RWL#254
first snow edition!
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! We had our first snow storm last night. We tucked in for the afternoon, lit a fire, and made some gorgonzola and prosciutto pizza for dinner:
Then I baked some amaretti cookies for dessert as well,
which we nibbled around the wood stove, keeping nice and toasty! When it’s snowy and cold outside, there is nothing like firing up the oven and making some great food, then sitting by the fire.
I have a couple of students coming in tomorrow to take their final because of illness. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I will have all my grading done and be ready for break!
Have a great week and enjoy the links!
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Read
What: Pew Research Center, What Makes Life Meaningful? Views From 17 Advanced Economies
Why: This is a cool survey. There is a great summary table down the first page (or you can click directly to it here). From 17 advanced economies, the top three answers are family, occupation, and health. It’s interesting that many of the economies I typically think of as more socialist (France, Sweden, Italy) actually have occupation as second, and the US differs dramatically, putting occupation 4th. I would have thought the US would place occupation much higher, but the US average is family, friends, material well-being, occupation, and faith. Interestingly, no other advanced economy has faith in the top 5, and only the UK follows the US in valuing friends after family. I read through the the first page of the results. The results go for seven pages - I skimmed the other 6 - where they dig into the data and talk about the specifics for each of the major sources of meaning.
At least check out the summary chart - and you might want to skim some of the rest. It’s long but interesting.
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What: General Patton Efficiency Report, Sep 1, 1944.
https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2006/spring/images/patton-impulsive-l.jpg
Why: This popped up in my FB feed, and it took a little effort to find the actual source. Google kept directing me to some guy’s Twitter feed, which made me wonder at the veracity. But eventually I found this source which is a little more reliable.
I love Eisenhower’s summary of Patton: “A brilliant fighter and leader. Impulsive and quick tempered. Likely to speak in public in an ill-considered fashion.”
What other kinds of characteristics would you want in a military leader when the threat is existential?
This one-page evaluation is fascinating both from a historical perspective (two of the men who shaped the 20th century are involved), but also from a management perspective. Could you write a one-pager like this? Would it be effective?
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What: Paul Graham, Beyond Smart
http://www.paulgraham.com/smart.html
Why: Short essay exploring the value of being smart vs. creative. If you had to choose, which would you choose?
Graham is one of the co-founders of Y Combinator - I have cited him before.
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Watch
What: TEDx, Parul Sehgal: An ode to envy (13 min)
Why: Clever talk with a load of literary references. Jealousy as a driving force in human behavior - absolutely! Jealousy as geometry? An interesting perspective.
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Listen
What: The Weekly Dish podcast, Jonathan Rauch On Dangers To Liberalism (93 min)
Why: (Classical) liberalism (not to be confused with American Progressivism) has led to more freedom for more people, and more well-being (measured in material as well as satisfaction terms) than any other legal philosophical system in human history. And it feels like we are hell-bent on tearing it down - with threats from the left and right. Rauch has an excellent new book which I recommend - The Constitution of Knowledge. This is a long interview, but worth the time. Load it up while you wash the dishes - or bake your amaretti cookies!
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