RWL #248
back from Woodstock, with links
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! Pic above is from this past Friday’s annual meeting of the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives (NNEAHE), our local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). I took 11 of my seniors and two new faculty members up to Woodstock, Vermont on Thursday night so we could attend the meeting on Friday morning. Many members of the NNEAHE board joined us for a pizza party Thursday night to network with my students and talk about careers in healthcare which was both generous and very helpful. I’ve missed being able to have these casual interactions. Meetings over Zoom have none of the critical spontaneity of in-person sessions.
Because of the conference, I’m a bit behind getting this week’s newsletter out. Also my sister and her kids were visiting this weekend, which was also a lovely distraction. We had them over this morning for breakfast, and I baked homemade cinnamon rolls using my favorite Cinnabon copycat recipe. As I said last week, everything is better when you slather buttercream on top of it. The only thing I do differently is I like the rolls rise overnight in the refrigerator, which then requires giving them about 2 hours to come up to room temperature in the morning before baking.
Many of you tell me you don’t have time to click through all of the links. I don’t expect you to - I just hope you find something of interest each week and that I am delivering value to you. So if I may, let me put my thumb on the scale and suggest if you are going to do just one link this week, check out the Jonathan Fields interview under listen - and take the test. It’s fun. I’d love to hear if you think it was valuable.
I’m working on a few new essays and videos that I am going to share in the coming weeks. I hope those will be of interest to you. In the meantime, enjoy the links!
Read
What: Sifted, The robot that can make pasta and sauce — and save restaurants 60% on rent
https://sifted.eu/articles/cala-robot/
Why: Short article about a fully automated kitchen that makes high(er) quality meals. The article makes some great points about trade-offs. In economics, this is called the substitution of capital for labor - the replacement of humans with machines. As wages rise, it becomes more cost-effective to replace humans with machines. Most of our gains in standard of living have come from this process. Cute article - it’s not technical.
**
What: NHPR, When COVID Deaths Are Dismissed Or Stigmatized, Grief Is Mixed With Shame And Anger
Why: I have to admit that I wrestle with how I feel when I hear that someone died from COVID who didn’t believe the disease was real or refused to be vaccinated. I have to try hard not to perceive them as responsible. This article addresses that response and presents an interesting phrase “disenfranchised death”:
When a person dies from something controversial, Doka says, that's called a "disenfranchising death." The term refers to a death that people don't feel comfortable talking openly about due to social norms… For example, deaths from drug overdoses or suicide are frequently viewed as stemming from a supposed "moral" failure, and those who are left behind to mourn often fear others are judging them or the dead person's choices and behaviors, Doka says.
As a healthcare professional, I shouldn’t be judging people’s choices. The thing about contagious disease, as opposed to drug abuse, is that there are significant externalities - your choices can make other people sick. It’s hard to not be judgy given the last 20 months.
**
What: Borderline, Cutting remote workers' pay is unfair. The alternative could be worse.
Why: An interesting take on pay scales for remote workers - worth a read for those of you thinking about human capital. A point the author makes toward the end is if you want to enjoy higher pay while being remote, you could potentially do so as a free-lancer selling into a high-wage market.
**
Watch
What: Peter Thiel: Going from Zero to One
Why: If you have never listened to Peter Thiel, you really should. He is one of the founders of PayPal, an early investor in Facebook, and really seems to want to communicate his understanding of business. “Zero to One” refers to founding a business - going from nothing to something (he also has a book by that name). His thinking is in line with what I usually teach when I teach managerial economics - especially Michael Porter’s 5 Forces and the goal of avoiding competition and seeking monopoly.
**
Listen
What: Design Matters, Jonathan Fields
https://www.designmattersmedia.com/podcast/2021/Jonathan-Fields
Why: Fields has developed a personality-type indicator similar in flavor to the Meyers-Briggs (MBTI), except Fields' instrument is meant to help you discern your career calling - what he refers to as your “Sparketype” - finding the thing that sparks you. The conversation is interesting, and I recommend it. Also try Fields’ indicator for free here:
There are a number of things you can purchase, but you can get the basic results of the test for free. I think I will use this with my seniors next year. As I always say when I post personality tests as recommendations - use with a large scoop of salt. I think they all offer some level of insight, but I wouldn’t make any big life decisions based on the input of a personality test alone.
I came out as a Sage - Advisor, which I think is pretty accurate. It’s fun and it’s free. He has a book out which I think I will buy.
**
What: DirksOutdoors, Veteran's & Access to the Outdoors: Interview with Aaron Leonard
Why: from the description:
Aaron Leonard is on a mission: finding ways to help veterans gain access to a wide range of outdoor activities and places where they can find solace, friendship and a healing relationship with the great outdoors.
I had never heard of therapeutic recreation until I came to UNH and met my colleagues who practice and teach it. I love the outdoors - especially kayaking as any of you who have been reading this newsletter for any amount of time know. I didn’t always. I didn’t really grow up as an outdoorsy kid. I had only gone camping a couple of times before I joined the Army, so it took me a while to come to see hiking and camping as fun, and not something you did for work. There are many veterans who grew up hunting, fishing, and camping - and then there are a lot like me who don’t have the knowledge of how to do it in civilian life.
I may be embarking on a project looking at veterans’ access to outdoor activities. I thought this was a pretty good introduction to the problems and benefits.
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 week!
Mark
Mark J. Bonica, Ph.D., MBA, MS
Associate 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
"Were there none discontented with what they have, the World would never reach anything better." - Florence Nightingale