detect obstacles, and land automatically” and are mostly used as flying cameras, but increasingly are being used for commercial business purposes. Around 80% of the consumer drones have ‘geo-fencing’ technology which “works with satellite positioning to prevent flying too close to an airport, with a database which can be updated in real time to keep the drone away from unexpected events such as fires or other incidents.” And, so far, commercial operators are required by the FAA to have a ‘Remote Pilot Certificate’ which limits flying to “daytime hours, within a line of sight, and not over people who are not involved in operating the drone.” But the rapid growth in this sector will soon require “establishment of new traffic-management systems, akin to air-traffic-control systems, to prevent crashing into each other or veering off course,” especially in densely populated areas. Good luck with that. [THE ECONOMIST – June 10, 17]
  • P.C. TOPPER OF THE MONTH involves increasing elimination of ‘rankings’ for high school graduates to appease student sensitivity, “fearing lower-ranked kids may feel triggered.” Some schools only told students their class rankings privately; others followed the ‘participation trophy’ process for all; one high school awarded the ‘Valedictorian’ title to 25% of the entire class. But “ignoring the principles of basic mathematics does not mean they cease to exist.” And while enabling parents & high schools to imagine that “ranking on the basis of achievement is racist, sexist and/or any other number of adjectives, the real world does not care. Life is competitive, and relative performance of any person versus his/her peers will ultimately determine their success in life, irrespective of how ‘triggering’ that fact may be… Millennial sense of entitlement and self-worth, irrespective of work effort and/or innate talent, will not serve them well in the real world.”  [ZEROHEDGE.COM – June 16, 17]
  • ‘SOCIAL DRINKERS,’ WHO MODERATELY CONSUME 5 TO 8 DRINKS WEEKLY WON’T BE HAPPY about newest British research which tracked and monitored brain structure & function for 550 men & women over thirty years. The study found that “as little as one glass of wine or beer a night may accelerate mental deterioration… Drinkers were three times more likely than nondrinkers to suffer from shrinkage in the hippocampus brain region involved in memory and learning, evidenced by performance on verbal fluency tests used to assess language and executive function.” [THE WEEK – June 23, 17]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” – George Orwell

     “What distinguishes ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ is not just general hysteria about the subject, but additionally the inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences on the one hand and signs of psychic pathology on the other.” –Charles Krauthammer             

      Positively the most amazing magic/illusion trick we’ve ever seen: http://www.flixxy.com/incredible-magic-trick-the-lottery-illusion.htm#.UnljO-UndTQ.gma