• LEADERS OFTEN AVOID DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS WITH EMPLOYEES, instead complaining and blaming others for their discomfort. Beyond normal personality trait to simply avoid conflict, this also stems from the fact that such avoidance is socially acceptable, and that talking about uncomfortable issues involves vulnerability which can become hurtful, disappointing and put ego at risk of failure. But conflict resolution is a critical factor in effective leadership. Tips for optimal handling include: (1) Taking responsibility for some part of the issue; (2) Dealing with it promptly and directly; (3) Listening with empathy to the employee’s position; (4) Avoiding presenting your position as ‘Truth’ versus speaking as personal perspective (e.g. I believe, or I feel); (5) Approaching resolution with compromise that lets employee feel some level of ‘win’ versus feeling taken advantage of. DCG provides Management Leadership Coaching; call for courtesy consult.
  • NOW THAT KIDS ARE RE-ACCLIMATING TO FORMAL SCHOOLING, a reminder that Adolescence is the critical period during which they grow to behave in a manner demonstrating maturity, responsibility, independence & self-sufficiency, as well as academic skills – and influenced collectively by a myriad of parental, social, cultural and educational factors.  DCG provides ADOLESCENT TUTORING services to children aged 12 and above, tailored to areas which parents deem most relevant to the child’s development, including: Language & Writing/ Communication/ Finance/ Budgeting/ Priorities Setting/ Life Balance/ and Reality-based Expectations. Call Dennis for courtesy consultation.
  • SOCIAL MEDIA PHISHING ATTACKS ARE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH, 590% being sent out on weekdays when targets have less focus to identify signs of fraud, and utilizing hijacked Email conversations when victims are more likely to trust a sender they know. The latest botnet delivers malware which steals email address/ user name/ & password, enabling phishing emails using ‘reply’ to all existing email threads and “quoting the original message to make the response look more authentic.” Just be on guard. [ZD NET – 3/10/22]   Cybersecurity is now among the most critical factors in business continuity.  Take advantage of substantive guidance at https://securethevillage.org/
  • ANOTHER $1.5 TRILLION OF LIBERAL GIVEAWAY WAS JUST RAMMED THROUGH CONGRESS, increasing further the more than $30-trillion National Debt. The process was a 2,741-page Bill that almost no Legislators had even read – since ‘notice’ was given at midnight via a web posting with House vote taken 90-minutes later, then Senate approval, on the last day before a technical Government Shutdown. Loaded with some 4,000 ‘earmarks’ and favors for campaign donors, most media didn’t even bother to report its passage. “Written by a handful of lawmakers and unelected staff, deciding the fate of a thousand-billions of dollars in spending, the process is as anti-democratic as you can get… with legislators also sheltered from being ‘On Record’ by stuffing the pork-spending which can’t pass on its own merits into an annual ‘Omnibus’ Bill (including this time provisions for Gun Control).”  Meanwhile, lawmakers will similarly approve another funding Bill later this year, to spend after fiscal September 30, as mid-term elections approach. What a system.  [FEDERALIST – 3/10/22]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

  “To applaud a politician because he/she has built a road, school, hospital, etc. with public money is the same as applauding an ATM because it give you your money.”

  “A man who says ‘Sorry’ when he’s wrong is called Honest; who says it when he’s not sure is called Wise; if says it even when he’s right is called Husband.”

   For those who’d like to understand Drumming styles, a great two-dimensional description:  https://biggeekdad.com/2019/02/visual-drum-styles/