• UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STRATEGY AND TACTICS IS CRITICAL TO OPTIMIZING PROFITABILITY. Without clear and tangible Goals which are forecastable & monitored, with clarity in the Objectives necessary to be achieved, the tactical steps of management as well as workers are seldom most efficient, and very often can lead to meaningless unproductive busyness, needless conflicts, and frustration that derails productivity, morale, ands fails to achieve Goals. DCG Strategic Planning support can be a critical factor in business success. Call Dennis for courtesy consult.
  • THE NATIONWIDE SHOPLIFTING PLAGUE CONTINUES TO INCREASE, thanks to effective legalization in most ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, resulting in more & more retailers now shelving merchandise behind locked cabinets.  But other “frauds of opportunity” are also increasing dramatically, influenced largely by viral Tik Tok videos like: (1) Getting ‘Poor Man’s First-Class’ travel by purchasing three refundable-fare coach seats in the same row, then cancelling two of the tix 45-minutes before flight time – which attracted a million followers after posting; (2) Getting free breakfasts from hotels which are offered as part of room rates, but then don’t monitor walk-ins who show up to eat – a tweet which received over five-million follower views after posting. “We had a good run as a high-trust society, but people now have no compunction getting away with what they can.”  [WASHINGTON EXAMINER – 8/8/23]
  • ‘IMPLICIT BIAS’ IN PROVIDING MEDICAL SERVICES – the presumption that patients are “unconsciously treated differently based on their race or other immutable characteristics” – is the foundation for several existing California laws, stemming from D.E.I. wokeness over the past several years, and which now mandate ‘training courses’ for physicians/ nursing students/ healthcare providers to retain their licenses. (Several laws also apply to attorneys/ judges/ Court personnel.) One bill also specifically penalizes doctors & surgeons for disagreeing with government narrative on the Covid virus, “deeming dissemination of mis- or dis-information to be unprofessional conduct.” Litigation has recently been finally filed by California doctors on the basis that “forcing them to accept radical political and racial indoctrination in order to continue practicing medicine violates 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.”  [EPOCH TIMES – 8/6/23]
  • GOOD NEWS FOR STOCK INVESTORS: ‘ESG’ IMPACTING STOCK CREDIT RATINGS MAY BE SENSIBLY ON THE WAY OUT. Impacts on Scores reflecting controversial Environmental, Social and Governance ideologies (aka ‘Social Justice’ pursuit), which have been utilized by the largest credit rating agencies since 2021, are based on the Wokeness of corporate policies. S & P Global has just announced it is dropping the inclusion of ESG scoring, presumably in response to increasing criticism from conservatives who see it as a “manifestation of leftist or even neo-Marxist agendas… using EST as a cover for pushing politics using other people’s money.” Moody’s and Fitch (the other two major rating agencies) may be next, in response to a coalition of Attorney Generals who’ve been calling for investigation “to find out whether heavy-handed mandates by corporate leaders who push far-left agenda for fear of losing their jobs more than fearing corporate losses, may be a breach of fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.”  [EPOCH TIMES – 8/10/23]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

36 Hidden Messages in Company Logos You See All the Time     https://www.rd.com/list/secret-messages-company-logos/

What kind of precedent may be now set by a $5M City settlement and payout to “protesters who claimed their Right to Protest was violated,” when arrested by police after ignoring orders to disburse?  The City of St. Louis has begun disbursing payouts from $28K upwards, relating to a 2017 protest by some 120 people, where the lawsuit also alleged use of excessive force including pepper spray. Will all types of ‘protest’ now be able to become money-making ventures?

 Another current Tik Tok trend is ‘Bed-Rotting’ – where “young people stay in bed all day, kind of like a rejection of productivity culture, by doing nothing and taking the time to rest, embraced by Gen Z who say it is a form of self-care which allows yourself to do less and telling yourself that is okay. A few doctors are now concerned that absence of activity is problematic for social-emotional development, and that Bed-Rotting can lead to physical illness like obesity or cardiovascular disease.” What a surprise!  [CBS NEWS]

Who knew? Of some thousand different ‘odor receptor genes,’ research scientists at Technical University of Munich have isolated one aromatic compound (para-cresol) which contributes to flavors & aromas in humans (including whiskey, tobacco, cocoa, olive oil), in animals (like horses & cattle), insects (mosquitoes & horseflies), the urine of various other mammals, as well as “acts as a pheromone exerting a sexual attraction among cows.”  Just in case it matters to you.  [SCIENCE DAILY]