Just in Case it Matters to You
Weekly Report 18-13
- TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE IS HARD, BUT ODDS OF SUCCESS CAN BE TRIPLED, according to surveyed executives who have effectively accomplished this task. “Communicating effectively, leading actively, empowering employees and creating an environment of continuous improvement to keep performance from stagnating” are the guideposts which, combined with active and involved leaders, are the critical factors, along with focus on “the people, not the project… and continual communication with transparency about the implications.” The Impact Level Partners division of DCG have decades of experience in transforming good businesses into great companies. Call us before your reality check bounces. [McKINSEY QUARTERLY – Mar 20, 18]
- MORE THAN HALF THE WORLD’S POPULATION WILL BE ONLINE BY SOMETIME THIS YEAR, with Google & Facebook entities accounting for nearly 90% of online searches and more than 60% of digital advertising. This “concentration of power in the hands of a few platforms now control which ideas and opinions are seen and heard… and what was once a rich selection of blogs and websites is now compressed under the powerful weight of a few dominant platforms… As conspiracy theories trend on social media platforms, fake Twitter & Facebook accounts stoke social tensions, external actors interfere in elections and criminals steal troves of personal data… Sir Tim Berners-Lee – the inventor of the World Wide Web – has called for large technology firms to be regulated, to prevent the web from being weaponized at scale.” [IMPACT LAB – Mar 19, 18]
- PLANNED PARENTHOOD REMAINS A SORE SPOT FOR CONSERVATIVES IN FEDERAL BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS, contending (according to their Guidelines for Parents and website) that (1) “preschoolers should be introduced to the concept of transgender identity; (2) genitals do not definitively establish gender; and (3) children can later make that decision based on their parents’ values, depending on how parents talk with them as they grow up.” Unsurprisingly, conservative critics say that transgender discussion with kids “who can barely string a sentence together and haven’t yet learned the alphabet is preposterous… that what Planned Parenthood is promoting is just stupidity masked as sensitivity, at risk of harming children psychologically… and that conversations parents more likely need to have with kids will center on technology – the dangers lurking on the internet, sexting and/or revenge porn, not anatomy.” [REUTERS & FOX NEWS – Aug 4, 17]
- PIG FARMS ACROSS AMERICA PRODUCE MILLIONS OF TONS OF BYPRODUCT MANURE ANNUALLY, which the industry describes as Organic Fertilizer. In one North Carolina County alone “where future hams outnumber humans by 30 to 1, some two million hogs generate close to 16,000 tons of waste daily – twice as much poop as the human population of New York City.” But numerous studies link animal waste to serious widespread health problems for workers and neighbors, including respiratory, eye, stomach, blood pressure, miscarriage, asthma and cognition loss. “Just being able to smell the stink has been correlated with increased tension, anger, depression, fatigue, confusion… and leaks through the waste lagoons can spread E.coli into groundwater & wells for people living much further away.” Most hog farms are in the mid-east-coast states, an increasing number of which are owned by Chinese companies who “because of lax regulation, low labor & material costs, can raise hogs 50% cheaper than in China.” [ROLLING STONE – Mar 22, 18]
- 89% OF AMERICANS STILL “BELIEVE IN GOD as a concept or being that is arguably more existentially important to individual human beings, and historically more momentous, than any other single word,” according to a Gallup poll. [LBNElert.com – Mar 21, 18]
- THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: A funny funny movie trailer spoof – unless you DON’T believe in today’s outlandish barrage of ‘fake news’: https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/885651637741658112/pu/vid/640×360/3j42P0YtBnK81gSd.mp4
The ‘Right to be Forgotten’ (RTBF) doctrine was recognized by European Court of Justice in 2014, ordering Google to remove certain links. Through last month, over 650,000 requests had been submitted with about 280,000 accepted, mostly relating to malicious sites and Facebook being the most impacted. America has not adopted RTBF.
Illegally crossing the North Korea border gets you 12 years hard labor; in Afghanistan, you’d be shot; in countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Cuba, it’s indefinite jail-time. But crossing the U.S. border illegally can land you with a job, driver’s license, welfare & food stamps, free health care & education, plus the right to carry your origin country flag while you protest our system; in many cases you also get a social security card with benefits, and/or the right to vote. Remember Einstein’s comment: “There is a major difference between intelligence and stupidity: intelligence has its limits!