• BUSINESS LEADERS GENERALLY BLAME FAILURES IN STRATEGIC INITIATIVES on “unpredictable changes in the competitive environment, i.e., unforeseen events and trends. However, several recent studies found that more typically it’s about failure to anticipate and navigate ‘adaptive challenges’ …predictable but unarticulated losses stemming from organizational inertia and employees’ resistance relating to (1) power, money, prestige, career prospects, autonomy; and/or (2) fear of having to deal with anxiety about lack of knowledge & skill to deal with new demands, particularly Digital transformation.”  DCG have decades of expertise in facilitating Strategic direction and implementation, including the challenges of transformation. Failure to plan is planning to fail.   [HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW – 7/13/22]
  • WHEN YOU GIVE ‘LOCATION-DATA COLLECTION’ PERMISSION TO AN APP, the GPS signal tracks, stores and typically shares that data with third-party Data Brokers – a $200 billion industry enabling App Developers and Behavioral Advertising companies to purchase/ use/ leak/ sell the data without legal restriction. Some apps can’t work without such access (like GPS navigation), but others (like games/ real estate/ restaurants) do not and can be disabled entirely. [OPEN SETTINGS, PRIVACY, PERMISSION MANAGER, LOCATION]. Since most surveillance involves advertising, disabling Ad Identifier and Tracking functions are also sensible [OPEN SETTINGS, PRIVACY ADVERTISING, PERSONAL ADS OFF].  Also, be aware that “modern cars have about as much technology as a smartphone and may also share location data, but presently almost no control is available.” [WIRECUTTER – 6/29/22]
  • CORPORATE CULTURE IS INCREASINGLY BEING DRIVEN BY GENERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, and the most common reason employees now give for quitting is based on their perception of things like “respectfulness, work-life balance and morale as more important than compensation,” according to a University of Pennsylvania study. So, more companies now publish esoteric ‘Values’ like Transparency/ Diversity/ Ideas Over Hierarchy.  “The problem is that Culture resides in quotidian interactions between colleagues and in the hidden threads that bind decisions of everything from promotions to product development, and are very hard to fathom without being inside the organization… ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast,’ runs the aphorism.”  [ECONOMIST – 7/9/22]
  • THE UNDISPUTED ONCOMING RECESSION RESULTED PRIMARILY from limited Supply of goods or services being chased by too much Demand. Supply shortfall was caused initially by the pandemic, but continues to accelerate from people choosing to live off Welfare rather than returning to work – facilitated by public benefits including direct cash assistance & unemployment insurance (up to $72K for a family of four)/ housing vouchers/ energy subsidies/ childcare subsidies & tax credits/ food stamps/ plus increased state Medicaid & other benefits. Collectively, workers have “fallen into a government-dependency trap which disincentivizes work… with some 500,000 fewer workers than before the pandemic while over 11.3 million jobs remain unfilled nationwide.” Overdemand stems from the availability of money – printed by the government predominantly to cover funding for the non-working non-productive population – such that Demand exceeds Supply and causes Inflation. While Inflation measures vary, and most economists concur reached above 8.5% last month, a leveling off around 6% by 2024 is expected.  [FEDERALIST – 7/8/22]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

     “Each of us is responsible for what we say and do, not what we understand and perceive…  Common sense is like deodorant; the people who need it the most usually don’t use it…  The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.”    

      Military Equipment left behind after Afghanistan withdrawal decisions by Administration leadership, per final accounting by the Government Accountability Office (GAO): 110 helicopters, 98 planes, 22,174 Humvees, 53,724 other vehicles, 37,810 grenade launchers/ RPGs/ Howitzers, 556,880 other weapons, thousands of surveillance drones & communication devices – collectively nearly $84 billion in U.S. funded military assets, left to a ‘nation’ with negligible human rights and leaders openly preaching “Death to America.”

      Of interest to poker players?  10 levels of ‘card shark’ cheating:  https://biggeekdad.com/2022/06/10-levels-of-sleight-of-hand-poker/