CSI Blog & Newsroom

“Schools with fitter children achieve better literacy and numeracy results, according to Australian research,” a CBC news online health article wrote last week. The article continued, “The study by physiologist Prof. Dick Telford, of the Australian National University, and colleagues, was published in a recent issue of the journal Pediatric Exercise Science. ‘A school that has, on average, high fitness levels will have, on average, higher literacy and numeracy levels,’ Telford told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Previous research in animals and humans has suggested greater fitness and physical activity leads to changes in the brain activity and better performance in cognitive tests and concentration. ‘It took scientists by surprise to a certain degree that there was a consistent relationship,’ Telford said.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“My patient, Shane, picks up his latte by 6 a.m. to help guzzle down his vitamins and anti-depressants. He works out with his personal trainer and steps onto his first treadmill of the day. This self-made 53-year-old entrepreneur works at least 60 hours a week putting out fires and has grown somewhat estranged,” Stephanie Bot wrote in an Advisor.ca article last week.

The article continued, “But, he tells me, his greatest concern is his bored, demanding and unmotivated 17-year-old daughter, Marny. These days, his relationship with his “little girl” is mainly comprised of the exchange of funds, goods and services. Affluenza is a social virus — the term was popularized in a late 1990s book by John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas Naylor. Prevalent among baby boomers and about a decade of post boomers, it manifests as excessive overwork and a driven desire to achieve a certain lifestyle. A new mutation of Affluenze is rampant in the under-30 crowd for whom the symptom of excessive overwork transformed into a sense of entitlement and the notion that the lavish life should be delivered free.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

“Establishing trusted relationships is a critical imperative for leadership success today, and a key way to develop trust with those you lead is by being vulnerable. I’m not talking about getting on the proverbial therapist’s couch and telling your direct reports all of your deep, inner secrets. I’m talking about disclosing appropriate and relevant amounts of information about yourself over the course of time as relationships grow and develop,” an article posted to Director of Client Services and Trust Practice Leader Randy Conley’s Leading with Trust blog last week stated. The article continued, “In his book, Getting Naked, author Patrick Lencioni discusses three fears that keep us from being vulnerable…from ‘getting naked.’ Lencioni discusses these fears in the context of sabotaging client relationships, but the lessons are equally relevant for leaders in regards to developing trust with their followers.” To read the full article and get a list of common fears click here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

If it seems like there is a stirring in North Korea, it may just be so.  When Kim Jong-un brought his so-called wife Ri Sol-ju out for the world to see this summer it set a precedent for what he wants his North Korea to be. “The whiff of agrarian reform has hung over North Korea since early summer when DailyNK, a Seoul-based defectors’ website, reported a plan to allow farmers to sell more of their harvest at market prices rather than lower, state-set ones,” The Economist wrote last week in their print edition. The article continued, “This week it grew stronger after two Western news agencies reported that farmers would be free to decide what to do with a larger share of their grain surplus, after handing over a quota to the state. Reuters quoted a trusted source saying North Korea was trying to follow China, where an economic transformation started with such liberalisation in the late 1970s, under the slogan ‘reform and opening up’. That phrase would never be used in North Korea, the source added, because in Korean it sounds like the words ‘dog fart’… …Dog farts or not, he adds, North Korea’s agricultural sector is much smaller than China’s, so it should not expect the same economic impact, even if it follows the same revolutionary path.” Click here to check out a blog we wrote last spring, North Korea Making Concessions for Food Aid. Click here to read the full The Economist article. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS