• AS Q4 TIME PRESSURES INCREASE, a reminder that the single biggest loss of time and efficiency comes from responding to ‘urgencies’ of others – especially texts/ emails/ social media/ gossip – at expense of tackling personally ‘important’ matters. Reality is that ‘important’ items easily get pre-empted and procrastinated because they don’t always have immediate deadlines, even with awareness that they may turn into later Easy Time Management steps: (1) Identify and prioritize the important things; (2) Set realistic timelines & start-point steps – what/ when/ how/ even artificial deadlines; (3) Stick to the plan and start. Move forward and avoid the urge to overthink; (4) Don’t get caught in daily routine of responding to ‘urgencies’ of others. DCG presents courtesy Lunch & Learn classes in Time Management. Let us help your efficiency & profitability.
  • CALIFORNIA’S HIGH-SPEED RAIL “COULD NOT BE COMPLETED IN THIS CENTURY, according to projections widely used by engineers & project managers.” Voters approved a $33 billion bond in 2008 to complete the project by 2020; Construction has finally just began for a ‘starter line’ connecting a few mid-state cities, with latest cost estimate at $113 billion. Why? How? “The project is a complete failing mess, with design for the nation’s most ambitious infrastructure project never based on easiest or most direct route out of LA, but instead diverted across a second mountain range & dogleg through the desert to satisfy political compromise – based on unrealistic cost estimates, flawed engineering… and politicians congratulating themselves for banning things and setting hyper-aggressive ‘green’ mandates rather than to actually address the real problems.”  [NEW YORK TIMES and TOWNHALL – 10/10/22]
  • AMERICA’S POLITICAL POSITIONING IS TRIGGERING GLOBAL RECESSION & CONTRACTION through a “wave of food & energy inflation, along with a potential debt-servicing crisis for many countries… Monetary pain is America’s fastest growing export, as Federal Reserve policies based on progressive-minded steps to help disadvantaged Americans has the counter effect of imported austerity for the world’s disadvantaged… Beyond impacts of inflation-inducing supply bottlenecks, a third of the global population have not even had one covid vaccine, while most westerners have had two (and some as many as five)… America’s exorbitant privilege is regard by many as exorbitant indifference.” [FINANCIAL TIMES – 10/12/22]
  • “THE WORLD HAS ENTERED A NEW AND MORE DANGEROUS ERA, as revisionists have challenged America’s naïve 21st century vision of rule-based, democratic-dominated world order… Long-standing trends in geopolitics may have suddenly been shifted, from self-inflicted impacts of Russia’s failure to militarily Annex Ukraine, and China’s so far failure in responding to dire demographic trends & declining financial sectors, which may be serious enough that 2022 could look like a hinge year in history for those revisionist systems of government & culture. This is pretty important perspective: https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2022/10/07/its-a-hinge-year-in-history–for-russia-and-china- n2614101?utm_source=thdailyvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=e528c871aa145108beedd5861042dd0900c705fb9f3fce9716a80a3b43775e9b&recip=28965474
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

A powerful forecast on direction of the economy: a quarter of big company Board members now believe that revenues and profits will be down by this time next year, with 20% expecting their companies to freeze capital expenditure levels.  [CORPORATE BOARD MEMBER – 10/14/22]

Air Force Cadet training now includes Diversity & Inclusion rules, like dropping names mom/ dad/ boyfriend/ girlfriend, warning to first ask what people call themselves, and using gender-neutral terms like partner/ caregiver/ team/ squaddies/ folks/ and y’all.