revoking job offers, Bitcoin ETFs, is Japan back?, is Zeihan full of BS?, and my latest HLF pod
RWL #378
Greetings from the LHH! Classes resume on Tuesday, 23 January, so this will be my last LHH greeting. This past Thursday/Friday, I was beautiful Manchester, Vermont at the stunning Equinox Resort (pic above) for the annual strategic palnning meeting of the American College of Healthcare Executives Northern New England Chapter board. We will be holding our annual meeting at the Equinox in November, so if you are an ACHE member (I know many of you who read this are), this will be a great opportunity to earn up to 9 in-person credits. Let me know if you would like more information. There is a secret about travel in northern New England - there is no easy way to get east to west. The Equinox is about 115 miles from the LHH, but it took me more than three hours to get there. If it were in Texas, I’d have probably been there is slightly over an hour. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful drive - with winding roads through the forests and hills and small towns of New England. But at about two hours my butt is crying, why is there not an I-10? Why are we not there yet?
On Monday I put together a make-shift recording studio in my office at UNH because I was doing a Flourishing interview with David Krempels, the founder of the David Krempels Brain Injury Center (KBIC). I’ve mostly been doing my podcast interviews over Zoom because it’s easier, but David, as a brain injury survivor, finds it hard to have an extended conversation over Zoom. I have the privilege to also serve on the board of KBIC, so I have known David for several years, but I learned a number of details about his story when we sat down to talk. We talk about David being a brain injury survivor, so that is hard to hear, but actually he is a really inspiring guy. I hope you listen to the podcast when it comes out in a couple of weeks. His motto, and the unofficial motto of KBIC, is, “You’re not who you were. Be who you are!” As a 50-something guy, I feel that just about every day. So while he has a unique challenge, we’re all facing the inevitability of decline if we are lucky enough to live past our 30s. I think you will like David’s story. It is truly a flourishing in the world story.
OK - on to the links: revoking job offers, Bitcoin ETFs, is Japan back?, is Zeihan full of BS?, and my latest HLF pod. Enjoy!
As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: ERE.net, When Should You Revoke a Job Offer?
https://www.ere.net/articles/when-should-you-revoke-a-job-offer
Why: Another hit from Evil HR Lady, whom I always read with great interest. I don’t have a lot of recruiting experience myself, but I work all the time with trying to get my kids (my students, as it were) placed in internships and first jobs, so this article caught my eye. You present yourself to a recruiter as not currently in the market, and when she comes back with an offer, you reveal that you will need time to consider because you are in fact in the market and have multiple offers. Grounds for revoking an offer? Maybe. Check it out.
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What: WSJ, Here’s How the New Bitcoin ETFs Work
Why: I remember listening to an EconTalk podcast where Russ Roberts had some Bitcoin advocate on in like 2012, and the advocate suggested we should all make a small investment in Bitcoin - maybe 10 coins because at $100/coin that would only be $1000. I wish to hell I had followed that advice, because Bitcoin is trading today at $43,000 per coin, so if I had invested $1000 back then, I would be sitting on $430,000 today. I am a huge fan of ETFs - most of my wealth is in ETFs. I may finally get into Bitcoin now that I can do it through an ETF, but it will still be a tiny part of my portfolio. Just because it has risen to $43K does not mean it does not have farther to rise. Or a long way to fall. But that’s why we have portfolios, and not single security investments.
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What: Japan Optimist, Japan Megatrends
Why: Peter Zeihan has me thinking a lot about demographics these days. Demographics are like the tides or the climate: you can resist them to some degree for some time, but eventually they overwhelm everything. It’s best to embrace them than to fight them. Japan has been in a quagmire for about 35 years. It looks like the thing that will finally break it loose is all the Boomers retiring and spending their savings down. More interesting is the way the author works through the ramifications.
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Watch
What: Economist Fact-Checks Zeihan's China Collapse Story
Why: Speaking of Zeihan, I’ve been meaning to share this critique of him for a while. You may not find it interesting if you haven’t been sucked into his world view. If you haven’t, I suggest you do so. Then you can come back and watch this video.
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Listen
What: Health Leader Forge, Kelly Barton, President of Maine Behavioral Healthcare (65 min)
Why: My latest Health Leader Forge podcast is with Kelly Barton, President of Maine Behavioral Healthcare, the behavioral health arm of MaineHealth, the largest health system in Maine. In this podcast we talk about Kelly’s career journey starting as a unit coordinator in the emergency department through leadership roles in a variety of organizations. We discuss some of the challenges facing behavioral health providers currently, and we close on a discussion of leadership.