• SINCE COMPANY PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY ARE DEPENDANT ON EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT & RETENTION, what employees expect as fair and motivational are always critical factors. Latest surveys confirm that employee priorities remain: (1) Feeling they are appreciated; (2) Knowing what they are being held accountable for; (3) Having targeted goals with performance measured more by knowing where they stand than by mathematical rankings like KPIs; (4) Feedback in the form of development conversations, even if difficult, during the year versus annually; (5) Compensation, of course – but over half say they’re motivated as much by nonfinancial rewards like opportunities to grow, and acknowledgement from leaders. [McKinsey – 11/19/24]   DCG offer courtesy consult in this critical HR area.
  • WHILE MOST ELECTION PROMISES FOR CHANGE/ EFFICIENCY/ ACCOUNTABILITY ARE NEVER FOLLOWED THROUGH, this time should be different. The implementation of DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency – the outside Commission to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Beyond Trump’s commitment to make this a priority, the process will involve: (1) Using A.I. to identify thousands of regulations to eliminate based on new legal standards set by the Supreme Court; (2) By Executive Order or legislation, cancelling some forty years of regulatory hurdles to business and orders to control citizens; (3) Then eliminating unnecessary jobs and perhaps entire departments; (4) Cutting programs where Congress’s spending authorization has lapsed; (5) Engaging large-scale audits for other programs where transparency has previously been buried to revamp budgets where appropriate; (6) Dealing with the undoubted challenges from bureaucrats affected (who had issued the edicts in the first place). We can be hopeful that the plan succeeds.  [EPOCH TIMES – 11/23/24]  
  • THE POTENTIAL FOR WWIII CONTINUES TO INCREASE as “creeping U.S. isolationism has encouraged belligerent adversaries with ambition to upend eight decades of dominance by what they consider a bullying West, and especially leadership by America which they regard as in decline. According to a retired U.S. general who heads the Institute for Study of War, we’re now in a pre-war era leading to the most serious, dangerous & challenging since WWII, while the Chief of NATO has described a military peril stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Key factors include: Russian missile technology transferred to North Korea in return for soldiers and weapons including missiles; Russian purchases of drones from Iran which funds Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthi proxies to destabilize the Middle East; and China underwriting Russia’s domestic war production with massive purchases of fossil fuel – in defiance of international sanctions, as well as Beijing’s ever-louder insistence that it must ‘reunify’ Taiwan with the mainland.”  [ASIA TIMES – 11/15/24]
  • THE USE OF DIGITAL SCREENS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD, and especially before bed, is of increasing concern, as to both the “impact of blue light on sleep duration and quality, combined with broader effects on cognitive processes vital for learning, attention and memory. In young children, evening exposure to blue light appears to elevate blood cortisol levels which impact attention and reaction time the following day, as well as contribute to increased levels of fatigue, emotional dysregulation, and impaired cognitive performance in daytime activities.  Recommendations include a screen-free period before bed, using blue-light filters if screen use is necessary, and optimizing the environment with dark, quiet, device-free spaces. As screen time rises in family and educational settings, managing screen exposure while balancing the demands of modern technology integration in young children’s lives has become critically important.”  [REAL CLEAR SCIENCE – 11/21/24]
  •                THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: 
  • —  Cambridge Dictionary ‘Word of the Year’ is MANIFEST: “Only to use methods such as visualization (= picturing something in your mind) and affirmation (= repeating positive phrases) to help you imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen.

—  ABOUT BACK PAIN: While some 1-in-3 people worldwide purportedly suffer from back pain, the “vast majority of pain is non-specific and can be managed with anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, a hot water bottle or ice pack to help with swelling, and by trying to keep moving – since physical activity increases muscle strength and boosts flow of blood & nutrients to the back. However, ‘Red Flag’ symptoms of physical problems which may require X-ray or MRI diagnosis, are chronic pain, numbness or tingling in the lower body, difficulty peeing, chest pain, unexpected weight loss, and/or a persistent fever. https://www.sciencefocus.com/wellbeing/how-to-pain-proof-your-back

—  Latest report from fiscal watchdog Open the Books says that the Biden Administration has spent $267 million since 2021 to combat so-called ‘misinformation.’ “Government is the worst possible arbiter of truth because it makes the state a gatekeeper of speech. The best way to counter ‘misinformation’ and purge falsehood from the public square isn’t with more mandates but with more transparency, more information and more speech, not less.” [PATRIOT POST]