• STRATEGIC PLANNING IS TYPICALLY A PROCESS OF “ALIGNING the (presumed & forecasted) external environment with internal capabilities, but developing strategy inside-out with a group of executives is likely to be more operational than strategic, more continue-as-before than innovative… The rapid face of change in business – shift to online, rise of start-ups, digital marketing, social media pressure, emergence of new models” – presents complexity and confusion which can obstruct genuine creation of new strategy. A critical factor generally overlooked is the perspective of non-executives (“users, distributors, suppliers, employees, and owners) who, as outsiders looking in, can be very good at providing ideas and suggestions.” DCG have decades of expertise in optimally facilitating strategic vision & planning. Let us help[HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW – 9/21/21]
  • INFORMATION DISCLOSURE, BY GOVERNMENTS/ BUSINESSES/ ORGANIZATIONS has been majorly transformed today, by advances in satellite technology, availability of commercial launch platforms to private firms, and internet connectivity. The impact is that disclosure of ‘sensitive’ info is no longer controlled by governments, with private satellites now “enabling independent verification of claims and/or exposure of illicit or transgressive activities of adversaries, without compromising sources. Whether governments gain or lose form this depends on what they have to hide, and whether they can learn to operate under the assumption that someone is always watching, with many hundreds of satellites beaming high-resolution images back on a 24/7 near-real-time basis, serving as 3rd-party information providers that can shape domestic and international opinion.”  [FOREIGN AFFAIRS – 9/23/21]
  • BEYOND HEATED SEATS & BIDET ATTACHMENTS, ‘SMART TOILETS’ ARE NOW IN DEVELOPMENT to match stool samples to specific users, via an installed camera which can “optically measure volume/ clarity/ consistency/ color, for health indicators including chronic diseases and cancer… To tell users apart, one toilet has both a fingerprint scan when a person flushes and an anal print of characteristics; another prototype analyzes waste after flushing, and will then connect with the user’s smartphone.” Several companies will be manufacturing the toilets, at prices up to thousands of dollars.  [WALL STREET JOURNAL – 9/4/21]
  • CHINA’S EXPERIMENT WITH CAPITALISM IS OVER AND DONE. The Communist Party has formally clamped down on ‘offending’ business activities & actors in order to “re-instate social engineering and destroy traditions/ beliefs/ social mores ‘as necessary for the public good,’ like occurred during their Cultural Revolution over five decades ago… Curbing freedom of expression to ‘support & follow the state’ is back as the official goal of Chinese society, by methods including: (1) Preventing the wealthy & vested interests from winding into political decision-making by the Party; (2) Drumming up popular support by confiscating and redistributing wealth to emphasize ‘common prosperity’; (3) Regulating the workforce for a society in which everyone works hard so the nation is able to ‘eclipse the United States; (4) Diminishing Western criticism & influence by banishing English-language tests from primary schools, and mandating Xi Jimping Thought courses from grade school thru college nationwide; (5) Setting up a third stock market and prohibiting transfer of domestic data with the West via social media.”  This is where socialism leads!  [EPOCH TIMES – 9/22/21]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:   If you like Pentatonix:  https://biggeekdad.com/2020/09/pentatonix-mad-world/

         Continuous media reporting of irrelevant and often false & intentionally distortive narratives has effectively distracted people from concern over the ineptness and dangers of current political strategies in virtually every category. People are guided to worry & discuss/argue drama-of-the-day during their few hours of attention span, driven by important ‘Alerts’ about issues like Russian ‘disinformation’; which spokesperson for whatever Party or agency contradicts another, over X or Y or Z last person; or ‘details’ surrounding someone who was fired or shot somewhere; or who won/ dressed fashionably, or wore a mask at the Emmys or Met Gala; and certainly the ongoing propaganda about a U.S. ‘insurrection’ being worse than Pearl Harbor or 9/11 (while footage now  released after 9+ months shows stupid trespassers, but zero violence, weapons, organized revolt, or evidence of  ‘national security risk’).  All these types of propaganda are just a series of coordinated political and media distractions over relatively meaningless issues, while the country’s culture and common-sense deteriorate, in real time, before our eyes.