Category Archives: Daily Top Ten

1. 10-Year “Safe” Treasury Bond on Pace for 3rd Decline in 4 Year

@Charlie Bilello
@Charlie Bilello The 10-Year Treasury Bond is down 3.6% in 2024, on pace for its 3rd decline in the last 4 years. That hasn’t happened since 1956-59.

2. European Financials Break-Out to New Highs

UBS numbers kicked Euro financials to new highs

3. European Financials vs. U.S. Regional Banks

Since end of 2022 EUFN outperforming regional U.S. banks.

4. KWEB China Internet ETF vs. QQQ

Follow up to yesterday…KWEB sees first outperformance in years.

5. URA-Uranium Break-Out

https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2024/05/03/the-compound-and-friends-55/

6. Countries with Highest Crypto Ownership

7. Remote Work Move to Small Towns

Bloomberg- By Michael Sasso
The remote work boom that prompted Americans to flee urban areas for mountain hamlets and seaside towns during the pandemic continued at least through last year, according to University of Virginia demographer Hamilton Lombard. An estimated 291,400 people last year migrated from other areas into America’s small towns and rural areas, which Lombard defines as metropolitan areas with 250,000 people or fewer.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-07/record-wave-of-americans-fled-big-cities-for-small-ones-in-2023?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_medium=social&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&sref=GGda9y2L

8. Share of Income Needed to Cover Housing Higher than 2008 Crisis….2010-2021 Affordable Housing Apex

WSJ By Eric Wallerstein

https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing/rising-stocks-home-prices-young-americans-left-behind-ae941b64

9. Americans Local News Moves Online

Pew Research

10. Six Things You Can Do to Stop Worrying

Today
Amen Clinic
Do you worry too much? Do you fret about every little thing in life? Are you constantly stressed about work, health, finances, and more? Maybe you even worry about your worrying.
Some people call this “what if disease” or “worst-case scenario disease,” but it can actually be a sign of a mental health disorder. If chronic worrying is interfering with your daily routine and diminishing your quality of life, it’s time to take action.
Are you constantly worried about your work, health, finances, relationship, children, pets, and more? Some people call this “what if disease,” but it can actually be a sign of a mental health disorder.CLICK TO TWEET
This blog will introduce you to the consequences of constant worry, what makes some people more prone to worry, and how to stop worrying so you can feel happier.
WHAT IS CHRONIC WORRYING?
Chronic worry occurs when someone is unable to manage their worries. If you fall into this category, you may find that anxious thoughts tend to loop endlessly in your mind. And these fearful thoughts persist even in the lack of a direct threat.
Worriers are often preoccupied with distressing thoughts about a wide range of things, including:

Health and the possibility of getting or being ill
Family issues
Romantic relationships and friendships
Career
Financial issues
World affairs
Other issues

When you are constantly fretting about what might go wrong, it can make it very difficult to relax. Chronic stress may lead to hypervigilance, which is being overly aware of your surroundings and potential dangers. You may also have a sense of impending doom, expecting something to go wrong at any moment.
It’s important to understand that some anxiety and worry is a good thing. It helps you be prepared.
However, chronic worry can be mentally exhausting and physically draining. It is associated with mental health disorders, such as anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. On the physical side, it can lead to muscle tension, a nervous stomach, loose bowels, high blood pressure, increased risk of viral and bacterial infections, and more.
WORRYING IN THE BRAIN
The brain-imaging work using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans at Amen Clinics shows that people who tend to be worriers often have busy brain. In particular, there is too much activity in an area of the brain called the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG).
Located deep in the middle of the frontal lobes, this fascinating region is involved in shifting your attention from one thought to another and from one activity to another. When there is heightened brain activity here, people tend to get stuck.
Often due to low serotonin levels in the brain, overactivity in the ACG is common in people who get locked into negative thoughts or behaviors. They have trouble seeing options in situations and stay focused on those worst-case scenarios.
Optimizing this part of the mind involves increasing serotonin levels and brain training techniques to stop getting stuck on worries.
6 WAYS TO STOP CHRONIC WORRYING

Eat foods that increase serotonin levels.

Research shows there are two ways that food can increase serotonin levels. First, foods high in simple carbohydrates—such as pastas, potatoes, breads, pastries, pretzels, and popcorn—increase insulin levels.
Second, the uptick in insulin raises the amount of L-tryptophan that enters the brain. Tryptophan is a natural amino acid building block for serotonin. With more tryptophan in the brain, more of it is converted to serotonin.
The calming effect of serotonin can often be felt in 30 minutes or less by eating these foods. This may be one of the reasons simple carbohydrates are so addictive.
Be aware that over time, simple carbohydrates can cause high blood-sugar levels that are associated with brain atrophy and some types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. For a healthier way to boost serotonin, opt for complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes and garbanzo beans.

Exercise on a regular basis.

Physical activity can be helpful in calming worries and increasing cognitive flexibility. Exercise works by increasing brain levels of tryptophan, according to research.
In addition, exercise increases your energy levels and may distract you from the worrisome thoughts that tend to loop in your mind. When you find yourself focusing on stressful thoughts, take an exercise break.
Go for a brisk walk, do a few dance moves, try a few yoga poses, or engage in some other form of exercise. It can help take your mind off your worries.

Practice “Thought Stopping.”

Whenever you notice thoughts looping or getting stuck in your head, imagine seeing a traffic stop sign in your head and silently saying to yourself, “STOP. THIS IS MY ACG GETTING STUCK!” For some people, the more actively they stop these thoughts, the more control they develop over them.
Keep a journal where you note how many times you use thought stopping each day. It’s likely the number of times you’ll need this intervention will decrease as you gain better control.

Notice when you’re stuck, distract yourself and come back later.

A primary way to overcome a busy anterior cingulate gyrus is to notice when you’re stuck on a thought and do something to distract yourself. Becoming aware of circular or looping thoughts is essential to gaining control over them.
Distraction is often a very helpful technique. Get up and do something else. For example, try singing your favorite song, do a few stretches, or read an article.

Think through answers before automatically saying no.

As mentioned, many worriers imagine the worst things that can happen. Because of this, when asked to do something, these people have an automatic tendency to say no. Fight this tendency.
Before answering questions or responding to requests in a negative way, take a breath and think for a moment. If you automatically envision a bad outcome, practice thinking about a good outcome. Is that good scenario more likely to happen than the bad one? If so, say yes.

Write out options and solutions when you feel stuck.

When you’re stuck on a stressful thought, it is often helpful to write it down. Writing it down helps to get it out of your head. Seeing a thought on paper makes it easier to deal with it in a rational way.
When repetitive worries interfere with sleep, keep a pen and paper near your bed to write them out. After you write out a thought that has “gotten stuck,” generate a list of things you can do about it and things you can’t do about it. Practice focusing your energy on the things you can control about a situation and stop dwelling on what you can’t control.

https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/6-things-stop-worrying-today/

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 May 07 2024

May 7, 2024

Matt Topley

Daily Top Ten No Comments

1. AAPL Bought Back the Equivalent of Boeing Market Cap in One Day

@Charlie Bilello
@Charlie Bilello Apple is the undisputed king of buybacks. Over the past decade, it has bought back $625 billion in stock. That’s greater than the market cap of 492 companies in the S&P 500.

2. Warren Buffett Sold $135B AAPL Stock and Bought T-Bills

AAPL still Buffett largest holding by far but….

Wolf Street Converting Apple shares to T-bills.

While loading up on T-bills – of which the government has been issuing a tsunami on a weekly basis – BRK dumped 13% of its stake in Apple in Q1, or about 116 million shares, after having sold about 10 million shares in the prior quarter. Apple remains BRK’s largest stock position, with a value of $135.4 billion on March 31, according to BRK’s 10-Q filing today.

Obviously, Buffett praised Apple and the stock, because BRK was still holding $135.4 billion as of March 31, and he doesn’t want to tank the shares before he can unload more of them.

But he did sell Apple, and bought T-bills with the proceeds, instead of other stocks, and that ballooning pile of interest-earning cash became a topic at the shareholder meeting on Saturday, and he was asked why he wasn’t putting this cash to work – though it’s actually working just fine, producing 5%-plus risk free.

https://wolfstreet.com/2024/05/06/buffett-invests-in-t-bills-instead-of-stocks-waits-for-bad-stuff-to-happen-cash-is-king-at-5-plus/

AAPL Below 2023 Highs

3. Big Tech Has Acquired 870+ Companies

4. Tech Returns Post Earnings Beats Q1

5. ETF Outflows Excessive in Chinese Tech?

From Irrelevant Investor Blog interview with Jeff DeGraff

https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2024/05/03/the-compound-and-friends-55/

6. KWEB Chinese Internet ETF Beating QQQ YTD

50day thru 200 day to upside….+17% year to date

7. Total Sovereign and Corporate Debt Hits $100 Trillion Mark

8. Russia’s military is so hard up for manpower that it now pays more than the oil and gas sector-Business Insider

Huileng Tan

Russia has a manpower crunch because of its war with Ukraine.
Russia’s military is paying more in sign-on bonuses and salaries than the oil and gas sector.
Russia’s oil and gas revenues have been keeping its war chest filled.

Russia is facing a labor crisis as its war with Ukraine siphons manpower away from the country’s economy.

The manpower crunch has gotten so bad that the Russian military is now offering sign-on bonuses and salaries that are so competitive that even the country’s lucrative oil and gas industry isn’t keeping up, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Russia’s oil and gas sector has been paying wages that are at least two-thirds higher than the national average wage since 2017, per Bloomberg calculations based on official data.
That’s no longer the case.

In January and February, workers in Russia’s oil and gas sector took home about 125,200 rubles, or $1,370, in monthly nominal salary, per the media outlet.

But the Russian army is now offering incentives to contract soldiers, including a nationwide sign-on bonus of 195,000 rubles, according to a Russian government portal. Each region in the country also offers an additional one-time payment of up to 1 million rubles, per Bloomberg.

The salary of a contract soldier starts at 210,000 rubles per month.

https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-manpower-crunch-military-bonus-pay-salary-oil-gas-2024-5

9. The U.S. Needs Babies

The Daily Shot Brief Food for Thought: US births hit a multi-decade low.

Source: @jessicanix_, @business
https://dailyshotbrief.com

10. How to Foster and Sustain Team Motivation

Psychology Today Harness the power of psychological needs within your team

Marylène Gagné Ph.D.
THE BASICS

What Is Motivation?

KEY POINTS

Enhancing your teammates’ psychological needs promotes better team motivation.
Monitor how leadership styles, reward systems, and external pressures affect your team’s motivation.
Better support from your external environment may be required for healthy internal team motivation.

Do you belong to a work or sports team? Do the members of your team share the same motivationor goals or are they misaligned? What could you do to get everyone in your team to be more aligned and adopt the right type of motivation that will lead your team to succeed?
We often hear about how team leaders and organisations should structure, lead, and reward teams for them to be effective. But have we paid enough attention to what team members can contribute to their own internal team dynamics?
I recently co-authored an article with Simon Grenier from the Université de Montréal and Thomas O’Neill from the University of Calgary that might help you. In it, we present a model, based on self-determination theory, from which we can derive a simple key strategy to foster healthy team motivation: Ensuring the satisfaction of every team member’s psychological needs. Here’s how it works:

Supporting Psychological Needs

As a team member, you can help foster high autonomous team motivation(that is, motivation based on meaning and enjoyment toward team activities) by supporting your teammates’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. For example, you can provide your teammates with choices and constructive feedback, and promote the inclusion of all points of view. If enough teammates adopt these supportive behaviors, it will create a virtuous cycle of interactions that leads your team to develop norms of support over time.
Easier said than done right? Yes. What do you need for supportive norms to develop? First, you must consider the initial motivation of team members at a team’s inception or during the formative phase where team members get to know each other and learn about what they will work on together. If team members are primarily motivated by rewards or status (i.e., controlled motivation), they are less likely to support the needs of their teammates. If they are motivated by meaning and enjoyment, they are more likely to support their teammates’ needs. Selecting team members with the right motivation or fostering that initial motivation through good task design and leadershipcan make a difference.
Once the cogs are in motion within the team, here is what is likely to happen. First, team members’ motivations are likely to become more similar over time. If you satisfy needs, individual motivations are likely to converge towards becoming more autonomous. In other words, when members’ needs are supported, they are more likely to internalize team goals and focus on their importance and on enjoying the process of working on goal accomplishment. If you thwart needs, individual motivations are likely to converge toward becoming more controlled or losing motivation altogether.
Second, members will forge an identity to the team if autonomous motivation is cultivated. In other words, when members pursue team goals out of meaning and enjoyment, they are likely to make their team an important aspect of their self-identity, which in turn further fosters the endorsement of team norms and goals.
Third, working for the same reasons (i.e., motivations) and sharing a common identity is likely to facilitate both explicit and implicit coordination that is essential to team performance. Explicit coordination includes discussing and agreeing on strategies and logistics, while implicit coordination involves monitoring each other and adapting to others’ behaviors without explicit communication (think of a flock of birds or a school of fish moving in unison).
Finally, look at how the external context of a team is likely to influence internal collective motivation. Is your team under the leadership of a tyrant leader who can undo any effort at supporting needs within your team or worse, serves as a role model for team members to thwart each other’s psychological needs? Is your team contingently rewarded in a way that primarily encourages controlled forms of motivation within your team? Is your team under high pressure or is it struggling to survive? These can negatively impact both the motivation of team members and your team’s internal support dynamics. Advocating for better external support from your external environment (e.g., your organization) might be required to ensure you can maintain healthy internal team motivation.
This post was co-authored with Simon Grenier from the Université de Montréal.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/getting-up-on-monday-morning/202405/how-to-foster-and-sustain-team-motivation

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 May 06 2024

May 6, 2024

Matt Topley

Daily Top Ten No Comments

1. Warren Buffett vs. S&P 25 Year Chart

Slight lag vs. S&P

From Abnormal Returns Blog www.abnormalreturns.com

2. History of Returns Post 5 Months of Gains

3. Returns During Fed Pause Phases

From Dave Lutz at Jones Trading
Stock performance is typically varied during the pauses, but positive on average, Bloomberg notes.

4. PARA Takeover Bids…Stocks Still Negative YTD 2024

5. Starbucks Stock Now Negative 5-Year Return

6. Defensive Utility Sector +5% One Month

XLU 50day thru 200day to upside beginning of April

7. Gold vs. Yen

Gold’s Rise Against the Yen

Source: Bloomberg From Zerohedge www.zerohedge.com

8. Active Managed ETF Growth

Active ETFs Activate: On the other hand, active ETFs have taken off. Goes to show, you can either bemoan and suffer from a new dynamic such as the rise of passive investing and ETFs, or ride that trend.

Source: mahmood noorani

9. Russian energy giant Gazprom reported its first annual loss in 24 years amid Western sanctions

Business Insider
A sign advertises Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom, in Moscow, Russia. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Russian energy giant Gazprom posted its first annual loss since 1999.
The West’s ban on Russia’s energy exports, combined with macro factors, dragged profits.
The oil company also projected fewer investments for 2024.

Russian energy producer Gazprom Group reported its first annual loss in 24 years, with restricted energy flows to Europe a leading factor in dragging down earnings.
Gazprom, which is majority-owned by the Russian government, saw a net loss of 629 billion rubles, equivalent to about $6.84 billion last year, marking a sharp drop from 1.23 trillion rubles in 2022, according to an earnings report published Thursday and first reported by Bloomberg.
It marks the first annual net loss for the energy giant since 1999, largely due to restricted flows to Europe and lower fuel prices following the West’s sanctions over Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The market reacted by sparking a 4.4% drop in the company’s share price, the largest decline in more than a year.
Gazprom’s report also revealed a 40% drop in gas revenue to 4.88 trillion rubles ($52.6 billion USD). International Energy Agency data indicates that gas flows to Europe hit their lowest levels since the early 1970s.
The financial loss was also driven by broader energy market factors, including plunging gas prices, lackluster demand, and overflowing inventories.
Meanwhile, Gazprom has outlined investments totaling 2.57 trillion rubles for this year, indicating a reduction of nearly 16% compared to its projections for 2023.
Once a booming market for Russia’s gas exports, Europe has placed hefty restrictions on the country’s energy outflows to the continent since the war in Ukraine started. Russia has managed to reroute much of its energy flows to other countries such as China and India.
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russia-oil-gas-energy-flows-gazprom-sanctions-ukraine-war-putin-2024-5?_gl=1*eglwm7*_ga*MTcwNTA0MjU4My4xNjYxMzU3MTY0*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcxNDY3NTUxMS4xMDUuMS4xNzE0Njc3OTQxLjYwLjAuMA..

10. Warren Buffett’s warning about AI 🧐

SAM RO, CFA
The See’s Candies exhibit at Berkshire Hathaway’s 2024 annual meeting. (Source: Sam Ro)
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has mixed feelings about artificial intelligence (AI).

“It has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm,“ Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholders meeting on Saturday.
He shared a personal experience with AI that had him shook.
“Fairly recently, I saw an image in front of my screen,” he said. “It was me, and it was my voice and wearing the kind of clothes I wear. My wife or my daughter wouldn’t have been able to detect any difference. And it was delivering a message that in no way it came from me.”
He explained: “When you think about the potential for scamming people… Scamming has always been part of the American scene. If I was interested in investing in scamming— it’s gonna be the growth industry of all time.”

Warren Buffett speaks at the 2024 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. (Source: CNBC)
Buffett drew comparisons to the emergence of nuclear weapons.

“We let the genie out of the bottle when we developed nuclear weapons, and that genie has been doing some terrible things,“ he said. “The power of that genie scares the hell out of me. And I don’t know of any way to get the genie back in the bottle. And AI is somewhat similar. It’s part of the way out of the bottle.”
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger bobble heads. (Source: Sam Ro)

In the context of investing, analysts have mostly spoken bullishly about AI thanks to the potential for improving productivity across many sectors. TKer has written about this narrative here, here, and here.
Asked later about how Berkshire’s own businesses could be disrupted by AI, Buffett noted the technology would affect “anything that’s labor sensitive” and that for workers it could “create an enormous amount of leisure time.”

Greg Abel, vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, added that “we’re in the early innings” of understanding the impact.

Buffett has taken this tone before 👂

Buffett, arguably the most successful stock market investor in history, is well-known for his persistent bullish long-term view of the U.S. economy and stock market.
“I understand the United States’ rules, weaknesses, strengths,” Buffett said on Saturday. “I don’t have the same feeling generally around the world. And the lucky thing is that I don’t have to.”
But he’s no stranger to expressing caution on matters with significant downside risks — especially in regards to technology.

For example, Buffett has been vocal about his concerns about cyber attacks. Here’s some language I shared in the March 5, 2023 issue of TKer:

“There is, however, one clear, present and enduring danger to Berkshire against which Charlie and I are powerless. That threat to Berkshire is also the major threat our citizenry faces: a ‘successful’ (as defined by the aggressor) cyber, biological, nuclear or chemical attack on the United States.“ – Buffett in 2016
“I don’t know that much about cyber, but I do think that’s the number one problem with mankind.” – Buffett in 2017
“Cyber is uncharted territory. It’s going to get worse, not better.” – Buffett in 2018
“I think cyber poses real risks to humanity.” – Buffett in 2019

As you can see, this dire tone from Buffett is not new.
What’s important is that it has never stopped him from being bullish on stocks for the long run.

Zooming out 🔭
Emerging technologies like AI come with risk, as they have the potential to scale up bad behavior in the same ways they’ll scale up good behavior.

Broadly speaking, you can never be certain about how risky anything is. And even worse, there are limits to how much you can hedge a risk before you eliminate the potential for a reasonable return.
Unfortunately, this is just the nature of investing in stocks. And it speaks to why returns in the stock market are relatively high — investors demand a high premium for the uncertainty tied to taking on the risk.

“Nothing’s sure tomorrow,” Buffett said at last year’s meeting. “Nothing’s sure next year. Nothing is ever sure in markets or in business forecasts or anything else.”

We can only hope that history repeats, and the good outcomes far outweigh the bad outcomes — as they always have.

https://www.tker.co/p/warren-buffett-artificial-intelligence-warning Found at Abnormal Returns Blog www.abnormalreturns.com

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 May 02 2024

May 2, 2024

Matt Topley

Daily Top Ten No Comments

1. Market Leader Semiconductor Index had -17% Correction

Semis -17% before bounce rolled over at 50-day

2. U.S. Electricity Generation

3. Natural Gas Fund $140 to $14

4. Trade Natural Gas at Your Own Risk

5. NFLX -15% Correction

6. These Corrections Have Broken Excessive Optimism Sentiment Streak

Excessive Optimism Streak Broken by Ed Clissold of Ned Davis Research, 5/2/24

Key Takeaways

The NDR Crowd Sentiment Poll exited its excessive optimism zone for the first time in 20 weeks, the third-longest run on record.
Long optimism streaks have become more common and in clusters.
S&P 500 returns have been mixed after optimism periods have ended.

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/2024/05/02/optimism-streak-broken-ned-davis-research

7. Yield Spreads Not Widening

Jack Ablin Cresset
The yield differential between high-yield bonds and US Treasuries is the narrowest since 2007, according to Credit Suisse data. This suggests that lenders are more comfortable with lower-quality borrowers, believing that higher inflation makes debt repayment easier.

8. Wages vs. Inflation Post Covid

https://ritholtz.com/

9. 81% of Americans Unfavorable View Toward China

10. Richard Branson’s Best Advice on Hiring the Right People Is a Master Class in Leadership-INC

EXPERT OPINION BY MARCEL SCHWANTES, INC.

Forget the impressive resume and the college degrees. Branson looks for something else when hiring his best people.

Richard Branson is famous for his innovative ideas and adventurous spirit. Branson’s signature blond hair and love for risky stunts make him an unconventional leader who isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo.
The founder of the Virgin Group has shared various leadership lessons over the years, including his advice on whom to hire and place in leadership roles. He told Forbes years ago:
I’m quite involved in hiring for leadership and I look to hire my weaknesses. Personality before [resume]. A person who has multiple degrees in your field isn’t always better than someone with broad experience and a wonderful personality.

What exactly is a ‘wonderful personality’?

That’s the million-dollar question. Some confuse skills for traits or vice versa. While you can argue that traits are inherent qualities that define a person’s personality, behavior, and attitudes, most leadership experts will tell you that they can be learned.
That said, the most desirable (personality) traits you’ll want to look for in a leader can skillfully be applied on the job to achieve great results. So what are they? What will lead to effectiveness and success on the job these days?
According to Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill, one of the world’s top experts on leadership, there are eight essential qualities to look for. She tells Harvard Business Review, “Leadership is a process of self-development. No one can teach you how to lead; you need to be willing and able to learn how to lead. Mostly we learn from our experiences and facing adversity.”
Of those eight qualities Hill has studied (which you can review in the HBR article), I’ll cover three here that I think Richard Branson would certainly consider for his own leaders:

1. Authenticity

Merriam-Webster announced late last year that “authentic” was its word of the year for 2023. It’s an overused buzzword that has lost its meaning, sure, but considering the current era of artificial intelligence and disinformation, where the distinction between what’s real and what’s fake has become increasingly ambiguous, it’s not a bad choice.
What does the word mean for leadership? I’ll break it down like this: Being authentic in human interaction means showing up with your best self. Unfortunately, sometimes, we choose to hide our true intent or motives to achieve a specific outcome. We wear a mask and try to impress others by becoming who we are not.
You might have heard the phrase “fake it till you make it.” However, this approach leads to short-term gains. It can have severe consequences that damage your reputation and relationships.
Perhaps we put up a front and avoid our authenticity because we’re afraid. We might fear failure, feel ashamed of our true identity, or feel that we’ve been playing a role in life.
By being real with yourself, dropping the masks, and walking in the path of authenticity, you’ll soon notice a drastic difference in who you attract and how others treat you, especially employees.
How to be more authentic
The brave thing to do is to first ask for feedback from trusted peers. Hill recommends asking, “Can you give me some sense of what I should keep doing, start doing, and stop doing?”
My own advice as a leadership coach is to be genuine and open about your emotions. This can be shown through statements like, “I’m not sure what direction we should take as a team in this situation. I need some guidance from you (team members).” This creates an environment of honesty and authenticity, which should be modeled and encouraged by leaders in organizations. Being emotionally honest and authentic sets an example for your team members to do the same, leading to stronger connections and more sincere conversations.

2. Adaptability

Do you adapt well to change and adjust easily to challenging situations? This is an important question you should ask yourself as a leader. Adaptability is a hallmark trait of people with high emotional intelligence. They recognize when to stay the course and when it’s time for a change. In other words, when one strategy is not working, high-EQ leaders evaluate and determine a different course of action. In practical terms, leaders with high EQ know how to handle unhappy customers, disgruntled co-workers, or bosses above their line of sight not pleased with their work.
How to boost your adaptability
It’s important to engage in activities that require you to be adaptable, says Hill. This means taking on tasks that may be outside of your usual area of expertise. For example, Hill suggests that if you work in finance, you could try working with the marketing team to broaden your skills. Basically, challenge yourself in new environments with diverse groups of people.

3. Resilience

Similar to adaptability, resilience means being able to adapt to challenging situations in life. Resilient leaders demonstrate unwavering emotional stability under stress, effortlessly adapt to ambiguity, and handle setbacks with poise.
We know that setbacks and failures are inevitable, so today’s leaders and innovators rely heavily on resilience to overcome adversity. Mistakes are a natural and important part of the learning, growing, and innovating process and can be flipped into advantages when embraced.
How to become more resilient
Working with a coach. Coached individuals are better equipped to manage and thrive during change and uncertainty because coaching strengthens their resilience. How leaders handle stress also plays a crucial role in determining their overall resilience. To enhance yours, some effective techniques include:
– Setting clear and specific goals
– Sharing worries, anxieties, and concerns with others
– Getting enough rest
– Balancing work and leisure time
– Practicing meditation
Going back to the beginning, it raises questions about which of these “traits” Richard Branson would value the most when identifying top leaders. He is known for hiring leaders whose strengths complement his weaknesses, but I find it hard to believe that any of these traits could be considered a weakness in one of the world’s most innovative and charming billionaires.
Now accepting applications for Inc.’s Best Workplace awards. Apply by February 16 for your chance to be featured!
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https://www.inc.com

TOPLEY’S TOP 10 May 01 2024

May 1, 2024

Matt Topley

Daily Top Ten No Comments

1. Earnings Surprises Highest Since 2021

Equities: In the current earnings season, EPS surprises have been the highest since 2021 (so far).

Source: Morgan Stanley Research; @carlquintanilla
The Daily Shot Brief https://dailyshotbrief.com/

2. History of TSLA Drawdowns

Tesla Axes Supercharger Team-Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-30/tesla-axes-supercharger-team-in-blow-to-other-/automakers?srnd=homepage-americas&sref=GGda9y2L

3. Starbucks Trading Below $77 Pre-Market…-30% from Highs

Starbucks heading for 2022 levels….50 week will be below 200 week today

4. United Health UNH has More Revenue than Alphabet and Microsoft this Year…CEO Before Congress Today

UNH Sideways for 2 years

Morningbrew

HEALTH

Congress to question if UnitedHealth is too big to fail

If you’ve ever shaken your fist and yelled at a bill from UnitedHealth, you may have more in common with members of Congress than you think.
Lawmakers in Washington are prepared to grill UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty in two congressional hearings today, months after a cyberattack on a subsidiary of the healthcare giant, Change Healthcare, rattled the industry and left pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals in the dark. Change processes roughly half of all Americans’ medical claims.
Congress wants Witty to clarify how UnitedHealth handled the breach of patient data. But beyond that, it wants to investigate whether the company—the nation’s largest private health insurer—has grown too big and taken on too much risk.
Healthcare with a hefty profit
However big you think UnitedHealth is, it’s bigger than that:

With a market cap of nearly $450 billion, it’s the fourth-largest company in the US by revenue this year, beating out Alphabet and Microsoft.
The company is eyeing a $24.7 billion profit in 2024.
One analyst estimated that more than 5% of US GDP flows through UnitedHealth’s systems daily.

That could all end soon. Throughout most of UnitedHealth’s light-speed growth and acquisition spree, it’s drawn little scrutiny from regulators. But the winds are changing: The DOJ launched an antitrust investigation into the company in February, and today’s hearings show lawmakers are digging in. According to the Washington Post:

Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate committee interrogating Witty today, plans to ask about the company’s practices, like prior authorization.
At a hearing earlier this month, Rep. Buddy Carter said the company “needs to be busted up.”

As if that wasn’t spicy enough…some lawmakers are asking the SEC to investigate suspiciously timed stock sales by UnitedHealth execs that occurred shortly before news of the antitrust investigation went public.—CC
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