July 17, 2023
Good morning! Get ready for it… wait for it… July 21st is the world premiere of Barbenheimer. People are planning and preparing for this phenomenon as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime event… and we suppose it is. A juxtaposition to be sure.We have unwittingly created the perfect habitat for chipmunks right on our front step.
- Among the great wonders of the world are college campuses in the summertime.
- Take some time to hike a few of those campuses; pull off the main road and go right to the center of a campus, almost any campus, most are amazing.
- And the irony, of course, is they are at their best when almost no one is there to enjoy them… so, YOU get to reward yourself for being so smart.
- How about those images coming to us from the NASA James Webb Space Telescope?!
- Places as idyllic and picturesque as Montpelier, Vermont (U.S.) are few and far between.
- Experience coffee and fresh doughnuts from the Main Street vendor at dawn as you breathe the crisp Green Mountains air.
- To our friends and readers in that community: Be well, recover quickly, and restore the beauty of your quintessential New England village.
- Do you reflect upon agriculture or horticulture?
- All of us should… and at this time of year, it’s hard not to do some thinking about it if you enjoy eating — and if you find yourself traveling through the farm fields.
- Soil + Weather + Seeds + Some sort of Husbandry by Humans = Foods to sustain us — all rather amazing.
- We’ve written on this topic before, but the data are so astounding they merit further mention.
- Eating beef (boeuf/ cow/ steak/ hamburger) results in thirty-one (31) times more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere than eating a similar amount of tofu (soybeans).
- It’s a rather astounding statistic… and drinking cow milk or eating butter or enjoying anything dairy results in a similar negative impact.
- Relying on cows for one thing or another has as significant carbon dioxide (methane) impact as does the use of various fossil fuels.
- A compromise might be anything pork (pig), which results in maybe about one-fifth the carbon dioxide as the cow. (The Economist, 2023)
- Have you seen the news regarding the production of chicken in the laboratory?
- No live animals needed, but protein with identical DNA incubated and grown with cells from a chicken egg, that’s it.
- Are we alone in thinking it’s not Kia’s fault or Hyundai’s fault that hundreds (thousands) of adolescent hoodlums are running around stealing millions of dollars’ worth of cars?
- With few consequences, indeed no consequences in many cases.
- When did this logic shift?
- Would not this be similar to blaming the banks for Jesse James’s behaviour?
- “You have to be willing to be imperfect even to get close to perfection…
- … the best leaders are process-focused instead of outcome-focused…
- … perfection creates unrealistic expectations that further prevent you from performing at your best.” (Eades)
- In the face of volatility, CFOs — and their organizations — adapt and move forward. (Agrawal, Grube, Etc., et al/ McKinsey, 2023)
- … more than half of finance leaders are still optimistic about growth in the next year — and 57% expect higher levels of capital investment in their organizations.
- CFOs emphasize increasing their own involvement in decision-making and in paying closer attention to the budget process, including its management.
- Also, more focus on operational value-drivers. (Makes sense, but why not always this sort of focus, not just now? YT)
- “At some level, people are people. They want to have meaningful work. They want to have real connections with their coworkers and their managers;
- they want what they’re doing to have a broader purpose; they want to be fairly compensated.” (Hancock, 2023)
- Four essential questions for Boards to ask about generative artificial intelligence (AI):
- How will generative AI affect our company in the short-term and the long-term?
- Are we balancing value creation with effective risk management?
- How should we organize for generative AI?
- Do we have the necessary capabilities?
- And, a question for the Board to ask itself:
- Are we equipped to provide the necessary support?
- Generative Artificial Intelligence is developing fast and companies will have to balance pace and innovation with caution.
- The Board’s role is to constructively challenge management to ensure this happens. (Lund, Maor, Etc., et al., 2023)
