• THE PRESSURE ON NON-FAMILY BUSINESSES TO GENERATE SHORT-TERM PROFITS is often to the detriment of long-term performance, stability and Valuation. “Strong empirical evidence shows that companies seeking long-term results outperform in the interest of both investors & stakeholders,” and that executives & managers can help sustain value creation by: (1) resisting temptation to make up for short-term challenges by cutting costs to an extent that could weaken competitive position; (2) maintaining productivity by motivating employees and well-treating suppliers & vendors; and (3) allocating capital to strategic initiatives which collectively deliver ROI, rather than focus on every individual initiative – e.g. marketing, talent development, product innovation versus sales growth per se. DCG have decades of expertise & experience in strategic planning and guidance. Let us help. [HARVARD LAW SCHOOL FORUM – 10/19/20]
  • THE 2020 NAPA VALLEY FIRES WERE THE “MOST DESTRUCTIVE IN HISTORY, destroying properties, resorts, up to 80% of cabernet sauvignon grapes, multimillion-dollar equipment, and wine stored in barrels & bottles… These disasters have thrown the industry into existential crisis – near extinction – and, as long as wildfires continue to make work in California unreliable & hazardous to workers’ health, the new normal will force them to look for jobs in more stable environments.” [THE WEEK – 10/23/20]
  • BOTTLED WATER IS NOW THE LARGEST BEVERAGE CATEGORY IN THE U.S., selling nearly 15 billion gallons annually along with over a million bottles sold globally every minute. While marketed as “healthier, energy-boosting, ultra-hydrating, youth-enhancing and/or pure,” reality is that a very high percentage of the products are bottled directly from city taps – most of which in America are safe but imperfect, and around the world, “in some communities where sanitation or delivery infrastructure are lacking or nonexistent, bottled water is the best or only option.” The result is serious environment impact since, even though most bottles are recyclable, they instead “get tossed into landfills, clogging up rivers, sinking to the bottom of the sea, taking anywhere from 500 to 1000 years to degrade… Meanwhile, the industry has risen to a market value over $160 billion by convincing the world to buy something most of us can get for free.” [LBN EXAMINER – 10/21/20]
  • “NEVER BEFORE IN AMERICAN HISTORY HAVE THE PRESS AND THE POWERFUL MEDIA CORPORATIONS joined together in a single mind-set to crush a presidential candidate… to effectively become a political entity, allowing the standards of journalism to collapse… HOW did this happen? By managers with a social liberal point of view who did the hiring at all networks looking for journalists who fit it with their point of view over the past two decades… WHY did it happen? Many press chieftains despise President Trump because they see him as a vulgarian who panders to conservatives. Therefore they are directing their power – literally billions of dollars and thousands of employees – to remove him from office, completely avoiding any responsibility for seeking the truth about his administration” and ignoring entirely responsibility for reporting the impact to Americans from opposing party platform — including eliminating border control & law enforcement agencies, emptying jails & prisons, giving voting rights to illegals & felons, inciting violent looters, ‘cancelling’ American culture & rewriting history, federal control of wages/ prices/ medical care/ freedom of assembly/ effectively overriding Constitutional structure for separation of powers & protection for States’ Rights/ supporting ongoing transfer of American wealth, technology, capacity for security/ and  transition from capitalism to socialism. Beyond the stupidity of this, the American Model & Dream are becoming laughing stock as foreigners perceive Americans to be ‘giving away’ their freedoms & standard of living.   [REAL CLEAR POLITICS – 10/18/20]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

   The Los Angeles City Council has adopted a ‘Reimagine Public Safety’ program which ‘unarmed Crisis Response Officers’ will respond to (presumed) nonviolent calls. Since recent ‘nonviolent’ incidents include examples like “a homeless mentally ill man pouring a bucket of diarrhea on a Hollywood woman, and a mentally ill, machete-wielding carjacker who police shot after attempting less-lethal force, residents are in for exciting times.

   “A short, animated movie with a simple life lesson that many of us need to be reminded of occasionally. Many things in life cost money but being kind can often be done for little or no cost if you are simply willing to give something of yourself to someone else.”   https://biggeekdad.com/2020/10/ticket-without-a-seat/