• BUSINESS OWNERS TYPICALLY GET SO INVOLVED IN OPERATIONS THAT ‘GOVERNANCE’ OFTEN GETS OVERLOOKED, which is a critical role that independent Advisors like DCG serve. “Governance is about asking the right questions, testing assumptions and ensuring that Management’s approaches are deliberate, defensible, aligned with the Company’s long-term resilience, and responsibly balancing opportunity with risk.”  Of particular concern this year are: (1) the nature and pace of change in workflows and processes evolving in adoption of Artificial Intelligence, and (2) the impact of AI transition on motivation and retention of employees. With upcoming year-end Evaluation & Compensation expectations of employees, DCG strongly suggest reviewing process & procedures to ensure that employees receive, respect and appreciate appropriate messaging. Call Dennis for courtesy consult.

 

  • LEADERSHIP OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE is not so much about “the illusion of being well-rounded with essential competences – strategic vision/ communication skills/ charisma/ humility/ etc. – and more about having followers. People follow a leader for one main reason: relating to the future they expect, and what tomorrow will look like… Three pillars determine whether a team thrives or fails: (1) Reasoning – aligning on clear goals & purpose so debates lead to better solutions rather than power struggles; (2) Attention – managing focus & communication so people feel safe enough to share ideas and challenge assumptions; (3) Resources – surfacing hidden skills & networks within the team and making sure the right expertise is available at the right time. The challenge for leaders today is not to be more well-rounded, but to be more intentional with skills that inspire followership, building the reasoning, attention, and resources that make teams effective.”  [FAST COMPANY]

 

  • AN ‘EXERCISE PARADOX’ is that latest research shows only “modest effects of weight loss,” attributed both to post-workout increased food intake and subconsciously greater relaxing, both of which counteract the calorie drop, plus ‘metabolic adaptation’ involving the body’s tendency to defend against weight loss. A new study of 1,100 people showed that physical activity, per se, had “little effect on weight initially lost. However, higher subsequent activity after losing weight was strongly linked to maintaining weight loss.” This stems from (1) preserving or rebuilding lost muscle mass, especially with resistance training (like Pilates or lifting weights) which boosts metabolism; (2) improving fat building and higher insulin levels which promote storage & reduce breakdown of fat; (3) helping regulate appetite & blood glucose to reduce cravings and limit overeating; and  (4) with aerobic exercise (like brisk walking/ cycling/running, benefiting weight loss by burning calories and helping the body burn fat for fuel.  [REAL CLEAR SCIENCE]

 

  • “A.I. IS NOW EVERYWHERE, AND EVOLVING SO QUICKLY that even those already working in tech can barely keep up with technologies critically shaping the future of innovation, automation and human creativity. Agentic AI systems can now reason, plan, and act autonomously through a continuous cycle – including observing the results and refining future steps. Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) can now ‘think’ by breaking down problems step by step using internal reasoning processes. Vector Databases are storing numerical representations that capture the semantic meaning of information – effectively a long list of numbers that represent what a picture means, in order to find similar text, audio or video items. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) combines language models with real-world knowledge retrieval, enhancing response by pulling relevant external info from a database before responding.”  And we ain’t seen nothing yet…  [AI WORLD JOURNAL]     

 

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

 

  • AI is increasingly being implemented in professional firms. Latest survey by Accounting Today found over 70% of accountants now comfortable using tech for research, fact-checking and client communications which traditionally required human efforts, with two-thirds saying their firm has already implemented technology to replace employees. The future for kids who have traditionally sought professional careers in financial & legal worlds is becoming more and more dubious.

 

  • Current commercial real estate vacancies have now hit a record 20%, with 18 years of supply sitting empty for Class-A offices and 23 years for Class-B. Along with 7% delinquencies in bank mortgages comprising around half of all industrial & commercial loans, representing nearly 44% of regional bank assets, recent write-offs of nearly $250 million by three banks alone have raised fears of hidden losses with potentially hundreds of billions in bad loans, which sent stock prices for regional banks (holding a quarter of deposits) skidding last week. [PROFSTONGE]

 

  • IS YOUR CAR A BIRD POOP MAGNET?  A just-published survey – The Bird Dropping Report – based on a thousand American drivers, relates avian bowel activity and vehicle appearance attributed to birds seeing ultraviolet color and finding: (1) Brown, red and black as most attractive and getting most pooped on; (2) Ram & Jeep trucks, along with Chevrolet, Nissan & Dodge sedans, as most susceptible; (3) Lighter colors, such as white or silver tending to be spared; (4) 58% of respondents saying that a bird pooped more than once the same day; (5) Around 30% believing that their cars had been personally ‘targeted’ (nearly half being owners of Lexus), with 14% claiming they’d been targeted while getting in or out of their car (although, this is likely related to the birds in urban locations liking to roost under trees, power lines or street signs).  [GIZMODO]