Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! We’re still all-online here. We had an uptick in COVID cases, so the University temporarily shifted us to all-online instruction. In some ways that’s actually easier for me. Trying to address an in-person audience and simultaneously engage an online audience adds an additional layer of challenge, and limits the advantages of in-person instruction. In some ways, it’s the worst of both worlds. Hopefully we’ll be back in person soon.
The big thing I am working on right now is getting students placed in summer internships. We have almost thirty organizations that have agreed to take my students, and that is really exciting. Some of them are long term partners and others are recent additions. I’m pleased we have both and it will be fun to see where the students land.
Winter seems to have finally arrived with February. We had two snow storms this week and are expecting another one. The second one went on for about 24 hours straight, with a gentle powder slowly accumulating about 8 inches. The thing about living in New England is you have to lean in to winter. You have to appreciate it and find things to enjoy about it. We made a trip over to York this past Sunday to see the Cape Neddick Light (AKA, The Nubble) in snow. It’s a beautiful old lighthouse and probably one of the most photographed. I love when we have a nice blanket of snow but the roads are clear and dry. The snow transforms everything with a layer of elegance. I don’t miss the green when we have the white. I suppose my friends in Texas don’t exactly feel the same way right now! But that will be gone in a few days.
I’ve been reflecting lately that I am often in too much of a rush. While my note about appreciating winter might make it seem like I do this all the time, I have to constantly remind myself to slow down and appreciate the moment. One of the ways I try to force myself to slow down is through visual art - photography and painting/drawing. The problem is when I don’t have a camera or brush in my hand, I’m often running full tilt into the future, rather than appreciating the present. This rushing about both lengthens and shortens time - both in unpleasant ways. It makes the present a nuisance as it is unfurling and when the future arrives, and the present becomes the past, the past seems like a blur - as if it were a dream and no time at all. On this topic, Thoreau said:
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.
I don’t know if any of you have the secret of time worked out, but I hope you take good care this week. Stay well and stay safe!
Read
What: AEI, What do prime-age ‘NILF’ men do all day? A cautionary on universal basic income
https://www.aei.org/articles/what-do-prime-age-nilf-men-do-all-day/
Why: NILF stands for “not in the workforce”, an acronym used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) when examining unemployment. This article provides some interesting data about what prime-age (25-54 years old) do with their time when they are not in the labor force. Not being in the workforce is different than being unemployed - if you don’t have a job but you are looking for one, you are unemployed. If you don’t have a job and you aren’t looking for one, you are a NILF. There is a subcategory of NILFs that are pursuing education and self-improvement. When you take those folks out, you are left with NEETs - neither employed nor in education or training. As it turns out, men who are NEETs have pretty antisocial lives. They spend most of their time on screens and they don’t do much to help out the people they live with. The article is short, but cautionary is the right term. UBI would inevitably create more NEET men. Something we could do without, it appears.
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What: UHaul, 2020 Migration Trends: U-Haul Ranks 50 States by Migration Growth
Why: UHaul publishes an annual list of which states are getting the most one-way in rentals. It is an interesting way to think about economic mobility. I’ve shared a couple of articles now about how remote work will impact where people choose to live. I think this list adds evidence to the fact that people are moving to less dense areas when they have the chance. Tennessee was 2020’s winner. I’ve only passed through Tennessee - I’ll have to make a point of visiting it at some point.
Another interesting way to look at UHaul data is to look at the price of renting a trailer one-way between two locations. It tells you something about what the demand is between those two locations. For example, I just did a search on UHaul’s site to rent a 6x12 trailer. If you pick up the trailer in San Francisco and drop it in Nashville would cost you $1,077, but to rent it in Nashville and drop it in San Francisco would only cost $359. The cost ratio indicates that more people are renting trailers in SF to go to Nashville than the other way around. UHaul is willing to rent you a trailer at a lower price to bring it to SF because they know that lots of people want to rent UHauls to leave SF. SF to Austin is $1006, Austin to SF is $216. Try your own city pair to see - https://www.uhaul.com/Reservations/RatesTrailers/
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Watch
What: Conversations with Tyler, Peter Thiel on Undervalued Personality Traits (4 min)
Why: This is a clip from a longer interview. I find Thiel really interesting. His ideas about people are interesting. This is very short - but he basically says he likes idiosyncratic people who can work well with others. That’s not a very common set of traits in my experience.
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Listen
What: HBR Ideacast, What Great Coaching Looks Like
https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/09/what-great-coaching-looks-like.html
Why: I really liked this line from the interview:
Do you see the people that you’re working with as ones that you would like to help with learning and change? When people know that you care about them, they care back.
The guest, Richard Boyatzis, talks about creating a culture of coaching in his organization. My ACHE colleague, Karen Clements and I just recorded a lecture called Creating a Culture of Mentorship that will be featured at the ACHE Congress in March. I think we have a lot of similarities in our approach. I’ve listened to this interview twice and I think there is real value here. How much is coaching part of your leadership style?
Thanks for reading and see you next week! If you come across any interesting stories, won't you send them my way? I'd love to hear what you think of these suggestions, and I'd love to get suggestions from you. Feel free to drop me a line at mark.bonica@unh.edu , or you can tweet to me at @mbonica .
If you’re looking for a searchable archive, you can see my draft folder here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jwGLdjsb1WKtgH_2C-_3VvrYCtqLplFO?usp=sharing
Finally, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://markbonica.substack.com/welcome
See you next Friday!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of New Hampshire
(603) 862-0598
mark.bonica@unh.edu
Health Leader Forge Podcast: http://healthleaderforge.org
'It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.' - Gandalf (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)