- “EMPLOYEES ALWAYS TAKE THEIR CUES FROM LEADERS’ OWN BEHAVIOR.” The biggest single barrier to ‘change’ in a business environment is that people maintain “self-serving bias and tiptoe around their own egos,” interpreting events in a manner, overestimating how much they are part of a solution versus being part of the problem. (Studies find 25% of students rating themselves in the top 1% ability to get along with others; the combined percentages from couples estimating their own contribution to household work routinely exceeds 100). “Since mind-sets ingrained by past management practices remain ingrained, even after new practices have been put in place,” optimal strategy to effectuate change involves: (1) Recognizing that even well-intentioned employees will continue to behave as before; (2) Identifying the root mind-sets which have evolved from current culture; (3) then reframing the culture in a manner which meets the employee’s emotional perspective as much as intellectual understanding. DCG have decades of experience in business transition. We can help. [McKINSEY QTRLY – Aug 2019]
- “MOST EXPERTS PREDICT WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN THE NEXT COUPLE DECADES, depending on their safety records, affordability and the public’s willingness to cede control to computers… which will remake cities and change the way we live.” Driverless vehicles will impact congestion and environment in substantial ways including: replacement of vast parking lots with housing, parks, plazas and landscaped open space; conversion of massive garages to residential or office space; reduced traffic and air pollution from car-sharing; conversion of traffic lanes from autos & truck size to cycles & wider sidewalks; city and close-in suburbs becoming more attractive and affordable. City planners and property developers are already beginning the planning alternatives for a “renaissance in urban design.” [WASHINGTON POST – 7/20/19]
- “RECESSIONS, TO NO SMALL DEGREE, ARE A MATTER OF MASS PSYCHOLOGY, a state of mind… when people with the capacity to spend more – who might normally leap at the chance to buy discounted goods or hire overqualified workers – instead allow their cash to pile up, so hiring and investment fall accordingly.” This instigates an outbreak of pessimism which typically stems from some “shock, like a sharp rise in oil prices or policy change which increases interest rates – a random perturbation but which can knock an economy off kilter.” Gyration of downward stock market indices (considered by many as equivalent to the randomness of regular gambling) generates media hype which then typically turns to ‘risk’ of a ‘slump,’ and has indeed led twice in the last decade to self-fulfilling prophecy of Recession. At present, U.S. economic output, employment and retail consumption continue to increase and lead every other nation, suggesting no rational reason to anticipate Recession. “The outset of a downturn is as much a matter of mood as of money,” and regrettably today is being touted primarily for political purposes. [ECONOMIST – 8/24/19]
- THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: Now THIS is an airshow!! https://www.youtube.com/embed/0px9HFIVYjY?feature=player_embedded