Living Well Journal

Resolutions that produce Results!

Hope for Change!  We desperately want to believe the future can be even better than the past.

New Years' resolutions rarely survive the month of January.  That's because they aren't always linked to daily and weekly actions.  Learning + Action = Change.

I loved this blog because it lays out clearly how we can sustain real change in 2013!

Better Results for 2013

Get Some Headspace

Research on stress, and its devastating toll on our health, points to a time-tested way to grow the resilience of the mind.  But it involves a word you might not like.

Different people can attach different meanings to the same word.  Consider the word “meditation."  To me it always meant somebody sitting twisted up like a pretzel on the floor, eyes closed, making strange noises through their nose … basically an eastern religious practice, and one that frankly had no appeal to me. Yet I now realize it ain't necessarily so!

How Will You Measure Your Life?

I am one of those guys who seems to stumble over rare gems long after everyone else may have already found them!

One such gem is a (now) classic 2010 article by one of the world's leading experts on innovation, Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen, entitled "How Will You Measure Your Life?" (Harvard Business Review, July 2010).

It's rare to find much wisdom in professional journals these days, and that makes Christensen's article really profound.  After facing cancer and surviving, he came back to his work with a fresh appreciation for the fact that the most satisfying purpose and happiness in life comes not from our achievements but from our relationships ... and yet few of us apply the principles of effective strategic investment in our private lives that we do in our business lives.

"If you’re not guided by a clear sense of purpose, you’re likely to fritter away your time and energy on obtaining the most tangible, short-term signs of achievement, not what’s really important to you."  

Take a few minutes to listen to an interview of Dr. Christensen by Charlie Rose in January 2011.

How Will You Measure Your Life?

Via con Dios

Those who are called to be leaders need to recognize the power they have to impact the lives of others.  

Tim Stack, President and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, passed away this week at the age of 60 after a brief illness.  His sudden departure served to accentuate the power of his presence as a leader.

His career was one full of immense professional accomplishments.  And yet he didn't live a one-dimensional life.  One of his peers shared it this way:

"He made a point of working in service areas of the hospital as often as he could find time. “Whether it was serving meals in the cafeteria, helping out in surgical supply, or cleaning hospital rooms, Tim loved talking to employees and finding out about their challenges ... Tim definitely lived in the moment, but at the same time was an incredible visionary.”

Truly great leaders do that.  They possess a capacity to live in the moment, fully relishing the gift of life, while investing that life in the service of others.

Tim was just such a leader.  His philosophy of leadership was captured in a 2006 interview this way:

“The attributes of a good leader are universal. You need to love what you do, be open and inquisitive and persistent, not afraid to make waves if you have to. You should also be personally productive and work well with others. Be innovative and allow others to innovate.  Finally, be a certifiable member of the human race. Cultivate a light touch, be passionate about your career but be sure to balance it with the rest of your life.” 

"Via con Dios" Tim.

A Happy Heart Truly Brings Life!

The purpose of this blog is to consider what it means to Live Well in all dimensions - - physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Many of my posts of late have been focused on the serious business of healthcare reform.

Back in February I wrote several posts on the book Blue Zones that chronicles the life habits of the world's oldest, healthiest and happiest people.  Exercise, nutrition and laughter are common themes for all the centenarians they interviewed.

So when I saw this clip from Jay Leno's interview of Dorothy Custer, a 100 year old lady from Twin Falls, Idaho, it gladdened my heart so much I had to share it!  You are absolutely going to love it!

A 100 year old woman on Jay Leno

The Book of Proverbs says, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." This wonderful lady's example reminds us all to lighten up, reflect on all we have to be grateful for, and Laugh!

So-Cal Hospitality

Say what you will about Southern Hospitality: as a long-time resident of Atlanta and the Southeast, I have been stunned by the genuine hospitality we have experienced in the last two months in San Diego!

• Where does a mailman ever walk the mail up a hill to your front door to deliver it in person and welcome you to the community?
• Where does a next door neighbor walk over and offer to help unpack on the day you move in?
• Where do complete strangers, like the cashier at the grocery store, go out of their way to introduce you to others who could help you become a part of the community?

The theme of this blog is my curiosity about all dimensions of Wellness ... physical, emotional and spiritual wellness-of-being that reflect a joy for living.  

So I'm working on a hypothesis here:  maybe it's the continual sunshine and cool breeze that predisposes people in San Diego to lead such a laid back, engaging lifestyle.  Whatever it is brings new definition to "Southern" hospitality!  This town couldn't be far behind Loma Linda as a Blue Zone (see my posts from Feb. 2012)!

Where's the Mojo?

On March 19, I shared an article by Chuck Lauer from Modern Healthcare re: CEO Paralysis.  I've had a number of conversations since then with friends in my profession around the country, and I'm more convinced than ever that Chuck nailed it.

Healthcare leaders are simply under seige, they face risky horizons full of uncertainty, and too many of them are discouraged and just trying to hang on until retirement.  This truly concerns me.

Our country needs the intellectual capital and experience of these wonderful people to forge a new "accountable-care" model for the future.  Yet something in the DNA of the profession militates against the kind of innovative leadership we need to get there.

I've identified 3 general categories that describe all to many folks in healthcare leadership:

a.  Some of my most experienced colleagues fall into Category 1:  "Hunkered-Down."  Just hang on, keep your head down, don't try anything that hasn't been done somewhere else and hold on til retirement.  Life is not happy for them and the best years of their lives and careers are slipping by. How can they regain their "mojo," their confidence, focus and zest for life and work?

b. Many mid-careerists in healthcare fall into Category 2:  "Dangerous Opportunities."  They see the transformation that must occur in their institutions and wonder how to successfully navigate the uncertainties.  Who can help them unpack, sort and choose from among their options and plan their actions?

c.  Lots of emerging leaders fall into Category 3:  "Skating to where the puck WILL be (not where it's been)" (credit to ice hockey great, Wayne Gretsky).  Our healthcare institutions will be, indeed MUST be, vastly different in the next 10 years and these are the people to make it happen!  Where can young leaders find help in evaluating and adapting their strengths to the glaring "white space" on the org chart?

Our world is full of opportunity cloaked in the guise of danger.  And I'm finding some valuable examples of people in other industries who have renewed/revived their careers where disruptive innovations and technologies have changed the rules of the game.  I'll be exploring some of those lessons in the weeks to come.

Servant Leadership: Lessons Learned on the way Down

"If we aren't planning to be servants, we need to look for a job somewhere else..."

Bernie Brown served with distinction as CEO of one of the largest healthcare systems in the nation.  Leader, teacher, author and friend to all he met, Bernie has been a mentor to me for nearly two decades.

As we reminisced over lunch recently, I was reminded of the wonderful book he wrote in 2008:  "Lessons Learned on the Way Down: A CEO's Perspective on Christian Leadership in a Secular World."  It's a very easy read, composed entirely of small vignettes of real life experiences that taught him timeless truths about leadership.

Selected as CEO of his hospital at age 31, he "spent the next 30 years learning how to be its leader."  What he learned was that Biblical principles, applied to real life, really work!  

Servant Leadership is a topic of considerable research in the management literature.  Bernie realized that the principles of it have been recorded in the most widely read book in history. "It was a revelation to discover that God's definition of leader was our definition of servant."

I can't think of a better book to recommend to my colleagues, young and old.

"Dwight Eisenhower: Quiet Radical"

Dwight Eisenhower has long been a favorite of mine when thinking of effective, principled leaders in history. Few people would associate radical,innoative change with this unassuming man from Abilene, Kansas who became the Supreme Commander of all allied forces in WWII and later an innovative President of the US.

Some of the most effective leaders in history display the opposite of the sterotypical image of a successful leader:  humble versus arrogant; listening and learning versus pontificating;  leading courageously by example.

An article in Monday's Wall Street Journal offers compelling insights into the man as plans are made for a memorial in Washington, DC in his honor. "What is truly remarkable is that Ike was able to become an innovator without abandoning the basic values he had acquired in small-town America."

As healthcare faces seemingly intractable challenges, its leaders can learn much from Ike!

Dwight Eisenhower: Quiet Radical

"A Page Without Punctuation is a Life Without Spaces"

Real Life Happens ... 1440 minutes of every day.  

What does it mean for me to really live and breathe in any one of those moments?

From a most-insightful blog post: Are Smart Phones Making Us Smarter?

"A page without punctuation is like a life without spaces.

It happens to me constantly. I bet it happens to you too. Just this morning I scrambled around to get ready. Someone was picking me up for work around 8. I somehow managed to be ready a full 5 minutes before 8. I walked out onto the front porch and felt the cool morning air. Birdsong rang out from the trees. The garden still dripped dew. In response to that I sat down on the front porch swing, promptly pulled out my iPhone 4 and began to check email. That’s when it hit me.

A page without punctuation is like a life without spaces.

Everywhere we turn we see it happening people riveting their attention on a little rectangular device in the palm of their hand these devices for all the good they do can literally consume every square inch of space in our lives wherever there is a pause instead of a inserting a comma I pull out my phone and see if it’s my turn on Words with Friends on the short walk from my car to my office instead of inserting the (ellipses) my mind so desperately needs before launching into a full day of work I pull out my phone and fire off a text or two about who knows what on the short one mile commute from work to home instead of inserting a (question mark) and preparing my heart for home I pull out my phone and squeeze in a quick callback and most unfortunately after I arrive at home instead of the joyful interjecting exclamation marks of joy I pull out my phone and scan my twitter stream or update my facebook

A page without punctuation is like a life without spaces.

See what I mean? So much meaning is missed without proper punctuation. So it is with life. We miss so much of life’s every day meaning without those gifted spaces and brief interludes. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not giving up my iPhone. It’s not Steve Jobs fault. I’m taking back those little spaces. I’m learning to restore attention to the little mysteries offered by an ordinary day. So the next time I’m in an in between moment, instead of pulling out my phone, I’m going to put in a punctuation mark.

It’s really that simple."