• MOST BUSINESS OWNERS NECESSARILY FOCUS on immediate and near-term priorities, while longer-range goals and objectives remain fuzzy concepts at best. The problem then is that if/when operational or financial difficulties or opportunities arise, the absence of having contemplated strategic direction will impact productivity, profitability, continuity and stress levels – especially when family members or business partners are involved in the company. The principal shortfall is having failed to ‘position’ the business for circumstances which always at some point arise, and certainly with regard to optimal succession or exit planning. The most critical services which DCG provides our current clients, are: (1) Advisory Board support – including both business & family issues; (2) Effective financial presentations which provide necessary support, including positioning for debt or equity raise; (3) Infrastructure support to recruit, train and retain top staff support. Call and/or please refer us for courtesy consultation.
• LATEST RESEARCH CONSISTENTLY FINDS THAT BUSINESS LEADERSHIP NECESSITATES AN ‘EMOTIONAL CULTURE’ even more so than a Cognitive culture (of goals, processes and incentives) since “how people actually experience & feel their work influences cooperation/ commitment/ performance/ well-being, and shapes how they interpret events and relate to others, with broader thinking, increased creativity, strengthened resilience and improved problem solving – all since what people feel influences what they notice and ultimately how they behave.” While most organizations focus on the goals, metrics, accountability & incentives, with leaders encouraged to keep emotions ‘out’ of decision-making, current perspective is that optimal performance stems from workers when positive emotional experiences support their learning, collaboration and persistence. [SMARTBRIEF]
• IRONICALLY, HOWEVER, IT’S THE BUSINESS LEADERS THEMSELVES WHO RANK HIGHEST IN EMOTIONAL STRAIN and lowest in well-being. A 160-country Gallup analysis found one-in-eight senior leaders reporting highest in loneliness/ daily stress/ anger/ sadness/ and less likely than employees to laugh, smile or ‘experience enjoyment’ on workdays. Most stems from the impact of “lacking meaningful human connections, since the higher a leader becomes in corporate hierarchy, data becomes more filtered – as subordinates are protecting their careers, with every promotion narrowing the circle of honest feedback and genuine input harder to sustain.” Analysis of over 70 studies also found that loneliness increases all-cause mortality risk by over 25%, heart disease and stroke risk by around 30%, and the U.S. Surgeon General reporting that chronic social disconnection carries a mortality impact comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily. [INC MAGAZINE]
• A GEN Z SURPRISE: The cultural pessimism and division that pervades much of ‘online’ life, as computers have replaced in-person shopping, socializing, entertainment and communication is now being countered by Gen Z adopting nostalgic trends – increasingly reverting to records/ cassettes/ bookstores/ shopping malls/ hobbies like pottery or knitting. Surveys find over two-thirds saying they’re drawn to ideas, media, styles and traditions from the past, which provide “comfort, guidance and inspiration” when they’re feeling dissatisfied or stressed, struggling with depression or anxiety, and that “nostalgic experiences increase their meaning in life, goal motivation, social engagement, creativity, optimism, psychological well-being and social bonds. [BIG THINK MEDIA]
• THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: SAD PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICA’S “BROKEN POLITICAL SYSTEM, which leaves elections at the center of democracy bound to fail, by creating a professional political class that is unsuited to genuine democratic rule, as those who seek power are alpha types and prone to be corrupted by it – charismatic/ daring/ entitled / arrogant/ no shame whatsoever/ even downright psychopathic/ disproportionately white, wealthy, highly educated/ and bending to the wishes of campaign donors & lobbyists. With billionaires who account for 1% of American society funding some 20% of campaign contributions, they then get elected by fewer than one-in-twenty eligible citizens who even bother to vote, and go on to generate laws & policies often misaligned and even contrary to interests of citizens at large.” [FOREIGN AFFAIRS]
• “Just a penny more and shoppers turn away,” since the $9.99 versus $10 price point is psychologically important to most buyers, who view that next level as “expensive, because our brains don’t process the number.” Below $5 and below $20 are also still psychologically important price points according to many surveys.
• FYI, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History has been perverted over the past few decades of ‘social justice’ focus to now present our nation’s history “chiefly through the lens of slavery, exclusion & oppression, with Pilgrims framed mainly as Colonizers, Thanksgiving portrayed as a National Day of Mourning, European immigration as ‘unsettling,’ Christianity chiefly being an instrument of conquest, exclusion and cultural erasure. The museum Director has been open in her objective to “reframe the traditional celebratory narrative by dismantling the America First mentality” and using the museum as a counterweight to the election of Conservatives as far back as Nixon, shamefully dismissing the success of our brave Founding Fathers who set America on a path to become the world’s most democratic, powerful & prosperous nation.” [WASHINGTON EXAMINER]