- SCARE FOR THE WEEK: The back passenger seats of Uber, Lyft & other ride-sharing cars “carry 35,000 times as many germs as the average toilet seat, and 219 times as the average licensed cab, which is required to get regular cleaning” [says a new study reported in THE WEEK].
- VISIBLE SKIN AGING – WRINKLES, SAGGING, SMOOTHNESS – CAN BE SIGNIFICANTLY SLOWED. Researchers at the Slovenian Institute of Cosmetics conducted a 12-week study of skin quality measurement on women aged 45 – 60 to find that maintaining mitochondrial levels, a key factor in reducing skin oxidative damage which occurs at a rate of some 10% per decade, was enhanced (up to 80% in smoothness) with enzyme CoQ10, a commercially available supplement. [LIFE EXTENSION – June 19]
- WHILE THE NATIONAL ECONOMY IS REPORTED ON AN ACCELERATING ROAD TO RECOVERY, the economic prospects of most Americans remain dim. The American Dream is that anyone can achieve success and prosperity through his/her own efforts and stick-to-it fortitude, fed by “liberal consumerism – a central ideology of mainstream culture, a secular and individualist creed that essentially adds more shopping hours to the old exaltation of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” But this ideology doesn’t fit well with the increasing sector of people in downward mode toward poverty levels. While ‘poverty’ in America is “mild compared with absolute scarcity haunts large parts of the globe, the experience of poverty is relative – having everything to do with one’s surroundings, neighbors and ideas about the world,” and is a leading cause, unsurprisingly, for today’s increasing levels of anxiety, frustration, anger, protest, and vocal support for ‘socialism-style’ governance. [COLD NEW WORLD – Random House]
- TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE IS ‘TOP DOWN’ DICTATION of strategic goals & decisions; ‘Agile’ organizations involve decision-making by networks of Teams, in a culture structured for “rapid learning and fast decision cycles, enabled by technology and allowing for quick & efficient reconfigurations of strategy, processes and people.” Top Down structure often limits optimal setting of strategies and targets, since top execs generally “hold overly optimistic views about projects & performance, using mostly internal data to develop plans around major product lines or individual customer segments…which generate ‘hockey stick’ forecasts that seldom reflect market realities.” Additionally, absence of coordinated team planning can materially jeopardize effectiveness of personnel evaluation & management processes, by failing to combine focus on individual goals with focus on Team performance. DCG have decades of experience in helping clients develop programs to manage these critical factors in business productivity, profitability & sustainability. Call us before your reality check bounces! [McKINSEY – Apr 19]
- RECRUITING WORKS INSIDE COMPANY RANKS HAS DROPPED TWO-THIRDS IN THE LAST FEW DECADES. Despite “knowing more about the abilities of current workers than outsiders, research suggesting that such hires can take three years longer to perform as well, and paying outsiders more, employers seem to operate on the principle that there must be something wrong with someone who is unhappy with their current job so instead aim to lure ‘passive’ candidates who have shown no sign of wanting to move.” According to a recent Wharton School survey, interview standards are also deficient – insufficiently comparable since managers tend to improvise, looking for workers who will be a ‘cultural’ fit, thus subject to the biases of interviewers who then tend to recruit people most like themselves,” versus most appropriate for the job description. Moreover, only a third of surveyed American companies bother to “check whether their recruitment process produces good employees… more focused on quality of raw materials put into product than on staff performance.” DCG expertise includes development of optimally effective Performance Evaluation programs. Let us help. [THE ECONOMIST – 5/11/19]
- ‘POLITICAL CORRECTNESS’ PERCEPTIONS AS TO “PROBLEMATIC OR OFFENSIVE CONTENT” of art installations and creative works increasingly result in censoring, shutting down and removing them, based on “snap judgments, social media swarms, ideologically motivated reasoning and obtuse interpretations of plays, poems, books, prints, paintings & sculpture… In all cases, there has been little or no regard for the aspirations, aims & ambitions of the artists themselves who, rather instead, are being treated along a spectrum that runs from indifference to contempt – a dangerous trend.” [THE CONVERSATION – 5/10/19]
- THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK
- Advice from Clint Eastwood on avoiding getting old: https://biggeekdad.com/2019/03/dont-let-the-old-man-in/
- Trouble finding your car in a parking lot? Check out https://biggeekdad.com/2014/04/car-key-experiment/
- A few thoughts to make your life mellower: https://biggeekdad.com/2017/03/5-reminders-today/
