• ‘BURNOUT’ TO THE POINT OF FEELING EXHAUSTED/ANNOYED/UNAPPRECIATED AND CONSIDERING LEAVING YOUR JOB can mean that your position is really a mismatch. But often, a few tweaks can alleviate the frustration and restore balance. A few tips: (1) Realign boundaries relating to being on-call, overtime, and decisions about priorities which would allow a feeling of more control; (2) Realign workload to reduce pressure, while leaving time for life balance, professional growth & development; Consider delegating tasks, not saying ‘yes’ to every new assignment, and “letting go of perfectionism”; (3) Taking advantage of comp-time and other fringes to feel better about the reward for effort & time committed; (4) Improving the dynamic of connecting & communicating with colleagues. “Burnout isn’t simply about being tired. Before you quit, really think through what exactly is contributing to your burnout and use best efforts to remedy the situation.”  [HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW – 7/5/19]
  • KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPI) ARE THE MEASURABLE MONITOR OF EFFECTIVENESS in achieving key business objectives. With the multitude of day-to-day responsibilities that CFOs and Controllers handle, reporting these metrics are often omitted from periodic financial reporting and management are not timely aware of ‘Profit Leakage,’ where percentage increases in margins or profitability are inconsistent with increased or decreased revenue. Consistent analysis of analytics which pinpoint key profitability drivers – targeted metrics related to business activity sectors – is a critical factor in optimizing business results. DCG can assist you with analysis and corrective strategies. See linkedin.com/pulse/profit-leakage-alert-middle-market-robert-rivero/
  • ‘CONSERVATIVE’ FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES ARE RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING, in today’s global struggles for political Party control. “Conservatism is not so much a philosophy as a disposition, where principles begin with rejection of the utopian impulse to find a government solution for every wrong… preferring the familiar, the tried to untried, fact to mystery, actual to possible, limited to unbounded, and near to distant… believing that social order comes first to create the conditions for freedom, and looking to the authority of family, religious institutions, tradition and local associations to control change and slow it down… Conservatives respect business and are prudent stewards of the economy, because prosperity underpins everything, and believe in character because politics is about judgement as well as reason.”   [ECONOMIST – 7/6/19]
  • “THE COMING REVOLUTION, AS TECHNOLOGY BECOMES EMBEDDED IN THE HUMAN BODY OR BRAIN, constantly scanning biometric data and emotions, will expand the online reality where we already spend most of our time… It is inevitable that technology will genetically manipulate humans in profound ways…improving intelligence & discipline, but at risk of ignoring other aspects of the human experience: our compassion, creativity and spirituality – i.e. human consciousness.”  Perspective from the author of ’21 Lessons for the 21st Century: fastcompany.com/90373620/yuval-noah-harari-humans-are-on-the-verge-of-merging-with-machines
  • THE ‘EB-5’ VISA PROGRAM provides ten thousand U.S. visas annually to foreigners who invest in domestic businesses that “generate new jobs, or maintain jobs that would otherwise have been eliminated, in targeted areas for economic development.” Minimum required investment is being raised (likely by year-end) to $1.8M; if in “high unemployment rural areas,” the investment minimum would be $1.35M.  [MANATT CLIENT ALERT – 7/11/19]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:   Vigorous ‘background checks’ make absolute sense for sale of firearms. But also, how about for immigration, voter ID, welfare recipients, and candidates for office??  
  • Have your passwords been hacked?  https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-tell-if-any-of-your-website-passwords-may-have-been-hacked/

“If there is one thing that Americans can agree on it’s that Congress is failing to do their job and term limits should become law.” A strong, very well presented pitch to a Senate Committee – which will of course be ignored. https://biggeekdad.com/2019/07/we-the-people/