Are Rules and Incentives Killing Health Care?

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Do you believe your doctor puts your health ahead of profits? Does the red tape of health care affect the quality of the care you receive? These questions and more are addressed in a new book by Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe called, Practical Wisdom. They say that professions like medicine should be a calling, not something that you do to make money. Doctors need income and considering the cost of medical school and malpractice insurance it needs to be substantial, though money should be a side benefit for practicing medicine, not the primary motivation.
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Practical Wisdom and Why Education is Doomed!

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Our children are being systematically turned into automatons that pass tests. That is, if their teachers think they have a chance of passing the test this time around, otherwise they’re left to ferment in the classroom. I don’t usually write about a book until I’ve finished it and then I do a Reading List entry first. I received an advance copy of Barry Schwartz’s and Kenneth Sharpe’s Practical Wisdom just before Christmas and it’s been making me crazy!
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We Know What Needs to Change

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It’s that we don’t know how to do it. With the empirical research that’s been done on Self Determination Theory and Optimal Performance we have more than enough data to tell us what works as far as engaging and motivating employees is concerned. We also have over 20 years of business success to back up the research.
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Who Do You Trust?

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Do you trust your employee’s, your customers, your vendors, your management? If there is no or little trust between these groups then your business is in trouble. Trust is the social oil that makes things happen with much less effort. When you trust your boss, you have less stress and feel empowered. When you trust your staff, you have more time to mentor, facilitate and innovate. Trusting your customers gives them warm fuzzies and results in better experiences for companies and customers. Trusting vendors helps with scale and transforms them into partners. This kind of trust does not just happen. It’s largely a byproduct of culture.
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Can ROWE and 20% Time Help your Company Through the Recession?

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This is not the time to freak out. It’s a time of reflection and introspection for companies as well as individuals. It’s a great time to ask, “why are we here?” Are we in the right market? Are our customers delighted with our products and services? Are we in the right market? It’s a great time to do research and design and it’s a great time to start something new.
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ROWE and City Planning

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If more and more people start working from home, what affect will that have on our cities and communities? Will our need for office space decrease? Will traffic lesson, will we need less parking spaces in business districts? Will it strengthen or weaken our relationships at home or at work? Certainly there will be consequences for changing the way we work. Some of them intended, lower cost for office space, higher employee engagement and satisfaction, some of them unintended. What will the unintended consequences be?
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The Myth of Pursuing Happiness

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Are you trying to find happiness and success? According to Dr. Viktor Frankl, you can’t pursue them directly. You can only find them as a byproduct of other things. Dr. Frankl, a survivor of four Nazi Germany concentration camps, a neurologist and a psychiatrist developed a new field of psychiatry just prior to being sent to the camps. He had travel papers that would have let him leave Germany for the US but since his parents didn’t have a way to leave Germany, he chose to stay.
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