• MOST FAMILY BUSINESSES WHICH HAVE TRANSITIONED TO AT LEAST 2nd GENERATION have not been negatively impacted by the pandemic, versus large publically funded/traded companies, based on a global survey covering 25 industries in 20 countries. The rationale is that while family companies are “concerned about short-term revenue & cash flow, few have deeper concerns about their survival and well-being…They tend to define success in ways that go beyond short-term profits and rather priorities like providing family members with long-term employment or way to pursue interests, leaving a positive legacy, and almost always emphasis on longevity – which make them more risk averse, less likely to be weighted down with debt…and tend to be more diversified into divisions that are unrelated and more able to avoid the systemic risk that comes from the pandemic… all important key success factors in times of crisis.”  [KELLOGG INSIGHT – Sep 20]
  •  “IGNORANCE MIXED WITH ARROGANCE IS A DANGEROUS COMBINATION… The Boomers have basically been eaten by their own creations, and GenXers who invented social media are rich enough to simply not care about the consequences of letting Millennials – an entire generation of children with absolutely no sense of curiosity and an outsized sense of their importance in this world – set social policy… Social Media entities (Facebook, Twitter, Google especially) have now become obsessed with fighting the spread of (their versions of) ‘fake news’ by employing fact-checkers, shifting algorithms, and outright banning of some stories & content, purportedly to fight disinformation for the sake of all Americans… We find ourselves in the position of not being allowed to see information in the first place… via searches  now censored to block competing ideological articles on matters like: the Chinese whistleblower virologist regarding pandemic virus origins, officials hiding info about minimal Covid spread after restaurant & bar openings, efficacy of mass mask policy, or medical value of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment (deemed propaganda because Trump is the man who mentioned it one day)… The powers that be at our social media giants have thrust us into an age of NO information, since there’s nothing to compare it to… but they do it for us, for our own good.” [RED STATE – 9/17/20]
  •  OVER 12,000 VIOLENT ‘RIOT’ INCIDENTS, IN 220 CITIES ACROSS 47 STATES, have occurred during the four months since provoked by the Floyd fiasco, a criminal’s death “with enough fentanyl in his system to have died from an overdose if police had never touched him.” 84% of those incidents – rioting, looting, armed attacks, cars rammed into crowds, clashes with police, bystanders pepper-sprayed – involved BLM activists, according to a Princeton University backed organization which tracks conflict around the globe. The Report however contends that “police were at blame for criminals’ decisions to steal, kill & destroy… The narrative that victimized rioters are not to blame is a smear against poor and minority people. Violence is caused by people who have chosen to be violent” based on whatever cause they can find to self-justify. [FEDERALIST – 9/16/20]
  •  PEOPLE, IN GENERAL, ARE “NOT VERY GOOD AT ASSESSING THE PURITY OF THEIR OWN MOTIVATIONS, and often make morally ambiguous decisions – serving personal interests, but in a way plausible enough to convince others (and themselves) that facts are not being intentionally distorted.” In business, like life, the ramifications are sometimes major and often scandalous. Research study at Harvard & Columbia found that individual cheating is facilitated by “excessively difficult & specific goals, and exacerbated by Confirmation Bias – the human tendency to seek out facts that back up their pre-existing preferences… Academics suggest that “intentional unethical behavior might be decreased by defining goals more broadly and by setting goals at levels that are perceived as fair and relatively attainable by employees.” This just happens also to be the critical factor in effective Performance Evaluation programs – which DCG is expert at developing for optimal productivity, motivation & retention of personnel; call us for courtesy consult. [ECONOMIST – 9/19/20]
  •  THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: Why are businesses leaving California?  https://youtu.be/u978w4CurDk

     Nat’l Institutes of Health have just sponsored a workshop highlighting the importance of SLEEP for regulating the immune system, as well as its critical affect on increasing antibodies to infection including vaccinations.

     “The reason a Dog has so many friends is that it wags its tail instead of its tongue… One reason a Dog can be such a comfort when you’re feeling blue is that he/she doesn’t try to find out why… We give Dogs  time, space & love we can spare and, in return, Dogs give us their all; it’s the best deal man has ever made.