RWL Newsletter #18
Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow veterans, and greetings from sunny and leafless Durham, NH!
Wow, this has been a week. I have to admit, I was absolutely sure Hillary Clinton would win the election. So sure, I told my students that it was a foregone conclusion back in September. That shows me not to make prognostications about unknowable things when I am speaking in my official capacity. The election throws a lot up into the air and there is a lot to think about. When I presumed Hillary would win, it meant the continuation of the Progressive agenda at the Federal level. But with Mr. Trump, it's hard to say. The markets appear to be happy - the DOW set a new record on Thursday. This was another failed prediction on my part - I told my students the DOW would tank because investors don't like uncertainty, and if there was one thing Mr. Trump demonstrated during his campaign, it was unpredictability. So I have been in shock, and I have been scrubbing the egg off of my face. You live and you learn. (By the way, for those of you who don't know me personally, I am not a Hillary fan - I just took it for granted that she would win. I knew my candidate wouldn't win, and he didn't.)
So I've gathered a few post-election tid-bits for your reading, watching, and listening post-election decompression. I hope you find them interesting, and as usual, I would love to hear what you think.
Read
What: from Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), ACA Likely to Change Substantially but Full Repeal Unlikely
https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/benefits/Pages/ACA-mandate-repeal.aspx
Why: The Republicans have made a point about repealing the ACA as part of their campaign platform. Mr. Trump promised this as part of his first 100 days plan ( http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days ). The analysis provided by SHRM is more nuanced, and in my view more likely.
Watch
What: Brene Brown TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability
https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability
Why: One of the common themes coming out of the post-election analysis of Trump supporters is that they are angry because they feel they have been shamed (some interesting analysis on this here). So I thought I would share this Brene Brown talk about shame and vulnerability. Shame as the fear of disconnection - "I won't be worth of connection." This is worthy of discussion within management as well.
Listen
What: Econtalk, Autor on Disability
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/04/autor_on_disabi.html
Why: Liberal pundits like to point out that red states have the highest rate of government benefits. This is true: the number of people collecting disability has been skyrocketing in rural areas - Trump country, as it turns out. This podcast explores the rise in disability claims made to Social Security. It's interesting and nuanced: "It depends on whether there's another job the SSA thinks that you can do. And partly that depends on how trainable they think you are. So, typically, the criteria actually change as a function of your age and education." This is one of the crucial cross-overs between healthcare delivery and policy.
That's it for this week! Have a great weekend! If you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
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 by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @bonicatalent .
Thanks for reading and see you next week!
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
Twitter: @bonicatalent
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau