• MOST YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS MAKE A MAJOR MISTAKE WHEN GETTING STARTED “by tending to chase ideas based largely on past successes of other popular entrepreneurs and by focusing on ‘making money,’ rather than pursuing their own personal passion… What almost everyone finds at the end is that creating a massively successful business is hard, and if they don’t love what they’re doing, they’ll give up before succeeding.” With decades of experience in successful business formation, infrastructure/team/board development, operations, forecasting & capital raise, DCG offers courtesy consulting and mentoring to next-generation businesses – our payback to America’s future. [PETER DIAMANDIS BULLETIN – Apr 16, 17]
  • THE ONLY CERTAINTY IN BUSINESS, AND LIFE, IS CHANGE. Today’s decision-makers are faced with greater pressure from more rapid changes than ever before, in critical areas like (1) modifying business and compensation models for effectiveness in developing & retaining a “high performance, results-focused leadership team,” and (2) implementing technologies necessary to improve & sustain product/service quality, manage operations efficiently, support a growing remote workforce, maintain customer confidence, and protect against cybercrime. “Change is everywhere. Executive Management must lead through it, follow the change of others, or step aside, since any resistance reduces profitability and sustainability.”  [JRNL OF ACCOUNTANCY – Apr 10, 17]
  • THE $1.4 TRILLION STUDENT LOAN BUBBLE is “an eerie echo of the housing crisis, with 90% of new debt originating in the public sector, at the Dep’t of Education,” and headed for a likely pop. The average college graduate now carries about $34K in debt, “a burden that has been linked to everything from decreased home-ownership to marital problems and depression. Making matters worse, may students holding debt don’t even graduate – meaning they miss out on the income boost provided by a degree” – and are more apt to default. Additionally, people committing to ten years of public service (including school & hospital employees, doctors, firefighters and museum workers) were granted federal debt forgiveness by Congress in 2007, with over a half million soon eligible. A bust & bailout is almost certainly coming. [FINANCIAL TIMES – Apr 9, 17]
  • GETTING PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK CAN BE “ISOLATING, PAINFUL AND MADDENING.” Human tendency is for employees to be automatically skeptical and in denial of validity, focused on who gave the (almost always perceived) criticism, and how or why suggestions won’t work. But dismissing feedback too quickly is counter-productive, since articulation is seldom fully descriptive and “labels are, at best, loose approximations of what the giver is trying to say.” Most people have Blind Spots for which genuine feedback is beneficial, so a better strategy is to “ask clear and curious questions without a defensive tone… like Can you be a bit more specific about particular times or instances? What are you suggesting I might have done differently?” DCG designs performance evaluation programs for optimal effectiveness. [HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW – Apr 14, 17]
  • THE OPIATE ADDICTION PROBLEM IN AMERICA IS RAPIDLY GROWING and government is finally starting to address it, including increasing FDA and DEA approval for research into the medical benefits of marijuana and psychedelic drugs as potential treatments. A quick primer for those interested in following the progress which media may be reporting: (1) PSILOCYBIN – is a hallucinogenic (aka Magic Mushrooms) which induces “changes in consciousness”; (2) LSD – is a hallucinogenic which induces “out-of-body experiences and makes people feel more open & trusting toward others”; (3) MDMA – (aka Ecstasy or Molly) generates a “long-lasting feeling of euphoria, higher energy, pleasant body sensations, and increase in empathy”; (4) PEYOTE – is a hallucinogenic (traced to 1000 B.C.) which “precipitates profound visions and, with regular use, an unparalleled understanding of past, present & future”; (5) AYAHUASCA – generally used under the auspices of a shaman, is described as a life-changing and reality-imploding ‘magic drink’ to understanding oneself and others better.”  [MENS HEALTH – May 17]
  • ANOTHER TAX FILING HASSLE COMPLETED THIS WEEK, except for “extension” filers. IRS statistics take a while to compile and all always discouraging. 2014 just-published data reported that 35% of the nearly 250 million returns resulted in zero federal income tax liability for the year, and that six out of ten filers in that category received CASH OUT – over $90 billion in payments for “refundable tax credits.” Another $15 billion was further paid to filers who otherwise would have owed taxes, but received offsets for those credits. Aggregate collections approximated nearly $1.4 trillion.
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:  “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”  – General George Patton

     Cigarette butts & filters take 12 years to biodegrade, an aluminum can takes between 200 and 500 years, plastic diapers & sanitary pads between 500 and 800, Styrofoam more than 5000, and a glass bottle 1 million years. Recycling makes sense.