Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know what that picture means - finals are over! All that’s left is the grading. I’m hoping to be all done by Friday.
As usual, I quote my favorite Jackson Brown song, The Load Out:
Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage...
But when that last guitar's been packed away
You know that I still wanna play
So just make sure you got it all set to go
Before you come for my piano
I know it’s corny, but rituals are important. They help mark the passing of important moments in our lives. Hopefully all the students will be passing when this is over. For me, getting through grading the finals is like passing something else…
Aaaaand on another note - I published my first Health Leader Forge interview since last year. I kind of burned out during the pandemic and just needed a break for a while. I wasn’t sure if I was done or not, but I keep meeting interesting leaders in the healthcare field and I kept saying, if only I had a podcast where I could capture this person’s story. But I do! And I did, again! It’s the return of the pod: I talked with Paul Forte, PhD, the CEO of FedPoint for my return podcast. He’s a great guy and I really enjoyed the conversation. (see Listen below for the link)
I have several other interviews lined up and I’m looking forward to having it be a monthly feature again.
For those of you who celebrate, I want to take a moment to wish you the merriest of Christmases. I hope you are surrounded by family and friends and have a beautiful day. If you do not celebrate, I hope you are surrounded by family and friends and have a beautiful day, too. Let’s all just have a beautiful day.
BTW - you know what would make a great gift for someone? A subscription to Flourishing in the World (formerly RWL). You can’t beat the price!
As usual, willing good for all of you, and see you Sunday with a new essay!
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Read
What: WSJ, Don’t Roll Your Eyes: Looking the Part Could Land You That Job
Why: Amongst other things I try to teach my students how to dress for a professional setting. This is a fun little article because it reminds me that every professional setting has a different look:
Different jobs favored certain looks. The analysis showed that men wearing glasses and having a computer visible in the photo were perceived to be a better fit for a software programming assignment than men without glasses, boosting their chances of getting it. A beard gave them a slight edge, too.
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Watch
What: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | The Gottman Institute: Relationship Behaviors that Lead to Failure (2 min)
Why: Many of us are going to be with family over the holidays that we infrequently see. Sometimes those relationships aren’t great - and that’s part of the reason we infrequently see those people. Here’s a short tutorial on four relationship-killing behaviors. I’m not sure this will help you with your aunt/uncle who loves to “debate” politics (especially after a couple of glasses of cranberry wine), but it might help you identify some of the behavior and not respond destructively to it.
If you want more, I had a great conversation about relationships with my colleague Tyler Jamison. We talked specifically about romantic relationships, but many of her tips are based on the Gottman’s research, and can generalize to any relationship.
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Listen
What: Health Leader Forge, Paul Forte, PhD, CEO of FedPoint (78 min)
Why: I sent this out on Monday separately, but I am excited to announce the return of my podcast, the Health Leader Forge. I’ve ported it over to Substack. If you are interested in following that podcast, please go ahead and click here to sign up:
You can also subscribe through your iPhone by going to apple podcasts and searching for Health Leader Forge, or click here:
In this interview, I speak with Paul Forte who is the CEO of FedPoint, a long-term care insurance benefits administrator. Yeah, that’s a mouthful. But it was a very interesting conversation. Paul is a thoughtful leader - so thoughtful he has actually published a number of academic papers about the long-term care insurance market. While I love my interviews with CEOs, there aren’t that many whom I can say take time out to write about their field for an academic audience. But this should not be surprising given Paul’s education - he first earned a PhD in Renaissance English literature before going over to the business.
Check it out and let me know what you think! Plus take a look at the archives - I have interviews with about 80 other healthcare leaders.