• OFFICE VS. REMOTE WORK UPDATE: Bosses, by and large, claim that having people in the office allows spontaneity, collaboration, and performance improvement. But latest analysis of 900 companies now suggests otherwise – that, while companies insisting on staff in-office daily rank higher in Agility (ability to anticipate & respond quickly to marketplace changes), flex-time employee measures of feeling supportiveness, quality of leadership, candor and work-life balance received significantly lower marks. And firms which have insisted on workers returning to full-time office work after the pandemic saw job satisfaction fall and staff turnover rise, with zero improvement in firm performance. The flex-time programs are definitely winning out.  [ECONOMIST]

 

  • PERHAPS THE CORE FACTOR IN LEADERSHIP IS ABILITY TO PERFORM UNDER PRESSURE – when uncertainty and risks are high, work teams are looking for direction, and leaders can stay calm and composed. Since workers at all levels take their cues from designated leaders, the impact shows up in performance, collaboration and resilience. Many companies are now turning to interim C-level executives, as a training & testing ground (audition of sorts for the longer term) to see how they handle ambiguity and drive strategy, while other companies are eliminating layers of middle management for cost reduction purposes but foregoing the opportunity to identify their next generation of potential leaders. DCG analysis & coaching services can help bridge this quandary.

 

  • WHY DO WE BECOME MORE FORGETFUL AS WE AGE? Because (1) brain cells do deteriorate, especially after trauma, stroke, and certainly with abuse of alcohol or varying drugs. While some cells can regenerate, the process is limited; (2) While our brains have enormous memory capacity, the memory system runs much more slowly than life happens, so only about 10% of specific events, experiences & encounters can make it into long-term storage. (Envision a video camera that could only work at 10% of its capacity); (3) So, what our brains keep of the constant input from all our senses, gets prioritized in the memory system only that which is adaptive, necessary and helpful in order to essentially navigate our environment (since that system evolved for survival); (4) Far from running out of space, our brains constantly reshape what we know to help us adapt, predict and learn. While it’s so exasperating to forget where items were left/ names/ numbers/ places/ appointments/ conversation details/ etc., “we’re not necessarily running out of brain space – it’s more likely our brain just had more important things to remember.”  [LIVE SCIENCE]

 

  • AS CURRENTLY BEING TAUGHT, THE LEARNING HABITS OF AN ENTIRE GENERATION MAY ALREADY HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. M.I.T. researchers just reported that students using ChatGPT have an 83% failure rate when asked to recall what they just wrote – it’s “like Waze for writing, essentially like asking someone else to think for you, while neural pathways that cement knowledge through active processing never get built.” How we acquire and apply knowledge will be a lost cause unless the educational system is transformed to teach students: (1) to utilize AI as an accelerant, not a replacement for thinking critically – alongside AI, not instead of it; and (2) to first master the fundamentals, only using AI to amplify their capabilities, ensuring their understanding of concepts before using AI for speed – like learning music scales & basic technique before using AI technology to compose a symphony. “Those who become dependent on AI for basic cognitive functions will be left behind, versus freeing up cognitive resources for creativity, critical thinking, and complex problem-solving. Our educational system is at a critical juncture which can either destroy learning, or revolutionize how we acquire and apply knowledge.” [PETER DIAMANDIS]

 

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

  • American children are dying at a rate 80% higher than in eighteen other developed countries, with firearms representing the leading cause. But over a 16-year analysis of eight major data sources, the death toll has remained consistent, along with other critical health problems of children, “underscoring the systemic nature of this crisis — predominantly from increasing use of smartphones and social media disrupting sleep patterns, reducing physical activity, and creating a cascade effect that leads to some 20% affected by obesity, 30% impacted by poor sleep, chronic pain or activity limitations, and nearly 40% of high school students reporting persistent feeling of sadness or hopelessness.” [EPOCH TIMES]

 

  • In less than a week, America had at least four ‘1 in 1000’ rainfall events with horrendous results. Last year, we had 27 confirmed weather/climate disaster events including droughts/ floods/ severe storms/ tropical cyclones/ hurricanes/ and wildfires. Extreme weather events are caused predominantly by a warmer atmosphere which can hold more water vapor, then produce sudden torrential downpours over bone-dry soil that triggers floods, power outages and landslides, with impacts from poor drainage that destroys lives, property, crops, overtakes sewers and spreads disease. The Nat’l Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warns to expect an uptick of catastrophic events around the planet. [CHARLATAN MAGAZINE]

 

  • Recent university and hospital studies support the belief that Mondays are when levels of anxiety elevate stress hormone cortisol which block coronary arteries and cause the most severe type of heart attack to occur. Together, those studies covered over 14,000 people, an earlier Swedish study involved over 156K patients, and a 2005 meta-analysis had found up to a 19% increase on Mondays compared to other days of the week. Cause is consistently attributed to (1) Monday’s acting a cultural ‘stress amplifier’ compared to other days of the week, and (2) disruptions to the circadian sleep-wake cycle which has been shown to impact cardiovascular function. [SCIENCE ALERT]

 

  • “We were living in an ‘emperor has no clothes’ make-believe world for the last few years. The people knew establishment narratives were absurd, and our supposed experts were even more ridiculous. But few — until now — had the guts to scream ‘the emperor is naked’ to dispel the fantasies. When they finally did, reality returned.” https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2025/07/18/the-world-woke-up-n2660569?utm_source=thdailyvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl