Tole's Take

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls" when it comes to US healthcare

"No man is an island.  entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were;  any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." - John Donne, Meditation XVII

Never were truer words said when it comes to the current healthcare debate in the US.  Watching the action from afar, a few things have emerged over the past month:

• Town hall meetings are a good thing and a healthy way to encourage debate in a thriving democracy (contrast with the situation in Iran, post-election)
• It doesn't matter if the "opposition" is organized (Astroturf, rather than grassroots, in Washington parlance) - that what organizers are supposed to do, and see above.  More debate is better
• It is ironic, however, that the purpose of town hall meetings between constituents and their congressional representatives is being flipped on its head; instead of bringing people together and encouraging them to talk more, opposition groups are being sent forth with the express purpose of stifling debate and shouting down anyone who does not agree with their point of view 
• Will there be a backlash at some point - will the public want to at least hear from those they have elected to represent them?
• It is amusing to see the accusations being tossed about ("read the bill!", "tyranny!", "Obama care") by both sides - while the two most important players in the game, the White House and the GOP, have not put forth a single plan (it is all Dems in the House so far) ...

Conservatives need to realize that the current system is unsustainable.  No one thinks that a healthcare system run by for-profit insurance companies that leaves fifty million uninsured people in the US is acceptable, either from a moral or economic perspective - we are paying for them already in our current emergency room setups, like it or not.

Progressives need to drop the utopian vision of the public option and universal health care.  As Matt Miller phrased it on Left, Right and Center, it would be a major victory for progressives to forge a system in which individuals' health care was not tied to their employers, as the Swiss and Dutch have successfully done.  

Every news article, every photo, every YouTube video of town hall meetings that lack any discussion over the future of the US healthcare system is not a scoreboard of who is winning and losing the debate in the public forum - it is another bell tolling, for each of us as a society, and we should all listen up.

"Convergence" is coming to a home near you

A friend's son who was graduating from college recently asked for my thoughts on what would be growth sectors in technology over the next 5-10 years.  I started by telling him that if I could predict the future, I'd be in another line of work, but he insisted ...

The three areas I came up with (leaving aside cleantech and biotech, which I know nothing about) were:

• mobile
• the connected home
• rich, brand-focused online advertising - where are all those offline dollars for brand ads like "Drink Coke" going to go online?  No one has cracked the code on how to engage users with ads that yield offline dollar levels yet. 

It looks like the first two are coming via Google Android, even faster than you'd think:

The New York Times reported in April that T-Mobile plans to sell a home phone and a tablet computer early next year, both running Android. Now, microprocessor company MIPS says it is moving forward with plans to help design Android-based set-top boxes, digital TVs, mobile internet devices, and home media players. In an interview with the Times, MIPS vice president of marketing Art Swift described Android as a “great platform” for connecting home electronics to the internet. The first non-phone Android devices could ship as early as this year, he said, starting with digital picture frames. 

________________

Check out my wine, food and spirits blog: The Silk Road of Wine
 

From two master motivators: Where do you want to go ... and how to get there

   This question has come up a lot in recent conversation given the current economic climate.  Either someone has been laid off, or they are concerned they may be in the near future, and it has forced them to take stock of their current job situation.

Here's what I tell people when the question arises, borrowing from two master motivators - Johan Bruyneel (director for 9 Tour de France victories) and Mike Singletary (coach of the San Francisco 49ers and Hall of Fame linebacker).

First, frame the issue and your goal succinctly (per Bruyneel):

• Don't ask yourself: "What do I want or what are my goals?"  
• But [rather]: "What would excite me?" 

Then, make a plan to achieve your goal (per Singletary):

• "When I look around the NFL, I'm amazed by how many people have a dream and how few have a vision"
• The difference is that a dream ends up being passive, accommodating disappointment.  A vision "captures the imagination.  A vision is something that consumes you like a fire, won't let you eat, won't let you sleep until that vision comes to pass."   

Sage advice, indeed, on pointing yourself in the right direction and then staying on course for the long term.

_______________

Check out my wine, food and spirits blog: The Silk Road of Wine