- ‘CAREER BURNOUT’ AFFECTS ALL BUSINESSES & PROFESSIONS when workers lose perspective on the criticality of work-life purpose and balance. Top causes include: (1) Lack of personal mission, balance or boundaries; (2) Mismatch between who you are, and what the job requires you to be; (3) Trying to live up to someone else’s standards or definition of you; (4) Not knowing how to say ‘no’; (5) Poor health habits (inactivity, lack of sleep, overeating, etc); (6) Absence of proactive ways to burn excess stress; (7) Putting work or money ahead of relationships; (8) Putting personal needs last. [CAREER INSIDER – Sept 18, 14]
- SOME 80% OF ‘BIG’ CORPORATE DECISIONS INVOLVING STRATEGIC DIRECTION OF THE BUSINESS get made “based on executives’ intuition, experience, or advice of others,” according to a survey of over 1,100 execs by PricewaterhouseCooper. “Gut reactions slanted to one’s way of thinking” can certainly result in success, but for those most comfortable balancing upside opportunity with optimal ‘risk avoidance,’ the DCG Decision Model has proven most effective: Visualize the goals to be pursued; Frame the right questions & issues; Diagnose how, why, where, when results could be achieved; Forecast the critical factors for most realistic likelihood ; Develop alternative tactics to achieve results; Select most optimal strategies; Confirm capacity of resources; then Commit to effectuate the Plan. Our process is time & cost-efficient. Be smart. [CMGA MAGAZINE – Sept 17, 14]
- “THE U.S. IS UNDERGOING A FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION… starting in 2000 when advances in technology & automation, in trade (especially with China), and in the outsourcing of American jobs abroad came together to produce an inflection point. The net result is that a significantly smaller fraction of the population benefits from growth, and accelerating technological advances are displacing workers so fast that new job creation can’t keep up…creating a fundamental challenge to the legitimacy of free market capitalism.” The Federal Reserve Bulletin last month reports that, over 25 years, wealth gains have gone to the top 3% of income distribution (“the small group who own & control corporations, who are hogging a record percentage of the country’s wealth for themselves”), while the next 7% stayed even and the bottom 90% have experienced a steady decline. But no political party gives any evidence of caring or willingness to adopt policies for restructuring, and polls reflect “growing doubts about the beneficence of the market and the ability of the system to distribute rewards of growth to those who make growth possible.” [NEW YORK TIMES – Sept 23, 14]
- ‘SENIOR’ DISCOUNTS HAVE NOW BECOME STANDARD PROMOTIONS for most national retail business chains, generally ranging from 10% to 20%. Some are day specific (like K-Mart’s 40% off on Wednesdays if over 50); others are tied to AARP membership; most are specific age related. Examples: if over 50 – Krispy Kreme, Banana Republic, Budget and Dollar Rental Cars; at 55 – Arby’s, Chili’s, Denny’s, Dunkin Donuts, IHOP, KFC, McDonalds, AMC theatres; over 60 – Ben & Jerry’s, Burger King, Mrs. Fields, Subway, Kohls; at 62 – Holiday Inn, Marriott & Hyatt Hotels; over 65 – Alaska, Southwest & United Airlines, Verizon, Taco Bell. However, seniors must request the discount or it isn’t offered. It can’t hurt to ask.
- “DOUBT IS A GOOD THING. For after dismay, after the insomniac nights and the hollow feeling in the pit of the mind, what follows (if our supposed betters can be persuaded to refrain from meddling) is the gradual understanding that, since meaning is neither fixed nor universal, it is determined, to a significant extent, by the power of the individual imagination. True, there is a world out there that would compel us to conform, to consume, to render unto Caesar. But we are nevertheless free to resist, to imagine, to furnish our lives and the terrain we inhabit, with meanings that derive from our own natures.” [INTELLIGENT LIFE – Autumn 14] “Life is a gamble, at terrible odds. If it were a bet you wouldn’t take it.” – Tom Stoppard
- THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: ‘Vigorous workout’ people drink more alcohol on days they exercise. A one-year study by Northwestern University researchers think this is because they felt they “deserved a drink” on those days, or they “may have exhausted their willpower forcing themselves to sweat.”
- DCG: PROVIDING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FOR OPTIMAL STRATEGIC, FINANCIAL, OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT
