• “JUST BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE HAVE TROUBLE SPEAKING UP DOESN’T MEAN THEY DON’T HAVE VALUABLE THINGS TO SAY.” Most meetings tend to be dominated by extroverts who speak, present, and collaborate in teams without hesitation, while employees who are more introverted “tend to be observers in group settings… more comfortable thinking through what they want to say before speaking… and becoming easily overwhelmed if everyone is speaking at once or a few people are dominating the conversation.” To help those employees feel less inhibited and share their ideas: (1) Provide advance agendas to give them context and a chance to prep ahead of time; (2) Control the tendency for extroverts to interrupt and dominate discussions by ‘calling on’ speakers to level out the playing field.    [INC. MAGAZINE – Apr 30, 18]
  • A COMPANY ACQUISITION OR MERGER IS ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED BY SOME RESISTANCE to altering team dynamics, particularly from employees of the entity subject to new leadership & culture when a ‘family environment’ is absorbed by organizational structure with more people, paperwork and guidelines involving daily activity. Beyond ‘orientation’ relating to policies & procedures, a key strategy to minimize disruption is early conduct of a “group-wide Employee Engagement Survey” to clarify ambiguities in reality-based leadership expectations and reporting responsibilities. DCG provides pre-merger/ acquisition ‘Cultural Congruity’ analysis to ascertain as many potential conflicts as possible, and also post-transaction consulting to best facilitate optimal integration. In this phase of business growth, failing to plan is planning to fail.   [FORBES – May 1, 18]
  • “THERE IS A LARGELY (THOUGH NOT ENTIRELY) NON-VIOLENT REIGN OF IDEOLOGICAL TERROR IN AMERICA. In almost every area of life, people fear antagonizing ‘The Left,’ the most dynamic religion in the past 100 years. In its incarnations — Marxism, Communism & Socialism, expressed through denigration of capitalism & Western civilization, celebration of race, and replacing of reason with romanticism — the Left has completely taken over news & entertainment media and institutions of education to generate fear as the dominant force in Western countries today.” [Dennis Prager, LBN Elert,- May 2, 18]
  • ‘MULTIVERSE THEORY’ was the focus studied by Stephen Hawking up to two weeks before his death in March, and his ‘Final Theory’ was just published in the Journal of High Energy Physics. Based on a “mix of string theory, holographic principle, and math problems that resemble hieroglyphics,” the Theory essentially suggests the prospect of “finding evidence for the existence of other universes… by using space telescopes to study gravitational waves.” In simplest terms, if true: “The Big Bang happened. The universe expanded. In some places it kept expanding. In others, it stopped and universes formed – ours, and a potentially infinite number of others… which would profoundly change our perception of our place in the cosmos.” [FUTURISM – May 2, 18]
  • AN ELECTRO-MAGNET PULSE (‘EMP’) IS A “SUPER-ENERGETIC RADIO WAVE that can destroy, damage or cause malfunction of electronic systems by overloading their circuits. It is harmless to people biologically,” but by damaging systems that make modern society function – the ‘cloud’ and computers that control power, communications, transportation, emergency services, banking & finance, food & water – an EMP could literally bring civilization as we know it to a dead stop within days of a blackout. EMP can be caused (1) by means of a ‘solar flare’ from the sun which creates a ‘geomagnetic storm’ every 11 years or so impacting local areas, but also by a “Great Storm that most specialists believe is a once-a-century phenomenon and overdue” (the last having occurred in 1859) which could impact an entire continent; or (2) by a single nuclear device – “the perfect asymmetric weapon for state actors or terrorists who wish to level the battlefield by neutralizing the great technological advantage enjoyed by U.S. military forces.” For a terrifying understanding of the “clear and present danger,” read ELECTRIC ARMAGEDDON by Peter V. Pry; for an easier-read fiction novel covering the subsequent impact, read ONE SECOND AFTER by William Forstchen.
  • JUST LISTENING TO MUSIC CAN BE GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH, OR NOT. While all persons react to music differently, studies find that “music tracks with a slow tempo, gradual chord progressions and drawn-out notes tend to be calming, versus chaotic up-tempo tunes which tend to have the opposite effect… Music seems to selectively activate neurochemical systems & brain structures associated with mood, emotion, attention & memory, so a song’s rhythm can influence heart rate and brain activity” – either lowering stress-related hormones or, conversely, triggering stress, anger and/or depression. The best genre for balancing that risk, in DCG consensus, is good old classic rock & roll.   [TIME – May 14, 18]