RWL Newsletter #76 - live from Barcelona!
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire by way of Barcelona! I'm spending a few days in Spain with my daughters. That's a picture of La Rambla, the main thoroughfare. It's great to just walk up and down this street and see all the different restaurants and shops. I'm enjoying sharing this experience with my daughters. I highly recommend the tapas!
Read
What: The Atlantic, Food Swamps Are the New Food Deserts
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/12/food-swamps/549275/
Why: I've done some research on food deserts and my personal conclusion after having experimented with a convenience store diet and having read a lot of the literature is the food desert is a concept looking for empirical support. As this article indicates, there isn't a lot of empirical support for the idea that food deserts are causal for bad health outcomes. Most people can get to healthy food if they choose to do so. Food swamps are a new variation on food deserts. An abundance of fast food creates a temptation to eat badly. I suspect that there is truth there. If we make the cost of eating bad food relatively low compared to the cost of eating healthy food, we will tend to eat more bad food - that's econ 101. Relative costs don't explain everything.
Watch
What: PBS, Why so many Americans in the middle class have no savings
https://youtu.be/tamC-M8TxtY
Why: Like the food desert research, I also don't agree with the essential premise of the article - that the middle class is suffering from financial fragility that is beyond its control. The author of the original article, Neil, lives in an affluent area, has sent his children to expensive private schools, and now has fallen on hard times. It's not clear if he has fallen on hard times because he is working as a free lance journalist, a field where the returns have been falling over the last couple of decades, and has chosen not to change careers, or if his work just isn't good enough to support his life style, and he should change careers. The article compares Neil to Brian the butcher who did have a bad turn of luck - he had a child with special needs, which required his wife to stay home and as a result they lost their family lost her income. The idea of "financial fragility" has merit, and makes me think of Nassim Taleb's work. Neil defines fragility as an inability to muster a basic level of financial resources at any given time. I agree with that. Some advice I gave my students at the end of our introductory corporate finance course on personal financial management is to create a "cushion savings account" with at least one month's pay. This would help prevent financial fragility.
The article seeks to equate Neil and Brian, and chalk up both to macro factors rather than individual choice. I find that kind of reasoning irresponsible. Neil, by own account, has been living his dream, even as it became progressively clear that his work dream was not going to be able to support the lifestyle he desired to live. Brian had a very unfortunate personal event that there was nothing he could have done to prevent. Brian appears to work the best job he can - I am sure if asked, he would not say that being a butcher is his dream (unlike Neil). Neil could do to take a lesson from Brian in personal responsibility, rather than trying to blame macro factors.
I think this is a good metaphor for leadership and taking personal responsibility. We have to look hard at our successes and failures. Some are due to luck, some are do to our own decisions. As Machiavelli notes at the end of the Prince, half of our fortune is tied to luck, maybe a little more, but fate almost always allows for some personal choice.
Listen
What: JAMA Network, New Inroads Against Multiple Sclerosis
https://jamanetwork.com/learning/audio-player/15002827
Why: Very interesting discussion on the state of research on the treatment of multiple sclerosis. In particular I found it interesting to hear the discussion on the macrobiome.
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 by e-mail, or you can tweet to me at @bonicatalent .
Also, if you find these links interesting, won’t you tell a friend? They can subscribe here: https://tinyletter.com/markbonica
Have a great weekend coming up and do amazing things!
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