Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! Yesterday I opened the windows in my home office for the first time since fall. It is always a big deal in New Hampshire - the day you can open back up to the outside. I call it The Time of Open Windows - we’re no longer sealed off from the outside world to keep ourselves safe from an unrelenting environment. This year this seems like both a concrete and metaphorical re-opening. After a year of socially isolating, today my wife and I had a backyard barbeque with family from four households. We still had a habit of sitting apart, but we gradually relaxed - and none of us wore masks. We have all been immunized, and some of us are being tested regularly, so we felt it was safe, and time to open the windows back to the world - at least a little bit.
I am looking forward to the return to normalcy. I think I’ve learned some things from this time of closed windows - I hope I do not forget what it was like, and appreciate the small things more going forward.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the links!
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Read
What: HBR, The Board’s Role in Strategy
https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-boards-role-in-strategy?ab=at_art_art_1x1
Why: I recently joined my first non-profit corporate board (I have been on the board of our local ACHE chapter for a while, but that is a different animal). I happened to join just as the organization was going into its strategic planning process. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to discuss the process since those are internal matters, but I can say it was very interesting. One of the questions we briefly discussed was the role of the board in the strategy process. When my colleague PG posted this article on LinkedIn last week, it gave me some pause. The perspective presented in this article - which, spoiler alert - veers towards giving the CEO most of the responsibility for strategy - is clearly not embraced by all organizations. It’s a short article - but has a good perspective if you are involved in strategy or on a board.
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Watch
What: Es Devlin | TED2019, Mind-blowing stage sculptures that fuse music and technology
Why: I’ve been working with a physician leadership program for a few years. The creator of the course, an ED physician who went on to executive leadership, built much of the leadership part of the course (I teach the finance part) around trying to teach emotional intelligence. So much of leadership is paying attention to how you touch the emotions of others (while retaining control over your own). This is what I was thinking about as I watched Devlin talk about how she designs stages for musical concerts. In a sense being a leader is being an artist - it is painting possibility and getting people to see that possibility.
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Listen
What: Econtalk, Max Kenner on Crime, Education, and the Bard Prison Initiative (67 min)
https://www.econtalk.org/max-kenner-on-crime-education-and-the-bard-prison-initiative/
Why: Theories of prison I am familiar with revolve around three poles: prison is for punishment, prison is for rehabilitation, and prison is for segregation from society. They all have value. The segregation purpose is to separate violent and antisocial individuals from the rest of society. The possibility of punishment raises the cost of behaving in an antisocial manner. I think the American prison system does a pretty good job with those. I’m not sure American prisons do a great job with rehabilitation. In fact, I would say, based on recidivism, it does a poor job. I love the idea of the Bard Prison Initiative. It presents some interesting challenges in balancing the punishment portion of the prison function, but I think there is a solid case for it. I’m looking forward to watching the PBS series when I get a chance.
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What: Marketplace, Why the “creative class” is moving away from coastal, metropolitan cities (5 min)
https://www.marketplace.org/2019/07/15/why-creative-class-leaving-big-coastal-cities/
Why: Richard Florida is the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, which I found to be a fascinating read - maybe because I am part of this Class, and it strokes my ego a bit. This interview is from July 2019 - which makes it remarkably prescient. The COVID pandemic has caused an exodus from coastal-metros - not only to smaller cities that Florida talks about in this interview - but from cities all together. It will be interesting to see what happens as we all get vaccinated and can return to our normal social lives this summer or fall.
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)