RWL Newsletter #94 - Improvement
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! It's great to travel, and it's great to be home. This week I have a sort of accidental theme - improvement. I happened to see that one of my former students, Kelly Hardee Wheeler, was interviewed about her work as a Lean Six Sigma black belt for the Army Medical Department (see the Listen link below). Kelly is also an accomplished trombonist, and when she was a student in the Army-Baylor MHA program (and when I was on faculty there), she asked me to do a photo shoot with an ensemble she was working with at the time. So that's Kelly on the left (in case the trombone didn't give her away). One of the best things about teaching is seeing your students go on and do great things. Kelly's interview fit nicely with topics I was talking about in my management class this week, so I've drawn on those for this week's RWL. I hope you enjoy them!
Read
What: Lifehacker Mid-Week Meditations, Great Success Comes at a High Cost
https://lifehacker.com/great-success-comes-at-a-high-cost-1826242321
Why: This week I was talking with my management class about motivation. We talked a bit about what drives us, what our preferences are. Most of my students express pretty modest goals: they talk about having "enough" and "not having to worry" and "being happy". So maybe I could learn something from them. Maybe also they haven't been tempted by great success yet. I liked this short post from Lifehacker that cites one of my favorite Stoic philosophers, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, "For one year to be dated by their name, they’ll waste all their own years." What does it mean to waste time? We have a limited amount of it, though when you're young it feels like you have forever. And what is not a waste of time? That, for me, is the hardest question. What is a worthy use of the limited time we have? Not enough ambition seems a shame; too much ambition seems a shame. But ambition for what? And to what end? If you are going to improve yourself, this is the fundamental question. Toward what am I improving?
Watch
What: Jackie Kelm, What is Appreciative Inquiry
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwGNZ63hj5k
Why: I was looking for a good introduction to Appreciative Inquiry this week and came across this video with Jackie Kelm, a consultant specializing in the approach. I'm just learning about this approach, so I won't pretend to know more than I do, but basically it is an approach to process improvement that focuses on the potential and the positive. There is a real power to positive approaches to management, and you can never get true employee engagement any other way. I'm going to be spending more time exploring AI.
Listen
What: Just-In-Time Cafe, How Music and Mentoring Save Money and Lives for an Army Hospital, Featuring Kelly Hardee Wheeler
https://goleansixsigma.com/podcast-just-in-time-cafe-episode-41-how-music-and-mentoring-save-money-and-lives-for-an-army-hospital-featuring-kelly-hardee-wheeler/
Why: In her interview, Kelly talks about her journey from professional trombone player to a leader in healthcare quality improvement, and about the importance of mentorship. I really like how she links together her musical training with her quality training, and how both draw on continuous quality improvement. The interview with Kelly starts at about 16:40.
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 @mbonica .
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 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
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." - Henry David Thoreau