• LEADERSHIP DECISION-MAKING IS OFTEN BASED ON INTUITION AS MUCH AS OBJECTIVE DATA, and procrastination is common when necessary to terminate an employee – especially for feelings of personal relationship and/or when having been responsible for recruitment, management guidance, or providing sufficient resources along the way. But the principle ‘Hire Slow, Fire Fast’ is most always the least painful strategy. Also delay often stems from concern over ‘optics,’ particularly when the departing employee had a management role and/or strong relationships with others who may view the termination process negatively, which can be best handled with a process that affords the person as much dignity as possible, including a mutually agreeable public narrative that explains their departure. DCG have decades of experience in this process. We can help.
  • KIDS UNDER AGE TWO WHO SPEND TIME ON iPADS & OTHER SCREENS MAY EXPERIENCE DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS in real-life motor skills, language ability and social skills. According to a 7,000-child study just published in the Journal of AMA Pediatrics, researchers found that by age five, kids who had spent up to 4-hours daily were three times more likely to have delays in in communication and problem-solving; those spending over 4-hours daily were nearly five times more likely. “Using tablets to handle discomfort, as so many parents do when kids get fussy, may also have negative impacts on a child’s mental health development.”  https://futurism.com/neoscope/children-screen-time-developmental-delays
  • ROBOTIZATION OF THE HOUSING INDUSTRY MAY BE ON THE HORIZON.  A Japanese company is now   3-D printing & assembling this home in less than 45 hours, at below $38,000 U.S., the price of many cars. The house is just under 540 sq.ft. equivalent to a large studio apartment with bedroom/bath & open-concept living/kitchen space, but fully meeting earthquake and insulation standards, and evidently suitable for singles, retirees, or as a second vacation or get-away spot.
  • THE BLIND SPOTS OF A.I. ARE ALREADY CAUSING CONSTERNATION. “The fundamental principle of our legal system is understanding and acceptance by the people governed, but the estimated tens of millions of conflicting laws, ordinances & judicial decisions, at federal/ state/ county/ municipal levels, make this unrealistic and unworkable.” Beyond obvious incapacity to deliver information to ordinary people with differences in language & cultural nuances, is the complexity of legal jargon – further impacted by artificial intelligence, since the accuracy of decisions /predictions being relied upon “hinges on the breadth and depth of data which A.I. gets trained from, that may be incomplete or skewed, leading to outcomes inevitably flawed, and to decisions which might be misguided, inequitable, or outright wrong.” Just one more critical factor in the rapid direction of American society & culture “Past the Point of No Return” (an idiom which originated in relation to a WWII flight path fuel planning, now defining courses of action beyond which reversal is not possible).  [THOMAS FREY – 8/24/23]
  •  THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:  

 With LA traffic congestion fully back and seemingly less evident CHP cars on the highways, an increasing number of drivers are ignoring Carpool Lane restrictions and risking fines up to $500. Reminder: HOV requirements are two or more seat-belted human occupants (pregnancy doesn’t count), motorcycles, public mass transit, ‘clean air vehicle, decals, and vehicles transporting blood donations.

 Next in line for woke Climate Change regulations from the U.S. Dep’t of Energy are household Ceiling Fans, with manufacturers would be required to “redesign, and which may put up to 30% out of business,” according to the House Small Business Committee.

 Some important perspective on what essentially began and fuels the Protests against Police: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBpPSVQHSmk