RWL #272
the way of good things
Happy Easter from the University of New Hampshire! Things have been so hectic I have not really been paying attention to the progress of the gardens here at the LHH. But despite my lack of attention, the flowers have been progressing - it is the way of good things. You can pause and appreciate them, or not. Either way, they keep going. We have a huge forsythia in the back corner of the yard, and it is always the first thing to really bloom.
Willing good for all of you, I present you with the links!
Read
What: Madison.com, A brief look at American health care’s long, complicated history
Why: A nice summary (with pictures!) of the history of American medicine since the Founding. I’ll probably use this for my Health Systems class in the future.
(HT to SH)
**
What: HBR, Corporate Governance: The Other Side of the Coin
https://hbr.org/1984/01/corporate-governance-the-other-side-of-the-coin
Why: I just finished reading Bill George’s Authentic Leadership and in the section about corporate governance he mentions this 1984 Harvard Business Review article. I am serving on my first non-profit board (I’ve been on the board of a couple of professional associations, but this is different in scope), so I’ve been thinking a lot about my responsibilities as a board member. It’s a useful article that puts the focus in the right place.
**
What: NY Mag, Democracies end when they are too democratic.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/04/america-tyranny-donald-trump.html
Why: Andrew Sullivan, whom I started following this past year and have come to deeply respect, penned this article during the primaries leading up to the election of Trump in 2016. I frankly despise Donald Trump, and have for decades (I also greatly dislike most of the political Left as well - in case that is not obvious to readers of this newsletter). But that is not really what makes this article interesting. Another “Donald Trump is a bad, bad man” article, especially one from six years ago, would hardly be worth reading. Instead, I think Sullivan provides us with an insightful article about political decay. Even if you are a Trump supporter (I have a number of friends who are - I still love them), this is a good piece of writing about what weakens democracy, and to a lesser degree it highlights the genius of the Founders when they wrote the Constitution.
**
Watch
What: Elon Musk: A future worth getting excited about (66 min)
https://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_a_future_worth_getting_excited_about
Why: Until recently I had mostly ignored Elon Musk. I’m not much excited by Tesla, and I have seen many of his other projects as hubris. But he seems to keep popping up lately in my feed and the more I pay attention to him, the more I like his project. I have no idea what he is like as a human being, and I don’t think I care (so long as he doesn’t turn out to be some sort of Bill Cosby). This is a long interview and you really don’t have to watch it - I listened to it while I was painting the living room this afternoon. I think TED’s Chris Anderson gives him an opportunity to tell his story in an effective and unifying way. This is a person who is having a massively net positive effect on our world.
**
Listen
What: Wisdom From The Top with Guy Raz: Great at Work: Morten Hansen (53 min)
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1091176263/great-at-work-morten-hansen
Why: The Holy Grail of work - be a top performer and have a life. It’s all about prioritization. Worth a listen.
**
What: Longform, Maya Shankar (55 min)
https://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-482-maya-shankar
Why: Shankar has led an interesting life. From aspiring professional violinist to President Obama’s staff cognitive psychologist to podcaster. I love how she reinvents herself. Not all of us are as gifted as she is, but there are lessons here about reinvention - and her podcast appropriately is called, “A slight change of plans”. Listening to her talk makes me think of my own life - just with a lot less fame. Probably yours, too. Life rarely goes the way we expect it to.
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
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picaso