• AS 2020 STRATEGY EVOLVES, EMPLOYERS NEED AWARENESS THAT ‘GENERATION Z’ KIDS, born after 2000, are now entering the job market with perspective quite different than any previous generation. Effective management involves both understanding their unique perspective and procedural integration with existing multi-generational employees. Key factors include their (1) having experienced the economic volatility and financial insecurity of Recession; (2) concern with physical threats from climate-induced natural disasters, mass shootings & terrorism; (3) witnessing of “unpredictability & chaos from extraordinary political disruption”; and (4) educational indoctrination with non-traditional gender roles & social norms. Human Resource policies, programs and techniques required to optimize productivity, motivation & retention of Gen Z (aka iGen or AppGen) is very different than what employers are used to. [INTERCHANGE GROUP -11/18/19]
  • WHETHER AND WHEN TO SELL A FAMILY BUSINESS is among the most stressful decisions in senior retirement planning. Considerations, beyond the “inevitable circumstances of aging, disability or death,” involve emotional attachment, life-balance expectation, family succession potential, financial security, risk from competition or disruptive technology, and impacts of taxation. Options may also include selling majority interest to reduce risk but retaining “a piece of equity to enjoy future earnings and continue to grow the business (e.g. with support of a private equity firm).” The critical factor, as with any strategic decision, is to first clarify objectives with reality-based professional advisors. DCG have decades of expertise in working and mediating with families in this process. Call Dennis for courtesy counsel. [WEALTH MANAGEMENT – 12/14/19]
  • SPACE X HAS LAUNCHED A CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAM TO ROLL OUT GLOBAL INTERNET SERVICE BY 2021. So far, 120 ‘Starlink’ satellites have been launched into ‘low earth orbit,’ with 30,000 more now approved by the FCC (eight times greater than the total of all satellites presently in orbit). The Int’l Astronomical Union, over 12,000 professionals, has called for regulation of this initiative, arguing that ‘beyond causing cascades of space junk, this could interfere with space exploration efforts – affecting radio wavelengths of sensitive equipment, dark sky surveys and large telescopes, and potentially threaten the science of astronomy itself.” Conflicts with technology knows no bounds.  [FUTURISM.COM – 11/12/19]
  • CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES WILL SOON TORPEDO CONSUMER ELECTRICITY BILLS. PG&E faces a June 2020 deadline for ‘restructuring,’ after which the Governor has threatened a State ‘takeover.’ The utility company is already in bankruptcy – a result of some $30 billion in liabilities from its role in previous wildfires, and likely more from subsequent climate-change-induced fires. Additionally, over $100 billion is required for underground upgrade of transmitter & distribution lines in vulnerable areas and, combined with a now virtually uninsurable position, the company is in deep trouble with obvious necessity to raise power bills. If the state takes over, it will be in the form of taxes and possibly worse. [ECONOMIST – 11/19/19]
  • “INCREASING MEAT INTAKE BY ½ DAILY SERVING WAS ASSOCIATED WITH RISK OF PREMATURE MORTALITY due to cardiovascular, respiratory & neurodegenerative diseases – irrespective of age, physical activity level, dietary quality, smoking or alcohol consumption” – according to an eight-year Harvard study involving over 80,000 men & women. With a long-range goal of reducing the ‘environmental footprint’ of food, researchers have also now grown rabbit and cow muscle cells that “mimic the texture of meat consistency which makes it feel & taste ‘real,’ demonstrating that realistic meat products may eventually be produced without the need to raise & slaughter animals.”  [HARVARD GAZETTE – 6/12 and 10/21/19]
  • MARRIED COUPLES ARE MORE TRUSTING, than those who co-habit, according to a research study of some ten-thousand Americans. Proportionately: with Truth-telling – 2/3 to 1/2; acting in their partner’s best interest – 75%: 60%;  handling money responsibly – 56%: 40%; and as to degree of ‘contentment’ with sex 36%:34%. Married people were also “less irritated by the usual chafing points – parenting, chores, work-life balance and communication.”  [TIME – 11/25/19]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: Mobile phone battery tip: Use ‘Airplane Mode’ for (1) faster charge; (2) extending power, which uses less battery than turning phone off and later back on; (3) switching off/on to register nearest cell towers.

       If doing more Holiday Travelling, beware of The Booster Bag Scam:   https://biggeekdad.com/2012/10/the-booster-bag-scam/

       Culture shock continues!  A hundred LGBTQ Oregon high school students ‘walked out’ in protest of the school’s decision to allow a Chick-Fil-A food truck to sell chicken sandwiches during football games, a supposedly “egregious example of ‘harassment’ which (along with other micro-aggressions) made them feel unsafe.” //  And, the latest, British Millennials are boycotting ‘Secret Santa’ office participation because “the practice is stressful & anxiety-inducing… also angry since they feel pressure that their dire financial straits aren’t considered… which builds interoffice rifts and a decline in workplace morale.”