• WEEDING OUT MIDDLE-MANAGERS TO FLATTEN ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE & PAYROLL COSTS, a trend responsive to the pandemic, can indeed “make companies more agile, enable faster decision-making and trim costs. But keeping employees engaged has become an increasing challenge and, for many, a false Utopia, where the leadership vacuum becomes filled by informal hierarchies, with people lesser competent & trained in management, or just whoever talks loudest at meetings, ending up in charge… The impact on productivity can be substantial, and reality is that middle managers are part of the solution.”  Call DCG for courtesy guidance in setting critical strategic direction.  [ECONOMIST 10/2/21]
  • ABOUT CHILD REARING: According to some purported experts, consider three cardinal rules “indispensable to the parent-child relationship and foundation for his/her later success in every dimension of life.”  Beginning at around 18-months, when an infant “only knows that they run the show and will defy any changes – the ‘Terrible Twos’ period – parents can develop control, as long as they consistently stay the course, with these rules: (1) Starting now, you will listen to what I say; (2) You will do as I say, period; (3) Not because of bribe, brutality, threat or persuasive explanation, but because I say so, period.” And good luck.  [LBN EXAMINER – 9/26/21]
  • WHETHER ON THE FAR LEFT OR FAR RIGHT POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, “Authoritarian Mentality’ exerts powerful pressures to maintain discipline among members, advocate aggressive & censorious means of stifling opposition, and belief in top-down leadership.” According to newest research published in Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, “political ideology is secondary to Authoritarians, and common traits of radicals on either side include: a preference for social uniformity, prejudice towards different others, willingness to wield group authority to coerce behavior, cognitive rigidity, aggression & punitiveness towards perceived enemies, outsized concern for hierarchy, and moral absolutism.”  [THE ATLANTIC – 9/25/21]
  • THE U.S. SUPREME COURT SESSION WHICH BEGAN THIS WEEK will finally be dealing with some critical issues involving Federal versus States Rights & Regulations, that have majorly contributed to societal conflict. The most relevant include: (1) Constitutional right to abortion; (2) 2nd Amendment gun rights; (3) Federal authority to set & enforce national policies – on energy, climate change, vaccination, etc.; (4) State rights to discriminate on subsidizing education for private or religious schools; (5) State Legislator rights to ‘gerrymander’ election maps without Governor veto power; (6) Religious Liberty rights for death row inmates being executed; (7) Health insurors rights to discriminate in coverage & pricing for disabilities; (8) CIA exemption for disclosure of ‘state secrets’ involving torture at ‘black sites.’  Media will have plenty of opportunities to divert public attention from Administration policies & personalities before the 2022 state & congressional elections [VOX – 9/28/21]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:   

        Cybersecurity Note:  A collection of hacked computer data was leaked last month for some 700 million users, believed to have been ‘scraped’ from LinkedIn. Call DCG for courtesy consultation on mitigating the range of risks in your personal situation.

        Things that smart Leaders do not say in confronting employees: ‘I should have / ‘I didn’t mean to’ / ‘You should have, why didn’t you?’ / ‘It’s simple’ / ‘It’s easy’ / ‘Don’t you agree?’ / ‘But…’ / ‘ I don’t care’ / ‘Whatever’.  [LEADERSHIP FREAK BLOG – 9/30/21]