• THE ‘INTERNET OF THINGS’ – CONNECTION OF ALL STUFF TO THE ‘CLOUD’ – is on course to multiply tenfold in the next half-dozen years (utilizing 44 trillion gigabytes of connection), according to several prominent studies. “We have never seen these numbers before in human history and are only at the beginning of understanding how to mine and exploit the Big Data pools.” The risk is that, absent implementation of governance to manage and protect Data, a company can be subjected to the “pitfalls of electronic data discovery including possible litigation, investigations, compliance duties… and or ‘Black Swan’ events – hard to predict events of disproportionate, sometimes massive, importance that surprise everyone but are then rationalized after the fact with benefits of hindsight” (like stock market crashes, the 2008 economic collapse, or the increasing likelihood of global war). Precautionary action to mitigate future Black Swan events, particularly in the area of ‘information governance’ is becoming critical in business strategic planning. DCG can help.  [LEGAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS – Oct 14]
  • MORE DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY: NOW, ROBOT TASTE TESTERS! Spanish scientists have developed an “electronic tongue which can distinguish between varieties of beer with 82% accuracy”; Swiss researchers developed a machine that can “assess the flavor of espresso”; A Japanese firm droid can now “analyze the fat & sugar content of food using infrared technology”; Denmark scientists have a robot machine which “measures the dryness of wine, using nanosensors modeled on the sensors in our mouth”; and in Thailand, the “authenticity of any Thai dish can be judged.”  [TIME – Oct 13, 14]
  • “IN LIFE, AS IN ALL STORIES, ENDINGS MATTER… But more and more people spend their last hours exactly as they wished not to: admitted to a hospital for what they think is a treatment, only to be stuck until death…hooked up to machines under fluorescent lights, surrounded by strangers…versus familiar places and those they love.” With fear of legal liability for failure to try everything possible, doctors (often pressured by selfish objectives of the family) “fail to recognize that patients have priorities beyond merely being safe and living longer… Moreover, multiple studies have shown that the ‘try everything’ approach appears not even to offer a longer life; patients entering hospice care – which usually means abandoning attempts at a cure, live at least as long as those receiving traditional care. (One startling study found patients with advanced lung cancer who stopped chemotherapy…suffered less and lived 25% longer than those receiving standard care.)” DCG is proud to sit on the California Advisory Council for COMPASSION & CHOICES, the national organization committed to make ‘Death with Dignity’ for terminally ill, mentally competent people a legal choice. See compassionandchoices.org  [THE ECONOMIST – Oct 4, 14]
  • “GOVERNMENT DOESN’T CREATE RESOURCES; IT GETS THEM THROUGH BORROWING OR INFLATION.” ‘Big Government’ theory is that this enables control of the level of commerce, and that entrepreneurs, investors, ‘venture’ capitalists and business executives, who collectively invent/develop/finance/manage the actual economy are secondary players. But money is not wealth; it’s simply a measure of wealth – “a claim on products and services that people have created.”  The real economy is based on that level of creation, with money being just a “symbol which facilitates commerce… allowing people the ability to trade with one another to achieve a higher standard of living.” Money is simply a claim against the real economy – “that’s why counterfeiting is illegal; it’s thievery. But when government does this, it’s called quantitative easing, or stimulus… The global economy is a mess today because most economists, bankers and political leaders don’t understand this.”        [FORBES – Oct 20, 14]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: The biggest impediment to effective leadership is lack of clear vision, direction and communication to the team which needs to implement. Without clearly ‘seeing the future,’ the likelihood of energizing team energy, enthusiasm & commitment to any project is way less than optimal.

        20% of U.S. residents speak a foreign language at home including 50% of all California schoolchildren. According to the Census Bureau, fastest growing languages include Arabic and Urdu (Pakistan).

        Our Homeland Security Inspector General has reported that detention facilities for illegal border-crossers are “teeming with diseases because the guests don’t know how to take medicine or use toilets,” according to the Washington Times.

               DCG: PROVIDING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE FOR OPTIMAL STRATEGIC, FINANCIAL, OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT